Outline of My First Oral Presentation
Emotional Baggage and Driving
This is a presentation of “Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering
Clear of Highway Warfare” Written By: Dr. Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl;
Prometheus Books, 2000; Pages 111-119
By Chris Nerona
Instructions for this oral presentation are
found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/g22-oral.htm
1. The Inevitable Emotional Rollercoaster
A. Venting
i. A method of expression of releasing one’s anger and aggression
B. Acceleration effect
i. Begins with passive-aggressive verbal remarks and heightens to physical
violence and possibly death
ii. Most often begins with the feeling of endangerment.
C. Techniques to diffuse the venting response
i. Relaxation techniques to reduce physical arousal (External)
ii. Mental reappraisal of the situation (Internal)
2. The Psychological and Biological Explanations of the Emotional Rollercoaster
A. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, 1995 (Biological)
i. “Neural Hijackings”: Intense feelings that are accompanied by
detectable neural discharges in the brain, especially in the amygdala
1. A result of an intensified emotion
B. Six Components of Emotional Intelligence (Psychological)
i. How to…empathize with “the other side”
ii. Reappraising the situation
C. Emotional literacy as a new school curriculum???
i. People need to realize that they have many more choices than either
“fight” or “flight.”
ii. Goleman found a reduction of fights and putdowns, an increase in
emotional self-awareness and conflict resolution. More importantly,
better anger management.
D. In laymen terms…
3. The Three Levels of Emotional Intelligence
A. Level One – Oppositional Driving
i. Easy to interpret an accident as a personal assault
B. Level Two – Defensive Driving
i. A cautious driver with the tendency to encourage competitive driving;
“The Teaching Driver”
C. Level Three – Supportive Driver
i. Being a friendly driver is contagious. When you’re nice to others,
they’re nice to someone else and like the flu, it spreads.
4. Overview and Questions
Helpful Links:
Home Page:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2005/yourfoldername/home.htm