My 9th Outline (not oral)
Driving Psychology
This is a presentation Driving Lessons pages 34-49
Written by Dr. Leon James, Edited by J. Peter Rothe
Published by The University of Alberta Press
By: Leanna Bergeron

Instructions for this oral presentation are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/g22-oral.htm 

I. The Driver’s Threefold Self

A. Threefold self consists of the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor aspects that deal with the internal and external portions of the self.

            1. Affective: what the driver feels: I feel nervous in this traffic

            2. Cognitive: what the driver thinks: I think I should slow down

            3. Sensorimotor: the physical action the driver performs: presses the brakes

 

 

 

II. The Mental Health of Drivers

A. Research on the mental health of drivers has revealed that even the sanest among us show increased ease of agitation and high signs of stress while behind the wheel.

 

B. Negative reactions from self-witnessing reports

            1. Extreme physiological reactions: heart pounding, wet hands, trembling, nausea

            2. Extreme emotional reactions: yelling, aggressive actions, fantasies of violence

 and revenge

3. Extreme irrational thought sequences: paranoia, addressing drivers who are not

 within earshot, denial of reality

 

C. We need to become more aware of the mental health of our drivers in the US. More research should be performed to determine the more detailed causes of the bad mental health.

 

D. My Opinion: I am shocked at how different people are behind the wheel. I think it is very important that we determine why we feel such negative feelings while in the vehicle.

 

 

III. Driving Psychology

Driving Psychology: “an applied field that creates a popular language of behavioral thinking about driving as a societal issue

 

A. Driving psychology is adaptive to cultures. The acts performed , language used, and steps taken to improve all vary.

 

B. The field of driving psychology aims to improve drivers’ road rage, aggressive driving, and bad habits. It encourages drivers in the following ways:

            1. encouraging to practice self-witnessing

            2. teach how to apply self-modification techniques

            3. teach the 3-step program for driving personality makeovers

            4. encourage drivers to maintain a driving log

            5. promote partnership driving

            6. promote quality driving circles (QDCs)

 

C. My Opinion: I believe driving psychology is an important field. In order to improve our highways and reduce aggressive acts as well as highway incidents we need people who are willing to confront the problem and work with drivers.

 

Links:

http://www.drdriving.org/

http://www.webcom.com/~wutka/html/driving.html

http://www.psychologymatters.org/driving.html

 

My home page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/bergeron/home.htm