4-School

The anger scale (25 mins)

A scale has been drawn for you showing: calm, annoyance, irritation, anger, rage and fury.





Read the definitions of annoyance, irritation, anger, rage and fury.

Annoyance
Something that lightly displeases us and that we remove quite easily, like a fly buzzing in our ear.

Irritation
The annoyance has now become more persistent and requires greater physical action to get rid of. It might even bother us so much that we use a vigorous action like a slap on, for example, the fly or the mosquito.

Anger
This is real pain that we feel and it begins to get to us. Most probably there is by now at least one human being whom we identify as the cause of the pain. Even though we might feel like lashing out, verbally or physically, we are probably still in control of ourselves at this point and can resist hitting of at the other person. If we know how to, we can at this stage also still communicate with the person and seek to solve the problem with them. So anger is not destructive at this point and a constructive solution can still be achieved.

Rage
The pain is now agony for us. Communication has failed or has been refused and we begin to feel as if there is no way out. Nothing matters at this point except that the pain should stop or that the person hurting us should also be hurt. Our physical bodies are getting ready to fight and we are losing control. Even if speech is possible at this point, it probably does not make much sense. We are now becoming destructive.

Fury
This is the highest intensity of anger. There is so much pain that our thinking stops and we are totally out of control. The animal side of us just wants to destroy the other person.


Has there been any time when you have been in a rage or fury or near to this. Think about times when you have been irritated or angry.
What pushes your anger buttons?


Draw the diagram as per above, but this time for yourself. You can use any colours you think appropriate. Think about anger and how it escalates and also how it can resolve and slide way if you think calm friendly thoughts.


Now with a partner think of one thing you will do when you next find yourself in each of the five stages of anger, to help you deal with it or get out of it.


Discuss with the whole class.