Psy 409a - Driving Psychology, February 13, 2006
Gender, Impairment and Emotional Management
Tiare MacDonald
Leon James and Diane Nahl (2000). Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare. (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books); 57-66.
Instructions for this activity are
found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
I. The Gender Effect
a. When it comes to driving, men and women exhibit both similar and different behaviors.
1. Men tend to experience more negative emotions while driving, and women experience more positive emotions while driving.
2. These emotions, positive or negative, translate into positive or negative behaviors, respectfully. In other words, men tend to exhibit more negative driving behaviors than women.
3. However, it seems negative emotions and behaviors are increasing among women (there is an 18% increase in fatal accidents with women in the past 20 years).
b. These behaviors reflect the cultural norm that it is okay to express anger.
1. Women have been driving more and more because they have been working more and more instead of staying at home, and running errands that require them to make stops.
2. In one study, the women who express the most driving anger are women with “a high level of home responsibility coupled with a low level of emotional support for their hard work” (RR 59).
II. Driving Impaired
a. There are many reasons why someone’s driving performance is impaired.
1. Examples of this are drugs and sleep deprivation and emotional impairment.
2. Driving while impaired is an “antisocial” (RR 59) decision.
b. Many people drive on drugs, and as a result it is estimated that 15.000 people are killed every year in drug-related crashes.
1. Driving while on drugs strongly affects our threefold self.
c. Driving while tired is very risky because sleep deprivation increases the chances that the driver will fall asleep behind the wheel, or will have decreased alertness.
d. Driving while experiencing strong emotions is also risky because they often seem to come out of nowhere.
1. One example of this is road rage.
e. People are frequently unwilling to manage their emotions while driving, and as a result, their emotions manage them and put others at risk.
1. Driving is anonymous, and anonymity decreases people’s inhibitions. Thus, people are more likely to behave aggressively behind the wheel because they are anonymous.
III. Emotional Self-Control Behind the Wheel
a. To be able to control one’s emotions, one must have accurate self-appraisal, and effective self-regulation.
1. The can be learned skills.
b. Self Appraisal
1. Self-appraisal is often skewed, as people tend to overestimate their abilities.
2. This is especially true when it comes to driving, because driving is an automated process, meaning when we drive we often aren’t conscious of our actions and decisions.
3. People also don’t want to admit that they are at fault.
4. Negative emotions are the cause of negative thoughts. Negative thoughts are the cause of negative actions.
A. Negative emotions can be controlled in three ways.
1. Postponing impulses as soon as you sense them.
2. Not seeking retaliation.
3. Recognizing justifications and changing them so that it is “not okay” to express anger anymore.
RELATED LINKS:
1. Controlling Anger Before it Controls You
http://www.apa.org/topics/angersub1.html
I am including this webpage because it is a brochure on the American Psychological Association website. It talks about anger management in general, basically, what anger is, how to control it/strategies, and the possibility of seeing a therapist for anger problems.
2. Comparison of Anger Expression in Men and Women Reveals Surprising Differences
http://www.ucsf.edu/pressrel/2000/01/012804.html
I am including this webpage because it is a study done at Southwest Missouri State University on gender differences in the perceptions of anger, and how each gender goes through the anger affect differently. However, females in this study “take advantage of” their anger as often as the males. It was pretty interesting.
http://allergies.about.com/od/meds/a/aa032000a.htm
I liked this website because it talked about allergy medications and how they often cause driving impairment because they cause sleepiness in drivers. I thought this was fascinating because I know a few people that take allergy medication and experience fatigue, yet they drive to and from work everyday. Not so good!
My Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/macdonald/macdonald-home.htm
Class Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm