Anger Management

Question 1

Anger management is a form of what therapy

Answer 1

Cognitive behavioural therapy

Question 2

Novaco (1975) suggests that what factors trigger the emotional arousal which usually precedes aggressive acts

Answer 2

Cognitive

Question 3

What’s hostile attribution bias

Answer 3

When in some people, anger is too quick to surface, especially in situations that they perceive to be threatening but are actually not

Question 4

what is someone generally taught in anger management

Answer 4

taught how to recognise when they are losing control, and encouraged to develop
techniques which bring about conflict-resolution without resorting to violence

Question 5

how many phases does anger management have

Answer 5

3

Question 6

what are the 3 phases

Answer 6

cognitive preparation
skill acquisition
application practice

Question 7

what is cognitive preparation

Answer 7

identifying triggers for anger
-> done by reflecting on events in the past when they became angry.
-> consider if the way that they interpreted those events was rational.
The therapist’s helps the offender redefine the situation as unthreatening

Question 8

what is skill acquisition

Answer 8

• offender is introduced to a range of techniques + skills to help them handle anger-provoking situations more rationally.
  Techniques can be
  cognitive (positive self-talk to encourage calmness)
  behavioural (assertiveness training to communicate more effectively)
  physiological (methods of relaxation and meditation).

Question 9

what is application practice

Answer 9

The offender practises the skills they learned in a monitored environment.
-> Role plays to re-enact past scenarios that led to the offender being violent
The offender must take this seriously and see the scenario as real, and the
therapist has to be brave and ‘wind up’ the offender.
Successful negotiation of the role play = positive reinforcement from
the therapist.

Question 10

AO3 Pros of anger management

Answer 10

• multidisciplinary approach
• get to the root cause of offending behaviour

Question 11

how is anger management a multidisciplinary approach and how is this good

Answer 11

-> (cognitive, behavioural and social elements are included)
therefore acknowledges that offending is a complex social and psychological behaviour, and any attempt to address it must include these different elements.

Question 12

how is anger management better than other methods e.g. behaviour modification

Answer 12

Unlike behaviour modification, anger management tries to get to the root
cause of offending behaviour (the thought processes that lead to
anger/violence), rather than focusing on superficial surface behaviour.

Question 13

AO3 cons of anger management

Answer 13

• The assumption that anger causes offending may be false.
• Anger management programmes are expensive to run.
• The success of anger management is based on the commitment of those who
  participate

Question 14

how might the assumption that anger causes offending may be false

Answer 14

Many crimes, (e.g financial crime), not motivated by anger.
Even murder is not always motivated by anger, Harold Shipman murdered over 215 of his patients as a GP, and his motivation was to alleviate their suffering.

Question 15

why might anger management programmes be expensive to run

Answer 15

as they require a highly
trained specialist who is used to dealing with violent offenders
Many prisons do not have the resources to run such programmes.

Question 16

when can the success of anger management being based on the commitment of those who participate be an issue

Answer 16

if prisoners are uncooperative or apathetic.