Anger level test: 20 Items

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Anger is a normal emotion that we experience when we perceive that something has gone wrong in our life. That perception may be right or wrong, and that’s precisely what makes anger such a tricky emotion to manage.

We get angry when we perceive that our rights have been violated, our boundaries have been crossed, and we’ve been wronged or mistreated.

Regardless of the accuracy of our perceptions, learning to manage anger is a critical social skill.

5 Levels of anger

Think of anger as a bell curve. It rises in intensity and peaks at the top. The top is where we are completely under the grip of anger and act on it. Then, after we’ve acted on our anger, it subsides.

Anger, therefore, has levels or stages.

In a previous article, I discussed the eight stages of anger. Here, I’ve condensed that into five stages:

1. Triggered

We get triggered when we perceive a threat in our environment.

2. Buildup

Anger builds upon itself over time, pushing us to act on it.

3. Action

This is the peak moment when we act on our anger.

4. Recovery

This level is when we experience relief from anger.

5. Repair

The last stage is when we integrate the anger episode into our psyche and learn from it.

anger level graph

Taking the anger levels test

This test consists of 20 items on a 5-point scale ranging from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree. It measures your current level of anger. It gives you a score on each level of anger, except the ‘action’ stage.

Of course, when you’re acting on your anger, you can’t be taking some online test about anger.

The test is confidential; your results aren’t stored in our database.

Anger level test

1. A wave of anger just hit me out of the blue.

2. I feel threatened and shocked right now.

3. I feel mildly annoyed because of what happened.

4. My mind is trying hard to process what happened.

5. I'm questioning whether I should be angry or not.

6. My mind is telling me a story to justify my anger.

7. My mind is using past events to weave the story and reinforce my anger.

8. I can feel my muscles tensing up.

9. My breathing and heart rate are elevated.

10. I just talked in a loud and angry voice.

11. I just experienced a huge release of tension.

12. I'm beginning to finally cool down.

13. The rage is over, and I'm back to my senses.

14. I can think clearly and rationally now.

15. I'm feeling guilt/shame/regret.

16. I'm analyzing the episode and trying to figure out what happened.

17. I've taken responsibility for my part in the conflict.

18. I've sincerely apologized to the people I hurt with my anger.

19. I've learned the lesson that this angry episode of mine taught me.

20. I've made plans to behave differently in the future.