Outline for Oral 2

PSY 409A Driving Psychology, April 9, 2006

Human Behavior Feedback and Car Performance and Risk Taking

By: Melanie Baldueza

M.S. Horswill and M.E. Coster, Department of Psychology, The University of Reading, Reading RGS 6AL, REF 11 – The Influence of Car Type on Drivers’ Risk Taking

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_504575-03.hcsp

Instructions for this outline:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm

I. Human behavior feedback

a. Drivers’ response to changes in driving, environment is called “human behavior feedback”

b. Changes in driving environment influences driving behavior and this could have implications for road safety

i. Found drivers in a video stimulation chose faster speeds when the level of internal car noise was reduced

1. Effect was due to drivers’ perception of the capability of the car

2. Argue the effect was because of the influence of internal car noise on drivers’ perception of speed

a. Drivers underestimate speeds more when deprived of auditory information.

b. Drivers of small cars could estimate speeds more accurately than drivers of large cars.

i. Effect was due to auditory cues

ii. When drivers were asked to wear earphones, the speed estimation accuracy decreased more in small car drivers compared to large car drivers.

1. This is because drivers of large cars had few auditory cues in the first place

II. The relationship between vehicle performance and risk taking

a. Two mechanisms that might explain the significant relationship between car performance and speed

i. Drivers who want to travel faster buy higher performance cars

ii. Higher performance cars give rise to faster driving

b. Try to disentangle these two mechanisms using two alternative methods

i. First method is to measure behavioral intentions

1. Behavioral intentions can be considered to be influence actual behavior

a. Study done in UK – give description of a car and asked how fast they would intend to drive that car

i. Some participants received descriptions of a high performance car and others received a description of a low performance car

1. Respondents intended to drive the higher performance cars faster than the lower performance cars

ii. Investigating the causal direction of the relationship between car performance and speed choice involved a car buying measure

1. Asked to imagine buying a car, with their money, for commuting and leisure purposes.

a. Given a selection of six cars of equal value that they were told they could afford

b. Key characteristics of the six cars were provided, and the respondents had to rank the six cars in order of preference.

c. The car descriptions were devised such that the most powerful cars were the worst on other dimensions (reliability and safety features)

d. Responses were converted into a measure of how important high car performance was to the person.

2. Performance of the participant’s usual car was also measured

a. Risk-taking behavior was a linear combination of the following measures

i. Established driving violations questionnaire

ii. Speed questionnaire

iii. Absolute speed measure

1. Results were analyzed to determine

a. Usual car performance mediated the relationship between chosen car performance and risk-taking

b. Chosen car performance mediated the relationship between usual car performance and risk taking

iv. Usual car performance had a significant effect on risk taking after chosen car performance was controlled for

1. Drivers who take more risks choose to buy higher performance cars