Anger: Is It a Choice or a Primary Emotion?

by Emeka Osuji

When I was back in university, I had a friend. Her name is Elsie. Elsie was a special person, because from her, I believe, I got my first lesson on the power of choices and will-power. In the 4 years we were in school, I do not believe I remember seeing Elsie visibly upset to the point of being described as being angry. My memories of Elsie is of her almost always smiling. It was not because there were not things that could make her angry, after all, I witnessed some moments when she would have been justified if she got angry. Elsie would always smile, and you could tell that she was just not putting up a show. She would smile and you could see that she meant it. I remember asking her how she did it. How could she always manage to put up a smile even when she should be angry? What she told me I have never forgotten. Elsie said, “happiness is a choice, and I choose to be happy”. She said that she could get upset but that would mean that she has chosen to get upset. Since how she responds is a choice she has to make, she chooses to be happy. While anger may be described by many as an emotion, in the following paragraphs I will attempt to demonstrate why it is actually a secondary or voluntary emotion and not an involuntary emotion, which primary emotions are.

First of all, it would be helpful in this discourse to have, at least, a general working idea of what primary emotions are. The American Psychological Association Dictionary of Psychology defines primary emotions as “any one of a limited set of emotions that typically are manifested and recognized universally across cultures. The list of primary emotions varies across different theorists”. Matthew Tull, PhD, a professor of Psychology at the University of Toledo, in his article “How Primary Emotions Affect You” describes primary emotions as “those that occur as a direct result of encountering some kind of cue... These emotions would be considered a primary emotion because the emotion occurred as a direct consequence of encountering some kind of event” Nadia Khan, a mental health researcher, in her article “What are Primary and Secondary Emotions?” gives a similar definition as the preceding ones, but adds an interesting perspective. According to her “ primary emotions are the body's first response, and they are usually very easy to identify because they are so strong”. 

Anger is not a primary emotion, at least not for everybody. It is not as primal as a heartbeat. A human’s heart beats involuntarily without effort. That is what a heart must do unless it has failed. When a skunk squirts its offensive spray, instinctively everyone reaches for their noses.  Two people could have the very same provocative stimuli, but respond completely opposite. One could respond with anger, the other, like my friend Elsie, could respond with emotions other than anger. This illustration suggests that unlike the heartbeat and the instinctive reaction to a squirting skunk, one can exercise control on how they choose to react to a provocative stimulus.

It is necessary to note that there are those, especially scholars of psychology, who list anger as a primary emotion. Dr. Matthew Tull, cited above, for instance, writes in the same article that “If someone cuts you off in traffic, you'll probably feel irritated or angry. In this situation, anger or irritation is a primary emotion, because it occurred as a direct consequence of the event (being cut off in traffic)” (emphasis included). It is understandable from Dr. Tull’s example why a person can feel angry if someone cuts them off in traffic. But five different people may have the same experience and not necessarily feel the same emotion of anger. They would feel something, but there is no guarantee that that feeling would be one of anger. Even in such a situation a person can, as Elder Bednar taught in his 2006 General Conference address titled “And Nothing Shall Offend Them”, “choose not to be offended”.

Anger is an emotion. It reminds us that we are human. However, it can distort our perception of reality and create thinking errors. The idea that it is a primary emotion is not absolute. Thinking it is will make us justify the moments we choose to take offence. Like my friend Elsie taught me, being angry is a choice, one I can choose not to take.