what causes some people to have a "bad temper" or "short fuse"?

Question

is this a personality trait or learned behaviour? does it stop if the person does not get a positive response or is it ingrained?

Answer 1

Stupid annoying people are the usual cause of a bad temper! No it won't stop unless the annoyance ceases to be annoying. Yes it is ingrained and they will never develop more tolerance for ignorance. I hope that answers your question. NOW STOP BOTHERING ME!!!!!!

Just kidding :)

Answer 2

Have you ever turned on your PC to find that you have to wait 20 minutes for it to load up? I know I have. Then when you get there you click the icon to logon to the Internet and you find there is no dial tone or it takes forever to logon. Then when you have logged on, you find it is really slow or certain websites take an age to load even though your connection speed is 2Mbps! Suddenly everything stops and your antivirus tells you there is a virus! All of this just to read an email that may not even be there! Surely a telephone call to the person is easier than spending 40 minutes trying to read an email? Only for the PC to crash on you or something.

Have you ever been typing a Word document and then it freezes and 2000 words are lost forever? Then the Recovery application freezes when it's supposed to be recovering your application. Or you get an error message that tells you something that only means something to a technician? Grrr! These things wind me up especially when time is limited.

Or you go online at home to look up something and then have to find an alternative because the connection has frozen. So you go to the library and ask whether they have what you're looking for and the librarian says in a snotty voice "Have you tried looking it up on the Internet?" Grrrr! These sorts of things make my blood boil and I'm usually a fairly laid back sort of guy.

Answer 3

It all depends on the person and situation. Some it is ingrained, such as a bipolar type disorder. For others it is learned. A lot of the time it is done out of frustration. Not knowing how to act instead of react. Typically the more disciplined (not abused and punished, just to be clear) a person is earlier in life the more controlled their temper is later on.
Example: kids who are used to getting everything they want by throwing a fit, typically turn into adults who think they still get their way by doing so.
But no ONE situation fits every scenario.

Answer 4

I get a bit of a temper sometimes. I lose my temper when people say things that are disrespectful to me. Sometimes I can blow things off with ease but it really depends on how much sleep of had and how many other things are causing me stress. If someone makes a sarcastic comment about something that is bothering me in my personal life you can bet I will do everything in my power to keep myself from beating the crap out of them but I definitely won't be fun to be around for that person. I don't like it when I lose my temper because it makes me feel bad about myself afterwards.

"Does it stop if the person doesn't get a positive response?"

I think that if you hear someone with a serious complaint it would do them good to have someone listen with a little bit of compassion. For me personally it makes my mood worse if I feel like no one cares. It makes me calm down if I feel like someone does care and wants to help me resolve a problem.

Answer 5

bad temper - a persisting angry mood

Anger is an emotional response to a grievance; real or imagined; past, present or future. Rage refers to an extreme degree of anger associated with a loss of calmness or discipline (in the case of human conduct).

Often based in a sensation or perception of threat, anger can be considered an emotional component in the increased threat response (part of the broader "stress response") whereby the charged emotional state produces physiological effects (increased epinephrine, cortisol), thereby producing behavioural effect of heightened stress and aggression.

Anger is an active emotion, as opposed to sadness and disappointment which are inactive. In other words, when one becomes angry it is usually with an intended purpose (whether feasible or not) of attacking the cause of the problem. In arguments, anger is often 'used' to supress opposition.

Anger may be "provoked" (or triggered) by perceived threats, like conflict, or by abstract concepts such as injustice, humiliation and betrayal among others.

There are many physical conditions that increase the potential for one to become angry. Common contributors to irritability include fatigue, hunger, being in pain, sexual frustration, recovery from an illness, or the use of certain drugs. Other causes are hormonal changes, such as those associated with PMS, giving birth, and menopause, physical withdrawal, and bipolar disorder. Research also shows that some individuals can be genetically predisposed to higher levels of anger.

A practical explanation of the components of anger:

The behavior that manifests and the physiological state (or sequence of physiological events that occur) when (1) An individual attributes to another person/organization/object a source of pain/deprivation (present or anticipated), and (2) Chooses behaviors (physical or cognitive) to stop or oppose it.

The key here is the choice to oppose the source of the pain. Without opposition, we would be left with fear behaviors (running away in the face of pain, for example). The pain/deprivation does not have to be a physical pain/threat, it can be emotional pain or abstract (i.e. being lied to)

The source of pain can be directed at objects (i.e., the Universe,). Because there is pain, however, does not mean anger is necessarily present (for example, bumping a nose into a glass pane, and feeling embarrassed).

The 'opposition' to pain does not have to be physically visible. The person can simply think "I want this to stop," or "I am against this." An example of an observable behavioral measure could be attempts to verbally communicate one's pain (often in a loud voice).

Humans often exhibit anger behaviors empathically. For example, reading an article about a minority experiencing racism. We are not the victim, per se.

Anger is usually magnified and extended in time when a cognitive decision is made about the intent of the individual (or organization or object) attributed to causing the pain. In other words, if we decide the pain/deprivation was intentional, "deliberate," the emotion is usually more intense.

Answer 6

Life Responsibilities.

Answer 7

it's a learned behavior and becomes a personality trait.
bad temper is ready to explode when provoked. and when that happens troubles come along.

a person with a bad temper needs to discipline his mind. and that's not easy. daily experiences should teach him how to handle his temper. the problem would be is when he doesn't recognize it as a problem.

Answer 8

i dont think so joseph, i had a good childhood and i didnt have a bad time at school, and i have a bad temper! (but not like a crazy person tho')

Answer 9

Selfishness.

Answer 10

I'd probably expect the worst. Especially if he's mumbling things under his breath while looking for the hammer.