ABSTRACT
The study investigated the effects of cognitive restructuring and biliotherapy techniques on the reduction of anger manifestation of secondary school students. The study was guided by four research questions and two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. A quasi-experimental design which adopted pretest and posttest, control group was used. The entire population of 41 identified aggressive students for the study was used as sample. This is because the number was not too large to manage. Subjects were assigned to each of the two treatment groups. Group A comprised 13 subjects (seven males and six females), and were assigned to cognitive restructuring technique, Group B comprised also 13 subjects (six males and seven females) and were assigned to bibliotherapy technique. Control group had fifteen subjects and was not given treatment. The research instrument used for data collection was a 25 item questionnaire titled anger behaviour inventory (ABI). The items were validated by three experts in terms of face validation. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha method. Based on the analysis, the result yielded internal consistency estimate of 0.94. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the four research questions of the study while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. The analysis of the data revealed the following findings: Students exposed to cognitive restructuring technique showed mean gain of -1.87 in terms of reducing their anger manifestation behaviour. Also, students exposed to bibliotherapy technique showed mean gain of -1.98 in terms of reducing their anger manifestation behaviour. The male and female students exposed to cognitive restructuring technique had mean gain scores of -1.78 and -1.98 respectively in reducing their anger manifestation behaviour. The male and female students exposed to bibliotherapy technique had mean gain scores of -1.99 and -1.98 respectively in reducing their anger manifestation behaviour. Based on the findings, it implies that experts in counselling should modify programme intervention in counselling service to include cognitive restructuring and bibliotheraphy techniques for reducing anger manifestation behaviour of students. It was recommended that the federal and state ministries of education should organize and sponsor workshops and seminars for educational psychologists, and guidance counsellors on how to implement cognitive restructuring and bibliotherapy techniques in reducing anger manifestation of students.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Anger as a strong feeling of dislike over something disrupts the enabling environment that is necessary for providing effective teaching and learning. Anger is actually designed to be a positive and constructive aid to survival. Gael (2000), said that anger is meant to provide human beings with vital boosts of both physical and emotional energy, just when they are most in need of either protection or healing. But it is hard to remember the positive nature of anger today. Not only is the media replete with stories depicting the awful power of uncontrolled anger, yet some men are pretending that they have risen above this powerful human emotion (Ingram, 2010).
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Anger means the state of strong feeling of dislike over something, a situation or a person (Pius, 2002). Anger is a feeling related to one’s perception of having been offended, wronged and a tendency to undo that wrongdoing by retaliation (Novaco, 2011). Novaco in the course of his definition recognized three modalities of anger: cognitive (appraisals), somatic-affective (tension and agitations) and behavioural (withdrawal and antagonism). Anger may have physical correlates such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline (Novaco, 2011). Melissa (2004) views anger as part of the flight response to the perceived threat of harm. The feeling of anger can move a person to make conscious choice to show the displeasure to the behaviour of another threatening outside force.
Anger is a feeling state ranging in intensity from mild annoyance to full blown rage and fury (Ingram, 2010). Anger according to Charles (2009:2) is “an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage.” Like other emotions, it is accompanied by some physiological changes. When you get angry, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of your energy, hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. As a working definition in this study, anger is a feeling state ranging in intensity from mild annoyance to full blown rage and fury of students.
Anger can be caused by both external and internal events. One could be angry at a specific person (such as a co-worker or supervisor) or event (a traffic jam) (Charles, 2009).The external expression of anger can be found in facial expressions, body language, physiological responses, and at times in public acts of aggression. Some animals in other to express their anger make loud sounds, attempt to look physically larger, bare their teeth, and stare. The behaviours associated with anger are designed to warn aggressors to stop their threatening behaviour. Rarely does a physical altercation occur without the prior expression of anger by at least one of the participants. While most of those who experience anger explain its arousal as a result of “what has happened to them”, Novaco, (2011) points out that an angry person can be very well mistaken because anger causes a loss in both self monitoring capacity.
Anger appears to be on the increase and is becoming a way of life. For instance, the level of violence as a result of anger in the different homes, nations and the world over is alarming (Novaco, 2011).
In Enugu state, the expression of anger appears to be high among secondary school students. It has been observed by researchers like Ugwu (2009) that the rate of anger display in secondary schools in Enugu Urban of Enugu state is quite alarming and that students have resorted to seek relief from their anger through denial and repression, venting and verbally acting out. Students have also resorted to seek relief through resistance and suppression, seek revenge, blaming and complaining, avoidance and withdrawing from the source of anger, sensual indulgence to the point of addiction and physical violence. Obiukwu (2010) posits that the high rate of anger behaviour in schools in Enugu metropolis manifests in physical violence of students in most of the schools. The above assertion is in line with a report obtained from a Guidance Counsellor of a school during a preliminary investigation by the researcher where the Counsellor reported of the increasing cases of anger expression which he attends to daily. These include: students’ destruction of other students’ lockers and chairs and threatening others. In an earlier instance, Obe (2007) frowned at the high rate of anger expression found among the students in Enugu metropolis. He expressed worry over the rate of physical assault and intimidation that some senior students and prefects mete out to their peers and younger ones as a result of anger. He explained that unless they curb the rate of anger expression, meaningful teaching and learning cannot take place.
