Jessica Young
Generation 30
Dr. Leon James, instructor
Instructions for this Report here
Part A: Driving
Personality Makeovers from the Internet
Driving Personality in Research Today
The internet is vast and
seemingly endless source of information for just about any curiosity a person
wants to satisfy. Billions of bytes of information are just a few key
strokes and a mouse click away from being available to anyone with a computer
and an internet connection. It is amazing what you can find on the
internet and also shocking what has been sent out into the world via the
internet. It has given immortality to masses through their words and pictures.
The growth of information continues to go not laterally, but exponentially, and
there is no sign that it will be slowing down in the future.
With all the terabytes of information floating around in cyberspace, it begs
the question, why isn't there more information about driving personality
makeovers? My answer to this question is that Dr. Leon James is an
innovator of a new field of study that has not been thoroughly examined in the
past. It is relatively new compared to other fields of psychology but there
is still a lot of data gathered by his previous generations of students.
Driving psychology has been
studied but personality makeovers are not as widely studied, though they are
very important, especially when considering that driving can be a very dangerous
activity to those who abuse it. Most
people use some sort of motor vehicle to commute between work, school and home
so everyone should be aware of the damage they could inflict when behind the
wheel or the damage that could be done to them as a passenger.
Learning from the Past
After doing a search on google for "driving personality makeover" I was
returned with 5,350 hits for that exact phrase. After skimming through
the results I found that most of the information available with that exact
phrase originated from one of the studies of the preceding generations that
have taken Dr. James' driving psychology course.
The resources of this specific facet of driving psychology may be limited by
lacking variation of sources but it counters that by providing more in depth
and personal accounts of driving personality makeovers. Thirty
generations of students have contributed to the study to provide personal
insight into their experiments with driving personality makeovers. Their
self reports and the observations/conclusions they draw from their experiences
are exactly what a study is about-obtaining the essence of the human subjects.
The reports are biased because they are self reports and some of conclusions
are purely opinion but studying all of the generations as a unit provides
researchers with a sample of what how a driving personality makeover works.
After reading a few of the earlier reports I realize that
although the idea of the personality
makeover has remained constant the focus has shifted. In previous reports
the students tried to change multiple parts of their driving personality
instead of choosing just one aspect to change.
The Generations Before Me
I read Curtis Nakao's driving personality plan. I liked the
idea that he wanted to change his aggressive driving behavior but I think he
tried to change too many things at one time. He tried to go cold turkey
in his driving plan and I have learned that completely eliminating the behavior
is harder than slowly changing the habit.
One good example of trying to change a behavior too fast is the change he made
for himself with speeding. He tried to stay within five miles of the
speed limit but abandoned the practice after just one day. He stated that
it wasn't the offensive behavior from other motorists that made him discard the
limitation on speed, rather it just felt too slow for him. Google results
show that it takes around 21 days for something to become a habit. An
actually psychological study reveals that depending on the task it usually
takes longer, anywhere from 18-254 days for something to become a habit.
According to the study the average was 66 days. 1
Given these numbers it would seem unlikely that a person could feel comfortable
making a drastic change in their behavior and expecting it to become second
nature so quickly.
After reading Alan Furukawa’s report I started to understand more about how other participants went through a similar thought process for doing the experiment and making a self report. It’s fascinating to see the subtle differences in the thought process because that seems to be what makes each report unique.
Most of the prior generations did the self report or self witness method to gather data for their personality makeover. I read one report by Sayo Yoshino that was different. Sayo’s method for the project was to witness another person driving and score them. I think this an excellent idea because the data is usually gathered more objectively in this manor. Self reporting and witnessing works well but I couldn’t help but think that my data was biased.
For example, a person who rates themselves as less
aggressive may actually be more aggressive to another person. If both people were to do a self witness and
another person and visa versa the data could reflect a more accurate
representation of a standard of aggression.
I think it was wise of her to be a witness to another person and develop
a scale before hand on which to rate them.
Inspiration for My Project
It takes a lot of will power to change your driving
personality because driving is a habit for most people. In my own
experience I have been able to change bad habits but they take a while for the
new behavior to become automatic. For example, something small that I
wanted to change was changing my finger positions on a keyboard. I wanted
to have the correct fingering and the only change that I had to make in order
to be correct, was to switch from the right index to the left index finger for
the "B" key. I use the computer on a daily basis and I thought
it would be really easy to change just one finer but I found out that it wasn't
easy at all.
I almost gave up trying to change in the beginning because it took a lot of
effort for me to
change something that I have done for years. Without knowing it, my
threefold self was at play for just this minor change. I told myself that
I wanted to have the correct fingering because I was teaching my younger sister
how to type at the time; so my motivation was to get it right in order to teach
it correctly. This is a demonstration of the affective. I had to
consciously think about changing it while I was typing which made me type
slower and I made many mistakes, however I found that when teaching I had to
type slowly and repeating the correct action made it a little easier each
time. The thought process, the decision, and finally the action to use
the correct finger all working together is an example of the threefold self
working while I was typing. I was able to successfully to retrain myself
to use the left index finger and it is now a habit.
Part B: My Driving Personality Makeover
Brainstorming the
Project
Using the previous example of how to retrain a habit was useful to me when I prepared to change my driving personality. I decided to select a target area that I felt I needed to change the most and focus on it. For me, that area of focus was multitasking while driving. Women are generally accepted as multitaskers, however while driving I thought about the accidents that I noticed other people get into and the reasons behind them.
I myself have never been in an accident whilst I was the driver but I have been a passenger of a car involved in an accident and some near accidents. I started to notice that most of the accidents were avoidable and usually the result of a lack of attention by the driver. I believe that if the driver had given the situation their full attention, then it might have been possible to avoid the accident.
What is a “Driving
Personality Makeover”
A driving personality makeover is defined by Dr. Leon James
from the
“A way of allowing yourself to alter your behavior and
change your driving habits to remake your traffic life more
healthier and zestful...It also involves three steps that could be used
as a tool to evaluate and help modify your driving behavior. The three steps
are
* 1) Acknowledge your short comings
* 2) Witness these faults, and
* 3). Modify your behavior one step at a time.
Driving Personality Makeovers involve the driver's threefold self: Affective,
Cognitive, and Sensorimotor.”23
The Threefold Self –
Knowledge is Power
The threefold self is paramount to understanding how and why we drive the way that we do. It describes our actions on the road in the physical sense through the sensorimotor self. The affective self was described by Dr. James as the “love,” or the motivation for our decisions. Finally, the cognitive self is the thinking side, the decision making part of the process.
Setup
Armed with the knowledge of the threefold self and the power it has, I began my project:
I read previous reports and decided that the safest way to conduct my self-witnessing was to bring my iphone (which has an application for voice recording) and just speak my mind.
Self-Witnessing
Begins
The first week of my self-witnessing I simply drove and behaved as I also would. I multitasked and told the voice recorder what I was doing and how I felt about it. For example, “putting on shoes at the red light…good thing they are pretty easy to slip on,” or “drinking coffee, it’s not too hot because I was reading the old McDonald’s law suit dealing with extremely hot coffee last week, kinda made me nervous those 3rd degree burns.” After reviewing all the multitasking that I was doing during the drive, I made an excel chart to see just how many different tasks I was involved in while driving.
Data Collected on
Multitasking while Driving
TABLE 1
|
Day |
Changing Music |
Dressing |
Drinking |
Eating |
Texting |
Talking on Phone |
Misc. |
|
1 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
10 |
2 |
3 |
|
5 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
|
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
|
7 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
*Day = 24 hour period
*number indicates amount of times action took place
*Changing music involved looking down at ipod to change song on touch screen
*Dressing involved putting on shoes and socks only
Analysis
Knowing the affective, cognitive and sensorimotor self behind the wheel is essential to get the full scope of the driver’s experience. Using this method to analyze my feelings and actions during the experiment allows the content to be broken down into an easy to understand process. Follow the three step model by Dr. James I first, acknowledged, witnessed, and then modified my behavior whilst driving.
Before Intervention
Cognitive
I’m usually late for work by only five minutes but I am consistently late. I don’t like being late but it has become a habit of mine and has been rather hard to break in the past. As I am driving I notice that I have my coffee cup with a lid and a croissant on a napkin on the passenger’s seat. This is my daily routine and I’m mostly satisfied with it, however I would rather eat at home and watch ten minutes of the news. I usually have to put on my socks and shoes in the car as well so that cuts into my leisurely time in the car. I notice that I’m always driving with one hand because the other hand is occupied with something or another.
As seen in table 1 I am very active on all the days that I followed my daily routine. I’m eating, drinking, changing my ipod, putting on socks and shoes, texting, etc. I don’t really put a lot of thought into driving because it’s second nature. I learned how to drive on a manual transmission truck, so the automatic truck that I am currently driving seems so easy in comparison. I used to have to drive with both hands and both feet with the manual truck. I had to think about shifting gears and using the clutch. With the automatic all I have to do is gas or break.
My mind seems to wonder a lot while driving. I notice that I’m thinking about the day to come or the destination I’m going to. Though it is illegal to text or to use electronic devices in the car I’m doing it all the time. I’m always listening to music and sometimes I’m singing with the music. I notice that I put more thought into what song I want to listen to, rather than where I am on the road.
I’ve never been in a car accident that in which I was the driver of the car so I’m arrogant and don’t even consider that I could cause an accident with divided attention. I’m confident that because my commutes are relatively short, the odds of getting into an accident must also be shorter. I honestly don’t even think about accidents while I’m driving. I often hear of friends or family in minor car accidents and that makes me think about my own driving, but the though quickly disappears because I have not horrific accidents to think back upon. My hubris always seems to stop me from becoming proactive about my driving safety. Having no accidents, damage done, or tickets causes me to drive with a lot of confidence in my abilities.
Affective
The motivation and justification of my multitasking personality isn’t complicated. I validate the way I drive based on my past driving record, which is pretty clean. I don’t think I will get into an accident or hurt anyone so I continue to drive in what I consider a safe manor.
Looking down to change a song on the ipod takes only a few seconds and I’m usually looking up and down quickly so that I can watch the road at the same time. I don’t see it as a problem because, although it is illegal, it only takes a few seconds and I highly doubt that a police officer would see me looking down and automatically assume that I was using an electronic device in the car. The same thing goes for texting. I usually do it at a red light because it’s a touch screen so I have to look down in order to type a text message. If my message is longer sometimes I will continue to type a few words after the light has changed.
I rationalize that if I were driving my manual truck I would have to use both feet and both hands so it should be a problem for me to put on socks while driving. It takes a little more concentration on both the road and what I’m doing but I can handle it just like I can handle switching gears and pressing down the clutch with my left foot.
I like to get things done while driving because it seems like such a waste of time to just ride in a car for twenty minutes each day. If someone drove me around I could get so many things done on the commute. I have a relatively short commute to work so I can imagine that people who have longer commutes get bored or restless while driving. Multitasking is one way to maximize my time, which is what drives (no pun intended) me to do it.
Intervention
My motivation for eliminating my multitasking behavior while driving came from the accidents or near accidents that I have been in and seen. I was a passenger of a collision with a mountain top guard rail. The person driving was talking on the phone while making a turn. One second the person had their full attention on the road and the next second the person was slamming on the breaks, but not in time to avoid hitting the guard rail and damaging the rental car. This incident was in my thought process when I decided on what sensorimotor driving behavior I wanted to modify.
I had to prepare in advance for the intervention. I couldn’t stop my routine without some preparation. I had to plan my time more efficiently to make up for the usual routine in the car. I went to sleep a little earlier so that I could wake up earlier, only about a half an hour difference. I made my coffee and drank it at home or I put it in a leak resistant tumbler so that I could take it to work with me. I made a playlist for my ipod so that it would play all the songs I wanted to hear during my commute. I basically eliminated most of my multitasking by planning ahead.
I’m not perfect though, during the week I was trying to modify my behavior I wanted to answer text messages or change songs on my iphone. It would be easy to cheat since no one would ever find out. I did cheat a few times during the week of intervention, but I figure that as long as I try I can make it a habit to decrease the amount of things I’m going while driving, rather than eliminating all multitasking behaviors. I think it’s more realistic to change some habits and then others, rather than all at the same time.
Part C: Conclusion
When we first started to discuss the project I can say that I honestly thought that it wouldn’t make a difference in my driving habits. I figured that I could or would change it if I really wanted to, and I can with the help of the insight this project has provided. Anyone can do just about anything they want to with the right tools and the right direction. Thinking out loud and analyzing those thoughts are invaluable when trying to change a behavior. I think this project directly relates to your driving attitude but can also be applied in other aspects of life.
Advice to Future Generations
Be open minded! It’s hard to take a class assignment and put your heart into it but this assignment can be used for self discovery. Not only will you learn about your driving behavior but about how you will learn about the way you think. If you let it, it can help you to learn to control your thought process and in tern control how you react to your emotions. You have the power to understand more about who you are, and that you can use that for the rest of your life. Take in the lessons learned and become a better person for it.
(1)http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/how-long-to-form-a-habit.php
(2)http://www.drdriving.org/articles/makeover.htm
(3)Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warefare by Dr. Leon James and Diane Nahl page 133-134.