Google AI: Shame and rage are often interconnected, with many people experiencing intense anger as a defense mechanism against feelings of shame, essentially using rage to mask or deflect the painful experience of feeling inadequate or worthless; this can create a cycle where experiencing shame triggers anger, which can then further exacerbate feelings of shame if expressed in destructive ways.
Key points about the relationship between shame and rage:
Defensive mechanism:
When someone feels deeply ashamed, they may turn to anger as a way to protect themselves from the vulnerability and pain associated with shame, often projecting these feelings onto others.
“Shame-rage cycle”:
This describes the dynamic where experiencing shame can lead to a burst of anger, which can then further fuel feelings of shame if the anger is expressed in a way that is self-destructive or damaging to relationships.
Underlying feelings of powerlessness:
Shame can often be associated with feeling small, powerless, or defective, which can trigger a desire to lash out with anger to regain a sense of control.
Impact of childhood experiences:
Individuals who experienced significant criticism or abuse during childhood may be particularly prone to experiencing a strong link between shame and rage, as they may have learned to use anger as a coping mechanism for deeply ingrained feelings of inadequacy.
Andrew Gelman: “Life is continuous but we think in discrete terms. In applied statistics there’s the p=.05 line which tells us whether a finding is significant or not. Baseball has the Mendoza line. And academia has what might be called the John Yoo line: the point at which nothing you write gets taken seriously, and so you might as well become a hack because you have no scholarly reputation remaining. John Yoo, of course, became a hack because, I assume, he had nothing left to lose. In contrast, historian Niall Ferguson has reportedly been moved to hackery because he has so much to gain.”
