My Understanding of Driving Psychology
By Michelle Ching
Instructions for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-report2.htm
I am answering Questions 2, 4, 5, 7, 10
The Question I am answering is Question 2:
Question
2:
(a) Give a brief
review of our two textbooks: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving (James and
Nahl), and Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer
(Peter Rothe, Editor). The reviews should be between 3 and 6 paragraphs for
each text.
(b) Select one
Chapter from each text and give a summary of it.
(c) Discuss in what
way wills these ideas contribute to solving society's driving problems.
(d) Any other
comments you wish to make.
Answer:
(a)
Give a brief review of
our two textbooks: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving (James and Nahl),
and Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (Peter
Rothe, Editor). The reviews should be between 3 and 6 paragraphs for each text.
Dixie
Camilla Coke Nahl was a foremost critical inciter of aggressive driving. As the grandmother of Dr. Leon James’s wife,
she helped visualize the ideas for Dr. James and his wife, Dr. Diane Nahl, book
“Road Rage and Aggressive Driving Steering Clear of Highway Warfare.” Diane who has been married to Dr. James was
frightened by the way her husband drove who “flies around the corners so
fast.” Dr. James at this time had an
adamant attitude towards change. He
simply did not find a need to change his behavior and that no one should defile
his driving abilities. He felt that the
driver was empowered to drive as they please and that passengers should be
grateful and cooperative. Under no
circumstance would it be acceptable for a passenger to interfere with the
drivers driving style. A pivotal point
that changed his reckless ways was when Dixie Nahl complained that he drives
too fast, causing her to hold on for her dear life. Dr. James realizing that there was a need for change had reformed
his driving behavior for the better.
This book
takes a systematic approach to help understand road rage and aggressive driving
based off of research studies, government agencies, news media, law
enforcement, and citizen groups.
Driving Behavior is broken down by three sub-components: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. This is also known as the “Driver’s
Threefold Self.” These three domains
are interactive with each self. A
driver’s “affective self” will consist of the motivations and feelings during
driving. The “cognitive self” operates
with the logic, thinking, and reasoning we do behind the wheel. Lastly, the “sensorimotor self” is based
from the perceptions, sensations and motor actions performed in a driving
environment. The threefold self is a
product of many influential factors such as society, culture, scruples, rationality
and genetics. Even young children will
model driving styles that their parents, siblings, other adults and characters
portrayed in the mass media display.
The
solution to emotional entrapment of road rage thinking is supportive driving. This is a style of driving that is accepting
of the diversity of drivers and styles employed. Supportive driving recognizes:
“local drivers versus visitors; large vehicles versus smaller ones;
healthy, able-bodied drivers versus those who are challenged, ill, in pain, or
emotionally upset; sober drivers versus those under the influence of alcohol,
drugs, or medication; young drivers with excellent vision and quick reflexes
versus those who are older, slower, and less capable; skilled drivers who
maneuver quickly and skillfully versus less skilled or inexperienced who are
less efficient and more unpredictable; drivers in a hurry versus excessively
slow drivers; cool drivers in control of their emotions versus road ragers and
self-confident drivers versus drivers who lack self-confidence.”
“Driving
Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make
Traffic Safer” by J. Peter Rothe focuses on the issue of traffic
safety. Rothe feels that traditional
solutions to fix increasing traffic injuries and fatalities are inept and that
perhaps a new approach to resolve these problems needs to be considered. The first chapter of the book discusses a
”second-generation cybernetic perspective.”
According to cybernetics, society is composed of a number of systems
including health, education, the law, economics and the family, which are built
on interrelated sub-systems. The
cybernetic approach is designed to promote a clearer understanding of traffic
safety as an interactive process created by interacting relationships.
This way of
thought thereby makes patterns of driver behavior as an adaptive response to
change. Traffic according to Rothe
needs to be considered by the following principles:
·
understanding how the parts of traffic relate to each other
and constitute the whole of the
roadway as a self-organizing process
·
understanding the interactive processes between different
subsystems;
·
understanding the likely effects in the whole of
roadway-user behaviors, and vice versa
·
understanding the language and emotions most likely to
produce stable sub-systems
·
understanding situational complexity in traffic
Cybernetics
provides new perspective in traffic safety by analyzing sub-system interactions
when a problem is encountered. The
other sections of the book are divided into three parts personal, institutional
and technical sub-systems. Driving
Lessons encourages a proactive stance on reforming driving.
(b) Select one
Chapter from each text and give a summary of it.
Chapter 5 “Emotional Intelligence
for Drivers” from Road Rage and Aggressive Driving Steering Clear of
Highway Warfare
This chapter discusses inner power
tools, which are techniques
smart drivers, use to retrain their emotional intelligence by providing a means
to restructure assessments of situations.
Anger is an intensified aggression where judgment becomes impaired. People deal with anger by venting, a mental
mechanism for justifying aggression.
This method of releasing frustrations actually amplifies the situation
to epic proportions leading to explosive and impulsive actions. There are many dire consequences associated
with this form of venting such as deep regret, embarrassment, financial loss,
depression, injury, or even most seriously death.
Inner power tools
help alleviate negative assessments of occurrences by employing two
methods: relaxation techniques and
mental reappraisal of the situation.
Relaxation techniques are used to reduce physical arousal whereas;
mental reappraisal of the situation systematically changes the way you observe
your thinking. Emotional intelligence is needed for a better understanding of road rage syndrome. Road rage are the irrational
mental habits a person might have including anger and self-righteousness. Emotional intelligence helps to change this
unproductive way of thinking by providing an understanding how anger
escalates, how venting keeps it going and how to deflate it through rational
counterarguments. Drivers will have the
tools to manage their social relations in a driving environment. There are six components to emotional
intelligence that can be learned with practice:
1.
Reappraising
a situation and look for alternative explanations
2.
Self-regulate
negative mood shifts
3.
Empathize
with “other side”
4.
Persist in
plan despite distracting frustrations
5.
Control or
neutralize aggressive impulses
6.
Think with
positive outcomes
There are varying degrees of emotional intelligence. The following table describes each level of
emotional intelligence.
|
Emotional
Intelligence Level |
State
of |
Sequence
of Thoughts |
Type
of Actions |
|
1 |
oppositional |
irrational |
Selfish,
reckless, impulsive and hostile; constantly expresses criticism; feels
insulted and insecure |
|
2 |
defensive |
logical |
Suspicious,
wary, and competitive, but prudent and restrained; expresses worries and
complaints |
|
3 |
supportive |
prosocial |
Helpful
and friendly; gives others the benefit of the doubt; expresses enjoyment and
optimism |
Chapter 19 from Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (Peter Rothe, Editor) is entitled “Is Using a
Cellphone Like Driving Drunk?” This
chapter answers the question whether or not talking on a cellular phone is
hazardous. There are many advantages to
using a cellphone during driving.
Advocates for cellphone use argue that it allows drivers to call ahead
when running lat and travel with increase peace of mind. This will thereby, reduce the risk of
collision. With the technological
advancements of the new millennium studies have shown that collision rates are
not causal. Drivers face other
distractions such as the radio, changing cds, looking for items in the car, the
ambulance; it is unjustified to single out cell phones.
Opponents however, feel that because
motor-vehicle collisions are the leading
cause of mortality and disability any possible factors to this epidemic should
be considered. The primary reason
cellphone use is pick on is due to its ability to be studied objectively. Any small change in our habits of driving
might have substantial advantages making big differences in our driving
environment.
There
were a couple of case control studies done to predict the degree of
dangerousness of cellphone conversation by drivers. The simplest research looked over individuals who had car
telephones and driver who did not have car telephones. Out of the 498 individuals regarding the
overall frequency of traffic collisions, among mobile telephone subscribers the
numbers were marginally lower . When
driving simulators were utilized to study cellphone use it had worsened the
performances on some indirect measures.
The average participant reaction time increased significantly when using
hand-free cell phone.
(c) Discuss in what way wills these ideas contribute to
solving society's driving problems.
Both of these books are valuable resources to reduce inconsiderate
driving behaviors, traffic collision injuries and deaths, prevent unproductive
attitudes and modify our approaches in the driving realm to become proactive
and safe. Road rage runs rampant in the
American society – something must be done to change this.
Reading these books has altered my
own driving habits. Especially living
in
The
Question I am answering is Question 4:
Question 4:
(a) Select three of
the following student reports from Generation 15:
1. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/ahsing/report2.htm
2. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/chun/report2.htm
3. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/lukey/report2.htm
4. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409bf2001/morreira/Report2.htm
5. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409bf2001/shellgirl/report2.htm
6. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409bf2001/reaves/report2.html
7. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/sophie/report2.htm
(b) Summarize each of the three reports. Be sure you
put a link to the report you are referring to.
(c) Add a General Conclusion Section in which you
discuss your reactions to what they did –
(i) their ideas,
(ii) their method,
(iii) their explanations.
(d) What did they gain from doing their reports?
(e) How do their ideas influence what you yourself
think about these issues?
(e) Any other comments you wish to make.
Answer:
(a) Select three of the following student
reports from Generation 15:
I have
selected to report on the following student reports:
1. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/ahsing/report2.htm
2. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/chun/report2.htm
3. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/lukey/report2.htm
(b) Summarize each of the three reports. Be sure you put
a link to the report you are referring to.
Jennifer Ah Sing a student of Dr. Leon
James’s previous generation 15 discusses the nature of the emotional spin cycle
which involves 1)
Emotions are strong feelings that instinctively stimulate the
human person to act, 2) Feelings in its simplest
form is a sensation of any degree, 3) The
Three-fold Self a theory created by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl,
are the three components that complete an individual; affective behavior
(feeling), cognitive behavior (thinking), and sensori-motor behavior (acting),
and 4) The Hierarchy of Motives is a
system of measure that evaluates the rank of human motives and categorizes them
by the degree of need. The following
link is her website: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/ahsing/report2.htm
She attempts to test the theories
put for by Dr. Leon James, analyzing and modifying her own emotional spin
cycle. Ultimately she concludes that
she discovers emotions and feelings that she did not even know existed, gaining
a greater awareness of how to deal and cope with different situations, people,
and emotions. Awareness to the
mainstream population of the high levels of rage, anxiety, anger, frustration
is her objective goal so that a better understanding of ourselves to be able to
assist others can be achieved.
Alyssa Chun’s report was very
similar to Jennifer Sing’s where she was unaware of the sensations experienced
when she encountered certain situations. She learned how to recognize and gain insight into her emotional
spin cycle. The assignment to her was
worth the time and effort because she learned how to modify her feelings,
thoughts and actions. Her report can be
found on: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/chun/report2.htm
Lastly,
Natalia Lukey uses the techniques learned from her report and applies it in her
day-to-day life, especially the Bridge technique. She felt that she used to be
a very emotional person and reacted several times in very inappropriate,
irrational ways, making myself and people around me miserable. Now when she is raging she automatically
becomes aware of her threefold self, bring positive results not only to herself
but to everybody around her. Her report is found on: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/lukey/report2.htm
(c) Add a General
Conclusion Section in which you discuss your reactions to what they did –
(i) their ideas,
(ii) their method,
(iii) their explanations.
(i) For each of the reports I reviewed their
ideas were similar in terms of the conclusions they reach regarding the
effectiveness of the modifying behavior that was encouraged. (ii)
The method for these reports is self-reported which can lead to biases
and changes in the data. Each of the
reports felt that the self-monitoring required in their method. (iii)
I felt that Lukey had the best explanation of her understanding on the
report. She seemed to closely monitor
her behaviors more closely than the others, leading to a more dynamic
comprehension of the study.
(d) What did they
gain from doing their reports?
Each
of the students gained a valuable tool that affected their affective,
cognitive, and sensorimotor behaviors.
They were able to self-witness what they were thinking, feeling and
behaving. This ultimately impacted
their relations with others, where they were able to connect the positive side
of the emotional cycle.
(e) How do their ideas influence what you yourself think
about these issues?
I was influenced by their conclusions, where each
person had felt that they were gaining a valuable tool: being more aware of when and how their
emotions are being influenced. Relating
to someone who has been in a similar position as you makes the subject matter
of something more relevant and meaningful.
I felt this way regarding the melancholy period some of the students
experienced. Therefore, their
conclusions are more readily accepted to me.
The
Question I am answering is Question 5:
Question 5:
(a) Consider Table
5 in the Lecture Notes, in the Section on Driving Psychology Theory and Charts
at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-lecture-notes.htm#Charts
(b) Consult the
article from which the Table was taken.
(c) Copy and paste the
table into your file. Now delete the examples in each cell and replace them
with your own examples that you make up.
(d) Discuss why
driving is such a big problem in all societies and why no effective solutions
have yet been found for them.
(e) Discuss the
solutions offered by Dr. Leon James (www.DrDriving.org).
What likelihood is there that his approach will be adopted? Explain. (f) Any
other comments you wish to make.
Answer:
(c) Copy and paste
the table into your file. Now delete the examples in each cell and replace them
with your own examples that you make up.
|
Table 5 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The
above comes from: www.drdriving.org/articles/driving_psy.htm
(d) Discuss why driving is such a big problem in all
societies and why no effective solutions have yet been found for them.
Driving
is a universal problem in all societies primarily because every individual
vehicle handler has a different style of driving. Each of us will come into contact with a person who has a
different method of driving and how we handle the interaction will determine
either a smooth and favorable outcome or one that is marked with regret. There are many factors to the problems in
driving from the consumption of alcohol, sleep deprivation, bad moods, music,
traffic, speeding, lack of experience in driving, health ailments and even
switching the radio station. Any of
these problematic areas could greatly affect the way we drive and for varied
these reasons it is a dilemma all societies face.
(e) Discuss the solutions offered by Dr. Leon James (www.DrDriving.org). What likelihood is there that his approach
will be adopted? Explain.
The
solutions provided by Dr. Leon James first attack beginners, novices who are
just starting to drive. By raising
drivers who are more competent at a young age, we can prevent bad habits that
might develop. The training used to
restructure their driving paradigm is to become a “supportive driver.” The effects of being a supportive driver are
greatly advantageous allowing a harmonizing flow of traffic, where everyone is
working with each other not acceptance.
The only set back to this solution is the implementation. Not everyone will agree to the criteria of
this plan nor will everyone adopt it.
The
Question I am answering is Question 7:
Question 7:
(a) Our textbook Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving has checklist exercises in several chapters. Do
the following four exercises:
(i) Exercise on How
Passenger-Friendly Are You on p.184-5
(ii) Exercise on Witnessing Your Aggressive Driving on p. 140-3
(iii) Exercise on Your Road Rage Tendency on p. 40-42
(iv) Exercise on Your Verbal Road Rage Tendency on p. 91
(b) What were your reactions to each exercise?
(c) Discuss how these exercises help you to become
more aware of yourself as a driver.
(d) Do some of the exercises with another driver you
know. How do they help you understand some principles of driving psychology
mentioned in the book? Discuss and illustrate.
(e) Any other comments you wish to make.
Answer:
(a) Our textbook Road Rage and Aggressive
Driving has checklist exercises in several chapters. Do the following four
exercises:
(i) Exercise on How
Passenger-Friendly Are You on p.184-5
(ii) Exercise on Witnessing Your Aggressive Driving on p. 140-3
(iii) Exercise on Your Road Rage Tendency on p. 40-42
(iv) Exercise on Your Verbal Road Rage Tendency on p. 91
(i)
How
Passenger-Friendly Are You?
1. T I always consider my passenger’s feelings
2. T I adjust my driving to accommodate to my
passengers’ comfort
3. T I let my passengers influence my driving for
the better
4. T I want my passengers to think of me as a
good and save driver
5. T I try to avoid making driving mistakes even
more when I have passengers
6. T I think that passengers should just sit
back, relax, and leave the driving to me.
But if they feel more comfortable participating, I let them if it’s safe.
7. F My passengers can control the air
conditioning and windows
8. T Passengers have the right to criticize the
driver’s behavior
9. T I want my passengers to be grateful and show
appreciation, but if they don’t I won’t resent it or hold it against them
10. T My passengers can select the music
(ii)
Exercise on
Witnessing Your Aggressive Driving
Witnessing
Your Emotions:
1. X Getting angry when forced to brake by another
motorist
2. X Feeling insulted and furious hen a driver revs the
engine in passing
3. X Feeling hostile when your progress is impeded by
congestion
4. O Being suspicious when a driver doesn’t let you change
lanes
5. X Feeling justified in retaliating when another driver
insults you
6. O Enjoying thoughts of revenge and torture
7. O Enjoying the role of being mean behind the wheel
8. X Feeling satisfaction when expressing hostility
against other drivers
9. O Fantasizing racing other road warriors
10. O Enjoying stereotyping and ridiculing certain drivers
11. X Constantly feeling like rushing, even when you’re not
late
12. X Striving to get ahead of every car
13. O Being pleased when getting away with breaking traffic
laws
14. O Enjoying the feeling of risk or danger when moving
fast
Witnessing
Your Thoughts:
1. X Justifying rejection of the law that every lane
change must be signaled
2. O Thinking that it’s up to you to choose which stop
signs should be obeyed
3. O Thinking that there is no need for speed limits
4. X Being ignorant of safety rules and principles
5. O Thinking that it’s not necessary to figure out the route
before leaving
6. O Not leaving early enough; thinking you can make up
time by driving faster
7. X Thinking that some drivers are fools, airheads,
rejects, and so on
8. O Thinking that some drivers are out to get you
9. O Believing that passengers have fewer rights than
drivers
10. O Thinking you can handle drinking and driving due to
your special ability to hold your liquor
11. X Thinking that you can use in-car communication
systems safely without having to train yourself
12. X Believing that pedestrians shouldn’t have the right
of way when jaywalking
13. O Believing it’s OK not to wear a seat belt since you
probably won’t need it
14. O Thinking it’s best to get ahead of others even if you
cause them to slow down
Witness
Your Actions:
1. X Not signaling when required by law
2. X Lane hopping to get ahead rather than going with the
flow
3. X Following too close for the speed
4. O Gap closing to prevent someone from entering your
lane
5. X Turing right from the middle or left lane
6. X Blocking the passing lane, not moving over as soon as
possible
7. X Speeding faster than the flow of traffic
8. O Shining high beams to annoy a driver
9. O Honking to protest something when it’s not an
emergency
10. O Gesturing insultingly at another driver
11. X Speeding up suddenly to make it through a yellow
light
12. X Making rolling stops when a full stop is required
13. X Threatening
pedestrians by approaching them quickly
14. O Illegally parking in a marked handicap space
15. O Parking or double-parking where it’s illegal
16. O Playing the radio loud enough to be heard by other
drivers