States of anger

Anger can be felt mildly, extremely, or somewhere in between. The least intense state of anger is annoyance and can progressively escalate to frustration, exasperation, argumentativeness, bitterness, vengefulness, and fury. The following figure shows a graph of each state of anger and its intensity:

The states of anger are as follows:

• Annoyance: This is a very mild anger caused by a nuisance or inconvenience. The possible actions resulting from annoyance are suppression, passive-aggression, simmer/brood. The first action is ambiguous as it could either be a useful response to the emotion or it could cause harm. The last two are destructive as they cause harm.
• Frustration: This is a response to repeated failures in overcoming an obstacle. The possible actions resulting from frustration are the three mentioned earlier plus insult, quarrel, scream/yell, undermine. The action of suppressing frustration is an ambiguous action. All the other actions are destructive.
• Exasperation: This is anger caused by a repeated or strong nuisance. The possible actions resulting from exasperation are all the ones mentioned earlier plus dispute. Suppressing exasperation is an ambiguous action. All the other ones are destructive actions.
• Argumentativeness: This is a tendency to engage in disagreements. The possible actions resulting from argumentativeness are suppress, insult, quarrel, simmer/brood, undermine. Suppressing an argument is an ambiguous action; it could be useful or cause harm. All the other actions are destructive.
• Bitterness: This is anger after unfair treatment. The possible actions resulting from bitterness are suppress, passive-aggressive, dispute, insult, scream/yell, simmer/brood, undermine. Suppressing bitterness is an ambiguous action; it could be useful or cause harm. All the other actions are destructive.
• Vengefulness: The desire to retaliate after one is hurt. The possible actions resulting from vengefulness are dispute, insult, quarrel, scream/yell, simmer/brood, suppress, undermine, or using physical force; all the actions are destructive.
• Fury: This is uncontrolled and often violent anger. The possible actions resulting from fury are insult, quarrel, scream/yell, simmer/brood, suppress, undermine, or use physical force; all the actions are destructive.