I'm Mad as Hell,and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore: Reports of Negative Emotions as a Self‐Presentation Tactic1

This research investigated how self‐presentation goals can influence public expressions of negative emotions. In Study 1, participants were asked how individuals would present their negative emotions if they were trying to create each of 5 different impressions, which corresponded to 5 self‐presentation strategies identified by Jones and Pittman (1982). Results show that individuals were expected to systematically understate or exaggerate their negative emotions, depending on the impression/strategy. In Study 2, participants discussed with another person a course they were taking where they were not doing as well as they had hoped. They were instructed either to present their feelings honestly, to ingratiate, or to intimidate the other person. Compared to the honesty condition, ingratia‐tion led to fewer negative emotions being expressed, whereas intimidation led to more negative emotions being expressed. Taken together, these studies provide initial evidence about when and how self‐presentation motives can influence reports of negative emotions.