Are you easily provoked? Wish you had a strategy to remain cool, calm and collected when someone makes you angry?

New research says you should try this: Pretend you're viewing the irritating situation from a distance, rather than actively participating in it.

The study, from researchers at The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, shows that this strategy, called 'self-distancing,' can help minimize how angry and aggressive people become when someone aggravates them. It also shows that this technique can be learned quickly -- and can work in the heat of the moment, when people are most likely to act aggressively.

'People don't self-distance naturally; when they become angry, they naturally ruminate on it,' says Brad J. Bushman, a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State and one of the study's co-authors. This, he says, 'keeps the aggressive thoughts and angry feelings active in your mind, which makes it more likely that you'll act aggressively.'

The findings, published online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, were gathered from two related experiments.

All of the subjects were told that they were participating in a study of the effects of music on creativity. They were asked to try and solve difficult anagrams (rearranging letters to form words such as 'pandemonium' or 'lieutenant') in seven seconds with Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring playing loudly, and to announce their answers over an intercom.