Driving Psychology (Psy409a); October 14, 2006

How To Overcome Aggressive Drivers and How Not To Become One

By: Kasey Vanderhoof

 

Instructions for this activity are found at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/g25-oral1.htm

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

 

Citation:

Leon James and Diane Nahl (2000). Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering

Clear of Highway Warfare. (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books). Reviewing pages 111 to 150.

 

  1. Inner Power Tools
    1. The best way to avoid becoming aggressive and having a road rage episode is to inhibit venting and let the excitatory endangerment response slowly disappear

                                                              i.      In order to do this, your anger management techniques must include two components

1.      Relaxation techniques

a.      Reduces physical arousal

2.      Mental reappraisal of the situation

    1. Allows you to restructure your assessment of the situation
    2. Are techniques that smart drivers learn to use to extinguish their old driving habits and become an emotionally intelligent person behind the wheel

 

  1. Overcoming Emotional Hijacking
    1. Emotional hijacking is what happens when someone has an emotional explosion

                                                              i.      To overcome this there are six components of emotional intelligence that you can learn, with practice, to use daily

1.      How to reappraise a situation and look for alternative explanations

2.      How to self-regulate negative mood shifts

3.      How to empathize with the other side

4.      How to persist in a plan despite distracting frustrations

5.      How to control or neutralize one’s aggressive impulses

6.      How to think with positive outcome

    1. Anger is one of the most difficult emotions to control

                                                              i.      It often is triggered by feelings of endangerment and assault

1.      When both of these triggers are present road rage becomes especially intense and hostile

                                                            ii.      A good way to reduce anger is by reappraising the situation

    1. There are many ways to become more emotionally intelligent and these include:

                                                              i.      Understanding the causes of our feelings

                                                            ii.       Recognizing the difference between thoughts, feelings, and acts

                                                          iii.      Being able to tolerate frustration or provocation without becoming hostile or aggressive

                                                          iv.      Using techniques to deflate anger when aroused

                                                            v.      Using positive and cooperative thinking to counteract negative and combative thinking

                                                          vi.      Valuing supportive, community-building exchanges

                                                        vii.      Practicing self-calming techniques

                                                      viii.      Being more democratic about the rights of all

                                                          ix.      Accepting the legitimacy of diversity and pluralism

1.      All of these things are thought to have a great impact if we teach them is schools

a.      There are some places where a program that includes these ideas has been implemented and many good things have happened

                                                                                                                                      i.      There have been fewer fights and verbal put downs

                                                                                                                                    ii.      Greater emotional self-awareness

                                                                                                                                  iii.      Better frustration tolerance

                                                                                                                                  iv.      Greater skills in conflict resolution

                                                                                                                                    v.      Better anger management

    1. Keeping a record of your feelings, thoughts, and actions is thought to be a good way to change these aspects

                                                              i.      It enables you to modify them

    1. To stop emotional hijacking we need to start teaching children emotional intelligence

                                                              i.      In schools

                                                            ii.      Through observations of their parents and others behaving appropriately behind the wheel

 

  1. Three Levels of Emotional Intelligence
    1. Level one – Oppositional Driving

                                                              i.      Consists of negative feelings, made worse by irrational thought patterns

1.      This makes people at this level unfit to handle road exchanges

                                                            ii.      Impulsive, reckless, and hostile driving style

                                                          iii.      One in three motorists are oppositional drivers on a daily basis

    1. Level two – Defensive Driving

                                                              i.      Motorists concentrate on the safety of the vehicle, driver, and passengers

                                                            ii.      Reduction in irrational decisions and encourages more logical thought patterns

1.      Such as, what would happen if I did………..?

                                                          iii.      There is also a disadvantage though

1.      It encourages a competitive environment on the road

                                                          iv.      Leaves us in a state of competition or suspicion

    1. Level three – Supportive Driving

                                                              i.      Enables drivers to manage other motorists and the traffic in a positive way

                                                            ii.      Avoids built-in negativity of oppositional and defensive driving styles

                                                          iii.      Encourages us to be safe, friendly, and tolerant of others

                                                          iv.      Allows us to enjoy the ride

                                                            v.      To maintain a supportive driving style you must recognize your anti-social statements and neutralize them with pro-social statements

                                                          vi.      Being a friendly driver is contagious

1.      When you are nice to someone they have a greater tendency to not only be nice back but to nice to others as well

 

  1. Anatomy of an Epic Road Rage Tragedy
    1. Road rage exchanges typically begin as verbal road rage
    2. People often accuse others of being at fault, whether it is said to ones self or out load makes no difference
    3. It reaches a rapid peak within a few seconds and then lessens due to temporary feelings of relief from the pent-up pressure of frustration or fear

                                                              i.      What happens after all of this depends on the circumstances at hand

1.      It is often up to the individuals in the situation whether or not the situations escalates at this point

a.      If you want to avoid the road rage episode from escalating here are a few things you can do

                                                                                                                                      i.      Avoid eye contact with the other driver

1.      It gives you more power in determining what happens

                                                                                                                                    ii.      Do not respond to anything the other driver does

1.      If you do it weakens your control over the situation and strengthens the others motive to escalate the duel

                                                                                                                                  iii.      Do not show any sign of disapproval to wards the other driver

 

  1.  Shrinking Your Emotional Territory
    1. Emotional reactions are selective because we care about some things more than we care about other things
    2. Our emotional territory consists of all the things that we value or believe strongly in and all of the things that we would fight for
    3. When people first start driving we have the tendency to be over critical of others

                                                              i.      By making other drivers actions your personal business you set yourself up for failure

1.      You are more likely to enraged at others and are more likely to punish and retaliate

    1. The best way to shrink your emotional territory is self-talk

                                                              i.      It helps to reduce the intensity of your emotions and provides you with the opportunity to redraw the boundaries of your emotional territory

                                                            ii.      You must also put limits as to what you care enough about to get angry over

1.      This will help you to retain control over the situation instead of letting your emotions take control

2.      Don’t automatically assume that someone is doing something intentionally to upset you

a.      Instead, remind yourself that you do not know why this person is behaving in this way and personally you don’t care

                                                                                                                                      i.      It is not worth getting all worked up over

b.      To achieve this you must keep a close eye on your emotional life behind the wheel

  1. Objective Self-Assessment For Drivers
    1. Aggressive driving

                                                              i.      It is not only how someone operates a vehicle

                                                            ii.      It is a mental state

                                                          iii.      A readiness to interpret the acts of others in a hostile way

    1. There are three steps one must take to become a better driver

                                                              i.      Acknowledge that everyone, including yourself, needs traffic emotions education

                                                            ii.      Witness your own behaviors while driving

1.      Your thoughts, feelings, and actions can help you to determine what type of aggressive driving and road rage you practice

                                                          iii.      Modify the behaviors that you want to change, one step at a time

    1. The goal is to identify your problematic habits that either produce road rage in the self or provoke others
    2. Although many people feel road rage, few actually admit it

                                                              i.      Admitting it is the first step to becoming a better driver

 

  1. A – Acknowledge
    1. You need to better understand the road rage syndrome
    2. We are born into a society where aggressive driving is the norm
    3. There are many things to acknowledge. You can acknowledge that:

                                                              i.      You are not in full control of your emotions all of the time and that this can be dangerous

                                                            ii.      You harbor resentment against some drivers you tick you off and that this might not be how you want to be

                                                          iii.      You become hostile when a passenger tells you what to do and that this is unfriendly

                                                          iv.      You don’t mind threatening pedestrians with your vehicle if the move to slow and that this is illegal and unfriendly

                                                            v.      You often fantasize you have a gun and you are shooting it and that this is inhuman

                                                          vi.      You often have violent impulses, like running another car off of the road and that this is horrific           

1.      Remember that these are just examples and I am not saying that all of them or even one of them applies to you, it is just a list to get you thinking about your behaviors

    1. This is the most difficult step of the three

                                                              i.      But you cannot change your habits if you do not acknowledge them first

    1. There are many habits people have that can be changed. Here are a few of them:

                                                              i.      Feeling certain ways when something happens

                                                            ii.      Thinking certain ways about certain events or certain drivers

                                                          iii.      Habits of operating the vehicle

    1. Acknowledgement must be made in all three areas of the drivers habits

                                                              i.      Emotions

                                                            ii.      Thoughts

                                                          iii.      Actions

  1. W – Witness
    1. Witnesses can be made by two different types of people

                                                              i.      Third parties or instruments

                                                            ii.      Yourself

1.      Certain aspects can only be witnessed by the driver

a.      Such as amount of pressure applied to the break and how hard the steering wheel is being gripped

    1. The act of verbalizing thoughts and feelings during an activity in order to create a play-by-play description of what is going on
    2. A witness uses the language of description that is appropriate to particular driving events to gain self-knowledge:

                                                              i.      What is my mood or emotional state?

                                                            ii.      Where am I looking?

                                                          iii.      What am I noticing?

                                                          iv.      How do I react to that?

                                                            v.      What kinds of things do I fantasize?

                                                          vi.      What do I think or say to myself?

                                                        vii.      What do I intend to do now?

    1. Self-witnessing reveals your driving personality

                                                              i.      You are often unaware of it because driving is an automatic, everyday activity

                                                            ii.      Helps you identify errors in your automatic behaviors

 

  1. M – Modify
    1. Break this step into small steps and work on one target behavior at a time, otherwise it can be overwhelming

                                                              i.      Most people have a lot to modify

                                                            ii.      Modifying behaviors is also more successful when you work on one specific habit at a time. 

                                                          iii.      You can change habits that are considered actions as well as thoughts and emotions, for example:

1.      Actions

a.      When you leave your house in reference to when you need to be there, try leaving earlier if you always find yourself rushing to be on time

2.      Thoughts

a.      Reinforce the thought that passengers have their rights as well and are allowed to voice their opinions

3.      Emotions

a.      Avoid retaliation when another motorist insults you and do not let yourself enjoy thoughts of retaliation

 

  1. Resistance To Change
    1. This is a common practice among people, resistance that is

                                                              i.      They don’t want to change their driving habits

1.      Not until they realize that driving can actually be enjoyable

a.      Once this is realized that may change their mind and decide to change their driving style

    1. Stress stems from inner reactions to external events, not from congestion or the actions of others as many people think
    2. A sense of self-righteousness coupled with a sense of entitlement builds strong feelings of resistance to changing our own behavior
    3. Aggressive driving turns into road rage when a person is compelled to let another driver know that they are upset

                                                              i.      One way to avoid doing this is to mentally switch roles with the other driver, or empathize with them

                                                            ii.      Also, ask yourself if you really want to be the type of person who makes someone feel awful, who chooses to be an unkind of vindictive person

    1. Civility behind the wheel has disappeared for an entire generation, but we can get it back with systematic efforts like the three-step program for lifelong driver self-improvement

                                                              i.      Changing your driving personality requires the help of inner tools for accurately assessing and observing you characteristics of feeling and thinking as a driver

 

Links:

 

  1. Emotional Hijacking
    1. http://www.eqtoday.com/archive/hijack.html
    2. This website explains about what happens in the brain when someone becomes angry.  It gives a picture of the head and brain, which helps to explain the processes that the brain goes through when a person becomes angry.  The amygdala is what is responsible for the emotional reaction that people have when they become angered.
  2. Emotional Intelligence
    1. http://www.maetrix.com.au/ei.asp
    2. This website defines emotional intelligence.  It also talks about what behaviors are emotionally intelligent behaviors and describes the differences between EQ and IQ.  It talks about self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and much more.
  3. Self-Assessment
    1. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/about/senior/senior_self_ess.html
    2. This article is about a study done on elderly people.  It talks about how self-assessment in older drivers can lead to an increase in self-knowledge as well as general knowledge about ones self.  The study assesses whether or not the Driving Decisions Workbook, a self-assessment instrument for elderly drivers, is useful.

 

 

My homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/vanderhoof/vanderhoof-home.htm

Class Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm