Psychology
409a- October 17, 2006
Finding Your Identity in the Car
By: Jessica
Trujillo
Instructions
for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/g25-oral3.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
Peter Rothe, Editor (2002). Driving
Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer. (
Concept #1- Shifting focus on
Effective Interventions to Driver’s Identities
1) Overview:
a. Previous focus for interventions was on the individual
drivers because in western culture driving is seen as a solo activity. Researchers found that it is difficult to
change individual driving behaviors for the better because the individuals
don’t listen to road safety messages.
b. New focus would reconsider several theoretic
approaches that haven’t necessarily been applied to driving behaviors
i.
Specifically
the authors want to “consider driver identities and the range of psychological
and social forces argued by identity theorist like Erikson, to impact on the
formation and maintenance of personal identity.”
ii.
This
theory would overlap the boundaries of psychology and sociology and it would
view personal identity as something that is agreed by both the individual and
the social network to which they belong (or desire to belong) - not just something that is natural or
inherent to the individual
iii.
Essentially
driving is viewed as an ongoing social enterprise
2) Additional Facts:
a. In America individuality is an important
part of life; individual responsibility, individual choice – although there is
only one driver in the car, that person is part of a much bigger picture that
includes pedestrians, cyclists, other drivers and ultimately society as a
whole.
b. But when another driver grabs our attention
we always attribute their driving behavior to the drivers personality (in other
words, people’s driving is a reflection of who they are or their identity)
c. How we drive and what we drive is a public
statement and so all driving behavior is interpreted and understood by the
social context of other drivers on the road (study about going 15 over and 15
under)
d. You choose your career, your political
stance, your religious views, and your driving behavior and all these issues
can be understood as identity issues.
3) Friend’s Response:
a. My husband thinks that this concept is
correct in many aspects – driving behavior is attributed to a person identity
because he has in many occasions commented on the other drivers (not
necessarily their behavior, but more so their personality i.e. that guy is
stupid, dumb, idiot etc. - and he thinks that it is true that driving behavior
is understood by social context of the road.
Concept #2- Honor Code
1) Definition: A moral code that details which
behaviors are to be displayed in which situations in order to maintain one’s
status as an honorable member of a particular identity group
a. So once an identity has been taken up –
(psychologically accepted, and socially validated), it brings with it certain
obligations and duties that an individual must live up to in order to claim
that identity
b. We see these codes everywhere, in gangs,
clicks, military
2) Additional Facts:
a.
For
example, if a young male driver is to maintain his status as a fast driver with
quick reflexes he MUST take a risky alternative when faced with various options
to complete a specific driving task, otherwise, his identity will be
compromised.
b.
Another
example is driving instructors: they must always drive safe and smart or else
they will compromise their professional identity
c.
In
either case, we see that if they don’t act appropriately to what they identify
with, they put their driving identity on the line
d.
Honor
codes offer new approaches to developing interventions that are targeted at
both the psychological and social components of the driving behaviors and
identities
e. One example is to remind adults who speed
through school zones, of their parental code responsibilities may positively
influence their driving behaviors
3) Friend’s Response:
a. He agrees that honor codes are very
important in maintaining ones identity – he also thinks that it can also be
very helpful in order to come up with various interventions in order to
decrease driving behavior.
Concept #3- Identity Formation
& Maintenance & termination throughout the Lifespan
1) Overview:
a. Road Safety for young children, young novice
drivers forming driver identities, middle aged drivers who are maintaining
identity and code expectations, and driving cessation among elderly drivers.
2) Additional Facts:
a. Road Safety for young children:
i.
The
best place to intervene with traffic safety for children is through their
parents
ii.
Educated
parents and teachers is key to being successful
iii.
Material
resources that children have on a regular basis will set expectations for the
levels of resources (such as allowance, computer access, transportation) they
will incorporate into their identity expectations later on in life.
b. Young novice drivers:
i.
Forming
driving identities – recognizing that risk taking is a central part of many
young, novice, male drivers, might help researchers see the honor codes that
help support this risky behavior
ii.
Things
that might help:
1. Challenging the norms of other peer groups
2. showing young people the actual extent of
the risks they take
a. which might help them to see that even if
they don’t take this risk, they can still maintain their identity and the honor
code
3. Separate driving and identity (driving is
just driving, and isn’t part of a persons identity.) – Obviously easier said
than done.
c. Middle Aged drivers:
i.
Are
maintaining identity and code expectations
ii.
An
older adult who buys a fast red sports car can be viewed as trying to ‘redo’
his identity
iii.
But
identity is not set in stone past adolescence
iv.
If you
are well off and can afford a very expensive, very fast car as well as the
speeding tickets that go along with it – that says something about your
identity
v.
The
intervention in this case wouldn’t necessarily be toward the individual, but
rather attempt to shift the social support for the particular driving identity
vi.
MADD
did this by reaffirming the honor violations and immorality of drinking and
driving (rather then focusing on the individual) didn’t need to change laws
vii.
So
ideally the focus is on re-establishing the identity and moral codes and
revealing the patterns that one needs to change in order to live up to those
standards
d. Elderly drivers:
i.
Stopping
driving and losing identity along the way
ii.
For
many elderly driving is an ideal and convenient form of transportation
iii.
Sometimes
the public transportation isn’t made for elderly but more so for the working
class
iv.
They
may feel like they need to drive for practical reasons- stopping driving or
having you license taken away from you can result in a loss of ones
independence and self sufficiency
v.
Some
things to help elderly cope with this decision is to include them in research
on elderly drivers, and/or having them help develop a seniors’ transportation
plan (this way they feel involved and do not lose so much identity)
3) Friend’s Response:
a. He thinks that all these things are
interesting – he thinks parents are the best intervention in a child’s life,
and he thinks that showing young people the results of their risk taking and
seeing if it is worth it is a good idea.
He also thinks reminders as a middle ages person is good, and thought it
was interesting learning that that is why old people have a hard time giving up
their keys.
Conclusion:
Driving
is very much apart of ones identity and both the social and psychological
aspects need to be recognized.
Interventions at the social level may have some success where
interventions at the individual level have not – interventions also need to
look at the use of shifting focus onto honor codes. We need to recognize that identity is being
observed, formed, maintained, and lost throughout the various staged in
life.
Links:
1) http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8925.html
- older driver safety – Per mile driven, the fatality rate for drivers 85 years
and older is NINE times higher than the rate for drivers 25-69 years old.
2) http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/9115.html
- vision, cognition, motor functions of older drivers and how that put them at
risk
3) http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2003/809774.pdf
- facts of young drivers
Class Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm
My Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/trujillo/trujillo-home.htm