Report
1
My Understanding of Driving Psychology
by Tiare MacDonald
Instructions for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-report1.htm
A. Driving Taxonomy Table Summaries
This table breaks the three domains of driving (affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor) down into two sub-categories: skills and errors. A “skill” refers to positive driving behavior, and an “error” refers to a negative driving behavior. Skills are symbolized as (+) and Errors are symbolized as (-). Affective, Cognitive, and Sensorimotor Domains are symbolized as A, C, and S, respectively. This table provides us with a framework to categorize driving behaviors, with the eventual goal in mind being to increase skills and decrease errors after they are properly identified and classified.
The table provides examples of errors and skills in the three driving domains. I will give my own additional examples of each to demonstrate my understanding of the concepts. I will also use the same scenario for all six categories.
Scenario: A person is tailgating me in the right lane of the freeway.
SKILLS:
Affective Skill (+A) Example:
I become calm and relaxed, letting go of my initial feelings of irritation.
Cognitive Skill (+C) Example:
Maybe this person has a really bad stomach and needs to lie down. I better change lanes so that they can get ahead if they need to.
Sensorimotor Skill (+S) Example:
(I change lanes)
These are skills because they reflect supportive (and therefore positive) driving behaviors. Affective skills are a means of “keeping cool” and being aware and in control of ones emotions. Cognitive skills are a way to rationalize the situation while maintaining a supportive outlook on other’s driving behaviors (by understanding that the road is constantly unpredictable and every driver is different) while mentally exploring the consequences of ones actions. Sensorimotor skills are putting these thoughts and feelings into action (or lack of action).
ERRORS:
Affective Error (-A) Example:
I become boiling mad.
Cognitive Error (-C) Example:
This person is trying to aggravate me. I should teach them a lesson. I’m not going to let them win.
Sensorimotor Error (-S) Example:
(I greatly slow down)
These are errors because they reflect non-supportive as well as aggressive driving behaviors. Affective errors are letting your negative emotions control you. Cognitive errors can be thinking that you want to punish someone, teach them a lesson, or that these people have wronged you in some way. Sensorimotor errors are putting these thoughts and feelings into action.
This table breaks down driving skills into 18 behavioral zones. There are three different levels of driving skills within the three domains. These skills can be positive or negative (which is why there are 18 zones). The three levels are 1) Proficiency, 2) Safety, and 3) Responsibility. We learn the levels in this order, but the highest levels affect the levels below them.
In the first level, proficiency skills constitute a respect for the rules of the road and being in control of one’s actions (affective), being mentally in-tuned (cognitive), and making correct driving decisions and being vigilant of what is happening around you (sensorimotor). Proficiency errors are the opposite of proficiency skills.
In the second level, safety skills are defined as supportive and safe attitudes (affective) as well as actions (sensorimotor) towards other drivers, and unbiased attributions (cognitive). Safety errors are the opposite of safety skills.
In the third level, responsibility skills are having an ethical attitude (affective), a mentally healthy mindset (cognitive), and physically enjoying driving (sensorimotor). Responsibility errors are the opposite of responsibility skills.
This table is used to become a more supportive and responsible driver--to begin a “driving personality makeover.” This is done by abolishing errors, or aggressive and negative behaviors, and then by acquiring skills, or supportive and positive behaviors. The table is divided into the three domains.
In order to avoid aggressive behaviors at the affective level, one must be willing to change. This is done through the abolition of aggressive attitudes and dedicating oneself to becoming a “moral” driver. At the cognitive level, one begins to rationalize objectively and fairly and learns how to manage thinking processes. This is done through taking responsibility for one’s actions and practicing self-talk. And finally, at the sensorimotor level, one must act civilized by performing acts of kindness towards other drivers, and demonstrating tolerance and patience even when one does not feel like it.
In order acquire supportive behaviors at the affective level, one must have a supportive attitude towards other drivers and regret driving errors. This is done through constantly feeling as though one can improve the road, self-regulating emotions, and extending grace and gratitude towards other drivers. At the cognitive level, one makes a habit out of viewing driving objectively. This is done through practice of error acknowledgment and having unbiased views of one’s driving environment. At the sensorimotor level, one acts in a supportive way. This is done through actively seeking out ways to be kind to others on the road and on a personal level, making driving a relaxing experience.
This table is called the “AWM Approach in Driver Self-Modification” and it provides three steps to go about a driving makeover. The first step is admitting that you have a negative driving habit. The second step is observing yourself in the act of this habit. And the last step is changing this habit. This is de-conditioning yourself until you break out of a certain driving habit. This works because you bring the habit into awareness (before you probably weren’t aware of it) by acknowledging its existence, then you catch yourself doing it (which brings understanding of its nature), and then you change it (by re-conditioning yourself).
B. Fundamentals of Driving Psychology
The central principles of driving psychology are as follows:
Driving is a very complicated act, yet is mostly unconscious.
The driving environment is unpredictable and dangerous.
Driving can be broken down into three components: affective, cognitive and sensorimotor.
The way that people drive is a reflection of the culture that they live in, and therefore, as with any behavior in society, there are driving norms.
These norms are acquired through a person’s environment and history, be it parental behavior, media, or other drivers.
The driving norms in our society promote very dangerous and unhealthy behaviors. In other words, aggressive driving is the norm and supportive driving would be considered a deviation from this norm.
The affective driving norms are having an aggressive, competitive, risky, self-centered attitude while on the road. It is also expecting that others should drive exactly the way that you would want them to, and if they don’t that you need to punish them.
The cognitive driving norms are skewed views of one’s own driving skills and errors (that are usually in the driver’s favor), low emotional intelligence, and lack of moral responsibility.
The sensorimotor driving norms are unconscious driving habits, perceiving the driving environment inaccurately, and faulty driving performance for one reason or another.
Lifelong driver education as well as motivating people to get rid of negative habits and to replace them with positive habits can train people to be better, safer drivers.
Drivers need to develop a sense of community with others who practice and abide by positive driving norms.
Drivers need to develop an objective way of assessing their driving behavior.
Drivers need to be equipped with the skills to handle the stresses on the road as well as a possible emergency situation.
C. The Three Domains and My Boyfriend, Marc
Affective
The affective part of someone while they are driving is comprised of their feelings, emotions and moods. It is often the affective element that will spark certain thoughts (cognitive) that result in action (sensorimotor). This is why driving psychology focuses on the management of the affective element. For example, ideally, a negative feeling should instantly trigger a thought that the negative feeling should be not be held onto or acted upon due to the adverse consequences.
My boyfriend, Marc, is extremely kind and tolerant except when he is driving. He is definitely a case of severe road rage. Even when he is in the passenger seat and I am driving, no matter how preoccupied he is with reading, or changing the radio station, or having a nice conversation with me, he finds time to have road rage. His affective errors while he is driving include getting angry at the smallest thing that another person does on the road that displeases him. He feels angry that they are allowed to be on the road because of their “incompetence.” He also feels that he needs to punish these people somehow, and, with a self-righteous attitude, that he should teach them a lesson. I’m pretty sure that this attitude affects the rest of his day, but I wouldn’t really know, since I can’t remember a time when we have driven together (even if the drive is 2 minutes long) in which he didn’t conform to the affective norm of driving and gotten angry at someone or something.
He does have some affective skills, though. However, these only apply to drivers who he deems “worthy” of having these feelings towards (ones who meet his expectations).
Cognitive
The cognitive part of someone while they are driving is comprised of their thoughts and perceptions. Since driving involves constant interaction with others, it therefore often entails having thoughts of others.
Marc makes many cognitive errors, related of course, to his constant hatred towards other drivers. If a driver upsets him, he will have thoughts that they are unintelligent, or that they are purposely driving a certain way (to provoke him), or that he needs to let him know how he feels because they should not get away with that kind of behavior.
His cognitive skills include thoughts such as “I should let this person in” (if they are deserving, of course).
Sensorimotor
The sensorimotor part of someone when they are driving consists of their actions, as well as how they sense and perceive information from their environment. It could be anything from physically expressing one’s thoughts and feelings, whether verbally or through the maneuvering of the vehicle, to having tension in your muscles or failing to see the stop sign on the road.
Marc makes quite a few sensorimotor errors. Mainly, he swears and makes comments, like “What are you doing, you dumb @#7%!!!!” If he gets to the opportunity to speak to the driver that is upsetting him, he will give them “stink eye” and mouth off to them, like “Haven’t you heard of a f@$#in signal?!!” Besides the verbal errors, he will speed off, or, if he sees someone cutting others off he will cut them off. Sometimes he swerves into their lane to scare them. (And the cognitive part of this is that he rationalizes this kind of behavior by thinking that because they put him in a potentially dangerous situation, he wants to do the same to them).
His sensorimotor skills include always waving to other drivers if they let him into their lane, and being careful of pedestrians and bicyclists on the road.
D. Driving Personality Makeovers:
Jenny went through the checklists in the Road Rage book so that she could understand and objectively assess her aggressive driving. She found cause for concern in the results of the following checklists: Fantasies of Retaliation and Revenge, High-Pressure Driving and Competition, Impulsive and Reckless Driving, Are you a scofflaw?, identifying your irrational driving rules. Her driving behaviors included fantasies of inflicting violence, competing and territoriality, feeling time-pressured, lack of respect for the rules of the road and irrational cognitions. For each of the checklists, she cited possible solutions for these behaviors. These checklists served for her to acknowledge her driving behavior as in major need of improvement because she understood that it was harmful.
Jenny designed an experiment to monitor her behavior. She decided to tape record herself behind the wheel and have passengers take notes on their observations on weekdays during traffic hour.
Part of her solution was to make up explanations (that would evoke tolerance and not anger) for why a person is driving in a certain way that would otherwise upset her. I personally don’t experience road rage, and I think that this is one of the reasons why. I am aware of my own fallibility as a driver and make driving mistakes quite often, so I always think that the other person in the car could be me, and I make up a reason for why they were driving that way. This did improve Jenny’s driving, as she found herself to be more patient and understanding as well as focusing on coming up with reasons for why these people were driving a certain way versus focusing on their driving which upset her.
She also developed a system of operational conditioning. Every time she displayed a negative driving behavior, she had to give a passenger money. In the first week, she had 222 aggressive acts between the morning and afternoon commute. The next week she had a decrease in her aggressive behavior—163 acts.
Overall, she came to an understanding that she was more likely to be aggressive at the end of the day or end of the week, and her driving offenses were mostly law-breaking. She also admitted errors and took responsibility for them. Because she realized just how dangerous her driving was, she made a sincere commitment to getting rid of those behaviors.
Unlike Jenny, Jocelyn simply wanted to make over one really bad habit that she had on the road—following too close behind others. Her experiment plan was to have a passenger in the car tell her when she was making this error, and unlike before, she would listen to the passenger and create space between her and the vehicle in front of her.
The experiment worked to create awareness in Jocelyn. Gaining knowledge of the frequency with which she committed this error made her realize that she needed to independently inform herself that when she is driving too close to a car, she needs to create space. She began reminding herself every time that she noticed her error, and she saw this behavior significantly decrease. She also learned that in order to change something, it must be acknowledged first.
E. Driving Personality Makeover for Marc
I decided to do a four day mini-makeover on Marc. Since he constantly verbalizes his aggressive thoughts and feelings while driving, I thought that it would be easy to address them as they occur.
At first, he was really resistant to the idea of getting a driving personality makeover. He said that he is a really good driver and that he does not need a makeover. He told me that I was the one who needed a makeover. I begged him and told him that he needed to help me with the class assignment, and talked about all the things that I have done for him. He reluctantly agreed on the basis of helping me, but said he would not do it under another circumstance.
My method for going about creating a driving makeover for him was for two days, I responded to his road rage by verbally classifying the behavior as aggressive. In other words, I said something like, “Aggressive behavior—swearing at other drivers” after it occurred. He was really defensive when I said this, like I was being a nag, but later on he admitted that he was in the wrong and said this helped him realize how often he engaged in these aggressive actions.
In the few days following the initial two, I still told him when he was behaving aggressively, but I posted a sign on the dashboard stating four important concepts: 1) everyone on the road makes mistakes, 2) there might be a reason why someone is driving a certain way, 3) you must transcend the situation and your anger, and 4) You are in control. Every time he made a driving error, I stated these four concepts. Like before, he got irritated. When we came home though, I would ask him how he was doing and he would say that he had less angry thoughts than usual towards the other drivers (maybe because he was just irritated with me instead!). However, I think that if we continue this system he will begin to catch himself, and may start repeating these four principles himself. We’ll see!
Follow-up: It has been about two months since I have given Marc his driving personality mini-makeover. Although I took the sign down a while ago, I have seen some major changes in his behavior. Tonight I realized that I have not really rewarded him in any way for these positive changes. Knowing that, I praised him, letting him know that he is a lot better than how he used to be. Here are the ways in which I have seen significant changes.
First, he does not seem to be in his own world of road rage anymore. Before, he would not pay any attention to me when I would try to calm him down in one of his angry spells behind the wheel. Nothing I said mattered. Now, when I remind him, he hears me, and says “I know, I know. Sorry.” I think that this is great because supportive drivers are open to others’ suggestions and sensitive to passengers’ needs in the car.
Second, he catches himself. When he starts to get mad, it’s like he automatically thinks this is not good, and stops the aggressive verbalizations. This would be considered the “witness” part of the AWM behavior modification system.
Third, he seems to be open to change. He is not so cocky about his driving, and has come to realizations about how his attitude towards other drivers is somewhat unfair. He cannot possibly expect everyone to drive the same way he does. He knows that he is not as perfect of a driver as he once thought, and that he needs improvement like everybody else.
Don’t get me wrong, he is still an aggressive driver. He weaves in and out of lanes, speeds, and still gets mad. But I can definitely say that he is moving in the right direction. I think that taking this driving psychology course and involving him in a lot of my class assignments has really made him a more conscientious driver. Furthermore, it takes a while to go from being an aggressive driver to a supportive driver. It is really true that people do not change overnight.
On my end, I feel that I should praise him more often, and encourage him when he is driving in emotionally intelligent ways. Men don’t seem to like criticism as much as praise, so I think that this may be the best way to motivate him.
F. What I Have Gained From Driving Psychology So Far and What I Have to Say to Future Generations
I have learned many things in this course so far. I had always thought that defensive driving was the most ideal way to drive, and so it was interesting to find out that it can create a sense of competition and suspicion towards other drivers (always thinking that drivers will potentially injure you or your car). Supportive driving, on the other hand, is much more superior to defensive driving because it promotes tolerance and the view that other drivers aren’t your enemy—they are simply people that make mistakes and aren’t fully aware of their actions. I think one of the main reasons why I am not an aggressive driver is because both of my parents are pretty supportive drivers. I don’t remember them ever getting mad at other drivers when I was growing up, and my father especially gave drivers the benefit of the doubt.
One thing I always wondered about was why certain people take on a totally different personality when they are behind the wheel. One possible explanation for this that I learned about was the concept of driving being a socially isolated activity. Driving becomes almost a surreal activity, as people are removed from the reality of the possible consequences of their actions. People lose their inhibitions in this environment, as they give themselves the liberty to swear and act aggressively. I think in a sense, people see their car as an extension of themselves so they adopt “bigger egos.” This could be why SUV and truck drivers seem to drive more aggressively (or it could be that the more aggressive drivers are attracted to buying vehicles that will make them feel more powerful, and more separated from other drivers [spatially], thereby increasing their sense of invincibility). Social isolation also makes people feel like they are prisoners in traffic situations.
Another issue that I had really never thought about before this class was how because driving is pretty much an automatic process, there is no way that we can be objective about our driving, unless we make an attempt to bring it into awareness. Thus, not only do people have inaccurate assessments of their own driving as well as others’ driving, but they have inaccurate expectations of others on the road. They have probably never stopped to think about what driving really is and the socio-cultural implications that go along with it. It really amazed me to think about drivers as being people coming from all walks of life and skill levels, who differ from moment to moment in their affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor selves. These people have to interact with one another, and the only thing drivers can definitely predict on the road is that the unpredictable will occur. Therefore, it only makes sense that people should expect to run into these high stress situations on a daily basis, and interact with others as they would have others interact with them—being respectful of individual differences and abilities.
I understood the basic concepts of anger control before this class (that external factors don’t make you angry; internal factors do [you choose your emotions]), but I never really thought of it within the context of driving. It was almost as if I didn’t make the connection that road rage is just like other forms of anger—like it was this separate thing that just affected so many people. Overcoming driving anger requires an understanding that venting anger only makes things worse and causes damage to your cardio and immune systems, and that it does not solve any conflicts on the road. In order to get rid of hostile feelings, one must be empathetic towards other drivers as well as maintaining power over one’s emotions.
My advice to future generations is to read other students’ reports from different years, and also to make sure that they start their reports on a timely basis. It also helps when you are doing the reading assignments to take notes. That way, when you have to talk about what you have learned, you can go through your notes and get a quick picture of the overall knowledge you gained. From there, you can talk about areas that were especially enlightening for you. And lastly, the suggestions that I have for teaching driving psychology are that while students are learning these concepts, they should frequently be reminded to think about what they can do with this knowledge. They should constantly ponder how they can modify their own negative driving behaviors or how they can help someone else.
My Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/macdonald/macdonald-home.htm
G24 Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm