WHAT ANNOYS US

I read an interview about Joe Palca who wrote the book about annoying science.  At some point I will read this book that he has written.  Here are a few things Joe said in his interview.

UNPLEASANT, UNPREDICTABLE, UNCERTAIN DURATION

These three "U's" are what Joe Palca has said to be the answers of why things annoy us. This topic is understudied and Joe wanted to do more research.  He just finished a book, "ANNOYING, The Science of What Bugs Us"

Joe states that in his findings about what annoys people, is that the annoyance is unpleasant.  Not deadly or harmful, just unpleasant.  It is unpredictable.  If you are walking down the street and see from a distance or hear something that annoys you, you are able to get away from that area.  If you are in a confined area, (subway, elevator, etc...) and an annoyance occurs, it is unpredictable which makes it hard to get away from that annoying subject.  What makes it worse is the uncertain duration. If you are in an area where you can't leave to get away from the annoyance, the uncertain time left that you have to live with the annoyingness could be awhile.  Although there are things that don't have these certain "U's" but in most cases those are the three things that make something annoying to somebody.

Another thing Joe states was that, "What annoys you is more revealing about you, than about the thing that's annoying you." Joe tried to get into the people's mind of why certain things annoyed them.  Did it have to with a certain person, their past, an event, etc... 
A question during Joe's interview was whether or not anger had to do with things that annoy people.  Joe claims that it is a separate feeling.  It is in the frustration category.  There can be states of anger and annoyances that can overlap but Palca says, annoying sits in it's own category.  There is nothing to get away from annoying things, but how to react or ignore it is the trick.

The book talks deeper and tells more information about the science of annoyance. I find this interesting and would like to know more about what information Joe Palca has found.

To read the full interview/article:
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/11/annoying-science.aspx