Psychology 409a, November 24, 2005
My Seventh Outline of Assigned
By Yu Takebayashi
Driver Education
James, Dr.
Instructions for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-oral.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
Concept 1:
Teenage driving
A. Teenagers, who haven’t had much experience with
driving, could be dangerous when on the road.
The most fatalities occurred amongst sixteen-year-old drivers caused by
a driver error. Engaging in more risky
behavior is also a factor, such as speeding to show off to their friends or
driving under the influence.
B. Some of these things could be fixed or at least made
better if there was a better driver education program/law. The book discusses a “graduated license
system”, in which teenagers get certain restrictions (i.e., not being able to
drive between midnight and 6 a.m., zero tolerance for alcohol) until they
successfully pass.
C. I agree that there needs to be better driver
education, and that we should probably spend more of our nation’s money on
it. When I took a driver education class
in the summer after 8th grade, I felt that it didn’t help much. It was a lecture type class, and the teacher
just talked about things that were in a driver education book. To have a successful driver education system,
I think you would actually need to get hands on and practice driving.
Concept 2:
Driving Psychology Curriculum
A. The book says that a new driving education curriculum
has to be one of driving psychology.
This is because the driver is a person, and their personality affects
the way you drive. The three aspects of
personality, affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor,
are involved in driving and they should be addressed in driving education at
certain times.
B. In kindergarten and elementary school, you would
focus on the affective driving skills. The
affective includes the driver’s feelings, emotions, attitudes, and values. The students would be taught these affective
skills by using “age-appropriate cognitive explanations and sensorimotor
demonstrations”. In middle school, the
focus would be on cognitive driving skills.
The cognitive involves the driver’s thoughts, judgment, and
knowledge. They would participate in an
“age-appropriate review of the affective skills and their extension to these
cognitive skills with sensorimotor
demonstrations.” In high school, the sensorimotor driving skills would be focused on. The sensorimotor
includes the driver’s vision, motor reactions, fatigue, stress, and pain. This uses an “age-appropriate review of the
affective and cognitive skills and their extension to these sensorimotor
skills.
C. I think this is a good idea because you won’t be
forced to learn everything in a period of a few months, but more of a gradual
learning process that sinks into your brain and eventually will become the norm
(in your mind). It would also be helpful
to start young because when children see their parents acting out their
aggression, they will think that it is an acceptable way to deal with it; if
the children learn otherwise, they will know that what their parents are doing
are not necessarily correct or right.
Concept 3: Quality
Driving Circles
A. Once a driver gets their license, they might think
they know everything there is to know.
However, you are never as good as you think you are, and even the most
experienced drivers need to work on their driving skills. The book suggests adult drivers to continue
training through Quality Driving Circles (QDCs). This would be a “voluntary group of two to
ten drivers who meet regularly to help and encourage one another to follow a
driving self-improvement program.”
B. As the book says, this would work kind of like how a
support group for an illness, stress, or dieting would work. If you are doing something on your own, you
could become lazy and unmotivated. But
with a support group, with everyone going for the same goal, you are more
likely to stick to yours without slacking off.
C. I think this would be helpful for people to continue
training in driving. I believe that a
support-group-type-thing would work well, because people would feel more
motivated and also would not want the others being let down because of them.
My Homepage:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2005/takebayashi/home.htm
Class Homepage:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/classhome-g23.htm
Related Weblinks:
http://www.drivehomesafe.com/just_4_u_teens.htm
information for teenage drivers
http://driversed.com/ driver education, can
take class online
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409bf96/oshiroki/459/report2.html
managing a quality driving circle