Report 1
My Understanding of Driving Psychology
by Tiffany Bumanglag
Instructions for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-report1.htm
A) Driving Psychology Theory and Charts
All charts (Tables 1-4) can be found at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-lecture-notes.htm#Charts
TABLE #1 - Driving psychology is the study of the social-psychological forces that act upon drivers in traffic. In summary, this table is an example of driver behavior as skills and errors in three domains. These 3 domains is also known as the drivers “Three-fold Self”. The drivers three-fold self is a joint product of biology, culture, socialization, morality, and rationality. The drivers first self is the “Affective self” in which a driver operates the feelings and motivations such as hostile feelings. The second is the drivers “Cognitive self” which operates the thinking and reasoning that a driver does behind the wheel which is sometimes also known as biased thoughts. The third self is a drivers “Sensorimotor Self” which operates a drivers sensations, perceptions and motor acts, these are also known as aggressive actions.
With this background knowledge, Table #1 shows examples of what a person would say, do or think with affective skills, and contrastingly, examples of the opposite actions, or thinking within the same columns, but under the title of ERRORS. The table also associates ‘Skills’ with a mark of (+) and ‘Errors’ with a mark of (-). Personality and character are related to a driver's style of coping with traffic stress. Acts, thoughts, and feelings in driving interact in an integrated system. A driving trip typically involves the presence of a dominant motive such as the feeling of being in a rush, or the desire to outplay other drivers by getting ahead of them. The dominant motive (affective domain) is a character tendency that expresses itself in other settings as well. For example, a person may experience hostile thoughts (cognitive behavior) towards others wherever competition is at work, whether a bank line, a restaurant, or switching traffic lanes (sensorimotor domain). (drdriving.org)
TABLE #2 – This table is the actual labeling of each behavioral zone which is part of the theory and will need additional confirmation by more extensive research. There are 18 zones which are named in Table #2 based on the following:
Scheme for the Taxonomy of Driver Behavior
|
Level 3 Responsibility |
Affective |
Cognitive |
Sensorimotor |
|
Level 2 Safety |
Affective |
Cognitive |
Sensorimotor |
|
Level 1 Proficiency |
Affective |
Cognitive |
Sensorimotor |
Going back to Table #2 zone 1 Affective Proficiency (A1) has a skill item "Having a sense of respect for traffic regulations and authority." (Zone +A1), while the corresponding error item is "Feeling dislike for traffic regulations or authority figures" (Zone -A1). Similarly, zone 8 Cognitive Responsibility (C3) has a skill item "De-dramatizing or neutralizing one's negative feelings in a driving situation" (Zone +C3), while the corresponding error item is "Attaching preposterous symbolic significance to driving exchanges (e.g., being overtaken is reprehensible)." (Zone -C3) Every behavioral skill zone has a corresponding error zone. A driver may be represented as a collection of skills and errors, each of which is a habit that can be witnessed in oneself, and modified with appropriate habit modification procedures. (drdriving.org)
The way that I understand TABLE #2 is that this process equates with the habit of self-modification going on simultaneously in each of the 18 zones. The knowledge of knowing and learning about road rage and aggressive behavior is that a person may use this table in creating a make over plan for themselves as I will discuss later in my report. The taxonomy took a bottom up approach in that habits are built on top of habits and an individual starts at the bottom and as they skill build they acquire more ability that will stack one on top of the other. Since Table #2 takes a bottom up approach, it goes in the order of Proficiency , then Safety, then Responsibility.
In more depth, According to drdriving.com, Level 1 driving behavior is labeled "Proficiency" to represent the new driver's initial overriding focus on three things: staying calm and alert (affective proficiency), figuring out what happens around you (cognitive proficiency), and coordinating the eyes, hands, and legs to keep the vehicle from colliding (sensorimotor proficiency). Level 2 is labeled "Safety" to represent the motive to avoid getting into trouble (affective safety), in conjunction with the problem-solving process of identifying trouble spots (cognitive safety), and leading to prudent actions (sensorimotor safety). Level 3 is labeled "Responsibility" to represent the motive to remain accountable for hurting others (affective responsibility), which creates prosocial rather than antisocial thought sequences and plans (cognitive responsibility) that eventuate in the quality of driving life, whether happy or stressed out (sensorimotor responsibility).
TABLE #3 – This table illustrates the stages needed to follow to be successful with an individual personality makeover plan and the examples within each step not only can be attributed to driving but other habits that a person may also want to change hence the name Personality makeover plan. Basically the table shows that self modification can happen in 2 steps. Both stages consists of the threefold self. The first stage is Avoiding Being and Aggressive Driver, The first stage with the affective level is a person overcoming their resistance to change. The cognitive level also within stage 1 is a person learning to do rational analyses of traffic incidents and the sensorimotor level consists of acting out civil behavior. Stage two is transforming and becoming a Supportive Driver. At this stage the affective level is when an individual maintains a supportive orientation towards other drivers. The cognitive level of the second stage is an individual analyzing driving situations objectively, and at the sensorimotor level an individual starts behaving in a cooperative style. This table has the fundamentals to become a supportive driver and step away from being an aggressive driver or experiencing road rage. The examples collectively show more than one way of each level and each step of they way that things can be done.
TABLE #4 – This table covers the fundamentals of the approach in driver self modification also known as the AWM approach which stands for Acknowledge, Witness and Modify. First step is Acknowledging that I have this particular negative habit. The second step is witnessing myself perform this negative habit. And the third step is modifying this habit. Within the AWM approach, the drivers 3-fold self applies directly. In order to successively become a supportive driver one must also greatly consider the AWM approach to driving.
B) Main Principles of Driving Psychology
There are a couple of significant principles of Driving Psychology but I will report just a few that I think are important to myself.
1. Emotional Intelligence Driver Personality Skills. There are 3 levels of Emotional Intelligence. Level one is oppositional and its sequence of thoughts are irrational. At level one we are unfit to handle road exchanges because our feelings are oppositional and negative, made worse by irrational thoughts patterns. Level two is Defensive and the sequence of thoughts is logical but the types of actions are suspicious, wary, competitive, but prudent and restrained, an individual expressed worries and complaints. The third level is Supportive driving and the sequence of thoughts that happens is prosocial, the last level of driving overcomes the disadvantages inherent in oppositional and defensive driving orientations.
Emotional Intelligence plays a significant part of one of the main principles of Driving Psychology because it focuses on driver competence skills and how someone can be emotionally intelligent when approaching difficult situations. And example would be that an emotionally intelligent driver would focus on their selves versus blaming other or the situation. Another example is that an individual would realize that anger is something that is chosen versus thinking that it is provoked.
2. Drivers 3-fold self. Acknowledge, Witness and Modify. This allows us to be objective and subjective to change. I have talked in more detail of AWM above in section (A). Hostile, biased, aggressive thoughts and actions encompass the AWM approach of the drivers 3 fold self. If an individual would like to change their negative driving behaviors one should consult this approach along with the 2 stages to becoming a supportive driver.
3. Children and road rage. Road rage is a feeling of hostility that is inherited through the culture of disrespect condoned on highways. As I understand it to be and I agree with, kids do whatever parents do. When parents are driving, children as passengers are taking an active role and intaking the experience as the right way to get things done. With this notion, kids are observing what parents do, so when a parent is driving and behaves erratically or in an aggressive way, children easily remember this and sometimes mimic and carry out the behavior even when they start driving themselves. Children are very vulnerable so adults need to behave responsibly so that this being a passenger for a child can be like learning a lesson and this can contribute to the life long learning of becoming supportive drivers.
4. Supportive Driving. I have come to believe that the opposite of being an aggressive driver is becoming a supportive driver. There are many benefits of supportive driving. All else equal, I would say that a theme running for supportive driving is ‘to put others first’. Supportive drivers is an accommodating style that emphasizes adjusting to the great diversity of highway users and steering clear of the emotional entrapments of road rage thinking. Supportive drivers accommodate and adjust their driving to suit the situation. Supportive driving can also be done in groups, you can team up with a partner and assist each other in becoming supportive drivers, then teaching others and influencing them to become supportive drivers so that the term may become universal.
C) 3 Domains of Driving Behavior
The 3 domains as we have consistently been talking about is the drivers 3-fold self. With this section of my report I will illustrate with examples of myself others or movies through each of the 3 domains.
Affective Self – This is a persons hostile feelings along with their motivations behind the wheel.
-Sometimes I may feel that everyone else around me is rushing and therefore I should too.
-Someone just cut me off, I feel targeted.
-I wish I could give that guy a piece of my mind
Cognitive Self – The cognitive self operates the thinking and reasoning we do behind the wheel.
- This would include planning what time you have to be at a certain destination and then predetermine what time you need to leave so that you allow yourself enough time to get there without rushing.
-basically this is the decision making part of driving hence the name cognitive which is the process and process of making decisions.
-The choices you make or don’t make; changing lanes, slowing down, speeding up, making a turn, using your signal light.
Sensorimotor Self - This third domain is responsible for the sensations, perceptions and motor acts of the driver’s self.
- This is what you actually do.
- If someone doesn’t stop at a stop sign, but it was your turn to go, and you honk your horn, this motion of honking or even following the other person to aggravate them is an action that is allocated to this domain.
- When a person smiles, or waves a thank you is also associated with the sensorimotor self.
D) 2 Student Reports from the Generational Curriculum
KAWAMURA REPORT (click) This student wanted to improve the their behavior behind the wheel. It was actually a habitual act of getting mad while going to school. The person claimed that other people were just cutting them off without knowing how much room there actually was. This person would just get really mad at the person who cut them off by slaming on the breaks. With the experiment, each time this individual would get mad at someone for cutting them off, a passenger in the car will notify them of the drivers anger. The solution to the situation was that Kawamura acknowledged that she or he got mad by getting cut off, the solution then was just to let it go by saying to Kawamura’s self “I cannot control other people”. Kawamura observed the difference on the improvement.
EGUCHI REPORT (click) Eguchi’s approach was different to Kawamura. Eguchi wrote her strengths in driving such as traits that she has (being organized), habits (always using a seatbelt), feelings toward others (she doesn’t like being told what to do), and reaction to other drivers. She wanted to see what types of reactions she had to different situations that she encountered and how her mood affected her attitude, and any other attitude changed that may have been a direct result of another factor that may have influenced her and thus behave in a certain way. She noted 5 of her journal entries some of which she was driving and some where other people were driving. Also mentioned in her journal were feelings, and antecedents to behavior and consequences. Eguchi seems to think that more emphasis should be placed on mood when talking about driving, but I have to DISAGREE with her in that an Emotionally Intelligent driver would know that how a person feels is up to them. It seems that she is blaming her attitude or mood on the way that she observes situations. She seems like a very aggressive driver, because her journal entries show impatience and not being a supportive driver.
Both generational curriculum student reports were interesting to read in that they both took different approaches and they acknowledged a need for change. Their mini experiments with themselves showed that without it there would have been no improvement in making negative habits positive.
E) MY Driving Personality Makeover
I am an aggressive driver because I endure speeding while driving. I live on the side of the island that is opposite to where I get my business done (school, work, errands). Since the ratio of people to cars here in Hawaii is more or less 1:1, traffic is inevitable. I usually speed above the speed limit 10-15 miles per hour. (except when I am on military bases, which I always, always, always, strictly follow speed limits). The only reason why I speed is that I don’t leave my house on time. I justify me leaving later by knowing that I can get across town in 20 minutes when it should actually take me 30. My make over plan would be to follow the speed limit and only go over if I am driving with the flow of traffic. By doing this I will schedule my day so that I can leave at a certain time. I will create a journal for this and summarize it’s findings.
I carried this out for 10 days. I followed my driving personality makeover plan, but not perfectly. I would leave in the morning at a certain time, and would not have to speed. On these days, I felt calm, not rushed, not panicked, peaceful. There were 2 days that I did not wake up on time, and therefore I could not have left my home on time for me not to make it to class on time. This did not create frustration, but made me feel worried, that I was speeding some of the time, and also agitated. I would also think about my safety and the safety of other since we know that speed is a factor in many fatalities on the highways. Speeding is often compromised when deadlines need to be met. Cars are made to go over 100 miles per hour, yet there are no speed limits in Hawaii that are close to that speed. 60 miles per hour is the highest in Hawaii. My thinking is that since there aren’t always authoritative figures around to enforce the law, then people go ahead and speed. What I learned from carrying out my driving personality makeover plan is that speeding is not worth the 5 or less minutes that I can save. Although it may sound cliché, but life is too precious to disorder if caused by speeding in a vehicle by a driver that isn’t being conscious ones actions, affective, cognitive and sensorimotor. Not only does leaving my house on time keep me in a peaceful being, but it seems like it directly relates to the health of my being. How I feel is up to me, and if all it means to start my day peaceful is to leave 10 more minutes early, then that should be my goal and I should achieve that and entail it into my life long driver education.
This was a simple design, with great outcomes. I realized how someone can predict behaviors basing it on antecedents. Or another good predictor of present or future behavior is past behavior. If one keeps on doing what they did, they will keep on getting what they have gotten. Some say that they only constant in life is change, but change doesn’t come within a snap of a finger. One must find great motivation to move from a habitual action to something that may seem out of the ordinary, but know that it is well worth it. Now I just act “as if” and create self instruction for myself and say to my self to follow the speed limit, it’s not worth getting into an accident, or harming someone else.
F) MY Advice to Future Generations
My advice to future generations is to take what you have learned so far and teach someone else, or a group of friend, or even your family the concepts and ideas that you have discussed in class. Think of the thousands of people that die annually and daily due to aggressive driving. Many times people think, ‘oh, it’s not going happen to me’. But guess what, that is exactly what some people who were in fatal accidents also believed. The concepts from class lectures, Road Rage texts should be taught to at least one person. They are simple to follow and may change a negative behavior that will have good consequences. Think of it as trying to get someone to stop smoking, you notifying them of risks. You are now more knowledgeable on the topic with many examples to teach with. It is when you teach someone something that you truly begin to understand something.
Oh yeah, follow instructions. Step by step, detail by detail. This is also an information literacy class.
Subsequently, my advice to future generations is to check out the different styles of reports over the generations and think of it as a repertoire that you can add to or disagree with. When you create your report, think of it as a big journal of which you have learned, or still have questions about. Your report should be constructed with great insight of Driving Psychology and it’s many corners and depths that are still in need of focus and vision. A good report isn’t one of physical attractiveness, but one of qualitative knowledge, information, and insight or instrospection. Everyone’s reports will be the same in that a consistency will be the drivers 3-fold self, emotional intelligence, aggressive driving, and supportive driver, but be prepared to stand out and be different with your reports. Since reports are showed online, you can also use this as a means of communication to the nation, to the country, to the world. You never know, it only takes one person to say something that will change the life of another.
My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/bumanglag/bumanglag-home.htm
Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm