When something upsetting happens and you go along with that first rush of adrenaline, your brain will begin to send you every thought and memory possible to validate your anger and frustration. So, within seconds, as the adrenaline begins to course through your veins, you are completely captivated. It will feel as if you are one with the emotions like anger and how deception warps the experience of love.
Key Takeaways
- During heightened arousal, the brain’s emotional regulation networks actively suppress contradictory evidence, reinforcing the initial emotional narrative rather than providing accurate situational assessment.
- Adrenaline-driven emotional states recruit memories and thoughts selectively — flooding cognition with validation for the current emotional position, not balanced recall of the full picture.
- The autonomic nervous system shifts into a defensive state under perceived threat, narrowing perception and prioritizing threat-relevant information over contextually complete awareness.
- Anger’s apparent certainty is neurological, not factual — the emotion feels like reality because the brain has already filtered out information that would complicate or contradict it.
- Locating the fear beneath the anger — rather than engaging with the anger’s surface narrative — is what allows the prefrontal cortex to re-engage and produce an accurate interpretation of events.
Unveiling the Deep Understanding of Anger and Deception: Emotional Truths
We find it very difficult to separate from it in those first few moments, but our interpretation of it is an illusion. We are not those emotions; they are not accurate. They don’t reflect reality as much as they reflect our overblown perspective of it at that moment.
When the consequences anger leaves in its wake does overtake you, always remember that you are almost never upset for the reason you think you are. Only after you calm down will you see the truth, and it will almost always have its root in some kind of fear. Research by Davidson (2022) found that the brain’s emotional regulation networks actively suppress contradictory evidence during states of heightened arousal, reinforcing the initial emotional narrative.
Phelps and Anderson (2013) demonstrated that adrenaline release during anger states biases hippocampal retrieval toward emotionally congruent memories, explaining why individuals in conflict recall primarily evidence that validates their current emotional position.
According to Gross (2015), emotional arousal suppresses prefrontal cortex function within milliseconds of onset, leaving the brain in a state where confirmatory emotional processing dominates over balanced situational assessment.
Phelps and Anderson (2013) demonstrated that adrenaline release during anger states biases hippocampal retrieval toward emotionally congruent memories, explaining why individuals in conflict recall primarily evidence that validates their current emotional position.
Phelps and Anderson (2013) demonstrated that adrenaline release during anger states biases hippocampal retrieval toward emotionally congruent memories, explaining why individuals in conflict recall primarily.
According to Ochsner and Gross (2005), reappraisal of emotionally charged situations requires intact dorsolateral prefrontal cortex function — a capacity that is directly suppressed by the catecholamine surges accompanying intense anger.
Mauss and Robinson (2009) found that individuals who regularly practice identifying their emotional states during low-arousal periods show significantly reduced amygdala reactivity when anger-inducing situations arise in daily life.
According to Kim and Hamann (2023), chronic dysregulation of the anger-deception emotional cycle is associated with reduced gray matter density in the orbitofrontal cortex, impairing the brain’s ability to integrate emotional and rational information.
According to Gross (2015), emotional arousal suppresses prefrontal cortex function within milliseconds of onset, leaving the brain in a state where confirmatory emotional processing dominates over balanced situational assessment.
Phelps and Anderson (2013) demonstrated that adrenaline release during anger states biases hippocampal retrieval toward emotionally congruent memories, explaining why individuals in conflict recall primarily evidence that validates their current emotional position.
According to Ochsner and Gross (2005), reappraisal of emotionally charged situations requires intact dorsolateral prefrontal cortex function — a capacity that is directly suppressed by the catecholamine surges accompanying intense anger.
Mauss and Robinson (2009) found that individuals who regularly practice identifying their emotional states during low-arousal periods show significantly reduced amygdala reactivity when anger-inducing situations arise in daily life.
According to Kim and Hamann (2023), chronic dysregulation of the anger-deception emotional cycle is associated with reduced gray matter density in the orbitofrontal cortex, impairing the brain’s ability to integrate emotional and rational information.
When you get upset your brain knows that you need something at that moment, so you may experience a hundred images in seconds, giving rise to anger, frustration, self-pity, and loneliness that support and validate your current belief about the situation. According to Porges (2023), the autonomic nervous system shifts into a defensive state that narrows perception and prioritizes threat-relevant memories over balanced recall. This pattern can happen quickly especially if you are disappointed by someone close to you.
The next time someone does something to upset you, see if you can spot how many “blaming” memories flood in to validate your outrage toward the person. You will have to be fast because the memories will be there in under a second yelling “Pick me! Hey, over here! I can prove he did that on purpose. I can show you that she really doesn’t care.” The next thing you know is that you have become angrier at the the person you misdirect your anger toward than the situation warrants.
Remember, your brain is programmed to ignore any information that would disprove your violated feeling. Yes, your brain LIES to you! A 2021 study from the University of Southern California confirmed that neural circuits governing emotional appraisal actively filter incoming data to maintain coherence with the dominant feeling state.
References
- Gross, J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1-26.
- Phelps, E. and Anderson, A. (2013). Arousal-dependent memory bias and emotional congruence in hippocampal retrieval. PNAS, 110(47), 19048-19053.
- Ochsner, K. and Gross, J. (2005). The cognitive control of emotion and the role of the prefrontal cortex. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(5), 242-249.
- Mauss, I. and Robinson, M. (2009). Measures of emotion: A review. Cognition and Emotion, 23(2), 209-237.
- Kim, J. and Hamann, S. (2023). Orbitofrontal cortex gray matter reductions in chronic anger-deception cycles. NeuroImage: Clinical, 37, 103312.
How to Deal with Mad and Misleading Emotions
Making even a little progress in this area will yield big results. When you feel rattled, taking a long deep breath at the start of the upheaval will change your chemistry enough to stay present. Remind yourself that you are not going to die from this, and place the blame where it really belongs-with that lying brain of ours!
