Experiencing anger in a social interaction: The role of personality

Although prior research has shown a relationship between the Big Five personality factors and trait anger, evidence that links these personality traits to the experience of state anger is rare. The current study investigated the effect of the Big Five personality traits on the state anger experience after a provocation in a staged social interaction and how status differences moderate these personality effects in an academic sample. In the equal status condition (N = 131, 56% female, aged 18 to 37) participants were provoked by a confederate; in the low status condition (N = 125, 55% female, aged 18 to 51) anger was instead provoked by the experimenter. In both conditions, individuals higher in neuroticism experienced more state anger after being provoked. In contrast to our hypotheses, no status effects or interaction effects between personality traits and status condition influenced the anger experience. Our findings illustrate the importance of neuroticism in understanding how people react to provocations in social situations, while status had no impact on the anger experience.