Anger In The News

Howard Dean: An angry man?

House Democratic leaders yesterday distanced themselves from Howard Dean’s fiery rhetoric, saying that the outspoken Democratic Party chairman’s recent controversial statements do not speak for them.

Their comments echoed Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) and former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards (N.C.), who took issue over the weekend with Dean’s recent statement that “a lot of [Republicans] have never made an honest living in their lives.”

Dean’s penchant for harsh rhetoric has drawn criticism several times already since he took the helm of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in February.
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High Cost Of Anger For 50 Cent

Rapper 50 Cent has been ordered to stay away from drugs and take an anger management course, if he wants to avoid spending time in jail.

The US star had been charged with assaulting three women after jumping into the crowd at a concert last year. Two women claimed that the rapper - real name Curtis Jackson - had trampled on them, while one claimed that she had been punched. Full story click here.

Is Jennifer's smile genuine?

Jennifer Wilbanks, aka "the runaway bride," is seen in photos smiling prior to her runaway act in which she is purportedly happy. But is she? Is the smile genuine or contrived?

First, see for yourself. Click here for full story and 50 photos of her and the hunt for her.

Then, consider the research by psychologist Paul Ekman who ahs devoted his career to studying facial expressions as a way to detect real emotions in a person. Ekman calls a real smile a "Duchenne smile" which involves two facial muslces: (1) the zygomatic major muscle and the (2) outer part of the obicularis oculi muscle which orbits the ye and is involved in pulling downc the eyebrows and the skin below the eyebrows, pulling up the skin below the eye and raising the cheeks. More click here

With a fake smile, people use only the zygomatic major muscle because that one is under voluntary control. The muscles around our eyes can't be controlled consciously - they contract spontaneously and only when we're actually experiencing joy.

Take a test to see if you can spot fake smiles: click here

I think that Jennifer's public pictures with her extremely wide-open eyes clearly shows a fake smile. What do you think?

Being able to detect emotions accurately in another person is an empathetic skill which is a core tool for anger management at home, in the workplace, and with your family.

"Upside of Anger" has important theme

In the recent film "The Upside of Anger," staring Joan Allen and Kevin Kosner, Joan Allen's alcoholic and emotionally destroyed character is convinced that her husband has deserted her and run off with a sweet young thing. The surprise ending tells us a quite storydifferent story. This teaches us the importance of a core anger management tool - that of forgiveness.

Click here for a free email report of this and the seven other tools of  anger management.