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The Nuance
Misplaced Anger: Why You Have It, What to Do About It
The phenomenon of ‘displaced aggression’ helps explain why your accumulated anger during the pandemic can spill out into real-world interactions
Anger is an animal without a cage. Once provoked, it can lash out at anyone within reach of its claws. This was true before Covid-19. The man pissed about his job picks a fight with his spouse, or the woman annoyed by a friend loses her temper with her kids.
But if science had an instrument capable of measuring anger, the pandemic and its many challenges would be pushing its needle into the red. All this accumulated rage is certainly spilling out into real-world interactions. The evidence for this is all over the news. Outlets across the country have reported cases of “retail rage” during which store employees who try to enforce rules regarding masks or social distancing have been spit on or otherwise assaulted.
And it’s a certainty that the current moment’s frustrations are causing a surge in angry exchanges among friends, couples, and families.
This roaming, unfocused aspect of anger is sometimes referred to as “displaced aggression,” which psychologists define as “retaliatory aggression that is…
