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Irritability

excitatory ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ29299 ↗
Source-derived summary

Irritability is the excitatory ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment. The term is used for both the physiological reaction to stimuli and for the pathological, abnormal or excessive sensitivity to stimuli.

When reflecting human emotion and behavior, it is commonly defined as the tendency to react to stimuli with negative affective states (especially anger) and temper outbursts, which can be aggressive. Distressing or impairing irritability is important from a mental health perspective as a common symptom of concern and predictor of clinical outcomes.

Definition

Irritability is the intrinsic ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment. The term is used for both the physiological reaction to stimuli and for the pathological, abnormal or excessive sensitivity to stimuli. Irritability can be demonstrated in behavioral responses to both physiological and behavioral stimuli, including environmental, situational, sociological, and emotional stimuli.

In humans, irritability may be a significant transdiagnostic symptom or disposition that occurs across or at any point during the lifespan. It is commonly defined as the tendency to react to stimuli with the experience of negative affective states (especially anger) and temper outbursts, which may or may not be aggressive. This definition is well known to have similarities with the definitions of anger and aggression.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Irritability” as excitatory ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current 213-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Irritability, excitatory and ability can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as excitatory ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29299. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Irritability”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Irritability primary sources, Irritability archive and Irritability research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Irritability”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Irritability” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.