differences between "lead to" and "drive to"

[Takashiro]

Having that sense of anger _______ people to actually feel some power in what otherwise is a maddening situation.
A. hopes
B. leads
C. lets
D. drives

I have looked them up in the dictionary but were unable to find any satisfying explanation. I can’t tell the difference between “lead … to” and “drive … to”. Please help me.

Thanks in advance!

[Mordant]

“Lead to” is better here. It means “to cause to.” “To drive to” means to force.

[Beeesneees]

I’m not surprised you couldn’t find an adequate difference between the two phrases, Takashiro. Without a wider context the difference is so subtle that a dictionary would indicate both are acceptable.

The subtlety between the two phrases to me depends on whether it is a pushing force (drive/force forward) or a pulling force (lead). I could imagine the correct answer is that the sense of anger drives the feeling of power, but I suspect that it is actually ‘leads’ - the sense of anger leads to the feeling of power.
Even with Mordan’t sound advice, I’m not convinced that the question differentiates adequately between those two options.

Is this one of the tests on this site? If so, what answer is considered correct?

[Takashiro]

Not one of the tests on this site. It’s a part of a cloze in our weekly examinations. The correct answer is “leads”. Maybe I should have typed the whole passage.

Thanks for your explanation, BN and mordant. I can more or less understand it now.

[Takashiro]

Here’s the whole passage.

@Weekly Examination

Anger is good for you, as long as you control it, according to a new psychology research. A new study from Carnegie Mellon University shows anger may help people reduce the stress and help you become healthier.

“Here getting emotional is not bad for you if you look at the case of anger.” said Jennifer Lerner of Carnegie Mellon. “The more people display anger, the lower their stress responses.”

Lerner studied 92 UCLA students by asking them to count back from 6,200. They must say out loud every thirteenth number. Researchers interfered with them by asking them to count faster or ask them other questions. If they made any mistakes, they had to restart from the very beginning. Many students felt depressed about making so many mistakes or got angry. Lerner used a hidden video camera and recorded all their facial expressions during the test. The researchers describe their reactions as fear, anger and disgust.

Other researchers recorded the students’ blood pressure, pulse and production of a high – stress hormone called cortisol. People whose faces showed more fear during the experiments had higher blood pressure and higher levels of the hormone. Both can have lasting effects such as diabetes, heart disease, depression and extra weight gain.

When people feel fear, negative impacts increase, but when they get angry, those negatives go down, according to the study.

“Having that sense of anger [color=red]leads people to actually feel some power in a maddening situation,” Lerner said. Lerner previously studied Americans’ emotional response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks two months after the incident. She found people who reacted with anger were more optimistic. These people are healthier compared with those who were frightened during the event. So in maddening situations, anger is not a bad thing to have. It’s healthier response than fear.

[Mordant]

Bees, I think it’s subtle, too. But the use of the verb “feel” is partly what drives me to select “lead to.”

It feels more natural to say someone caused you to feel a certain way than to say someone forced you to do so.

[Beeesneees]

Hi Mordant,

That’s why I said:

I suspect that it is actually ‘leads’ - the sense of anger leads to the feeling of power.

It seems a very tough choice for a learner of the language, although the full passage, now posted, makes the correct choice clearer.