A recent study says that Nicotine may help calm people by altering the activity of brain areas involved in the inhibition of negative emotions such as anger and hence angry people are more prone to getting addicted to cigarettes.

In the study, conducted by University of California researchers, the participants were given a computer game in which they could see a video screen of another player who was in fact only their virtual opponent as in reality they were playing alone. At the end of the game the victor was allowed to give the opponent a burst of unpleasant noise, with the duration and volume of the noise set by the winner.

In some of cases nicotine was found to effectively reduce the urge of retaliation even when provoked by the opponent. 

"Participants who showed nicotine-induced changes in anger task performance also showed changes in brain metabolism," said study leader Jean Gehricke and colleagues.

"Novel behavioral treatments that affect the cortical and limbic brain areas, like anger management training, may aid smoking cessation efforts in anger-provoking situations that increase withdrawal and tobacco cravings," the researchers concluded.