An investigation into the relationship between anger, social desirability and self-esteem
Authors
Power, Tara
Issue Date
2008
Degree
BA in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
This study, using the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS) (Crowne and Marlowe, 1960), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) (Rosenberg, 1965) and the BussPerry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) (Buss and Perry, 1992) aims to investigate the relationship between the level of socially undesirable behaviour in an individual and the level of anger, irritability and aggression in that individual. In other words, the first hypothesis is that those individuals who engage in socially undesirable behaviour such as being defensive, non-courteous, resentful and ill-mannered are more likely to exhibit impulsive aggression and be unable to control their anger. With reference to their level of socially undesirable behaviour and anger, the individuals' sense of self-esteem will also be measured. This leads to the second hypothesis that those who do indeed exhibit impulsive aggression and have difficulty or an inability to control their anger have lower self-esteem than those who are less impulsively aggressive and more in control of their anger. Differences in results based on gender will also be addressed. The participants are undergraduate students in Dublin Business School (DBS), University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT). In addition, the final results will be compared between each college in order to examine whether there are differences in anger, self-esteem or social desirability based on what college the participants attend.