When he tees off Thursday afternoon at the Masters, Tiger Woods will be conducting an experiment that may help answer one of the few unexplored questions in sports: Can one of the world's greatest athletes change his temperament and still win?

For more than a decade, Tiger Woods has been the dominant golfer in the world, winning 97 tournaments and more than $111 million in prize money. But he also has been one of the angriest. Mr. Woods has stalked through his rounds, eyes trained on the grass, rarely speaking with playing partners.

When he has hit a shot he doesn't like, he has tossed the club or slammed it against the turf. He has screamed expletives and ignored 8-year-old autograph seekers. He has glared at any photographer who has dared to click a shot during his backswing or any fan who has disrupted his rhythm.

Tiger Woods missing a birdie putt at last year's PGA Championship. Getty Images

But as he starts his comeback from a five-month layoff that included a 45-day stay at a therapeutic-treatment facility, Mr. Woods says he is turning over a new leaf. "I am actually going to try and obviously not get as hot when I play," Mr. Woods said during his pretournament news conference Monday. He declined to comment for this article.

Mr. Woods's anger has often been seen as evidence of his unmatched competitive drive, his singular focus and his demand for perfection from himself. But according to nearly every psychological study of anger, it may actually have been a handicap—in other words, Mr. Woods turned himself into a great champion despite his evident fury, not because of it.

Pop psychology has long preached the virtue of relieving anger by "venting" it—punching a pillow, or, perhaps, beating a fairway with a five iron—rather than stewing in it. But decades of research suggest that venting mostly serves to make the venter more expert at getting angry.

"In almost every case, expressing anger tends to be bad," said John Forsyth, a professor of psychology at the University of Albany and a specialist in the field. "Typically, the idea is based on the pressure cooker, that we need to blow off steam. But as it turns out, people are not tea kettles."

When a person acts on an angry impulse, scientists say, his body produces norepinephrine, a hormone that increases blood pressure, heart rate and the flow of blood to the large muscles in the arms and legs. This process can improve reflexes and increase strength, but it also has a downside: If more blood flows to the big muscles, less is available for the brain.

The reduced flow to the brain can inhibit one's ability to think clearly, process information, make reasonable decisions and accomplish tasks that require fine motor skill. "Your judgment goes out the window," said clinical psychologist Matthew McKay, co-author of several books on anger management. "Even the ability to consider the future consequences of your behavior becomes very problematic."

Mr. Woods missing a putt at the Accenture Match Play Championship last year in Arizona. Getty Images

Some athletes, such as linebackers or even tennis players, who play instinctively, aren't necessarily harmed by it. But golf is a sport that requires a high level of touch, precision and mental acuity that's exceedingly difficult to achieve when angry. "In the long run, I don't think anger works for anyone," said motivation guru Jim Fannin, who has worked with a number of PGA Tour golfers.

In a 1959 study by psychologist R.H. Hornberger, participants were first insulted to make them angry and then divided into two equal groups. One group got a chance to vent by pounding nails for 10 minutes; the other did nothing. When the participants were then invited to criticize the researcher who had insulted them, those who had pounded nails proved more hostile than those who hadn't.

In 2002, Brad Bushman of Iowa State University had 600 participants write essays and be harshly criticized for their work. Two thirds of the participants were then invited to hit a punching bag, half of them while looking at an image of the person who had delivered the criticism. The remaining third simply sat quietly for two minutes.

Mr. Woods at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November. Getty Images

The participants then played a button-pushing game, with the winners allowed to blast the losers with an ear-splitting noise. The harshest winners turned out to be those who had hit the punching bag while looking at the picture of their critic; the gentlest were those who had sat.

"All we are doing is rehearsing and practicing angry behavior, so it becomes even easier to become angry the next time," said Steven Hayes, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the chairman of the World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

That's not to say anger is a bad thing. It's an essential part of our fight-or-flight survival instincts, and many "angry" athletes have thrived. Roger Clemens, a top major-league pitcher of his generation, once worked himself into such a lather on the mound that he threw a piece of a broken bat toward a hitter. Tennis champ Jimmy Connors was famously irascible, though according to Donald Dell, a longtime player, coach and agent who once represented him, anger worked for Mr. Connors because he could shed it quickly.

"He would move on and just play better," Mr. Dell said. By contrast, he said, another angry young man on the tennis court, John McEnroe, would let the emotion linger—and his play would suffer.

A new black-and-white TV ad for Nike features Tiger Woods and the voice of his late father. Video courtesy of Nike.

Mr. Woods during the final round at the 2007 Masters. Getty Images

A win at the Masters would be Mr. Woods's fifth in the tournament and would end a four-year Masters drought. To play well without acting out, psychologists say, Mr. Woods must be able to be aware of his anger and frustration without acting on it. In one study, where participants were asked to keep one hand in freezing cold water, those who were told to think about the sensation were able to withstand the discomfort far longer than people who were told to suppress and ignore any thoughts related to the pain. Dr. Forsyth said the process of controlling anger is a lot like trying to remain calm while in the same room with a lion. "The image we like to use is the seagull," he explained. "The waves go up and down, and somehow the seagull manages to stay above it all."

According to Mr. Fannin, Mr. Woods will have his work cut out for him in this regard.

"He's going from being a battling warrior to a peaceful warrior, and he's trying to make this transition on one of the toughest golf courses on the planet. Can he make this transition over a period of time? Absolutely. But can he make it this year at the Masters? I doubt it."

Write to Matthew Futterman at matthew.futterman@wsj.com