Report 1
My Understanding of Driving Psychology
By Melissa Mills
Instructions for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-report1.htm
G25 Lecture Notes on Driving Psychology are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-lecture-notes.htm
Section
A: Two Stages of a Driving Personality Makeover Plan
My name is Melissa Mills.
I am a student at the
Driving Psychology course (Psy 409a) with Dr. Leon James, author of the book Road Rage and Aggressive Driving.
Driving
Psychology is a topic that is in need of focus.
Over the years driving has become a very dangerous daily activity. There are over one hundred and seventy
million licensed drivers in the
The
rate of fatalities and injuries has remained fairly constant throughout
This
report will explain many ideas behind the term driving psychology along with
explaining the drivers’ three fold self.
I will also share my own driving makeover, review previous generation’s
work and give advice to future generations. The purpose of this report is to
show my understanding of driving psychology and how I use what I have learned
to become a better, more supportive driver.
Each
topic that I will discuss will have its own section. The first section is a review of Table 3 in
the lecture notes, titled Two Stages of a Driving Personality
Makeover Plan, which can be found at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-lecture-notes.htm#charts.
Classifying
drivers can lead to a greater understanding of drivers’ feelings, thoughts and
actions on the road. Realizing the
different steps helps one to switch their feelings, thoughts and emotions from
negative, hurtful behaviors to positive and supporting ones. Table 3 uses a new taxonomy to create a two
stage makeover plan.
The
table is divided into two stages. The
first stage describes how to avoid being an aggressive driver while the second
one describes how to become a supportive driver. Although these two ideas are very similar, it
is important to recognize and participate in both in order to affectively
change your negative behavior. These two stages are both divided into three
levels. A driver can be put into these
different levels of driving skills and errors according to the affective,
cognitive, and sensorimotor domains.
The
first stage, titled, Avoiding Being an Aggressive
Driver, includes these three domains of driving, which are also called the driver’s
three-fold self. The first domain, the
affective self, controls the feelings and motivations maintained while
driving. At the affective level, in
order to avoid aggressive driving, the goal is to transform your resistance to
change. This can be done by activating
higher motives within you such as being kind to strangers or letting other
passengers complain or make suggestions while driving.
The cognitive self controls the thinking and
reasoning we do while driving. To avoid
aggressive driving in this stage one should learn to
do rational analyses of traffic incidents.
Examples on how to achieve this are, counteracting ones self-serving
bias on how they view events or reasoning against ones attribution errors
(It's always their fault. It's never my fault).
The
driver's sensorimotor self operates the sensations, perceptions, and motor
acts we carry out while driving. Acting
out civil behavior will help one avoid aggressive driving in this stage. Examples of such civil behavior are waving, smiling, and signaling at other drivers and not
crowding, swearing and rushing in on other drivers.
The second stage of the driving personality makeover plan is
becoming a supportive driver using the three domains of driving to change ones
feelings, thoughts and perceptions on the road.
At the affective level, one should maintain a supportive orientation
towards other drivers by feeling regret at unfriendly behaviors and feeling
good about acting kindly to other drivers.
Becoming a supportive driver at the cognitive level
involves analyzing driving situations
objectively. This is done by knowing
ones driving errors and rehearsing the modification of those habits.
At the sensorimotor level, becoming
a supportive driver means behaving in a cooperative manner on the road. This means anticipating the needs of other
drivers and being helpful to them.
Another model that also goes hand and hand with the drivers’
three-fold self is the AWM Model. This
is a three step program aimed at helping a driver recognize and change negative
behaviors on the road. The first step is
to Acknowledge that you have a driving problem
and need assistance. Someone trying to improve their driving by using this
model will use the three domains to acknowledge their negative behaviors in
each domain.
The second step is to Witness your behavior while driving. In the witnessing step, the driver needs to
observe their behaviors from all three domains, affective, cognitive and
sensorimotor. They need to study their
thoughts feelings and actions while behind the wheel along with identifying
their degree of road rage and aggression while driving.
The third and final step is to Modify
the behaviors you want to change. Each
negative habit needs to be resolved through the AWM approach independently from
other negative habits. This will
increase the successfulness of the changing of behavior.
The goal of this model is to identify problematic habits and work
at changing these habits. One of the
main problems with aggression and road rage is that most drivers experience it
but very few admit to engaging in it.
This is why it is very important to self-assess your driving (by talking
out load or recording your thoughts while driving). This allows you to become more aware of your aggression
and will lead you to changing these tendencies.
After talking with my boyfriend about the two step makeover plan
and the AWM model, I was able to gain further insight on what others reactions
are to the models that try to change negative habits on the road.
When discussing the ways to move from an aggressive driver to a
supportive driver in the affective self, he had mixed opinions. To him, it sounds like a good idea to change
the way you feel on the road, for example feeling good about behaving with
kindness and feeling responsible after making an error on the road. But he also felt that it is not necessary to appreciate
passenger comments. He felt that since
they are riding in his car they should not complain about his driving or give
him suggestions. He also felt that not
all drivers should automatically be forgiven for their actions because many of
them do them intentionally and they should be the ones changing their actions,
not him.
After reading over and discussing the cognitive self for quite
awhile, he finally realized that he had many errors in this section. He said that once he actually thought about
it, he noticed that many of the examples given in the table were relevant to
his driving. For example, he shared that
he often reasons against his attribution errors and blames others for all
problems on the roads, forgetting to include his errors. He feels that most people probably do this
without realizing they are doing it and how this thinking can lead to negative
actions.
At the sensorimotor level, he felt that these ways to change from
an aggressive driver to a supportive driver were common sense. We talked about the fact that even if they
are common sense, when in the heat of the moment, the negative sensorimotor
self can easily come out when paired with the negative cognitive and affective
selves.
He felt that reading over and discussing this table really helped
him realized that he has some negative driving behaviors that could be
fixed. He He
feels that giving all drivers the knowledge about the drivers threefold self
and how it works could really start to change drivers negative motivations,
beliefs and actions on the road.
When discussing the AWM approach, he shared that this idea of self
assessment made a lot of sense. He feels
that witnessing his own actions while driving would help him want to modify
more of his negative behaviors. We all
act out in many negative ways while driving but often don’t even realize
it. Hi thought that this could be a very
useful tool while driving and agreed that he would try this approach the next
time he drives on the highway, where he feels the most aggression and road
rage.
Talking with my boyfriend about these ideas was a good
experience. It not only reinforced my
learning of the topics but introduced two new tools that could possibly help another
driver change some of his negative habits on the road. We all have them and the more people who
learn these strategies the better. We
just need to get these ideas out to the general public.
I think that the two stage makeover plan and the AWM approach are
great ways to change negative behaviors on the road. Although it is hard to get these ideas to the
general public and gain their participation in these approaches, it is still a
useful tool for those who are seeking help with their driving. Anyone can use these tools. They are organized in a way where changing a
behavior is easier because the approaches rely on change in so many different
domains.
Section
B: Driving Psychology
Driving psychology is a specialized area within
psychology that tries to improve driving behavior among the whole driving
community by using self-awareness and self-modification methods. Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl discuss the important components of driving psychology
in their book Road Rage and Aggressive
Driving.
These
elements make up the idea of driving psychology. Included within the term driving psychology
is the emotional intelligence of drivers, self improvement programs, the
affects driving has on children, becoming a supportive driver and a lifelong
driving education program.
There
are 3 levels of emotional intelligence. At level one our feelings are
oppositional and negative. Because of
these feelings, we are unable to handle road exchanges which can be made worse
as a result of irrational thought processes.
This is the level in which many drivers drive at. With these oppositional feelings and
irrational thoughts, one often acts in reckless, impulsive and hostile ways.
Level
two is Defensive driving. The driver in
this level concentrates on the safety of the drivers, vehicles and passengers
on the road. Actions in this level are
more cautious. The problem with this
level is that it encourages competitiveness on the road. The defensive feelings and logical thoughts
in this level lead to suspicious and competitive actions that are more cautious
and restrained.
The third level is Supportive driving. This level of driving allows drivers to
handle other drivers and traffic encountered while driving in a positive way
that avoids the negativity of the oppositional and defensive drivers. The supportive driver has prosocial
thoughts that make them act helpful and friendly towards other drivers on the
road.
Emotional
Intelligence plays a significant role in Driving Psychology because it focuses
on driver competence skills and the effects of an emotionally intelligent
person’s approach to driving. An emotionally
intelligent driver would focus on their own negative actions instead of blaming
other drivers or situations.
The self improvement programs are what were discussed in
Section A. The drivers threefold self
and the AWM program are essential in driving psychology. The goals of these programs are to change
negative feelings, thoughts and actions into positive ones.
Road rage and aggression are ideas and feelings that are
inherited through ones culture. Most
drivers are proud of their aggressive behaviors on the road. Aggressiveness is often a praised quality to
possess in the eyes of the media and our individualistic culture. As a result many children witness this
aggression through their parents, or other adults at a very young age.
To avoid later aggressive driving in these children it is
important for adult drivers to teach emotional intelligence at a very young
age. Driving Lessons start at infancy when
riding in the car with adults. They soon
learn how to act as passengers. This is
the time where it is crucial to instill good driving behaviors into their
habits. Children do as their parents do
so if you behave appropriately so will they.
Like in other areas of life, positive reinforcement can
also help in the process of developing good behaviors in the car. A child can be rewarded with a badge,
certificate, or verbal compliment when behaving appropriately in the car. This will surely help develop good driving
morals.
The supportive driver, as explained before, is where all drivers
should aim to behave like. Becoming a
supportive driver is the overall goal of driving psychology.
Being a supportive driver means adjusting to the
diversity of the conditions on the roads.
Supportive drivers are tolerant of others driving behavior and road
conditions. They recognize that there is an assortment of
drivers on the road and accepts that every driver is different and they adjust
their driving to each situation on the road that helps out others on the
road. The idea of the supportive driver
is to always put others first.
The last main component I will talk about is the proposal
for a lifelong education program. The
education would include a kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum taught
in schools. In kindergarten and
elementary school the focus will be on affective driving skills. The instructor will use age appropriate
cognitive and sensorimotor explanations to teach these children affective
skills that will be useful when driving.
During middle school the focus would shift to cognitive
driving skills, where the review of the affective skills will help them learn
about the cognitive skills. High school is when the last component will be
added to the knowledge of the students, the sensorimotor skills.
The training doesn’t stop there. Quality driving circles (QDC) will be a
training ground for adults. These are
voluntary groups who meet regularly to encourage one another to participate in
the driving self improvement program.
Support groups increase the likelihood that change will be successful
and are a great way to stay motivated about positive driving.
Driving psychology is a lifelong education process, that
starts with encouraging children to be good drivers and continues with a
curriculum in school and extends to participation in QDC’s
throughout life. This program uses
emotional intelligence and self improvement programs to achieve the ultimate
goal which is to be a supportive driver.
Section C: Three Domains of Driving Behavior
Throughout
the lecture notes, which can be found at, www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-lecture-notes.htm., the three domains of driving behavior are explained and discussed. There are five instances where the phrase
“three domains” appears in the notes.
With each occurrence comes a new idea of how the domains relate to
driving habits.
The
first occurrence of this phrase introduces the topic of “the driver’s threefold
self” which is the interaction between the three domains of driving
behavior. These domains are the
affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor self.
Through these domains we can recognize and modify components of driving
behavior.
As
explained earlier, the affective self controls the feelings and motivations one
has while driving. These feelings help
form beliefs about the world. The
cognitive self controls ones thoughts and reasoning while driving. The sensorimotor self includes the feelings,
observations and motor acts performed while driving. These are the actual physical actions one
makes while driving.
The purpose of this course and other driving psychology
courses is to become knowledgeable of these domains and “the driver’s threefold
self” and in time be able to alter these domains in
oneself to improve ones driving.
The
second occurrence of the phrase discusses how exposure to driving throughout
childhood affects the three domains later in life when driving is now a part of
a daily routine. During childhood,
knowledge of driving is being obtained from interactions with adult drivers, such
as parents, and the way the media portrays driving.
By
the time it is time to learn how to drive, years of influence in all three
domains have been acquired. Hostile
feelings (drivers affective self), biased thoughts (drivers cognitive self) and
aggressive actions (drivers sensorimotor self) are a direct result of our
environmental influences throughout childhood.
The
phrase occurs again in Table 1, titled Driver
Behavior as Skills and Errors in Three Domains.
Within each of the three domains there exist skills and
errors. The skills represent positive ways
to use each domain of the threefold self.
For example, a positive sensorimotor skill would be to wave and smile at
someone who is trying to change lanes to a spot in from of you. An error is a negative way to use each domain
of the threefold self. An example of a
negative sensorimotor error would be to yell an obscene comment at the driver
for trying to get ahead of you in traffic.
The
fourth discussion of the three domains is in the list basic principle in
Driving Psychology. The second principle
states that driving norms are present in all three domains, the affective,
cognitive and sensorimotor self.
Lastly,
once again the three domains are referred to in the seventh basic principle in
Driving Psychology. The driving
behaviors and habits we have as a result of the three domains can be
changed. Aggressive habits can be
changed. Self-monitoring is one way to
modify these behaviors. It is important
to locate specific behaviors in each domain to modify driving behavior as a
whole. It is more effective to modify
individual behaviors. It is too
overwhelming and not as effective to try to change your entire way of driving
with one technique.
Also,
an environment needs to be created in the society that punishes negative habits,
and rewards positive habits in these domains.
This will be an incentive for aggressive drivers to want to change their
bad habits. Once there is a want for
help, a strategy to change these habits can be applied.
Section D: Student Generational Reports on Driving Psychology
For this section of my paper I will be reviewing papers from previous
generations who have taken this psychology course with Dr. Leon James. Although I will briefly explain each report,
I will not be able to give you all the information each student presents so
along with the title and name of each report I decided to add a link to each of
their reports. If you have any questions
or further interests, you can refer to their reports for more information.
Practical
Applications in Driving Psychology: A Cultural Study
By
Ikue Fukushima from Generation 20
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/fukushima/report1.htm
Ikue
Fukushima’s report in broken down into six sections, including a Preface,
Introduction, Definitions, Autobiography, Conclusion and advice for Future
Generations.
In her preface,
She then states the purpose of the Psychology 409a course
at the
Then she gives a few brief examples
of some previous work done by generations before her.
In
She shares her positive attitude about the course and how she is
optimistic that the ideas presented in this course will spread and help change
driving attitudes.
The end of her introduction reveals how the class has personally helped
her. She can now pass the driving road
test which she had previously failed.
She has also learned many useful skills that will help her become a
supportive driver. Most importantly she
can now pass on her knowledge of the course to others in hopes of spreading
supportiveness on the road.
In the definitions section of her report,
She concludes that analyzing and examining driving
behavior from a psychological point of view is a very affective way to change
the driving behavior in our society.
As for future generations, she advises that the students
all have a driver’s license before taking the class so they can easily relate
to the ideas discussed.
My
Understanding of Driving Psychology
By
Ryde Azama from Generation 21
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/azama/409a-g21-report2.htm
Ryde Azama
starts out her report discussing two websites, drivers.com vs. drdriving.org. She
evaluated these websites on the basis of their content, general purpose, and
ranking. The content section includes
the website’s articles, newsletters, and letters. The general purpose section includes the
website’s style, probable audience, public policy, advertising, and the size of
the websites. The last section, ranking
will include Azama’s review of the website.
Azama
gave drivers.com a good review. The website contains a large amount of
information about many areas of driving.
She also explains that many companies use this website as an opportunity
to advertise (insurance agencies) and search for employees (truck
drivers). Azama gives an
overall good review of the website, with its abundance of information. Her only negative comment was that it was
difficult to judge the reliability of some articles.
Azama
then evaluates drdriving.org. She
describes the content of the website as excellent. Compared to drivers.com, this website does
not have the same range of topics, but it goes more into depth on the topics it
chooses to display. The research for
this page is funded by a university and not a company and therefore should have
less biased results because the research is done for knowledge not to benefit a
corporation. Overall, Azama gives this website an excellent review. With the absence of advertisement and the
credibility from a University, this website would be very useful when
conducting a research paper.
In Azama’s second section of her paper she analyzes previous
generation’s reports. She reviews two
reports titled, Driving Psychology: Theory and Application by Sarah E. Phillips
and Jenny Arakaki.
She analyes another two reports titled, My
Driving Personality Makeover Project, by Jenny Arakaki
and Chris Concepcion.
She also reviews two reports by Jesse Chang and Jeremy Kubo titled, My
Proposal for Lifelong Driver Education.
At
the end of reviewing each paper, she noted that all of the writers had the same
goal in mind. They all wanted to change
their negative driving habits into positive ones. This was wanted for the benefit of themselves
and all other people engaging in driving on the roads.
In
the third section of her paper, Azama reviews and
revises a table 5 titled Emotionally Intelligent Driver Personality Skills,
which can be found at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-lecture-notes.htm#Charts. She then gives statistics of fatalities, injuries and
cost of damages to prove that driving is a continuing problem in our society. She also discusses some solutions to the
problems of driving psychology, specifically the positive effects that would
come from the use of a Lifelong Drivers
Education Program.
The
fourth and fifth sections of her report, Azama
analyzes Student Newsgroups Reports at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups
and answers questions from a textbook by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl, titled, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving.
Azama’s
advice for future generations is to educate one another about this topic. She again gives startling statistics exposing
the unbelievable amount of fatalities, injuries and economic loss each year due
to aggressive driving. She states the
best thing we can do is educate ourselves about this issue and share it to the
world.
My Understanding of Driving
Psychology
By Amy Beeler from Generation 22
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2005/beeler/409a-g22-report2.htm
Amy Beelers report consists of
seven sections including an overview of tables one through four in the lecture
notes, a review of the two textbook used in the Psychology 409 course, a review
of two websites, an evaluation of six previous generations reports, exercises
from the text books, a report on current generations and advice to future
generations.
Amy Beeler begins her report with a breakdown of tables
1, 2, 3 and 4 in the lecture notes found at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/409a-g22-lecture-notes.htm#Charts. She defines the three domains of the
three-fold self, the affective, cognitive and sensorimotor. She gives examples of her skills and errors
in all three domains. These domains seem
to be seriously affected by the mood and situation he is in at the time. His thoughts, feelings and actions fluctuate
between positive and negative results.
Beeler devises a “driving personality
makeover” where she aims at changing her negative thoughts on the road. Her “makeover” contained two steps. The first step is to avoid being an
aggressive driver and the second step is to become a supportive driver. She describes her goal as the “Golden Rule of
Driving”. She wants to treat others the
way she should be treated.
In the third section of her report,
Beeler reviews the two books used in Dr. Leon James’ Psychology 409a course, at
the
Beeler’s gave a excellent review
of the book, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving. The book is very informative and goes beyond
the basic principles of road rage and aggression. The book contains shocking statistics,
helpful quizzes, world wide issues, and anything else you want to know about
driving and driving behavior. It is a
very helpful book when trying to understand behavior on the road and how to
improve the world wide driving predicament we are in that is contributing to so
many deaths and injuries.
Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic
Safer is a book containing a collection of essays about driving lessons. The book introduces ideas and concepts that
are new to most of the readers. Overall,
Beeler gave this book a good review.
Beeler
also compares the two websites titled, drivers.com. and drdriving.org. Similar
to Generation 21’s, Ryde Azama’s
comment, Beeler felt that drivers.com was not a
very creditable website. She felt a lot
more confident in drdriving.org.
Beeler’s
report also contains a section where she reviews previous generation’s reports
and answers questions from a textbook by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl, titled, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving.
She
reviewed six reports, from generation 20, including, Shari Arakawa-Longboy and Jenny Arakaki”s
reports on Driving Psychology: Theory and Application. She also analyzed Ikue
Fukushima and Chris Concepcion’s papers titled, My
Driving Personality Makeover Project and Jeremy Kubo and Jesse Chang’s reports
entitled, My Proposal for Lifelong Education.
After
reviewing the reports she gave a general conclusion about the reports as a
whole. She felt that the students did a
great job on the reports and that she learned some new information while
strengthening her knowledge she had already gained in the class.
As
for advice for future generations, Amy Beeler is to learn the issues presented
because once implemented, they will be valuable in life.
My Understanding of Driving
Psychology
By Ashley Hooks from Generation 23
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2005/hooks/hooks-409a-g23-report2.htm
Ashley Hooks starts her report with a review of the two
books used in the University if
Hooks
review of Road Rage and Aggressive Driving is good. Hooks summarizes the three sections of the book
and explains how they help with modifying one’s driving behavior.
Hooks review of Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems
That Make Traffic Safer is also good.
She explains the three sections of this book, which consists of essays
written by a collection of authors, and explains how they further educated him
on the topic of driving psychology.
Then Hook reviews and summarizes reports from previous
Psychology 409 students. These include reports three reports from the
generation 15 class. The papers reviewed
were written by, Alyssa Chun, a student who went under the alias shell87, and a
student named Susan. All the three reports
were very valuable to Mrs. Hook, and she learned a great deal by reading their
papers.
Ashley
Hook then explains and redefines Table 5, titled Emotionally Intelligent Driver
Personality Skills, found in Dr. Leon James’ lecture notes at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-lecture-notes.htm#Charts. She then discusses the driving problems
present in society today and some possible solutions to these problems.
She
explains there are many driving problems present in society. For example, many drivers fail to acknowledge
their feelings and emotions while driving.
Another example presented by Hook is that the car provides a sense of
isolation where it is easy to feel independent from what is going on outside
your car.
Hook
offers several solutions to driving problems.
She argues that a lifelong driver’s education program would educate
future drivers and prevent the occurrence of some bad driving habits. Another solution is the AWF approach. This is
a three step method where one Acknowledges their problem, Witnesses the problem
by self observing and then modifies the problem behavior.
In
the next section of her report, Hook does some exercises in the book, Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving.
The
next section of Hook’s report, describes the idea of supportive driving. Supportive driving, defined by Hook, is the
opposite of aggressive driving. A driver
who is supportive benefits from driving in various ways. Supportive driving helps contain road rage,
reduces stress, improves the immune system, promotes community spirit, protects
from emotional or physical injury, and from financial liability.
Her
advice to future generations is similar to the other reports I review. She advises to stay on top of the work, do
the outlines, and go to class. Do these
things and you will not only get a good grade but will learn a lot of valuable
information that can be practiced for the rest of your life.
After reading
My Understanding of Driving
Psychology
By Tiare MacDonald
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/macdonald/macdonald-409a-g24-report1.htm
Tiare MacDonalds
report is comprised of six sections.
These sections include, an explanation of the four tables in Dr. Leon
James’ lecture notes, the fundamentals of driving psychology, the three domains of driving, other
generations personality makeover, her own personality makeover and advice for
future generations.
In the first section, she explains the four driving
taxonomy, tables. The analysis of the
first table explains the skills and errors in the three driving domains, the
affective, cognitive and sensorimotor self. The second table breaks down driving skills
into 18 behavioral zones. Table 3, is
the driving personality makeover plan and Table 4 in the AWM Self Modification
plan. Both of these tables are discussed
in Section A of this paper.
In MacDonald’s second section of her paper, she lists
thirteen ideas of what she thinks makes up driving psychology. I will not list all of these in my report but
to give you an example of what some of her ideas are,
I will share one or two items from her list.
The first two points listed are, driving is a very complicated act, yet
is mostly unconscious and the driving environment is unpredictable and
dangerous. These points, along with the
other eleven, make up the Fundamentals of Driving Psychology, according to
MacDonald.
In section three of her paper, MacDonald explains the
three domains of driving and relates them to her boyfriend Marc’s driving in
both positive and negative ways.
Associating a loved ones behaviors with the drivers’ threefold self is
an excellent way of reinforcing these important three domains. If you can remember how they work
specifically with someone close to you, you will be more likely to remember the
different domains.
Next, Mrs. MacDonald summarized two students, from
previous generations, driving personality makeover experiments. She shared Jocelyn Manibusan and Jenny Arakaki’s
experiments. Both of these experiments
were performed to help them change one of their negative driving
behaviors.
In the next section, MacDonald shares the driving
makeover plan she designed for her boyfriend, Marc. His bad driving habit that she was trying to
change was his verbalization of his aggressive feelings and thoughts.
To change his negative behavior was a two step
process. First, everytime
he verbalized an aggressive feeling or thought she would state the behavior
performed and inform him that it was aggressive. Next, she posted a sign on his dashboard
stating the following: 1) everyone on the road makes mistakes, 2) there might
be a reason why someone is driving a certain way, 3) you must transcend the
situation and your anger, and 4) You are in control.
The outcome of this experiment was very positive in the
long run. At the beginning her boyfriend
was resistant to change and was annoyed with MacDonald’s behavior. In the end, he appreciated her help, and
started to change his driving for the better.
Her advice for future generations is to read other
generations reports, take notes while reading or listening to other classmates
presentations, and start your reports early.
She also add that the purpose of this class is to change your own
negative driving behaviors and pass on the knowledge to others in the
world. Do not forget this important
step.
Reading these students reports were a great way for me to
learn more about driving psychology and reinforce what I have learned so far in
the class. However, I did find it
difficult to write my report on another report that also contained information
from another report. In conclusion,
this introspective process will hopefully make me a better driver.
Section
E: My Driving Personality Makeover Field Experiment
I decided to use the AWM approach to modify a negative behavior I often
displayed while driving. I used the
chapter titled, Three-Step Driver Self-Improvement Program in Dr. Leon James
and Dr. Diane Nahl’s book Road Rage and
Aggressive Driving to acknowledge my negative habits and start to change
them.
While reading the chapter Three-Step
Driver Self-Improvement Program, I was very compelled to try this program on
myself. While taking this class I
realized that I have many negative driving habits that need to be changed so I
can become a safer driver. I decided to
reread the chapter and do the exercises to start my driving personality
makeover.
The first exercise called, Assessing
Myself as a Driver, is done to realize what your best and worst driving traits
are by making a list. This is how the
list turned out.
My Best Driving Traits According to Myself
1.
I always signal when I plan on changing lanes or
turning.
2.
I never display bad hand gestures at other passengers
(like flipping them off).
3.
I never threaten other drivers and pedestrians.
4.
I let others who are trying to merge in while stuck
in a traffic jam.
5.
I stop at crosswalks to let pedestrians cross the
street.
My Worst Driving Traits According to Myself
1.
I usually drive 5-10 miles over the speed limit.
2.
I’m never in full control of my emotions while
driving. I usually get irritated by
others slow (or right at the speed limit driving) driving.
3.
I become defensive when a passenger tries to give me
advice.
4.
I’m constantly in a hurry when driving. I am usually running late to school or work.
5.
I rarely drive slowly in school zones.
After making my list of my
self identified best and worst driving traits, I asked my boyfriend (since he
is the only one who rides with me on a normal basis) to make a list of my best
and worst driving traits. This is useful
in determining how you perceive your driving compared to others. Here are his lists.
My Best Driving Traits
According to My Passenger (my boyfriend)
1. She is very
cautious of pedestrians and bicyclists
2. Lets people
over into her lane.
3. Listens to the same C.D. over and over again
so she is never distracted by the stereo.
4. Always uses her signals.
5. Never drives after drinking any amount of
alcohol.
My Worst Driving Traits According to My Passenger
(my boyfriend)
1. Bad parallel parker
2. Too passive when driving
3. In usually
flustered because she is running late.
4. She doesn’t
like hearing advice from other passengers.
5. She becomes irritated
in heavy traffic or parking lots.
I compared the lists and
found out that me and my boyfriend share some similar views of my driving. We both feel that I am aware and courteous of
pedestrians on the street and that I use my signals regularly. We also agreed that I am usually in a hurry
while driving and I don’t like to receive advice from other passengers. My perceptions differ compared to my
passengers in many ways.
Now I will start the AWM
three step self improvement plan in hopes to change a negative habit I display
regularly on the road. This can be the most difficult step but after creating
the lists above, I am now aware of a few of my worst driving traits. I have
acknowledged these habits.
Now I must choose which
habit I would like to modify because each habit must be separately
acknowledged, witnessed and modified. Since
the habit was mentioned both by my boyfriend and myself, I decided to work on
my bad habit of always feeling time pressured on the road. Now that I acknowledge that I have a major
problem in this area of my driving, I can now move on to the second step, self
witnessing.
In this next step I decided
to self monitor myself while driving.
For the next couple of weeks I would observe my behaviors on the way to
and from school, where I feel the most rushed.
I witnessed this problem for a few weeks, and I found out that my
biggest concern in the parking on campus.
Some days I can find a spot and other days, it takes me over a half hour
to find parking. I also struggle with
getting up on time to go to school.
Within the last few weeks I have noticed that when I think I take a lot
less time to get ready than I actually do.
I usually think to myself “I just have to take a quick shower and
go. That will only take 10-15
minute” but I forget all the other
little things I need to do before going to school like eating breakfast,
gathering up all my school stuff, etc…
Witnessing the problem was the easy part. Within the few weeks of observing myself, I
was feeling “rushed” at over half of the days going to school. This is a very bad habit. I am constantly worried about being late to
class and because I am rushed I often forget important papers or books at
home. Also, because I am in a hurry, my
driving can be more reckless too. I
often speed, try to get around people, and get angry at other drivers for going
to slow when in actuality they are the ones going the speed limit. After witnessing this habit, I realized I
definitely needed to change.
Now I was going to try and modify this habit. For me, this was the hardest step because
this was not only a bad driving habit, but a bad habit in general that I have
been practicing my whole life. I knew it
wasn’t going to be easy. I decided to make a list of things that cause me to be
rushed in the morning and what I can do to cause me to be less rushed. The list was as followed:
List of events that cause me to be late
1. Getting up late.
2. Not being able to find a parking spot.
3. Making breakfast
4. Not being able to find all the
materials needed for class that day.
5. Not being able to find something to
wear
What can be done to help me arrive to school on time
1. Getting up earlier. (about 20 or 30
minutes earlier)
2. Leaving earlier for school (about 15 to
20 minutes earlier)
3. Making a bag of cereal the night before
that I can take for the road.
4. Getting my school things together the
night before and putting them in my backpack (this will also help me to
remember all my books and papers)
5. Picking out an outfit the night before.
6. If running really late, ride the
bicycle. It is sometimes faster because
I don’t have to look for parking.
I
then decided to test out my plan. I
tried doing numbers 1-5 on the second list to help me be on time to class and
stop driving reckless on the way to school.
The night before I packed up my school things, made a bag of Honey Nut
Cheerios and laid out an outfit for the morning. The next morning I woke up 10 minutes earlier
than normal (pretty good for the first day) and ended up leaving 15-20 minutes
earlier. I saved a lot of time by
preparing the night before.
My
drive to school was a lot less stressful.
I did not feel angry at other drivers and did not feel the need to drive
as fast as normal. Even with parking
problems, I stayed calm and arrived to class on time. I continued these rituals for the rest of the
week.
I
noticed after making time the night before to prepare for school and just
waking up a few minutes earlier made a significant difference in my punctuality
and driving behaviors. A few minor steps
made a huge difference in how I drive in the mornings. I no longer feel rushed, which causes me to
act more appropriately on the road. I
feel safer and less stressed.
Since
my modification, I have continued to try and prepare myself the night before
school and wake up on time on school days.
I have had a few slip ups but overall I have done really well. This has really been a life changing
modification. I am doing a little better
in school, because I am more organized.
I am driving more safely in the morning which is a huge step. I now have a lesser chance of hurting myself
or anyone else. I also am in a better
mood when I arrive to school without all the stress and anger of the morning
drive.
Like
I said I haven’t been perfect at the makeover but I have done really well and
am proud of myself. I think the AWM
makeover plan worked really well for me and I will definitely use it again in
the future. I know I have many more bad
driving habits that are in need of a change.
Section
F: Advice to Future Generations
This
class has definitely opened my eyes to the importance of driving safety and the
negative outcomes that result from driving.
Within the class and course I
have learned many new aspects of driving psychology, as I talked about in Section
B, along with ways to change my bad habits on the road.
This
course has definitely made me more aware of different aspects that affect my
driving behavior. I have also learned
that any aggressive action I make behind the wheel can be part of road rage and
needs to be taken seriously. The
consequences of dangerous driving are serious and need to be acknowledged among
all drivers.
My
advice for future generations is to stay on top of the work. Don’t procrastinate. Start the reports early. Do the outlines a week early. Also read Dr. James instructions carefully. If you do this along with keeping up on the
reading, you will learn a lot in this class.
Also,
share what you learn in class. Tell
everyone how important driving psychology is.
The world of drivers needs to know these facts and improvement
plans. The more people we share with,
the more hope we have to having more supportive drivers on the road.
Section
G: Links.
My Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/mills/mills-home.htm
G25 Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm
.
.