Outline of My Second Oral Presentation

Three Easy Steps to Driver Improvement

This is a presentation of Road Rage and Aggressive Driving, Dr. Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl, Prometheus Books, 2000, Pages 133-150

By Justin Golder

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

I. Three Step Driver Self Improvement Program

A. Acknowledge

1. The most difficult step in changing your bad habits.

2. Many self help programs begin with this step.

3. Three areas of driver’s habits: emotions, thoughts, actions.

B. Witness

1. Act of verbalizing thoughts and feelings during driving.

2. Charles Cooley’s “looking glass self.”

C. Modify

II. Resistance to Change

A. Most drivers will resist a change in their driving style, whether it is a conscious driving habit or an automatic one.

B. Driver’s feelings of self righteousness along with a sense of entitlement can cause a resistance to change.

1. For example giving someone “stink eye.”

C. Empathy with other drivers may be one way to modify behaviors that are resistant.

III. Driving improvement is not quick and easy

A. You can’t change all of your bad driving habits at once, you have to do them one at a time.

B. Recycle: You have to constantly keep recycling the three steps of driver self improvement in order to become a good supportive driver.

C. You have to realize that just changing the bad habits of your driving aren’t enough, you have to also change your mind-set and control your emotions.

1. For example: the way you interpret others actions while driving.

Helpful Links:

Some tests to help with your self assessment:

http://www.drdriving.org/surveys/#Tests

Another test for determining driver stress

http://www.aaafts.org/quizzes/index.cfm?button=aggressive

A students’ self assessment as a driver:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/student2/p32/report1.html