Humility and anger

Anger can be a destructive emotion that is difficult to regulate. One possible form of anger regulation comes from a small body of research suggesting that humility may be associated with lower anger. The current research tested whether trait and state (manipulated) humility are associated with lower anger-related responses. Studies 1 and 2 examined individual differences in humility and found that higher levels of general humility and intellectual humility related to lower levels of anger and direct hostile attributions but more benign attributions to ambiguous scenarios. Individuals higher in trait humility also reported more avoidance of confrontations and dislike of anger. Study 3 created a novel 5-day induction based on the components of humility, and found that it reduced anger more than did a comparison condition. These findings suggest that humble individuals and increases in humility may offset the harms associated with anger. • Trait humility relates to less trait anger. • Trait humility relates to less hostile attributions to aversive, ambiguous social situations. • Trait humility relates to more benign attributions to aversive, ambiguous social situations. • A manipulated increase in humility led to less anger to aversive, ambiguous social situations. • A manipulated increase in humility led to decreased trait anger.