Psychology 409A-September 19, 2005
My First Outline of
Assigned
By Gemma Clayson
"Overwhelmed With Stress"
Rothe, J. Peter. Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make
Traffic Safer. The
Instructions for this activity are found at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-oral.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
Concept
One: Unpredictable Stress On
The Road
A. Both stress and unpredictability are present all the time while driving. Predictability as maintaining safe speeds, avoiding disasters, and playing safe. Unpredictability such as quick, impulsive, dangerous decisions such as: changing lanes without signaling, slamming on the brakes, ambulances or police vehicles. Predictability= happy, calm, safe drivers. Unpredictability= angry, unsafe, stressed out drivers.
B. Unpredictable driving situations create stress for the driver. If a driver were to come across a traffic accident at an unusually odd time of day, they may become stressed because of this restriction. Normally, the driver would feel a sense of freedom, but the driving even now has taken on a psychological force and begins to produce different feelings and irrational thoughts.
C. I agree with this concept. When I get into a car I want to drive my way and I want everyone out of my way. I need my space and freedom when I am behind the wheel. When roads become congested and other people's driving manuevers become unpredictable, I can feel myself getting more and more tense and aggravated behind the wheel.
Concept
Two: Gender Differences Behind The Wheel
A. There are individual differences of expressing emotions, especially the negative ones that include stress and anger. Society and cultural factors play a huge role on these emotional expressions.
B. As a young child we are constantly witnessing our parents' or older siblings' driving behaviors or even behaviors from television characters. Many movies or TV shows portray gender differences amongst the characters. It is much more common to see men on TV drag racing for the competitive thrill like in the movie "Grease" or "Fast and the Furious". "Thelma and Louise" was a rare movie of two women escaping their congested lives to find freedom on the road and eventually from the law. In today's society, men are reporting more aggressive driving behaviors than women, but possibly contributing to the notion that men drive more aggressively than women and manifest road rage symptoms more regularly.
C. I believe there are obvious differences between males and females. As far as aggression, it is just human nature and evolution for men to act more aggressively than women because they have constantly had to deal with the stressful situations. Women are gradually equalizing the stress.
Concept
Three: Failing Traffic
Interventions
A. There have been numerous developments and improvements throughout the years to help reduce the traffic related injuries and fatalities. But no matter what we do to help reduce risks, the death and injury rate remains constant.
B. Some examples include: Safer roads with greater visibility, cars with better safety devices, HOV lanes and computer controlled traffic lights. These inventions can not keep up with our society. Scientists believe that it is the behavior of certain drivers that are engaging in more dangerous driving and "beating" these interventions. The driver controls the driving risk. Meaning that you control your own risk when driving and have the opportunity to take or avoid risky decisions.
C. I support the idea that some drivers are "beating" the interventions. When I drive, I recognize that I do engage in more risky decisions by simply disobeying traffic laws, but only when I am in a time crunch during rush hour traffic.
Related Web
Links:
1. http://www.sirc.org/publik/driving_risk.shtml -Article about sex differences in driving and insurance risk
2. http://www.apjph.org.my/Vol16_1/EconomicEval.html- Economic evaluation on reducing traffic injuries
3. http://stress.about.com/cs/anger/a/aa081401.htm- Stress on Wheels and Curbing Road Rage
Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/classhome-g23.htm
My Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2005/clayson/home.htm