Is There an Anger Gene?
In a recent interview with Rick Tocquigney on Life Lessons Radio, a listener asked if anger could be attributed to ones genetic make-up.
Every day, scientists are discovering more about what genes influence. However, I’ve never seen a report about a study on the effects genes have on anger. Consequently, I’m not qualified to answer that side of the question.
However, I have observed a clear connection between environment and a tendency to anger. Maybe genes contribute too, but I firmly believe that anger begets anger. Angry parents (as well as older siblings or teachers who are angry) produce angry children. There are exceptions. However, an angry parent can expect that his/her children will have a problem with anger too.
There are three ways that children learn anger from their environment:
1. Use of anger as a means of correction. When discipline is administered in anger, it becomes personal and feels like rejection. Consequently, a child will push back rather than accept what feels like a personal attack. If it happens regularly, he will constantly push back and will grow bitter and angry. Like a cold, anger is easily caught by a child who grows up in an angry environment.
2. Use of anger to maintain control. When people use anger in order to increase their power so they can get what they want, children observe and learn that anger is a valid means of getting what they want. Anger is taught by example.
3. Having unrealistic expectations. When a child is rarely disciplined and is given everything he wants, he learns that life revolves around him and his desires. That’s not realistic in life. If the child holds onto that expectation, he will be angered when the world doesn’t revolve around his desires and will not have developed the skills to handle his anger. If two-year-olds learn that temper tantrums get what they want, they will continue to have them when they are twenty.
However, having said that, perhaps the most significant cause of anger is related to our genes.
We are all descended from Adam and carry his genes. We all inherited a tendency to think of ourselves and to live to please ourselves. Our self-centered life is easily angered unless we have learned self-control and developed a genuine love for others.
James said, “You desire and do not have, so you murder [in anger]. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:2, ESV).
Not all anger escalates to physical murder, but, yes, we inherited a predisposition to anger. It is common to man, but it doesn’t have to control us. Jesus has cleansed us from our sins. He is our deliverer and stronghold. In Him, we can overcome the bondage of anger.
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (Jam 4:7-8a). “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Co 12:9). The more we allow Jesus to reign in our hearts, the less we struggle with anger.