Report 2:
My Understanding of Driving Psychology
by Tiffany Bumanglag
Instructions for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-report2.htm

I am answering Questions 1, 3, 5, 4, and 6.

For Extra Points – Question Numbers 2 and 7.

 

 

The Question I am answering is Question 1

(a) Give a brief review of our two textbooks: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving (James and Nahl), and Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (Peter Rothe, Editor). The reviews should be between 3 and 6 paragraphs for each text.

 

(b) Select Chapter 8 on Supportive Driving (by James and Nahl) in the Road Rage book and Chapter 14 on Driving Skills (by Lawrance Lonero) in the Driving Lessons book. Summarize their content. Be sure to refer to the author's name(s).

 

(c) Discuss in what way these ideas can help solve society's driving problems. Be specific: what are the main problems and how can particular ideas in these chapters help solve those problems.

 

(d) Describe any resistance you experience regarding this orientation, including:

(i) the idea that how you drive is a moral issue of human rights

(ii) the idea of lifelong driver education and the idea of mandatory participation in QDC support groups

(e) Describe the reactions of friends when you tell them about driving personality makeovers

 

Answers:

 

(a) Give a brief review of our two textbooks: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving (James and Nahl), and Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (Peter Rothe, Editor). The reviews should be between 3 and 6 paragraphs for each text.

 

Road Rage Summary: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving written by Dr. James and Dr. Nahl is a well written book for all types of drivers at all ages.  Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl are known as the founders of “Driving Psychology”.  Driving psychology as in driving motor vehicles, not to be confused with topics, themes, or research that is driving the field of Psychology.  The book starts of incredibly by introducing the author’s and their experience and story behind why the book was dedicated. 

 

It is then separated into three distinct parts in this order:  The Conflict Mentality, Driving Psychology and The Future of Driving.  In summary the book discusses the self-instructional methods needed to reclaim our freedom from the current emotional terrorism that highway culture has unthinkingly created.  This book introduces concepts that are general to driving, but people may not be aware of their significance to the questions of why we are the way we are when we drive.

 

A great part that I found very useful in this book were the examples of real life situations that happened to real people.  This gave me, as a reader a sense of pin pointing actual people to actual situations and not just what I observe on television.  There are also mini exercises that are time efficient and allow you to look into yourself and find negativity within yourself that you may want to change in association with the concept of driving. 

 

This book may also be used as a work in progress journal with the exercises, one may watch their progress and have their actual data in writing. The concepts are easy enough to understand that you can share them with others without hesitation and feel confident about the truth about road rage and aggressive driving.

 

This is a good book to read if you want to further your knowledge in driving psychology.  I have come to the conclusion that many people are not aware that although psychology happens everyday since it is the study of behavior (and driving is a behavior), people do not understand the underlying principles and that driving is more than being able to switch lanes, or follow the laws of the highway. Dr. James and Dr. Nahl make it interesting to make an individual aware of these underlying concepts. 

 

I would recommend this book for youth, so that they form strong, positive habits.

 

Driving Lessons Summary: Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer edited by Peter Rothe is also very educational.  The text is filled with different essays from different people.  While reading this book I found that it diversified my perceptions since driving in Hawaii, or even America may or may not be different to driving in other nations, and countries. 

 

A couple of the essays that I read mentioned the differences in driving in other countries which would be against rules from the area that I am from.  This goes to show that driving and transportation are universal, and as we learned thru this driving psychology course, that underlying principles too are universal as long as we spread the word and make our neighbors aware.  

 

Since essays are a compilation from different walks of life, there are many issues that some writers like to cover such as economic influences of driving, evolutions towards integrated systems to traffic safety and even the way we communicate.  This opens up a whole new vision to what we see everyday in our own communities in comparison or in similarity to other communities. 

 

For example, if a community has a lower fatality rate than another area, then what are they doing correct, or what are other communities doing wrong?  I agree that we can learn from other people’s mistakes and even center our own systems on other systems that worked successfully.

 

I think the goal of this compilation of essays in accordance with driving psychology was to encourage intervention from diverse points of view, to prompt debate and to provoke action (rothe).  The consequences of not knowing are dramatic, but the consequences of knowing and not taking action are mind-blowing and perhaps even ignorant.  I would recommend this book for those that are interested in diverse ideas, and solutions in the field of driving psychology.

 

(b) Select Chapter 8 on Supportive Driving (by James and Nahl) in the Road Rage book and Chapter 14 on Driving Skills (by Lawrance Lonero) in the Driving Lessons book. Summarize their content. Be sure to refer to the author's name(s).

 

Chapter 8 – Road Rage, Supportive Driving

 

Supportive driving is a chapter from Road Rage and Aggressive Driving written by Dr. James and Dr. Nahl.  This chapter discusses the term: Supportive Driver and backs the information up with multiple examples that make it easy to follow. 

 

Supportive driving is an accommodating style that emphasizes adjusting to the great diversity of highway users and steering clear of the emotional entrapment of road rage thinking.  Since intolerance and stereotypic thinking produce the road rage culture with its law of retaliation, tolerance is the antidote.

 

I actually stayed back in the seminar class one day to discuss this actual chapter with Dr. James.  I asked him why the term “Supportive”?  I told him my feelings toward it was that I take it that a supportive driver is the opposite of an aggressive driver, and that I also feel like a supportive driver is a person who puts others first before themselves.  He agreed with me. 

 

This chapter also entails that a supportive driver should accept a diversity of drivers and adapt to different styles that the highway has to offer.  Such as local drivers versus visitors.  It is safe to say that local drivers would know the highways better than someone that is a visitor and is foreign to the environment.  So both parties, local drivers and visitors must take this into account and make do with that situation by being a supportive driver and adapting.

 

There is an exercise within this chapter that encourages random acts of kindness for drivers.  It is termed by Dr. James as a cultural technology for containing and reversing the habit of road rage aggressive driving.  It’s goal is to have non-violence in the future of driving by performing acts of kindness such as courtesy waving.  This action may influence others to do the same and may also be contagious.  Smile at someone and they too smile in return.

 

Chapter 14 – Driving Lessons

 

Lawrence Lonero talks about an underlying principle of driving which is a persons skills.  (there are others, but this is what is based on in this chapter).  Lonero states that a skill is a learned ability to perform some task effectively and efficiently.  In this case we are talking about driving skills and behavior.  Skills also come from mental ability not just physical. 

 

Although it is general knowledge that someone becomes better at a task when they have practiced, that also goes with driving.  An experienced driver is put at an advantage than an inexperienced driver.  Lonero mentions that one way of finding out what parts of the driver’s skills are more or less critical is to investigate differences between groups with differing crash risk.

 

Also included in this chapter is a table of driver skill categories which include: knowledge, attention, detection, perception, evaluation, decision, motor skill, imagination, motivation, and responsibility.

 

(c) Discuss in what way these ideas can help solve society's driving problems. Be specific: what are the main problems and how can particular ideas in these chapters help solve those problems.

 

One of the main problems is the education of an individual when taught how to drive.  In order to attain a driver’s license one only learns sensorimotor acts in the car.  No one is taught about how to handle hostile feelings or other underlying principles of driving other than how to properly turn a vehicle on and how to manipulate it on the road and get to your destination lawfully.

 

Driver’s education students are taught things just on a surface level, but it is hostile feelings that encourage negative behavior on the road.  Youth aren’t taught that and should!  Also in relation to that is, when a young driver gets their license without those underlying principles that Lonero mention in the table of driver skills, the youth attach to habits, and habits are difficult to change. 

 

They go on living, not knowing that they may or may not be aggressive drivers and not have the necessary skills to divert their attention which is very dangerous that ultimately may lead to accidents on the highways, or even fatalities.

 

If first time drivers were given these readings in drivers education class, that would be awesome and would provoke more drivers to ask and influence others the importance of being a supportive driver.  If a culture of supportive drivers arises, then hopefully that could become cyclical in that they can teach generation after generation how to adapt to the different driving diversities and adversities.

 

(d) Describe any resistance you experience regarding this orientation, including:

(i) the idea that how you drive is a moral issue of human rights

 

I have no resistance to accepting that driving is definitely a moral issue of human rights being that 42,000 fatalies happen annually do to driving, which accounts to thousands, and eventually billions of people dying of car accidents. 

 

Driving is not like fighting a war, but so many people are dying that we are starting to compare accidents on our highways with the number of fatalities due to world conflict such as wars between nations.  Our vehicles are not weapons, although we don’t deem them as that, they may as well be since they are taking so many lives of the people and welfare. 

 

(ii) the idea of lifelong driver education and the idea of mandatory participation in QDC support groups

 

I would in be an advocate for the idea of lifelong driver education and participation in QDC support groups.  Many of our motivations are increased and encouraged more when we do things in groups.  Therapists even sometimes take cognitive behavior therapy into group approaches. 

 

Just like exercising in groups are more effective for an individual to focus on individual matters.  Groups are a sort of support system to do just indeed that: support each other and support good habits and learn from one another. 

 

I would also advocate for lifelong driver education because the only constant in life is change, and as we grow older our 3 fold self also changes with time.  Affectively, cognitively and through sensorimotor. 

 

We also do not stay the same in acquiring experiences.  So why should our training be inadequate to conform to our daily driving? It shouldn’t, and a solution to becoming more educated in driving would be to teach driving skills and the underlying principles of being a supportive driver and non-aggressive techniques.

 

(e) Describe the reactions of friends when you tell them about driving personality makeovers

 

When I told my boyfriend and younger brother about driving personality makeovers, they didn’t take me seriously.  I then pointed out the statistics about fatalities and injuries, and they were shocked but said that is very believable because laws aren’t enforced too much so people are just driving which ever way they want. 

 

They both think they drive fine because they both have clean records.  I don’t agree with some of their driving styles.  My younger brother went to a real drivers education class and sometimes he gives me lessons on the statistics of what is happening when we are driving.

 

For example, I was driving by younger brother once, and I started to turn the radio dial, he said every time you multitask in the car you increase your levels of distraction which may lead to accidents, I believe he told me 4% of the time a distraction will lead to an accident.  He may be wrong. I am not sure of the statistic.

 

Basically they would try a personality makeover, but only if I accompanied them on their path.  They didn’t like the thought of writing in a journal or anything, but they wanted to just keep a sort of mental journal of the ways that they can change in order to be a supportive driver (which I also constantly teach them about, drilling information into someone is sometimes very efficient).

 

For Extra Points  --  Question Number 2

a) Discuss these three Web sites: drivers.com vs. drdriving.org  vs. a third one you select that you find related to these two. What are their main differences? Be sure to consider at least the following areas listed below. In your answer, keep the sub-division as indicated below. Be sure to answer each one. In order to write a good answer you will need to consult some articles as to how to evaluate a Web site.  Goggle the words evaluating Web sites or pages and learn how to do it. Give a link to the article if you find one that's helpful.

(1) content of articles
(2) content and tone of newsletters, when present
(3) style of the site
(4) probable audience
(5) public relations or policy, etc.
(6) advertising (if any)
(7) size
(8) ranking (see Google or Alexa)
(9) Other sites that link to each
(10) ...

Answers:

a) Discuss these three Web sites: drivers.com vs. drdriving.org  vs. a third one you select that you find related to these two. What are their main differences? Be sure to consider at least the following areas listed below. In your answer, keep the sub-division as indicated below. Be sure to answer each one. In order to write a good answer you will need to consult some articles as to how to evaluate a Web site.  Goggle the words evaluating Web sites or pages and learn how to do it. Give a link to the article if you find one that's helpful.

HERE ARE 3 LINKS THAT I FOUND HELPFUL IN EVALUATING A WEBSITE:

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm

http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/irg-49.html (this link brings you to a list of many other links for evaluating web sites or pages)

I will be discussing three websites www.sadd.org, www.drivers.com , www.drdriving.org, In my explanation below I may refer to the sites as SADD, DRIVERS, AND DRDRIVING.

(1) content of articles

SADD.com is actually founded as Students Against Drunk Driving, but they changed the name to Students Against Destructive Decisions.  The articles pertain mostly to student and parent relationship and what students can do to make positive decisions about challenges in their everyday lives. 

The contents of articles are aimed at educating parents and students and also providing a social network for articles to be posted and issues can be discussed comfortably with students/children.  It plays a valuable role that articles are okay and sufficiently written enough and I will talk more about that in content and tone.

DRIVERS.com the articles on this site are mostly aimed at predicting what the future will look like for vehicles and their technological advances.  The site claims to specialize in driving, driver behavior and traffic safety.  It is an information resource for both traffic safety professionals and even the general public with a wealth of information on driver training, education and licensing.

DRDRIVING.org the contents of this site are like actual footage, and not really reports based on professional experts but more from a general curriculum of adults learning to become better or supportive drivers.  The contents are based on data and articles are informative and associate to actual compilations of peoples driving experiences. 

DRDRIVING.org stands out besides the rest in that articles are more education straight forward based, versus, the other 2 sites where they are articles that you would find in newspapers.

(2) content and tone of newsletters, when present

SADD uses a tone that is easy to follow for youth or young adults.  Since this sight is not extremely geared to driving vehicles, the tone set is to expand upon the idea to help young people say no to drinking and driving, and expand that mission to help divert attention to issues that teens face and the content allows teens to know that they have peer leadership that is dedicated to preventing destructive decisions, such as drinking and driving, drug use, teen violence, depression and suicide.

SADD’s mission is to provide students with the best prevention and intervention tools possible to deal with the issues of underage drinking, other drug use, impaired driving and other destructive decisions.  The content is a positive outlook on life and the consequences of positive and negative behavior.

DRIVER’s content is to try to publish electronic information resource for researchers, policymakers, public speakers, and practitioners in driving and traffic safety, a knowledge based company fills a gap in the industry, and leads the way toward future improvements in the driving industry.  The company's objective is to disseminate information in this important area and provide a meeting of minds for millions of professionals and non-professionals alike.

Topics range from autos, behavior, driving, enforcement, environment, licensing, new drivers, older drivers, professional drivers, safety, technology, traffic, and training.

DRDRIVING’s site does not have the ability to send newsletters, but, interestingly, Dr. Driving gets lots of driving letters from drivers around the world.

(3) style of the site

All 3 of the sites are very simplistic.  I would deem it a good idea that it is simple and easy to navigate or else people will just confused, frustrated and easily leave. 

The purpose of these sites are to be informative and encourage browsing articles and related web links.  SADD’s site has many photos compared to the other sites, perhaps because this is the one site out of the 3 that is aimed at visitors who are young.  This style of using color and photos is appealing to the eye and students and parents can focus more on that site because of this reason. 

The style of all 3 sites are comparably equal, but DRDRIVING’s site is ‘wordy’ but still worthy!  Some people like that aspect, and appreciate it, like myself.  I know that it poses a lot of information because it covers all the underlying information and driving psychology concepts.  Which are a lot, and with examples, amount to even a lot more.

(4) probable audience

All sites are great for education and awareness in driving.  If you are doing research, you may want to visit all the sites.  SADD’s site is aimed more towards youth and is inclusive not exclusive.  They try not to alienate students who make unfortunate choices but try to grasp the youth into knowing that they have a future ahead of them and empower them through informing them, educating them and spreading the word on saying “no”.

Basically these sites have a world wide audience.  The people who visit and are a part of these sites value the information according to driving and have the desire to make others as knowledgeable as they are. 

For the DRDRIVING site, a more probable audience would be those that want a deeper understand of what is happening at a psychological level when we take part in driving, and most of the audience probably want to change a negative habit and go to see the Doctor of driving.

DRIVERS’s site is for those that are in the technological field, and want to know more about what is happening in the present in association with hardware, that will put us in the next step, next generation and further into the future.  What are we doing today that will be the antecedent to the next best OR worst thing.

(5) public relations or policy, etc.

SADD collects anonymous information from their web users to monitor their general traffic patterns.  DRIVERS and SADD have a privacy policy in place which doesn’t harm those that visit their sites.  They don’t collect personal information of their users. 

Contrastingly, DRDRIVING does not show a privacy policy.

All sites are for general public viewing.  And they may be contacted through contact information listed on each site.

(6) advertising (if any)

DRDRIVING has just one advertisement, which isn’t really an advertisement but a supplement to the site.  It is the road rage book that you can get on amazon.com.  DRIVERS has many advertisements as I would think those in the tech field might be attracted too. 

SADD has a different kid of advertising.  MOST if not all of their advertisements are for campains and activites, such as what is going on month to month that the youth along with parents can celebrate or be a part of. 

I wouldn’t think that there would be too much of corporation advertising since this site is much frequented by youth, and students don’t really have incomes to spend but advertisements on this page aren’t connected to monetary advertisements per se.  Advertisements aimed at students have the purpose to associate good behaviors with certain things, perhaps condition a response to a certain stimuli, which we learn in psychology as classical conditioning.

(7) size

In my opinion, the 3 sites are comparably large.  But If I had to compare each site to another, I would rank DRDRIVING as the largest, with it’s generational curriculum, and SADD, next biggest, with all its campaigns, and chapters and events, and DRIVERS least in size compared to the other two sites.  DRDRIVING has multitudes of information on the site, it is almost never ending, which is good for a researcher as myself in that DRDRIVING provides information of quality and not just quantity.

(8) ranking (see Google or Alexa)

ACCORDING TO ALEXA.COM

SADD.org                 719,030   (online since OCTOBER 1997)

DRDRIVING.org     429,284   (online since NOVEMBER 1997)

DRIVERS.com        130,295   (online since MAY 1995)

(9) Other sites that link to each

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)  www.nhtsa.dot.gov - Site info 
• USA - - Insurance Institute for Highway Safety  www.hwysafety.org - Site info 
• Picosearch  www.picosearch.com - Site info 
• The Honolulu Advertiser | Local News  www.honoluluadvertiser.com/missamericareader.html - Site info 
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)  www.madd.org - Site info 
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)  www.nhtsa.dot.gov - Site info 
• Partnership for a Drug-Free America  www.drugfreeamerica.org - Site info 
• Google  www.google.com - Site info 
• The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information  www.health.org - Site info 
• Students Against Destructive Decisions  www.saddonline.com - Site info 
• DECA - An Association of Marketing Students  www.deca.org - Site info 
• National Institute on Drug Abuse  www.nida.nih.gov - Site info 
• Drughelp  www.drughelp.org - Site info 
• Alcoholics Anonymous  www.alcoholics-anonymous.org - Site info 
• AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety  www.aaafts.org - Site info 
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Public Affair...  www.dot.gov/affairs/nhtsain.htm - Site info 
• Drivers Handbook  www.drivershandbook.com - Site info 
• Cars Everything - Crash Tests  www.crashtests.info - Site info 
• Alert Driving  www.alertdriving.com - Site info 
• Accident Zone  www.accidentzone.com - Site info 
• American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association  adtsea.iup.edu - Site info 
• Driving Today  www.drivingtoday.com - Site info 
• Drive-Alive Motoring holidays in Europe  drive-alive.com/driving_tips.htm - Site info 
• Center for Auto Safety  autosafety.org - Site info 

(10) Quality & Credibility

I chose to put Quality and Credibility on this list because several of the websites on how to evaluate a website mentioned this fact as an aspect of which one must judge a website on.  For example you will not want to research medical diagnosis on just any page, nevertheless, would you want to find medical information on someone’s personal page.  But you might want to look at a national organization or pages that are credible and not fake and fiction. 

DRDRIVING is posted by Dr. James, but his general curriculum articles are posted by students, which are referenced to actual articles, but not written by credible resources.  SADD is also like DRDRIVING in that it is an organization.  Hence their web addresses. I guess they can be trusted more than DRIVERS site in my opinion.  Although DRIVERS site seems to contain many profession articles so I wouldn’t rule out that resource of information. 

The Question I am answering is Question 3

(a) Select three student reports at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups  .Be sure you put a link to the report you are quoting from. Summarize what the three students were trying to do, what methods they used, and what they concluded.

 

 (b) Discuss your reactions to what they did – their ideas, their method, and their explanations. What did they gain from doing their reports? How do their ideas influence what you yourself think about these issues?

 

(c) Now go to some driving newsgroups by Googling the phrase driving newsgroups. See if you can corroborate the conclusions of the student reports which were done several years ago. Is this still going on the same way?

 

Answers:

 

(a) Select three student reports at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups  Be sure you put a link to the report you are quoting from. Summarize what the three students were trying to do, what methods they used, and what they concluded.

 

1.   http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups23.html

 

2.   http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups14.htm

 

3.   http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups18.html

 

Newsgroups are mostly intended for people to go to a topic of choice and being to chat with other people with that same interest or dis-liked interest and talk about issues or just create a social network for.

 

These 3 students above had to conduct and explore various Newsgroups reports from prior generations.  They had to take notes while assessing what could be done to improve the newsgroups of students from before, including adding to their analysis more psychological concepts and driver concepts that are mentioned in the Driving psychology seminar class lecture notes. 

 

They also had to observe or comprehend how people behave in newsgroups and if participants in newsgroups fluctuate in mentality based on news topic or what actually is it based on?

 

Basically # 1 and 3 found newsgroups that were based on topics that dealt with driving vehicles whether it was racing, road rage, video games, law enforcement, social issues with road rage, etc. Person #2 found news groups that were topics of their interest such as soccer, computer hardware, and video games. In relation to my observations of what their task was.

 

What their conclusions came to are different.  The people who researched road rage came up with dissimilar conclusions to each other, but although #2 and #3 searched different topics, they came up with a similar thought in their conclusion.

 

Their conclusions for their reports had almost nothing to do with what the actual topics were but how they felt on a personal level after they had read the newsgroups and commented. Person #2 and #3 felt that it takes a special person to comment on news groups.  Not just any one goes on news groups.  It’s mostly people who are into specialized topics and want support and want to either advocate a topic or network with others or even just to make a point.

 

But apparently, most of their commentaries, if not all added psychological terms such as emotional intelligence or supportive driver to the context of the newsgroup which was their original aim.  They also added how they personally felt about the topic, and if they agreed, didn’t agree with anyone, or sometimes they even provided possible solutions in their commentaries.

 

(b) Discuss your reactions to what they did – their ideas, their method, and their explanations. What did they gain from doing their reports? How do their ideas influence what you yourself think about these issues?

 

Their ideas were their own opinion which I value.  Person #1 would always leave a question within their comment as if this person had unanswered solutions to problems.  That was interesting, at least I know when that person asks questions that they are pondering ‘What if’?

 

The person who searched topics on their interest was just having fun and being the knowledgeable person that they are in the field of computer hardware, they actually responded to some questions that were posed in the newsgroups.  The last person learned a couple of things that they already didn’t know with the concept of road rage.  He or she didn’t think that certain behaviors could be associated with road rage. 

 

One of them also mentioned that they liked the newsgroups because it gives them a sense privacy and they really have no identity online so that they can say whatever they want.  I believe this is due to security.  Someone may feel secure to pour their heart out to strangers online because it is simple and non evasive.

 

These 3 students gained a little more about driving psychology and probably more about themselves and what they think about how they think and why they think the way that they do.  Their ideas influence me by reaffirming to myself that when I approach things new or old concepts, I should value them and ask preposterously absurd questions of “why”. 

 

I must take an approach to unlearn what I have learned so that I may see things in a different light, and gain insight so that I may not judge, but appreciate.

 

(c) Now go to some driving newsgroups by Googling the phrase driving newsgroups. See if you can corroborate the conclusions of the student reports which were done several years ago. Is this still going on the same way?

 

Within the 4 news groups that I found most people were on there complaining about what other people do and basically pointing the finger at other people and never towards themselves.  Some people offer solutions, some shut them down. 

 

Some news groups are support systems for those that are venting or want to start advocating for law enforcement.  Either way, as long as conversation is still stimulating about road rage and aggressive driving, I think that this will allow the topic to go further in the right direction – educate, educate, educate.

 

The Question I am answering is Question 4

(a) Consider Table 5 in the Lecture Notes, in the Section on Driving Psychology Theory and Charts at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-lecture-notes.htm#Charts. Read the article from which the Table was taken. Copy and paste the table into your file. Describe the Table in your own words: what is for, what it says, what it shows. 

 

(b) Copy the Table again and paste it again. But this time delete the examples in each cell and replace them with your own examples that you make up. Title this Section: My Version of the Table. Explain what your table shows and how you came up with it. Discuss your Table with friends. Summarize their reactions. Summarize your reactions to their reactions.

 

(c) Discuss why driving is such a big problem in all societies and why no effective solutions have yet been found for them. Refer to our two textbooks for examples of some of the world wide problems and solutions proposed. Be sure to refer to the author and page numbers.  What likelihood is there that his approach will be adopted? Explain.

 

Answers:

 

(a) Consider Table 5 in the Lecture Notes, in the Section on Driving Psychology Theory and Charts at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-lecture-notes.htm#Charts. Read the article from which the Table was taken. Copy and paste the table into your file. Describe the Table in your own words: what is for, what it says, what it shows. 

Table 5
Emotionally Intelligent Driver Personality Skills

 

This table exemplifies the significant notion of Emotional intelligence skills while driving.  There are 10 skills which one should acquire throughout their lifelong driver education.  The first column are the driver competence skills.  It shows what someone with high skills should practice versus what they should stray away from.  For example, one should lean towards “Showing respect for other and their rights VERSUS Thinking only of oneself”

 

Within the second column the are actual examples of aggressive, negative driving. And the third column is supportive, positive driving examples. 

 

In my opinion there should be a results or consequence column.  In this imagined column there would be the actions that would arise if you respond (negatively) aggressive or even if you respond (positively) supportive driver.  This would show a complete scenario of outcomes of acting out positively or negatively. 

 

This will allow drivers who drive aggressively to discover that negative feelings and thoughts about others don’t make them feel better after all.  They begin to understand that the driver’s emotional state has the power to influence others – motorists, passengers, cyclists, and even pedestrians.

 

It is important to be emotionally intelligent while operating your vehicle and remain in control of the situation and your vehicle!  It is important for us to train our emotions and know that everything we do and feel is 100% out responsibility.

 

(b) Copy the Table again and paste it again. But this time delete the examples in each cell and replace them with your own examples that you make up. Title this Section: My Version of the Table. Explain what your table shows and how you came up with it. Discuss your Table with friends. Summarize their reactions. Summarize your reactions to their reactions.

My Version of the Table

 

If you try to teach new concepts of driving behavior to someone that has never heard them before, sometimes I need to take it down a notch.  Sometimes I feel like such an expert on the topic of emotional intelligence and driving, or even just driving psychology that it confuses people without the background knowledge that we discuss in seminar class. 

 

Anyway, I showed my sister and my mom this table.  The women in my family are tempered fairly quick, so when they saw this they thought that it wasn’t that easy to just go from “sassy” to “nice, and polite”.  Then I told them that in any case, whether you are driving or not, you as an individual are in charge of the way you feel.  Regardless if you best friend just died.  You expect to be sad, but guess what, you choose to be sad. 

 

That is also the way it is when you become aggressive.  We must know that how we feel is up to us!  It’s easy for someone to tell you that how you feel is up to you, but emotions feel like they take over, but to be emotionally intelligent is to take control of situations be intelligent with it.  Don’t act on impulse, because what good would that do you? None now, none in the long run.  So the purpose of acting on impulse is for self satisfaction right now.

 

(c) Discuss why driving is such a big problem in all societies and why no effective solutions have yet been found for them. Refer to our two textbooks for examples of some of the world wide problems and solutions proposed. Be sure to refer to the author and page numbers.  What likelihood is there that his approach will be adopted? Explain.

 

Some of the problems to why driving is such a big problem in all societies is that we all have defense mechanisms.  Say we are already driving, if we take the time to think too much about what our other actions would be, that would mean that we would have to multi-task which is a difficult thing to do especially when your life is at risk since you are in a moving vehicle! 

 

We can easily get mad at every little thing because it is easy to do and we don’t think about the repercussions it’ll do to us later.  We think about self satisfaction at the moment and never to include consequences, rarely.  It’s easier to honk and horn then do nothing at all when someone does something right in front of us that may have compromised our life. 

 

According to the Road Rage and Aggressive Driving book, page 182, by Dr. James and Dr. Nahl, the effect of being a supportive driver very much outweighs that of being aggressive.  There are benefits of freedom from fear, or even pressure.  This concept of supportive driver still has a ways to go, I think. 

 

The approach will have to spread by word of mouth, and positive role models on the road.  To acknowledge, witness and modify sounds simple but is difficult.  We may or may not perceive our habits which sometimes are unconscious acts because they are so habitual. 

 

Basically, good role models on the road will eventually catch up to everyone, but driving psychology students I believe are the best campaigner, supporter and activists in changing the adaptations of those around us to adapt to an environment where drivers are supportive drivers verses aggressive drivers. 

 

Also, law enforcement plays a role – they should do just that, enforce the laws, everything from seat belt wearing, to speeding, to pedestrians, to educating the underlying principles of driving psychology to a younger audience through life time driver learning.

 

The Question I am answering is Question 5

 (a) Our textbook Road Rage and Aggressive Driving has checklist exercises in several chapters. Do the following four exercises:

(i) Exercise on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings on p. 65-66

(ii). Exercise on Are You an Aggressive Competitor on p. 104-5

(iii). Exercise on Positive Driving Behaviors on p. 212-3

(iv). Exercise on Your Passive Aggressive Road Rage Tendency on p. 88-9

(b) Discuss your reactions to each exercise? How do you explain your answers? You can give your answers in their entirety or you can make selections. What do they show about your driving personality? Where did you get this style of reacting and driving? Discuss how these exercises help you to become more aware of yourself as a driver.

 

(c) Do some of the exercises with another driver you know. How do they help you understand some principles of driving psychology mentioned in the book? Discuss and illustrate with specific examples.

 

Answers:

(i) Exercise on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings on p. 65-66

Driving Area 1: Fantasies of Retaliation and Revenge

1.      ___ When others cut in front of me so that I have to break, I feel like crashing into them to teach them a lesson.

2.      ___ When I encounter road- hugging pedestrians, I feel like pushing them out of my way.

3.      ___ When drivers become aggressive by tailgating me, I enjoy slowing down to pay them back.

4.      ___ When I’m under stress due to work, I get very edgy and take it out on other drivers.

5.      _X_ I don’t think passengers should tell me how to drive and I let them know when they try.

6.      ___ If motorists around me act cocky and drive recklessly, I get into a rebellious mood.

7.      ___ I passionately hate drivers who think they are the only ones on the road and act carelessly.

8.      ___ When a driver cuts me off and slows down, I feel like ramming that car.

9.      _X_ I get nasty thoughts about drivers who force their way into my lane, especially without signaling.

10.  ___ I feel like ramming them to smarten them up about doing dangerous things (eating, putting on makeup, reading, talking on the phone, etc.) while they should be paying attention to the road.

11.  ___ When people run or walk on the shoulder of the highway I feel like swerving toward them to scare them off the road for good.

12.  ___ When slow cyclists take up a whole lane so that I can’t pass and refuse to move when I honk, I feel like whipping by so close they lose their balance and fall.

Driving Area 2: High- Pressure Driving and Competition

13.  ___ When a car gets in my way I don’t like it and try to get around it even if it means taking some risks.

14.  ___ In heavy traffic I feel a constant desire to weave across lanes, trying to get ahead.

15.  ___ I’m a “gap closer” and I make sure no one enters my lane in front of me.

16.  _X_ When I’m late, I have no patience and tailgate slower motorists in my way.

17.  ___If it was up to me, I’d have everybody else get off the road until I pass- like the president.

18.  ___I like the idea of saluting careless drivers “with respect” (flipping them off with my hand safely out of view under the dashboard).

19.  ___ I don’t have respect for drivers who forget to turn their blinkers on or off.

Driving Area 3: Impulsive and Reckless Driving

20.  ___ Showing off to friends is something I do because I am expected to take risks and not act like a coward.

21.  ___I enjoy loud, fast music while I drive- lets me feel free!

22.  ___When I drive late at night and the road is clear, I like to go fast no matter what the signs say.

23.  _X_ When I’m in a rush and upset I cut in front of cars and rush through yellow lights.

24.  ___ If I had a few drinks but feel alright, I take the chance and drive home anyway.

25.  ___ When I’m tired I become less alert, but I still need to drive. I have no choice.

26.  ___ Going through red lights should only be done when you’re absolutely sure there are no cars that can show up in your way.

27.  ___ I love to hear the tires screech when I take turns fast. It’s a nice sound. Makes me feel alive. 

(ii). Exercise on Are You an Aggressive Competitor on p. 104-5

1.      ___ I really hate it when traffic is congested and I can’t get ahead of others because I feel like I’m losing.

2.      ___I’ve discovered that I can force my way into any lane by being pushy.

3.      ___ I believe the law that prevails on the road is the law of the jungle- we might as well face it: the most aggressive drivers end up getting what they want.

4.      ___ I’m driving in the left lane in heavy traffic and trying to switch lanes to the right lane to make a right turn at the next intersection. The driver in the car next to me sees my signal and closes the gap, preventing me from entering the lane. I miss my turn as a result. This proves that he purposely kept me out.

5.      _X_I love it when I pass a long line of waiting cars, then when I cut in front of the line. Victory! Only losers wait in line.

6.      ___ A lot of drivers can see that I’m in a hurry. So what do they do? They intentionally try to slow me down or block my way. That’s how they get their kicks.

7.      ___