There are only a few known causes of sham rage in animals.

The actual symptoms of sham rage are normal anger and defense reactions in animals.

They found that a more extreme sham rage was correlated with lower levels of norepinephrine.

While experiencing sham rage, the human body will show both internal and external signs of physical distress.

They concluded that this meant the release of norepinephrine is necessary for sham rage behavior.

The physiological symptoms of sham rage include rise in blood sugar, pulse, respiratory rates, and blood pressure.

A study by Bard (1934) showed that the removal of the neocortex in cats and dogs produced sham rage.

It becomes sham rage only when this rage reaction is triggered by unthreatening stimuli.

Although a person will express emotion during moments of sham rage, it does not indicate that the individual is actually feeling that emotion.

This response, referred to as sham rage, continued to be displayed after ablation of all brain regions anterior to the diencephalon.

Reis and Fuxe (1969) then did a study of cats that went into a sham rage after having a brainstem transection.

However, once the lower posterior portion of the thalamic region was removed, the display of sham rage by the cats subsided.

Bates and colleagues (1996) say that neuroimaging and pathology results do not support evidence of hypothalamic involvement similar to that found in sham rage.

Sham rage is behavior such as biting, clawing, hissing, arching the back and "violent alternating limb movements" produced in animal experiments by removing the cerebral cortex.

The purpose was to determine the relationship between the decrease in norepinephrine in sham rage and the magnitude of the sham rage behavior.

In some cases, human sham rage appears to be caused by "uninhibited hypothalamic discharge" even though the hypothalamus is not considered to be the center of emotion in the brain.

During klazomania, a person may experience pupil dilation, tachycardia, salivation, increased blood pressure, retraction of lips, barking, grunting, and rage just as an animal would if presenting sham rage.

A study by Reis and Gunne (1965) found that electrically stimulating the amygdala of cats caused sham rage, which resulted in a decrease in the presence of adrenaline and noradrenaline.

They believed this was because the excited defense reaction known as sham rage caused such a huge increase in the release of the neurotransmitters that the brain could not resynthesize noradrenaline fast enough to keep up.

Bouts of sham rage are never intentional in humans, but the body will show "changes in the internal organs and in the composition of the blood similar to those characteristic of human emotional behavior".

(Research at drug farms has conclusively established the addiction liability of decorticated canine preparations in plain English dogs with their brains cut out who nonetheless react with sham rage and uncoordinated clonic movements when medication is withheld.)

Wohlfart and colleagues hypothesized that the stimulation of the autonomic nervous system by the posterior hypothalamus is involved in klazomania, adding that klazomania resembles sham rage in animals, which is controlled by stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system.

"My Amusement," a tire swinging from a chain, might stand for the childlike pleasure many people take in the travails of the rich and powerful, while "Sham Rage," a handsomely crafted stock like those in which Puritan malefactors were punished, stands for the other side of the coin, a general sense of righteous indignation.