{"id":11913,"date":"2020-01-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/?p=11913"},"modified":"2020-06-28T01:40:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-28T04:40:51","slug":"are-stoics-less-angry-than-other-people-stoic-week-2019-report-part-2-of-4-by-tim-lebon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/are-stoics-less-angry-than-other-people-stoic-week-2019-report-part-2-of-4-by-tim-lebon\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Stoics Less Angry than Other People? Stoic Week 2019 Report (part 2) by Tim LeBon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One main activity of the Modern Stoicism organization is carrying out research on the impact of adopting Stoic practices, perspectives, and principles on those who do so.  Every year we run the Stoic Week online class, and we also gather valuable data through the surveys before and after participants engage in the class.  Tim LeBon is our lead quantitative researcher, and he does invaluable service in compiling and interpreting the data collected, producing a set of Stoic Week Reports.  This is the second report for 2019, which you can download a copy of (with all of the appendices) by clicking here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A strong positive relationship between Stoicism and\nwell-being has been well documented in previous\nStoic Week reports<\/a>.  This\narticle analyses the findings from analysing questionnaires from the start <\/em>of Stoic week 2019, and will report\non whether this relationship has been maintained. In 2019 we obtained\nadditional information about the relationship between Stoicism and anger, as\nmeasured by the Anger Disorder Scale (ADS-S). A second innovation this year was\nthe introduction of another iteration of  the Stoic Attitudes and Behaviours Scale (SABS\nv5.0). This report will indicate which of the 60 items of the new SABS scale\nare the most <\/em>and least a<\/em>ssociated with life satisfaction,\nflourishing, positive and negative emotions and with anger \u2013 in other words,\nwhich items appear to be the most active ingredients of Stoicism in these\nrespects. The other reports in this series will discuss the effect of taking part<\/em> in Stoic Week (part 3) and summarise\nparticipant feedback and suggest future directions of research (part 4).\nDetails about the scales used are given in the Appendices of this report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Were My Scores Like Compared to the Average?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you took part in Stoic Week, you will have been\ngiven average scores at the start of the week for other participants at the\nstart of a previous Stoic Week for some of the measures. But we didn\u2019t have the\nscores for Stoic Week 2019 then (obviously!), and we didn\u2019t have comparative\nscores for the Anger Scale or for the new SABS scale. So, here you are. How do\nyou compare with the average score?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Life Satisfaction (SWL)        23<\/li>
  • Emotions (SPANE)             5<\/li>
  • Flourish                                 43<\/li>
  • Anger (ADS-S)                     34<\/li>
  • Stoicism (SABS 5.0)             300<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The New SABS Scale<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Stoic Week 2019 saw the introduction of SABS 5.0, a\n60-item questionnaire described in Appendix A. This scale builds on the work\ndone with the invaluable work Ray DiGiuseppe and others to eliminate items with\ninferior psychometric properties. We are also working towards validating the\nSABS 5.0 and providing sub-scales (for example \u201cStoic Worldview\u201d and \u201cValues\nawareness and Stoic mindfulness\u201d. As the work on subscales is still\nprovisional, it will be reported at a later date.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Stoicism and Anger<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Theoretically, we would expect Stoic attitude to help\nwith anger management. We would anticipate that Stoics would not just act in a\nless angry way, they would also get angry less often than non-Stoics because non-Stoics\noften get angry at things beyond their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Previous Stoic Week research results have indeed\nsuggested a strong inverse relationship between Stoicism and anger. However,\nthis has relied on the single anger item question in the SPANE questionnaire.\nSince anger management is potentially an important benefit of practising\nStoicism, the relationship between Stoicism and anger warranted further\ninvestigation. Consequently, this year we asked participants to fill in a\nvalidated anger questionnaire, the 18-item ADS-S (see Appendix B) to understand\nthe relationship between Stoicism and anger when anger is measured in a more\nrobust manner and which also separates out the degree to which people feel\nanger, the degree to which they feel vengeful, and the extent to which they act\nangrily. Table 1 below gives the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n Anger overall <\/a>\n  (ADS-S)\n <\/td>\n Anger-In \n (ADS-S subscale 1)\n <\/td>\n Anger Vengeance \n (ADS-S subscale 2)\n <\/td>\n Anger Reactivity \n (ADS-S subscale S)\n <\/td>\n Anger single item \n (SPANE)\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n -.44\n <\/td>\n -.45\n <\/td>\n -.31\n <\/td>\n -.35\n <\/td>\n -.32\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Table 1: Correlation and Stoicism and Anger at the start of Stoic Week 2019 (1725 participants)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The more sophisticated measure of anger provided by\nthe ADS-S than the single scale item in the SPANE gives a significantly\nstronger relationship between Stoicism and a lack of anger (.44 compared to\n.32). The ADS-S divides anger into 3 subscales. Subscale 1, the anger-in scale,\nrepresents the degree to which people are likely to feel anger and repress, or\nnot express their anger. Stoics are particularly less likely to do this (.45\ncorrelation), putting a lie to the notion that Stoics repress feelings (the\n\u201cstiff upper lip\u201d<\/em>). Stoics are also likely to be less vengeful (subscale 2)\nand less reactive with their anger (subscale 3). It will be interesting to see\nhow the scales and subscales change when people try to practice Stoicism in\nStoic Week. We would predict a reduction in anger and in particular, a large reduction\nin subscale 1 (anger-in).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Stoicism and\nWell-Being<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    We can tell how Stoic someone is by their score on the SABS 5.0. By measuring their well-being at the same time, we can determine the extent to which Stoicism is associated with well-being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n  <\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Flourishing<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Emotions (SPANE)<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Life Satisfaction (SWL)<\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n STOIC\n ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS\n <\/td>\n 2019: 0.64\n
    \n 2018: 0.54\n 2017: 0.47\n <\/td>    		\n 2019: 0.59\n 2018: 0.45\n 2017: 0.43\n \n <\/td>\n 2019: 0.50\n 2018: 0.39\n 2017: 0.36\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Table 2\nOverall association of Stoic Attitudes and Behaviours with various scales (2019\nStoic Week compared to 2018 and 2017 Stoic Weeks)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As table 2 shows, Stoicism is associated to  a very high degree of Flourishing and a balance of positive over emotions and (to a slightly lesser degree) satisfaction with life. Over the years as we have worked to improve the SABs, the correlation coefficients are somewhat higher using the new SABS 5.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Stoicism and\nEmotions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    We can also see which emotions are most associated\nwith Stoicism. The trends found in previous years continue to be supported.\nStoicism is not just associated with not feeling bad, it is also strongly\nassociated with feeling contented and positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n Emotion<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n 2019<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n 2018<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n 2017<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n 2016<\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Negative\n <\/td>\n -.47\n <\/td>\n -0.35\n <\/td>\n -0.36\n <\/td>\n -0.29\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Bad\n <\/td>\n -.42\n <\/td>\n -0.31\n <\/td>\n -0.32\n <\/td>\n -0.28\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Unpleasant\n <\/td>\n -.39\n <\/td>\n -0.29\n <\/td>\n -0.27\n <\/td>\n -0.24\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Sad\n <\/td>\n -.38\n <\/td>\n -0.26\n <\/td>\n -0.28\n <\/td>\n -0.26\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Angry\n <\/td>\n -.32\n <\/td>\n -0.24\n <\/td>\n -0.27\n <\/td>\n -0.24\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Afraid\n <\/td>\n -.34\n <\/td>\n -0.24\n <\/td>\n -0.23\n <\/td>\n -0.26\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Contented\n <\/td>\n .49\n <\/td>\n 0.36\n <\/td>\n 0.33\n <\/td>\n 0.35\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Positive\n <\/td>\n .49\n <\/td>\n 0.36\n <\/td>\n 0.32\n <\/td>\n 0.31\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Happy\n <\/td>\n .43\n <\/td>\n 0.35\n <\/td>\n 0.29\n <\/td>\n 0.28\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Good\n <\/td>\n .47\n <\/td>\n 0.34\n <\/td>\n 0.32\n <\/td>\n 0.32\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Pleasant\n <\/td>\n .41\n <\/td>\n 0.34\n <\/td>\n 0.32\n <\/td>\n 0.3\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Joyful\n <\/td>\n .41\n <\/td>\n 0.32\n <\/td>\n 0.28\n <\/td>\n 0.26\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Once again, as we have continued to revise and\nimprove the SAB the correlation coefficients with the various measures emotions\nhave increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Table 3: Correlation of SABS 5.0 scores and\nemotions as measured in SPANE <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Degree of Stoicism\nand Well-being<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The above findings lend considerable support to the view that Stoicism is associated with higher degrees of well-being and less anger. But how much difference does it make? We attempted to tease this out by looking at the differences in well-being for those who are the most and least Stoic. This is shown in table 4 below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n  <\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Participant Scores <\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Ranking on the SABS 5.0<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Life Satisfaction<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Emotions<\/strong><\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Anger<\/strong><\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Flourishing<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Stoicism<\/strong><\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Top 10%\n <\/td>\n 28\n <\/td>\n 14\n <\/td>\n 26\n <\/td>\n 50\n <\/td>\n 371\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Top\n quarter\n <\/td>\n 27\n <\/td>\n 11\n <\/td>\n 28\n <\/td>\n 49\n <\/td>\n 351\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Top half\n <\/td>\n 26\n <\/td>\n 9\n <\/td>\n 31\n <\/td>\n 47\n <\/td>\n 331\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Average\n <\/td>\n 23\n <\/td>\n 5\n <\/td>\n 34\n <\/td>\n 43\n <\/td>\n 300\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Bottom\n half\n <\/td>\n 21\n <\/td>\n 2\n <\/td>\n 37\n <\/td>\n 39\n <\/td>\n 269\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Bottom\n quarter\n <\/td>\n 19\n <\/td>\n 0\n <\/td>\n 39\n <\/td>\n 37\n <\/td>\n 257\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n Bottom 10%\n <\/td>\n 17\n <\/td>\n -2\n <\/td>\n 41\n <\/td>\n 33\n <\/td>\n 235\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Table 4: Difference in life\nsatisfaction, the balance of emotions, anger, flourishing according to the degree\nof Stoicism (Start of Stoic Week 2019, n=1725)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Those who are the most Stoic (top 10%) are much\nhigher in well-being and lower in anger than the those in the top 10%. One\npossible way to read table 4 is to say that the biggest gains are to be made\nwith those people who are least <\/em>Stoic. If someone moved from the bottom\nhalf to just average levels of Stoicism, one would anticipate quite significant\ngains in well-being \u2013 assuming that causation goes in the direction of being\nStoic to well-being, which may not be completely founded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Stoicism\u2019s Most Active Ingredients <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Which Stoic attitudes and beliefs are most associated with life satisfaction, flourishing, positive emotions and the absence of anger? By finding the correlation between SABS 5.0 items and each measure, it is possible to answer these questions. Tables 5 -8 below provide the answers for each scale. Note that since these associations are correlations, we cannot be sure of the direction of causation, so these findings require a certain amount of qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n #<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n SABS Item<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Life\n Satisfaction Correlation<\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 19\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time dwelling\n on what has gone wrong in the past.*\n <\/td>\n 0.46\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 33\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time worrying\n about the future.*\n <\/td>\n 0.42\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 26\n <\/td>\n When I have a problem, I am good at\n taking constructive action in a timely manner.\n <\/td>\n 0.41\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 41\n <\/td>\n If things don\u2019t go well for me, I\n can\u2019t lead a good life.*\n <\/td>\n 0.35\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 38\n <\/td>\n When a negative thought enters my\n mind, I remind myself that it is just an interpretation of the situation.\n <\/td>\n 0.35\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 48\n <\/td>\n Even when I can\u2019t do anything more\n about a problem, I still worry about it a lot.*\n <\/td>\n 0.35\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Table 5:  Most active Stoic ingredients of Life\nSatisfaction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you wanted to look at one element of Stoicism indicative of satisfaction with life, it would be someone not <\/em>dwelling on the past<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n #\n <\/td>\n SABS Item\n <\/td>\n Flourishing\n correlation\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 26\n <\/td>\n When I have a problem, I am good at\n taking constructive action in a timely manner.\n <\/td>\n 0.54\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 12\n <\/td>\n I usually do the right thing.\n <\/td>\n 0.46\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 19\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time dwelling\n on what has gone wrong in the past.*\n <\/td>\n 0.45\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 22\n <\/td>\n When making an important decision I\n ask myself \u201cWhat really matters here?\u201d\n <\/td>\n 0.44\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 33\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time worrying\n about the future.*\n <\/td>\n 0.43\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 14\n <\/td>\n  I am committed to helping humanity in\n general.\n <\/td>\n 0.43\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 38\n <\/td>\n When a negative thought enters my\n mind, I remind myself that it is just an interpretation of the situation.\n <\/td>\n 0.43\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Table 6:  Most active SABS ingredients in terms of\nFlourishing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The single element of\nStoicism indicative of flourishing is taking constructive action in a timely\nmanner,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The absence of worrying is most associated with\nhaving a positive balance of emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n 33\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time worrying about the future.*\n <\/td>\n 0.56\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 19\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time dwelling on what has gone wrong in the\n past.*\n <\/td>\n 0.56\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 48\n <\/td>\n Even when I can\u2019t do anything more about a problem I still worry about\n it a lot.*\n <\/td>\n 0.52\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 38\n <\/td>\n When a negative thought enters my mind, I remind myself that it is just\n an interpretation of the situation.\n <\/td>\n 0.43\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 41\n <\/td>\n If things don\u2019t go well for me, I can\u2019t lead a good life.*\n <\/td>\n 0.42\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Table 7:  Most active SABS ingredients in terms of\nemotions <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n #\n <\/td>\n SABS Item\n <\/td>\n Anger\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 19\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time dwelling\n on what has gone wrong in the past.*\n <\/td>\n -0.46\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 33\n <\/td>\n I spend quite a lot of time worrying\n about the future.*\n <\/td>\n -0.42\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 48\n <\/td>\n Even when I can\u2019t do anything more\n about a problem, I still worry about it a lot.*\n <\/td>\n -0.41\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 41\n <\/td>\n If things don\u2019t go well for me, I\n can\u2019t lead a good life.*\n <\/td>\n -0.34\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 38\n <\/td>\n When a negative thought enters my\n mind, I remind myself that it is just an interpretation of the situation.\n <\/td>\n -0.34\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 26\n <\/td>\n When I have a problem, I am good at\n taking constructive action in a timely manner.\n <\/td>\n -0.33\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 15\n <\/td>\n I treat everyone fairly.\n <\/td>\n -0.32\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Table\n8:  Most active SABS ingredients in terms\nof emotions <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dwelling on the past is most associated with anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    These findings are particularly significant as they\nindicate the association of degrees of Stoicism with other qualities such as\nlife satisfaction and anger.\nA key finding is that Stoicism is not<\/em> associated with repressing anger\nand so it puts a lie to the \u201cstiff upper lip\u201d notion. It also gives\nparticipants comparative scores for SABS 5.0 and the anger scale, which were not\navailable at the time they took part in Stoic Week<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     They are taken from a large sample (1765 participants) of varying demographics and allegiance to Stoicism. They are however, a self-selecting sample and more likely to be allied to Stoicism than the general public. Moreover, since they are correlational they do not indicate the direction of causation. The next report in the series will provide information about how these measures change after participants have taken part in Stoic Week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tim LeBon<\/strong> is the author of <\/em>Wise Therapy and <\/em>Achieve Your Potential with Positive Psychology. He is a philosophical life coach with a private practice in London and also an accredited CBT psychotherapist working in the NHS. He is a founder member of the Modern Stoicism team.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One main activity of the Modern Stoicism organization is carrying out research on the impact of adopting Stoic practices, perspectives, and principles on those who do so.  Every year we run the Stoic Week online class, and we also gather valuable data through the surveys before and after participants engage in the class.  Tim LeBon … Continue reading “Are Stoics Less Angry than Other People? Stoic Week 2019 Report (part 2) by Tim LeBon”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8636,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[149,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-stoicism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8636"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11913"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12655,"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913\/revisions\/12655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colabstaging.co.uk\/msbackup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}