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Australian and Japanese Differences in Predispositions to Anger: Looking at Targets of Interpersonal Anger in the Workplace

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Abstract

The construct of interpersonal anger relates to how an individual’s potential to anger towards others may be influenced by the characteristics of those people targeted. These may include the relative relationship to the target, such as how intimately they know each other, or their relative positions within a social hierarchy, for example, within a workplace. The McLinton Interpersonal Domain-specific Anger Instrument (MIDAI) has been tested in Australia and Japan in order to identify similarities and differences in the nature of the anger experience. It allows a researcher to build an “interpersonal anger profile” for an individual or group, which details the varying predispositions to anger towards different individuals based on their relationship (family member, stranger, work colleague). Data from two random stratified community samples were collected from metropolitan Nagoya, Japan (N = 300), and Adelaide, Australia (N = 301), yielding a workplace interpersonal anger profile for each of the two samples. The Japanese workers reported different levels of interpersonal anger depending on the target’s organisational status relative to their own (i.e., superior, co-worker, or subordinate), suggesting that workplace social hierarchy influenced the Japanese interpersonal anger profile. Australian workers did not differ in interpersonal anger towards others in the workplace, suggesting less influence of social hierarchy. Levels of interpersonal anger towards supervisors differed between Australian and Japanese workers, indicating that the tendency to anger towards others may be influenced by sociocultural variables. The importance of understanding cross-cultural differences in anger in the Asia-Pacific region is also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Applied Psychological Research, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, St Bernards Road, Magill Campus, CA Building, Adelaide, SA, 5072, Australia

    Sarven S. McLinton & Maureen F. Dollard

Authors
  1. Sarven S. McLinton
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  2. Maureen F. Dollard
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Correspondence to Sarven S. McLinton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Applied Psychological Research, School of Psychology, Social Work & Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Maureen F. Dollard

  2. Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Akihito Shimazu

  3. Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

    Rusli Bin Nordin

  4. School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Paula Brough

  5. Centre for Applied Psychological Research, School of Psychology, Social Work & Social Policy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Michelle R. Tuckey

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McLinton, S.S., Dollard, M.F. (2014). Australian and Japanese Differences in Predispositions to Anger: Looking at Targets of Interpersonal Anger in the Workplace. In: Dollard, M., Shimazu, A., Bin Nordin, R., Brough, P., Tuckey, M. (eds) Psychosocial Factors at Work in the Asia Pacific. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8975-2_10

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