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Coping With Anger: Overview

Introduction

Dealing with angry individuals is a highly challenging task for most people. If not handled effectively, angry behavior can cause emotional and physical damage to those exposed to it. Angry actions can elicit extreme reactions from others, ranging from social withdrawal to aggression. Managed well, anger can lead to positive changes in behavior, and to solutions to difficult interpersonal problems. The following program demonstrates methods that children can use to effectively cope with another's angry behavior.

Anger/Other vs. Anger/Self

The focus of Module 4 (Coping With Anger From Others) is on responding to the other person's anger. He/She is angry with us and we must reply. Initially, we are not angry ourselves, the anger is introduced from the outside. In these situations, anger confronts us. As illustrated by the characters in the videos, there are three basic ways we can react: COLD, HOT, and COOL.

Module 5 (Coping With One's Own Anger) addresses self-anger. We are angry, we do the confronting, and we introduce our anger into the situation. We can direct our angry feelings at the other person(s) by being COLD, HOT, or COOL. As we continue to see, the COOL, assertive mode is the most successful in resolving conflict.

Anger Module Objectives

This program will teach students to:

  1. Understand what angry behavior is.
  2. Understand why people become angry.
  3. Recognize fair anger from unfair anger.
  4. Identify characteristics of:
    • A COLD (giving up) response to another's anger.
    • A HOT (blowing up) response to another's anger.
  5. Identify drawbacks of the HOT and COLD responses to another's anger.
  6. Identify the three steps of the COOL response to anger:
    • LOOK COOL: Calm Down/Relax/Breathe
    • THINK COOL: Self-Talk
    • ACT COOL: Take Confident Action by:
      1. Accept/Apologize/Makeup - Lesson 2
      2. Explain Your Side/Take a Break - Lesson 3
  7. Recall and perform the steps of being in control/COOL responses to angry behavior in roleplay and real situations.
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Note: Lesson 1 of each module features Chester The Cat introducing the BeCool paradigm. He also explains the symbolism of the BeCool sunglasses and the 3-note Whistle. If you have purchased more than one module in the BeCool series and have viewed it previously, the lesson and screening are optional.