Writing down your reaction to a negative incident on a piece of paper and then throwing it away may help reduce anger, a study suggests.
Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan found that shredding the paper may also help lessen feelings of frustration, which may help in workplace settings where expressing anger outwardly can have negative consequences.
"We expected that our method would suppress anger to some extent," lead researcher Nobuyuki Kawai said in a statement. "However, we were amazed that anger was eliminated almost entirely."
The findings may shed light on the Japanese cultural tradition of hakidashisara, an annual festival at the Hiyoshi shrine near Nagoya where people smash small discs representing things that make them angry. People who take part anecdotally report feeling relieved.
For the study, doctoral students Nobuyuki Kawai and Yuta Kanaya asked participants to write brief opinions about important social problems. For example, whether smoking in public should be banned.
Then, the researchers told the participants that a doctoral student at Nagoya University would evaluate their writing. However, the "doctoral student" was a fake and regardless of what the study participants wrote, they were scored poorly on intelligence, interest, friendliness, logic and rationality.
Each participant was given the same insulting feedback: "I cannot believe an educated person would think like this. I hope this person learns something while at the university."
Afterwards, the participants were asked to write their thoughts on the feedback, focusing on what triggered their emotions.
They were then split into two groups. The first group was told to either throw away the paper they wrote in the garbage or keep it in a file on their desk. A second group was told to destroy the document in a shredder or put it in a plastic box.
The participants were then asked to rate their anger after the insult, and after either disposing of or keeping the paper.
All of the participants reported a higher level of anger after receiving insulting comments. However, the anger levels of the individuals who discarded their paper in the trash can or shredded it returned to their initial state after disposing of the paper.
Meanwhile, the participants who held on to a hard copy of the insult experienced only a small decrease in their overall anger.
"This technique could be applied in the moment by writing down the source of anger as if taking a memo and then throwing it away when one feels angry in a business situation," explained Kawai.
The full results of the study were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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