Expression
of anger among Thais: Some preliminary findings
H.W. Gardiner |
An
investigation was carried out to classify-in terms of frequency and
acceptability and non-acceptability-the various methods by which
Thais reportedly deal with problems of hostility and aggression,
In addition, to obtaining responses to a thirty items scale from
120 subjects (60 males and 60 females), verbal and written accounts
of specific anger situations and the resulting behaviors were secured.
There was more agreement between males and females as to what were
acceptable forms of expression than those that were considered to
be unacceptable. The two most acceptable methods for both groups
were "facial expression" and "keeping calm".
Popular among females (ranked third), but not reported among males,
was "crying" behavior. Males considered "slapping" and "gambling" to
be the most unacceptable forms of behavior while females selected "drinking" and "injure
self". Significant differences were found between the two groups
with regard to the dimension of acceptability-non-acceptability for
only three forms of expression-crying, shooting, and fighting. In
each instance the difference was significant at the .01 level. Implications
of these results were discussed within the context of Thai culture
and a number of further studies were suggested.
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