Report 1
My Understanding of Driving Psychology
By Rhiannon Tokita
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
Hello! My name is Rhiannon Tokita and I am taking a
driving psychology course taught by Dr. Leon James. The purpose of this report is to give an overview of the many
things we have and will have learned about driving psychology. This paper will hopefully show others ways
to be a safe and effective driver.
This portion of the report will talk about the stages of a
driving personality makeover. The table
comes from http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-lecture-notes.htm.
The first stage of the
driving personality makeover plan is to avoid being an aggressive driver. In the Affective Level, which is the
emotional feelings and responses, the main idea is to get past the persons
resistance to change. Some examples of
accepting change are, if the driver can inhibit states of anger and
retaliation, and/or feeling sympathetic and kind to strangers. Accepting the fact that a driver is emotionally
aggressive, is usually the first step on the way to change. Once a driver has realized his or her
aggressiveness, then the changing process can begin.
The Cognitive Level, which
is the thoughts and analyses of other drivers and or incidences, is to be able
to do objective analyses of traffic incidences or accidents. The driver should be able to accept fault
and reason that it is not always the other driver’s fault. In order for this stage to work, a driver
once again needs to be able to accept the possibility that it was not the other
person’s fault but maybe his own. In
the Sensorimotor Level, which is the physical and verbal responses, the driver
can control their behavior during bad situations. For example, the driver can control their swearing, crowding, or
tailgating of another motorist. If the
sensorimotor aspect is being controlled, it is less likely that a confrontation
or dangerous altercation will occur.
The second stage is becoming
a supportive driver. In the Affective
Level, the driver feels supportive toward other drivers even if unfriendly or
unwanted gestures are made. The
supportive driver accepts fault and is also forgiving of other drivers’
faults. In the Cognitive Level, the
supportive driver can analyze other drivers or situations objectively. They also practice ways to modify their
driving errors. In the Sensorimotor
Level, the supportive driver is helpful to other motorists and gives verbal
encouragement. They realize that other
drivers have needs and they try to accommodate them.
I explained the two stages
to my boyfriend and asked him what he thought about it. His first reaction was “in an ideal world
these driving principles could be applied, if they were to be applied then the
end result would be roadways that were more peaceful. But I don’t think that these principles are realistic in our
culture. Our society and culture is a
very individualist one and seems to me that people display these
individualistic values while driving.”
Then I asked him why he thought this would only work in an idealistic
world and he replied, “because people
are only involved in themselves and are focused on where they are going as well
as being only into their situations and therefore ignore courtesies that they
could be exhibiting to other drivers.”
My boyfriend also believes
that many accidents that happen these days may be the result of drivers that do
not adhere to the principles of this model.
He thinks that a lot of accidents are caused by excessive speeding and
people being unaware of their surroundings because they are so involved in
their own situations. I then asked him
if he would follow these steps. He
replied, “I used to be a reckless driver, but recently I have been more calm
and less anxious about other drivers on the road.” “After these principles were explained to me, I can use these
concepts to improve my behaviors as well as my emotions while I drive.”
In conclusion, I believe
that if people adopted these two steps into their everyday driving, then roadways
would indeed be a safer place. I know
that it is not realistic to say that everyone would change if they heard about
this, but that if everyone did apply it, then the change would be great. I know that many people would have the
attitude that their driving is perfect and needs no improvement and therefore
would not even bother to try this two step model.
I was actually pleasantly
surprised at my boyfriend’s reaction to the method. He is a fairly aggressive driver and I did not expect him to say
that he was considering changing his ways in driving. I was glad that he was able to admit that he was a reckless
driver and that he was wrong. I am glad
that he has something to focus on and improve on while he is driving.
Even if I was able to
educate only one person on this two-step model, it was successful because he
accepted it and decided that he was going to try it. I know that having only one person in this world change does not
make that big of a difference, it could be one less accident or death that will
be prevented from happening.
It is stated in the lecture
notes http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-lecture-notes.htm “driving is a complex of behaviors acting
together as cultural norms.” This
principle is stating that the art of driving not only consists of the actual
operation of a motor vehicle but also includes the emotions and feelings driver
experiences. The feelings and behaviors
must also comply with the cultural norms which are set by the driving
community.
Another principle says
“driving norms exist in three domains: affective, cognitive, and
sensorimotor.” The affective domain
consists of the drivers feelings and emotions that he or she is experiencing
while driving. For example, a driver
may be feeling that another driver did something purposefully in order to upset
them. The cognitive domain includes a
drivers thoughts about driving as well as thoughts about other drivers. An example would be thinking that another
driver is an idiot for cutting you off.
In the sensorimotor domain, it is the actions and behaviors that come
into play. An example of the sensorimotor would be yelling, cussing, or making
some sort of gesture towards the other driver.
It is said that driving
norms are transmitted by parents, other adults, magazines, movies and
television. Children are most
influenced by their surroundings which most of the time includes their parents
or some sort of adult supervision. They
observe how the adults drive and the adults reaction to other motorists as well
and view those examples as the rules of driving. When not being supervised, children are sometimes entertained by
television, movies and magazines. They
are greatly influenced by the characters which sometimes exhibit driving
behaviors. The children pick up on those
“driving norms” which are portrayed on the screen and will later affect their
driving skills when they become drivers themselves.
The basic principles four,
five and six give examples of the driving norms for people in this
generation. It starts off by talking
about the affective driving norms which include: dominance, competition, and
intolerance of other drivers. For the
cognitive driving norms drivers do not accurately judge the risks they are
taking and lack emotional intelligence.
The sensorimotor driving norms consist of errors in perception such as
speeding, tailgating, and the distance between cars. All three of the domains show that people in this generation have
negative and aggressive views on driving norms. It seems as if people in this generation view aggressive driving
as a norm and something that is acceptable.
There is however ways in
which drivers can change their outlook on driving norms. One way in which the norms can be changed is
by socio-cultural management techniques.
The driver must have a desire to change and must be open to looking at
positive driving norms as opposed to negative norms. They need to look at their driving habits in each of the three
domains and self-improve them so that their habits become those of positive
driving norms.
Drivers do not always
respond well to external restrictions and laws imposed on them. Therefore imposing laws and regulations
alone is not sufficient in making changes to driving habits. It is said that socio-cultural methods must
be used and gives the example of QDC’s (quality driving circles). The Quality driving circles uses group
discussion and activities to help overcome a drivers resistance to change. The QDC’s use a curriculum that is based on
the principles of driving psychology.
The main goal of the QDC’s is to positively influence drivers and their
habits.
When a person is driving,
they are not always aware of what they are doing and what is going on around
them. Most people are only
semi-conscious while driving because after years of experience driving becomes
almost automatic. For example, many
people can drive home from work and suddenly realize that they do not remember
driving home or passing certain landmarks along the way. This may be the result of driving becoming
so automatic. One of the consequences
of driving being automatic is that a driver cannot accurately self assess
themselves while driving. The only way
that the driver can self assess themselves is if they are trained in objective
self-assessment procedures.
Whenever driving occurs,
there are always risks that need to be taken as well as errors to be made. There is no perfect driver in this world and
so these errors and risks are inevitable.
In order for drivers to be able to take control of these situations they
need to have training. They need to
learn how to react when there is an emergent situation. If a driver receives the appropriate
training in these elements they may be able to take control and get through the
situation safely.
When a driver obtains his or
her drivers license, it is thought that they have reached the end of driving
education. In order for a person to
continue to be a good driver they must accept that driving in a lifelong
learning process. In the time that a driver
has a license, many things can change that would cause them to be in a situation
that was dangerous. Technology is
evolving and new distractions become available everyday. The QDC’s curriculum must be kept up to date
with the changing technology and new distractions in order to refine the skills
of the driver.
Driving Psychology relates
to other psychology subjects I’ve studied in many different ways. Driving can be part of social psychology
because driving involves many people and not just individuals. It involves interacting with others and
studies how yours and other’s minds work, which is similar to studying social
psychology. I also relate driving
psychology to operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning involves getting the desired behavior by
reinforcement, either positive or negative.
In this driving psychology class, the desired behavior is supportive
driving. In order to achieve supportive
driving, people will get reinforced by the behaviors that they show. For example, when a driver let’s someone cut
into their lane and are rewarded by a hand wave, the driver is then more likely
to exhibit the kind behavior again.
Whereas if a driver were to flip someone off, they might get a response
of retaliation. It can also be negative
reinforcement by not getting tickets when they exhibit good driving behaviors
and follow the law.
I think that driving behavior
is not talked about in other types of psychology because driving was not
something that has always been around. In
the days of Freud and the other founders of psychology, driving was either non
existent or not an issue. As driving is
becoming much more of an issue, there are more studies that go along with
it. I also think that driving behavior
is not that well understood by a lot of people and therefore not added into the
curriculum of other psychology courses.
I feel that driving behaviors should be taught in social psychology
because driving is a social issue.
In this section I will find
five occurrences of the phrase “three domains” in the lecture notes http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-lecture-notes.htm. I will then explain what is being said about
it at that particular place in the notes.
Then I will talk about how the three domains relate to other aspects of
psychology as well as to my own behavior in daily life.
The first occurrence of
“three domains” comes while talking about the three types of behavior:
affective, cognitive and sensorimotor.
The specificities of each of those behaviors were discussed in the
beginning of this report. The three
domains are all part of the driver’s threefold self: the “affective self,”
“cognitive self,” and the ‘sensorimotor self.”
The second occurrence talks
about the three domains of aggressive driving.
It lists “hostile feelings” as being the aggressive part of the driver’s
affective self, “biased thoughts” as the aggressive part of the driver’s
cognitive self, and “aggressive actions” as the aggressive part of the driver’s
sensorimotor self. It is also suggested
that driver’s develop their driving behavior as children and young adults. Some of the many factors which influence a
child’s outlook on driving include: TV, parents, other adults, cartoons, and
commercials. When children see adults
being aggressive, they will feel that acting in such a way is an acceptable
behavior.
Children who have been
exposed to these types of aggressive driving and behavior tend to show the
aggressive characteristics on the three domains. As adult drivers for example they may be driving and begin feeling
angry or frustrated with other drivers and their actions. Thoughts may also cross their minds such as
“what in the world is he thinking, what an idiot.” They may even go so far as to have aggressive actions such as
cussing, tailgating, and obscene gestures.
The third occurrence comes
while talking about “Driver Behavior as Skills and Errors in the Three
Domains.” This is the heading of Table
1 in the lecture notes. The table lists
the skills and errors in each of the three domains. It gives examples of the skills which are the positive ways of
feeling, thinking, and acting. It also
gives examples of errors which are the negative ways of feeling, thinking, and
acting.
The fourth occurrence of
three domains is in the basic principles in driving psychology. It is again stated that the three domains of
driving norms are affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor.
The fifth and final
occurrence also occurs in the basic principles in driving psychology. It says that driving is a habit in the three
domains of behavior and therefore it is possible for drivers to self improve by
changing their habits. In each domain
there are thousands of habits that can be improved such as modifying feelings,
thinking nicer thoughts, and acting in more courteous ways to other
drivers. Those are just a few ways in
which drivers can change and improve their habits to become better
drivers.
The three domains relate to
other aspects in psychology in many different ways. The three domains are made up of feelings, thoughts, and actions
which are aspects in every other type of psychology. For example, community psychology is about working in the
community and with the problems that people face. The community psychologists have to consider the thoughts,
feelings and actions of the people they are assisting. People can help themselves by altering their
outlook on life which again has to do with feelings, thoughts and actions. Any behavior modification can be done by
following these simple rules.
Learning about the three
domains has helped me to better understand how and why I react to situations
the way that I do. When I am faced with
a situation, the first thing that crosses my mind is the feelings that I have
regarding the issue that is present.
The next thing that happens is my mind begins to think different
thoughts about it. Lastly, I act on my
thoughts as I feel is appropriate. It
is obvious that in every action that I do, there is thoughts and feelings
behind it, which is the same as the three domains in driving psychology. It has also helped with my aggressive
driving because I now realize that before I act on an impulse, I try to use
positive thoughts and feelings about other drivers and situations. Using this processes has helped me to slow
down and think about what is behind my actions and can really analyze what my
consequences may be.
In this section, I will be
summarizing other reports done by students in previous generations. For the first one I will be reviewing
Tiffany Bumanglag’s report on driving psychology which can be found at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/bumanglag/bumanglag-409a-g24-report1.htm. In her paper she discusses the theories and
charts from the lecture notes, the main principles of driving psychology, the
three domains of driving behavior, student reports from generational
curriculum, her driving personality makeover and advice to future generations.
In the first part of her
report, Tiffany talks about the threefold self. She talks about the affective self being the feelings and
motivations, the cognitive as being thinking and reasoning, and sensorimotor as
sensations and actions. I felt that the
explanation she gave about all the tables led back to the concept of the
threefold self, which was mentioned in detail earlier in the report.
While discussing the main
principles of driving behavior, Tiffany mentions “a theme running for
supportive driving is to put others first.”
I agree with that statement because supportive driving is about the
other motorists on the road. Supportive
drivers learn to give other drivers the benefit of the doubt when they make an
error, they also take away the anger towards the other driver and direct it
back to themselves, and their driving actions are done to accommodate the other
motorists. In each of the descriptions
of supportive drivers there exists a central theme, which again is the other
drivers needs.
For her driving personality
makeover she tried to lessen her speeding, which she also attributed to
aggression. She would always speed to
school and work because she never left on time. For her experiment, she decided to leave at a certain time in the
morning which would allow her to get to school on time without having to
speed. She was not rushed on those days
and felt calm and peaceful. There were
however a few days in which she did not wake up in time, which resulted in her
speeding and feeling agitated. After
her experiment she decided that she was going to continue to adhere to the
changes she made because she felt that change does not come at a “snap of a
finger” but has to be worked on over time.
In her conclusion, she
states that people should take what they learned in this class and teach it to
other people because of the many lives it takes every day. She feels that teaching the concepts to
others will help you to truly understand the concept. Her advice to future generations is to follow
directions because this is an “information literacy class.” She also suggests that future generations
look at the generational reports and decide if they can add to it or disagree
with it.
The second report I will be
reviewing is Jenine Goto’s report two on her understanding of driving
psychology which can be found at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2005/goto/goto-409a-g23-report2.htm
In this paper Jenine
answered questions 2, 3, 4, 5 & 7.
Question 2 requires the
students to give reviews about the two textbooks, select two chapters from each
text and to discuss in what ways these ideas will contribute to solving society’s
driving problems. She begins by talking
about the textbook entitled Road Rage and Aggressive Driving written by
Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl.
Jenine states that the textbook covers many aspects of road rage, which
include the factors that contribute to it and how to help reduce it. She lists that the book also contains a few
exercises pertaining to road rage and how the government is taking action
against aggressive drivers.
The second book is entitled Driving
Lessons: Exploring the Systems that Make Traffic Safer. Jenine states that she finds a common
theme in the text, improve and promote safety for everyone on the road. She also states that the book included many
different innovations in traffic safety and research towards refining the solutions
that are proposed. She goes on to talk
about the three sections in the book: “Personal Sub-Systems,” “Institutional
Sub-Systems,” and “Technical Sub-Systems.”
She gives specific examples from each of the sections.
Jenine selected chapter 4 from
Road Rage and Aggressive Driving. She
stated that she chose this chapter because she had a severe case of verbal road
rage. Jenine says that the chapter
helped her be able to acknowledge that she had a problem and how to begin
modifying her behavior.
Jenine selected chapter 7
from the Driving Lessons book, which discusses driver identity. She said that she never knew that driver
identity stays with you and is subject to change with time. She feels that the concept of awareness is
the first step to approaching the problem.
Jenine also says that change is gradual and that there will always be
resistances, but that you must always start with awareness.
Question 3 requires the
students to discuss the two websites: drivers.com and drdriving.org as well as
their main differences. Jenine stated
that the drivers.com website provided valuable resources on traffic safety,
driving, and driver behavior. In
regards to the presentation of the site, she stated that it was well organized
and easy to read. She mentioned that
the Dr. Driving website’s purpose was to inform the public about aggressive
driving and the main principles of driving psychology. She also stated that the website had a vast
range in topics about driving. In
regards to the presentation of the site, she stated that it seemed more user
friendly.
Question 4 requires the
students to summarize three generational reports. Jenine chose to do her review on three reports which focused on
the same concept. All of the reports
talked about their emotional spin cycle.
One of the students reports gave descriptions about the zones and the
three step method of acknowledging, witnessing, and modifying your
behavior. She states at the end that
reading the students experiences with the self-witnessing process had a
positive impact on her thoughts about the subject.
Question 5 requires the
students to consider Table 5 in the lecture notes whose topic was Emotionally
Intelligent Driver Personality Skills.
Jenine made her own version of examples for each part of the table. She stated that one of the biggest issues
that make driving so complex are environmental and internal factors. She feels that many solutions are not
effective because people are set in their ways and do not want to change. She talks about Dr. James’ solution, which
is that you should introduce driving psychology to young people, and feels that
it will some day be adopted but that the change will be gradual.
Question 7 requires the
students to do several checklists in his road rage book. After looking over her checklists, Jenine
realized that she didn’t check off were the things that annoyed her about other
drivers such as not signaling a lane change and not stopping at a stop sign. She also observed that she had terrible verbal
road rage and came up with a solution to try and curb it. She tried to suppress the foul language
while passengers were riding with her.
It worked well for the instances in which she had passengers, but there
was still the problem of swearing while she was alone.
The third report I will be
reviewing is Report 2 by Amy Beeler, which can be found at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2005/beeler/409a-g22-report2.htm. She answered questions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7.
Question 1 requires the
students to consider tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the lecture notes. Amy begins by talking about the three
behavioral domains and the levels of a driver.
She looks at affective responsibility, safety, and affective
proficiency. She then describes her own
skills and errors from each domain. She
feels that she is altruistic towards other drivers unless no one else will do
the same for her. Amy created a driving
personality makeover for herself which dealt with her negative thoughts about
other drivers. She states that she will
try to make accommodations for other drivers as much as possible.
Question 2 requires the
students to review the two textbooks and to summarize a chapter in each of the
books. Amy feels that the Road Rage
textbook is informative and goes into much detail about all the aspects of road
rage and aggressive driving. She stated
that the book on Driving Lessons was a collection of people’s essays and was
more difficult to sum up. She felt that
the book proposes that by looking closely at the huge problem on the road we
can come up with better ways for solving the problem.
In the road rage book, Amy
chose the chapter entitled: Road Rage Nursery.
She states that she chose this chapter because it was the one that stuck
out to her the most. She felt that it
is important for parents to set a good example from the very beginning because
the children will always pick up on it.
In the Driving Lessons book, she chose Revisiting Communications and
Traffic Safety because it talks about a safety issue that never crossed her
mind.
Question 3 requires the
students to compare the websites drivers.com and drdriving.org. In regards to the appearance of the
drivers.com website, Amy states that it was fairly colorful and organized. She noted that there were two clear
purposes: one being on computer drivers and drivers on the road. For the drdriving.org website, Amy noted
that it had eye catching aspects and was easy to understand and navigate.
Question 4 requires the
students to summarize 6 student reports on driving psychology from the previous
generation. Amy chose reports that
contained the themes: “Driving Psychology: Theory and Application,” “My Driving
Personality Makeover Project,” and “My Proposal for Lifelong Education.” Amy compared and contrasted the reports
which contained the same titles as well as content. She also stated that she agreed with everything that was said in
all the student reports that she reviewed.
Question 7 requires the
students to do several exercises in the Road Rage textbook. One of the exercises that Amy completed was
on self-assessment. During the
self-assessment exercise she and her passenger noticed that she always waved to
people who let her in and that she let many people into her lane. She and her passenger also noted that she
would get frustrated when people tailgated her and that she drove a little too
fast. She felt that the exercises
helped her to become more aware as a driver.
The fourth paper I will be
reviewing is Report 2 by Ynhu Le, which can be found at: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/le/409a-g21-report2.htm. She answered questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 &
7.
Question 1 requires the
students to consider tables 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the lecture notes. Ynhu begins her report by talking about the
18 behavioral zones of driving, which include the affective, cognitive, and
sensorimotor stages. She also included
steps that she will be taking in her driving personality makeover. In the driving personality makeover, she
chose things to modify that came from each of the driving domains. Ynhu felt that she anticipated running into
some problems while trying to modify her driving skills. She stated that she was worried that she
would get stuck on one of the steps and not be able to complete the whole
plan.
Question 2 requires the
students to compare the two textbooks, Road Rage and Driving Lessons, as well
as to choose one chapter in each book to discuss. Ynhu states that the Road Rage book focuses on aggression
problems that people have in regards to driving. It seemed to her that Dr. James and Dr. Nahl traced all the
aggressive driving to their childhood.
Ynhu reports that the book on Driving Lessons is a compilation of
articles on sub systems of making traffic safer.
Ynhu also mentions Ch. 6 in
the Road Rage book, which talks about the three-step driver improvement program. She goes on to explain what it is and how it
can be used by drivers. For the book on
Driving Lessons, Ynhu chose Ch.11, which talks about volunteer activism and
court monitoring. The chapter also
talked about different organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and
Driving While Intoxicated.
Question 3 requires the
students to compare the websites drivers.com and drdriving.org. Ynhu reports that on drivers.com there are
two different choices, computer drivers and human drivers. She stated that the information was not
clearly presented. In comparison, she
states that the drdriving.org website has lots of information and that the
information is easy to find. Ynhu
continues on to talk about other aspects of the webites such as, advertising and
newsletters.
Question 4 requires the
students to review six student reports from generation 20. Ynhu reviewed two reports done on report 1,
two reports on report 2, and three reports on report 3. The content in report 1 was driving
psychology: theory and application. The
content in report 2 was about their driving personality makeover. The content of report 3 was their proposal
on lifelong education. Ynhu summarized
all of their reports and came to general conclusions about them.
Question 5 requires the
students to consider table 5 from the lecture notes. The table is entitled “Emotionally Intelligent Driver Personality
Skills. The table contrasted different
examples from an aggressive and supportive driver. Ynhu then goes on to talk about solutions to the problems in
driving. She talks about the solutions
that Dr. James gives which are, Quality Driving Circles and the three step
program that was mentioned earlier.
Ynhu states that she feels they are logical solutions but that there may
be difficulty in carrying out the solutions.
Question 7 requires the
students to do several of the exercises in the Road Rage textbook. The exercises that Ynhu chose to do were:
“Scenario Analysis of a Teenagers
Unrecognized Road Rage Behavior,” Inner Power Tool: Acting as If,” “Assessing
Myself as a Driver,” and “Checklist: Your Road Rage Tendency.” She completed all of the exercises and gave
a brief overview of her assessments.
The fifth report that I will
be reviewing is Report 1 by Ikue Fukushima, which can be found at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/fukushima/report1.htm. In her report, Ikue includes a preface,
introduction, definitions, driving autobiography, and advice to future
generations.
In Ikue’s preface, she tells
a story about an incident of road rage that occurred between her boyfriend and
a lady walking down the street. She
then goes on to give statistics about the consequences of road rage and angry
drivers. It is in her introduction that
she mentions her feelings of what this driving psychology class is about. She reports that the class studies the
psychology of driving behaviors by looking at the three domains in driving,
affective, cognitive and sensorimotor.
Ikue gives the definitions
to many of the basic principles in driving psychology. One of the definitions that she discusses is
lifelong driver education. Lifelong
drivers education is the driving approach that teaches different principles of
driving at different age levels and times in peoples lives. She gives examples of the different types of
activities that can be done at the different stages in the driving education
curriculum. Ikue also adds that adults
should not stop their education and continue to learn through Quality Driving
Circles so that they do not stop improving.
In her autobiography
section, Ikue talks about how her experiences with her parents driving affected
how she reacts to driving as an adult.
She does not have a drivers license due to failing the driving
exam. Her father was an aggressive
driver which scared her, her mother was a safe and passive driver, and her
boyfriend is also an aggressive driver.
She feels that they plus the media have greatly influenced her driving
and her driving philosophy.
Ikue’s advice to future
generations is to have a drivers license before taking this class because it is
hard to relate to the concepts without it.
She feels that this class not only improves driving skills but also has
an impact of many other aspects in life such as, communication and
self-awareness.
After reading and reviewing
the reports of students in prior generations, I have a deeper understanding of
the concepts in driving psychology. By
reading the concepts over and over and in different ways, it helped me to see
other people’s point of view on their own driving as well as their observations
of other motorists actions. This type
of learning is beneficial because it forces the students to have an open mind
about others’ point of view and side of the story.
I also found it very
interesting and fun to read other student’s driving experiences and
encounters. It was nice to read first
hand the types of road rage incidences that occur here in Hawaii. Many people do not believe that incidences
of road rage do not occur here or will not happen to them, but reading the
stories of people who live here and have experienced it may make people realize
just how “real” and common it is. I can
only hope that it will cause people to think twice about acting on their
aggressive feelings and thoughts.
My Driving Personality
Makeover Field Experiment
In order to do my driving
personality makeover, I had to take one of Dr. James’ methods and use it to
reform my driving. I chose to use the
three-step driver improvement plan. The
three steps are: acknowledging my negative feelings, witnessing when they
occur, and modifying the negative feelings that I have towards other
drivers. In this experiment I
concentrated on my verbal road rage, but because of the time constraints was
only able to do a “mini” experiment. To
change a persons driving habits may take years and so this experiment is just
the beginning of the attempts to change
The first thing that I did
in my experiment was to think about my most negative aspects while
driving. I immediately thought about
how my verbal road rage is out of control.
I was able to acknowledge that I had a problem and that something needed
to be done about it. The next step was
to take note or “witness” when my verbal road rage occurred. It seemed to me that it was occurring almost
every time I got into the car, which was at least twice a day.
While driving, I would be
cut off by another driver and I would end up yelling and cussing to
myself. I would say things like “what
the f*** are you doing” and “are you stupid or something.” I also noticed that when people would drive
slow for no apparent reason I would be like “c’mon man, what’s the hold
up.” I noticed that my verbal road rage
would occur while I was not driving, but in the passenger seat. My boyfriend would be driving and I would
still cuss and yell at other drivers whom I felt was driving in a way that I did
not like. I knew then that I had to try
and modify my behavior before it gets me in trouble.
I also noticed that it did
not matter what type of mood I was in at the time the incident occurred. I could be in a perfectly good mood and
still come across a stupid driver and begin to cuss. If I was in a bad mood and I came across a stupid driver, I would
react the same way. With that being
said, I knew that my road rage was not dependent on my mood, so trying to
better my mood before driving would be a waste of time. I did notice that when I was in a bad mood
or feeling stressed out, it would take me a lot longer to calm down from the
situation and to think rationally. It
was at this point that I figured out what I was going to concentrate on in my
mini experiment.
While driving, I would try
to stay calm and be a supportive driver.
I let people in my lane, did not tailgate a slow driver, or do anything
that I felt was mean or aggressive.
Then bam, someone would cut me off or do something that I felt put me in
danger. My reaction to it was so
automatic, cussing and yelling, that I did not have time to stop myself before
the words left my mouth. As soon as I
realized what I was doing I would think to myself, “no, that was wrong, you’re
not supposed to yell and get angry.”
But by the time I thought about it, the action had already been done.
In addition to trying to
curb my verbal road, I decided that I was going to try and give people the
benefit of the doubt when something went wrong. For example, I would be driving on the freeway and someone would
race past me. In normal circumstances I
would have said “what’s the rush man” but I would tell myself that maybe he
needed to hurry because he had an emergency and had to get to the hospital. I would immediately calm down and not resort
to yelling and cussing. It helped me to
put myself in that person’s shoes and give him the benefit of the doubt.
I continued to try to
control my verbal road rage, but it was such an automatic response when the
situation occurred. No matter how much
I reminded myself not to react that way, it would still slip out of my
mouth. This occurred even when I was
not driving, but riding the in the passenger seat. My boyfriend would be driving and someone would do something
stupid and the cuss words would fly out of my mouth. Then I would remind myself out loud that this was not acceptable
and that I was trying not to react so quickly.
I would get really frustrated because it seemed as if no matter what I
did, I would still lose control even if it were for just 3 seconds.
My experiment of trying to
modify my verbal road rage behavior was not as successful as I would have liked
for it to be. It was great that I was
able to begin giving people the benefit of the doubt when driving fast on the
freeway or other minor events like that.
I was however, unable to curb my cussing and yelling. I do not know how else to try and stop that
behavior because for me it is almost like an involuntary reaction.
I intend to continue this
experiment and keep reminding myself not to be an aggressive driver and to
contain my road rage. Road rage has
always been an issue for me even while
in the process of getting my
license. I took drivers education and
every week my teacher would write that the thing I needed to improve on was my
road rage. At the time I thought that
it was funny and saw nothing wrong with doing it. I now know how dangerous and deadly it can really be. I will try my best to at least reduce my
road rage even when this class is over and for the rest of my driving life.
In this driving psychology
course, the one concept that has really stuck out is the three domains of
driving behavior, the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. I believe that those domains truly explain the
different levels of driving, whether it be aggressive or supportive. This concept was just one of many that we’ve
learned so far in this class. I feel
that the most important message in this class is that driving can be very
dangerous and something needs to be done about it. This course offers many helpful ways to lessen the dangers of
driving as well as to make driving less stressful.
I’ve also learned many ways
to control the different types of road rage that can occur while driving. This class heavily focuses on aggressive
driving and how deadly it can be. I
have learned to think before reacting to situations, acknowledge my thoughts
and feelings, and to modify my reactions to them. In the past, I never realized just how deadly driving is and that
no one had ever taught driving psychology, considering almost everyone in the
world does it at some point in their lives.
The one concept that was
really difficult for me to accept was that you are not supposed to get angry or
think angry thoughts about another driver.
I understand that you can control your actions when you are angry at a
situation, but I do not see how anyone can prevent themselves from thinking
it. This course suggests that you be
upset at yourself for getting angry at another drivers situation, not getting
upset at the other driver directly.
This was one concept that I could not see myself ever
accomplishing. It is a natural reaction
to get mad when someone puts your life in danger.
The alternative for getting
angry at another driver is saying that you are upset at yourself for getting
angry at another drivers inability to drive.
I do not believe that this suggestion will work because no matter how
much you tell yourself that you are angry at yourself, in actuality you are
angry with the other driver for causing you grief. This may work for some individuals but it does not work for
me. I have just accepted that I will
get angry at other drivers, it is just that I need to stay in control.
I feel that I have benefited
greatly from this course even if I have not yet completed the course. The concepts that I have learned and
accepted will forever be engrained in my mind and will help me to become a
better driver. Before taking this
course, I never saw my yelling and cussing in the privacy of my own car to be
verbal road rage. It never occurred to
me how dangerous it could be and the things that it could lead to. I now know that yelling and cussing is not
only dangerous, but adding to my stress levels unnecessarily.
To those of you that will be
taking this course in the future, I recommend that you come in with an open
mind and be willing to take all of the concepts and ideas into
consideration. If you come in thinking
that this is not for you and that you do not have a problem, you will not
benefit from this class as well as others may.
Learn about all the concepts and try to think about it from another
person’s perspective, not only your own.
In order to write a good
report for this class, you need to have a fairly good understanding of the
concepts that are taught and need to have an intelligent perspective on
them. This report not only requires you
to talk about the concepts and ideas but to also have the students give their
opinions and feelings towards the many situations they are presented with. One huge bit of advice, do not try to write
this report in its entirety, do it in sections or it will seem very
overwhelming. Once you get a feel for
writing a section or two, the anxiety of writing all the sections will lessen
or go away. Take this step by step and
allow yourself enough time to take it section by section and to not be
overwhelmed. This report requires you
to think hard and adding stress from time constraints does not help at all.
Doing all the course work
that this class requires is very beneficial because it is then that you can get
a good understanding of why driving psychology is such an important concept and
aspect of life. Reading the textbooks
and articles will give you many suggestions as to how to improve your driving
skills as well as your behaviors.
Writing these reports will also help you to summarize and take in all of
the information that has been learned thus far. It helps you to remember the important concepts as well as those
concepts that stuck out throughout the entire course.
To do well in this class,
you must learn all of the concepts and models as well as have a good
understanding of them. It is not a hard
class once you get into it and have an open mind. I cannot stress the open mindedness enough. You must let yourself see your faults and
errors as drivers. Take the time to
read everything and to listen to your classmate’s opinions and personal
experiences. Lastly, good luck and DO
NOT PROCRASTINATE! J
My Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/tokita/tokita-home.htm
Class Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm