City Research Online

Abstract

The present study is a phenomenological exploration of the way men in London make sense of their experiences of anger. Data were collected from British online resources as well as individual interviews; and were analysed using Thematic Analysis, Discursive Psychology and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The aim was to explore how the emotional state of anger is comprehended by adult males living in London. In order to inform the exploration, the social and biological dimensions were taken into consideration, framing the discursive construction of their understanding of the emotional experience. The results reveal individual tensions but also agreement on the main dimensions of anger experience, detection, understanding and expression. These are then applied to a critical evaluation of how the U.K.’s social constructs around anger and the angry person are presented in the participants’ accounts and how the participants address these constructs; as well as to a theorizing of what a person is and how the emotional experience makes one think about themselves after the experience is over. The study contributes to ongoing debates about how emotions are experienced and understood by the person; how they are used to explain and justify his/her way of-seeing and way-of-being in the world; and how discourse and experience interact with one-another. Moreover, it is an exercise in the combination of qualitative methods of analysis.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Departments:	Doctoral Theses School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology School of Health & Psychological Sciences > School of Health & Psychological Sciences Doctoral Theses

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