Women lose influence when displaying anger, says study

When women exhibit anger, their ability to influence is diminished, new research suggests.

This effect reverses when the genders are switched; meaning the ability of men to influence increases when anger is shown.

The study was titled One Angry Woman: Anger Expression Increases Influence for Men, but Decreases Influence for Women, During Group Deliberation. It was published in the journal Law and Human Behaviour. It was written by Jessica Salerno (of Arizona State University) and Liana Peter-Hagene (of the University of Illinois).

The investigation was a “deception paradigm.” Participants thought they were involved in a fake, computer-mediated, six-person jury deliberation over a murder case. In reality, the entire interaction was scripted.