Psy 409a - Driving Psychology, February 26, 2006
Aggressive Driving in the Visual Media
Tiare MacDonald
Leon James and Diane Nahl. REF 1. Drivers Behaving Badly Movie Ratings.
Instructions
for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
I. Concept 1: LACK OF RESPECT
a. Definition: Drivers in movies, cartoons, commercials, and television shows have a lack of respect for laws, themselves, other people, and property.
b. Typical behaviors displayed: running stop lights and stop signs, driving up onto curbs, plowing through road signs, jumping over fences and bodies of water, driving on the wrong side of the road, no signaling, being socially preoccupied, engaging in road rage, car chases—and much of the time, these people aren’t wearing any seatbelts.
1. Example 1: In the Movie “Liar, Liar,” Jim Carrey speeds, parks illegally, steals airport machinery, and endangers his and others lives.
2. Example 2: In an episode of “The Simpsons,” both Homer and Marge are speeding and come close to hitting people.
c. Why I picked this concept: I picked this concept because I feel that supportive driving at its core is all about respecting people and their rights. The behaviors on television and the movies demonstrate the driving norms of our society at their extreme, which come down to an utter disrespect for oneself and other people, and the law. The rules of the road are created to protect people. If these rules are broken, people are endangered. The funny thing is that these shows often have a “hero” whose mission to save some lives , but this hero ends up hurting people in the process with his/her reckless driving
d. How this relates to the lecture notes: This relates to the lecture notes because this lack of respect on the road embodies the driving norms of our society which include impulsivity and risk-taking. This type of driving behavior also reminded me of our reading in Road Rage book that talks about the different types of road rage. One of them is epic road rage. A particular type of epic road rager fantasizes about being a comic book hero and winning a race against a bad guy in a fast car. This type of road rage is, in my opinion, telling of the role that the media may play in someone’s driving. Having these media-inspired fantasies and the violence and recklessness associated with it can lead to dangerous driving.
II. Concept 2: LACK OF CONSEQUENCES
a. Definition: The result of the driver’s overall lack of respect in movies, cartoons, commercials, and television frequently result in few consequences.
1. Example 1: In the movie, "The Rock," Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage run over cars, crash through windows, derail a cable car as well as barely miss a pedestrian. They not only walk away uninjured, but they joke with one another about their driving. This is unrealistic, because they never ended up having to answer for their driving errors. Furthermore, in reality, more people would have been injured.
2. Example 2: In the movie “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” John Candy swerves on the road, is preoccupied with dancing to a song on the radio, drives on the wrong side of the road, tries to race with someone, and ends up driving between two semi trucks. He walks away unhurt.
3. Example 3: In the movie “Clueless,” Cher daydreams about her love life while she is taking her driving test, which causes her to almost hit a bicyclist and hit a car. She has no remorse. Cher does not take driving seriously. Thinking about her romantic life was more important to her then paying attention to the road. However, she never experiences any consequences for this. This paints an unrealistic image of society. In reality, people do get hurt. This sends the wrong message to viewers, and particularly teenagers—that driving is a casual activity—and that daydreaming about your social life while driving is okay.
b. Why I picked this concept: This concept resonated with me because I remember that it was this very same attitude that almost got me killed when I got into a car accident in high school. I had just gotten my license and all I cared about was the social aspect of driving. The second or third time that I took the car out, I was excited because I was on my way to a date. About one minute after I got into the car, I almost got into an accident and made another car swerve onto the side of the road. I didn’t really care, though, because I was just thinking about my date. One minute after that I was finding the best radio station to blast, and I was thinking to myself, “Oh my god, I can’t find my other hoop earring!” and the next thing I knew, I was in the ambulance on my way to the hospital. After that, I understood the seriousness of driving consequences so much so that I did not drive for the next 3 years.
c. How this relates to the Lecture Notes: The lecture notes say that “driving norms are transmitted by parents, other adults, magazines, movies and tv.” This has strong implications for children. Even though it will be many years before they get their driver’s license, their driver’s education has begun. Video games, television, and parental driving styles teach children about driving, and what they have to say isn’t very promising given the driving norms of our society. In order to create a generation of drivers with a supportive orientation, we need to begin to alter the messages being sent to children about driving. Parents need to educate their children about the seriousness of driving and demonstrate supportive driving themselves. When parents are watching a movie with their child that includes negative driving behaviors, they can watch with a critical eye, even documenting their observations. They can then let the child know that those scenes are unrealistic and that in the real world, people get hurt because of that type of driving. They can also encourage their children to make their own observations as well.
Related Links:
1. The Movie Car Chase Database
I chose this link because it is an index of car chases in movies. This website is for people that like to race cars, but it just goes to show how the movie car chases are something that some drivers fantasize about. There is even a yearly award that people vote on for the best car chase in a movie.
2. Helping your Teen Become a Safe Driver (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/76.htm
I chose this link because it gives some advice to parents whose teens are learning to drive. Although it offers better advice then most adolescent and teen driving websites, it still fails to mention anything in depth about the cognitive and affective selves.
3. RoadReady Streetwise
http://streetwise.roadreadyteens.org/streetwise/default.aspx
I chose this link because teens can download a computer game that actually promotes safe driving (that’s the object of the game). It’s nice to see that there are video games out there that teens can play that teach them to drive safely and not recklessly.
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