PSY 409A –
My Second Outline of Assigned
By Kristen Masuoka
A Whirlpool of Road Rage
Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare;
By Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl; Prometheus Books, 2000. Pages 84-96.
Instructions for this
activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-oral.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon
James
Concept 1: The Jekyll-Hyde Syndrome
A. It
is very common for perfectly nice and calm individuals to immediately switch
their personalities when they get behind the wheel of a car. Much like the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde effect. A person’s ego, self-righteousness, and
uncharacteristic-like anger somehow emerges while
driving.
B. A
lot of my friends suffer from this Jekyll-Hyde syndrome. Even the most shy, innocent, and sweet
individuals I know, to my surprise, turn into mean and aggressive drivers who
swear, yell, cut people off, tailgate, flick-off, etc.
C. I
chose this concept because I definitely agree with it and I am sure that
everyone can relate to it either personally or otherwise. I think that once people get behind the wheel
of a car, they lose a sense of themselves and become more prone to aggressive
behavior – much of which they normally wouldn’t display in real life,
face-to-face situations.
Concept 2:
A. A
type of road rage that occurs when one intentionally ignores or interferes with
the rights and wants of other drivers – even though probably not in an
intensely dangerous or illegal way.
These drivers often hold a feeling of entitlement and see nothing wrong
with what they are doing, even though they are intentionally aggravating other
drivers on the road.
B. One
example of passive-aggressive driving that infuriates me, is when drivers take
a noticeably longer time than necessary to move from their parking stall when
they know that someone else is waiting for it.
This type of passive resistance can be just as harmful as being an
openly aggressive driver.
C. I
chose this concept because I think it is important to recognize that even
passive and non-violent behaviors in driving can still be very dangerous and
considered a type of road rage. Anytime
one knowingly does something to compromise or irritate another, it is
considered aggressive driving.
Concept 3:
A. The
act of constantly blaming other drivers, traffic, the weather, pedestrians,
etc. for circumstances that irritate yourself on the road. These verbal gestures can be either involve
an internal dialogue with yourself, or actual outside verbal communication with
other drivers through yelling, swearing, etc.
B. Verbal
road rage is something that I have noticed in every single driver that I have
been in a car with. It is a way for
drivers to vent all of their frustrations obtained while driving, no matter how
silly or irrational these thoughts may be.
I was recently in a car with my friend in heavy traffic while it was
pouring outside and all she could do was complain about how God was punishing
her with this rain to keep her from going to school on time and taking her
midterm. It sounds ridiculous, but we’ve
all fallen victim to this type of rationalization.
C. I
chose this concept because I think that verbal road rage is the starting point
in many driving accidents. I think that
the first step in decreasing aggressive driving is to reduce or eventually
eliminate this very negative and dangerous concept of verbal road rage.
My Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2005/masuoka/home.htm
The G23 Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/classhome-g23.htm
Related Web Links:
http://www.healthylife.net/body/roadRageTest.html
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/road-rage.html
http://www.lapdonline.org/bldg_safer_comms/tip_of_the_month/2000/Traffic/00_03_traffic_tip.htm