Report 2:
My Understanding of Driving Psychology
By: Jennifer
Higa
Instructions for this report are found at:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-report2.htm
Question
1:
Consider Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the
Lecture Notes, in the Section on Driving Psychology Theory and Charts at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-lecture-notes.htm#Charts
Consult the article from which the Tables were taken. Using your own words,
describe the three behavioral domains and levels of a driver (nine cells).
Illustrate each domain with your own driving behavior skills and errors, or
that of another driver you know well, or a driver in a particular movie. Make
up a "driving personality makeover" plan for yourself (or another
driver you know well). Discuss the problems you anticipate in carrying out such
a plan successfully.
The
three behavioral domains include affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. The affective domain describes the way you
feel about something or a situation.
The cognitive domain describes how you think or rationalize a
situation. The third domain or the
sensorimotor domain are your actions in a situation.
There
are also three levels that go with the three domains to create what is called
“Behavioral Zones of Driving”. The first
level is called proficiency and is basically a driver’s focus on doing a good
job while driving. This level is then
broken down into three parts using the affective (respect for others and being
alert), cognitive (being aware), and sensorimotor (hand eye coordination). The second level is called safety and this
too is broken down into three parts.
The three parts are affective (staying out of trouble), cognitive
(problem solving thoughts), and sensorimotor (using nice actions). The third level is responsibility. The parts to this level are also affective
(being accountable for others), cognitive (using prosocial and not anti social
thoughts), and sensorimotor (mood while driving). By adding a plus or minus to
the levels it creates 18 behavioral zones.
I’ve
noticed that I illustrate both positive and negative aspects of all
domains. I for example am very likely
to speed up when I think someone wants to cut me off and I think “This jerk
isn’t going to cut me off”. This would
be a negative cognitive type behavior.
I have also noticed that I tend to call people names if they succeed in
cutting me off. This is a negative
sensorimotor behavior. An example of a
negative affective behavior I have done was thinking old people should stay off
he road because they don’t know how to stay in the lanes and they drive to
slow.
I
have positive aspects as well. An
example of me using positive sensorimotor behavior is that I always wave thank
you when someone lets me in. I perform
a positive affective behavior when I feel bad for someone no one else is
letting into a lane, so I will let him in.
I like to let people in if they have their blinker on. An example for my positive cognitive
behavior is that if I see someone speeding I let them pass me because they may
have an emergency. I think about when
I’m in a hurry and I wish people would let me go so I can get to my
destination. I always appreciate it
when people let me go so I like to return the favor.
The
driving personality makeover plan involves two stages. The first stage is to avoid being an
aggressive driver and the second stage is to become a supportive driver. I myself don’t believe I am an aggressive
driver and that I am a supportive driver.
I’m not being cocky and I know I’m not perfect. I have the occasional speeding up so someone
can’t get in front of me and so on. I
sometimes swear at people who almost hit me on the road and I don’t always
drive the speed limit. All I’m saying
is that I am a moderate road rage type person.
My
driving personality makeover plan would have to start with understanding that I
have to change to make a difference. I
need to stop thinking that I don’t have any flaws. I admitted earlier that I know I’m not a perfect driver and that
is the first step of stage one of the makeover plan. Now that I know I am not perfect I need to start thinking about
why I am not and try to understand it.
The second level of stage one is to learn to rationalize traffic
incidences. I guess this would have to
be trying to think why someone cut you off and understanding it. Instead of lashing out that that person is
stupid and doesn’t know how to drive I might say that the person just made a
mistake and it wasn’t their fault. The
third level is simply holding my hands down from making those bad gestures.
For
the second stage of the makeover plan I need to be a supportive driver. In reality I have noticed that I have become
a little bit more of a supportive driver since this class started. I tend to let people go if they make a mistake
on the road a little more now. I don’t
behave as unruly either. I think that
it has a lot to do with me growing out of my road rage. I used to be very bad but I slowly started
realizing that it isn’t worth my energy to get upset over something that can
easily be forgotten. I have started the
path towards becoming a supportive driver and I feel if I keep at it I will
improve a lot more.
I
don’t see myself running into any problems while doing the driving personality
makeover. I am very willing to change
my sometimes unruly or inappropriate behavior.
I want to help make a difference in this society. I realize that driving kills many people
every year and sometimes for no reason.
I want to do my part to help people live. I think I will enjoy doing the makeover because it not only
benefits myself but others as well.
Question
3:
Discuss these two Web sites: drivers.com vs. drdriving.org
What are their main differences? Be sure to consider at least these areas:
articles, newsletters, letters, style, probable audience, public relations or
policy, advertising, size, ranking.
These
two web sites had much more similarities then differences. They both talked a lot about driving and had
a lot of good information on them. The
drivers.com web site had very informational articles. The articles were easy to read and somewhat short. What was also good was the fact that you
could sign up for a newsletter. The
newsletter would be sent to you via e-mail every month. This newsletter would be a very helpful
reminder of the driving situation in America and around the world.
In
the web site drdriving.org the articles were much longer and packed with a lot
of information. I really liked the
section with stories from the news.
There were many links that related to different aspects of driving. I felt the drdriving.org site was a lot more
fun and enjoyable then the drivers.com site.
The drivers.com site was very professional and well organized. Even though drivers.com was more
professional I thought both the site targeted a younger age group. I felt drivers.com targeted a younger
generation because the site also applied to computer drivers. I also felt that drdriving.org targeted not
only young but old age groups as well because the site had information and
advice for all age groups.
Both
sites had some advertising. Drdriving
had books and videos for sale on the site with links and order forms. Drivers.com allowed people to pay a monthly
fee to have an ad posted to the site.
The ad had to be approved by the site according to its relevance to
driving.
One
big difference I noticed was the size of the main page. Drdriving had a lot of information all on
one page. Drivers.com had a short home
page with many links on it. This points
out the main difference between the sites, which I believed was style. Both sites basically had the same point but
very different ways of displaying them.
Another main difference were the overall message the sites were
showing. I felt drdriving was more of a
preventative or improvement type web site.
While drivers.com was more of an informative site.
If
I had to rate these sites I would rate them equal in information and
content. I would rate drdriving higher
for its overall message. I think that
because drdriving focuses of prevention it is much more useful to everyone then
just a bunch of facts.
Question
5:
Consider Table 5 in the Lecture Notes, in
the Section on Driving Psychology Theory and Charts at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-lecture-notes.htm#Charts
Consult the article from which the Table was taken. Copy and paste the table
into your file. Now delete the examples in each cell and replace them with your
own examples that you make up. Discuss why driving is such a big problem in all
societies and why no effective solutions have yet been found for them. Discuss
the solutions offered by Dr. Leon James (DrDriving). What likelihood is there
that his approach will be adopted? Explain.
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Table 5 |
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The above comes from: www.drdriving.org/articles/driving_psy.htm
I always thought the reason driving is such a problem was
because people don’t realize how powerful and dangerous a car can be. Most people see a cars power as dominance
not actual strength. I remember hearing
a statistic about people who drive SUV’s on the news. It said that people who drive SUV’s are 17% more likely to be
killed in an accident then for people who drive regular cars. The reason was that SUV drivers think they
are safer in a SUV’s and tend to be more reckless. I think people need to learn early on that a car isn’t just a toy
but a serious responsibility for you and for others.
I don’t think any effective solutions have been found
because not too many people think it’s a problem. Some of the solutions offered by Dr. Leon James in the web site
drdriving.org are to practice self-witnessing and better drivers education programs. Self-witnessing is to help people realize
they need to fix problems they might have never known they had. Improving driver’s education by informing
people about risks and teaching them skills throughout life and not just when
you start driving.
I feel that some people might adopt these techniques and a lot won’t. I think it goes back to fact that people don’t care until it’s too late. All people need to do is stop and realize that they may have a problem but constructive criticism is not always accepted especially in our society.
Question
7:
Our textbook Road Rage and Aggressive
Driving has exercises in several chapters. Do the following four exercises:
(a) Exercise on scenario analysis on p. 205; (b) Exercise on acting as-if on
p.128; (c) Exercise on self-assessment on p. 134; and (d) Checklist of your
road rage tendency on p. 40. What were your reactions to the exercises? Discuss
how these exercises help you to become more aware of yourself as a driver. Do
some of the exercises with another driver you know. How do they help you understand
some principles of driving psychology?
I
really liked the exercises in the text for many reasons. For one thing the exercises helped me see
what I am really like. They help you
see the person you really are on the road.
They also make you think of why things might happen. Exercise A was about doing a scenario
analysis of a road rage incident. This
exercise helps a person reconstruct a road rage incident and think about a
smarter behavior. I felt this exercise
was helpful because it helps a person see the good and bad results from your
actions.
I think the best
exercise was exercise C where you record you good and bad traits and have
another person do the same of you. I
realized that my boyfriend had one good trait and a whole bunch of bad one’s
for me. I myself noticed I had more bad
then good traits but it wasn’t as extreme.
I felt it was very interesting how upset I got when I found out what my
boyfriend thought were my bad traits.
He said I drive to slow and let to many people in. I
was upset because I knew it’s not wrong but he thought it was. I realized that I was upset because I knew
he was the one with the problem and not me.
This made me wish everyone would take a road rage course. Many people out there need to learn what the
consequences are of bad driving behavior.
I
think that because road rage has become so much a part of driving in today’s
society the fact of bringing it up as a problem is just not heard of. Many people think it’s harmless and what
some people deserve. I feel it’s a
waste of energy and added stress that we definitely don’t need in today’s
world. These exercises can help people
realize they and many others have a problem that needs to be changed. The only hard part is getting people to try
the exercises. For example exercise D
asks you some questions to see how much of an aggressive driver you are. I got an 8 out of 20, which means I am a
moderate aggressive driver. I think if
some people take this test and realize how much of an aggressive driver they
are then maybe they will make an attempt to change.
The
principles of driving psychology are to realize you have a problem and then try
to become a more supportive driver. I
think all these exercise help you see that.
In exercise B, you get some tips on how to become a more supportive
driver. The exercise tells you what to
do in a road rage type situation. I
feel this exercise can help you calm down and start becoming a better
driver. All these exercises are quick
and easy. If everyone took the 30 or so
minutes to complete the exercises and apply them we might be able to change the
way people drive in today’s stress filled world.
Question
8:
Search the Web and the University of
Hawaii Library Electronic Resources of full text journals to find out what is
known about risk and driving. Do drivers have a preferred or usual level of
risk? Why do drivers take more risks when better safety features are added to
the automobile? What is known about personality factors and taking risks while
driving? How is the topic of risk integrated in accident analysis, legislation,
and driver education?
As I searched the Internet for risk and driving
related articles I realized that many of the search results had a lot to do
with drinking and driving. It seems that
people are more concerned with drunken driving risks then the risk of just
driving. As I searched on I found a
site with many different articles. The
site was called questia.com. I found an
article on cell phones, adolescent drivers, and risk taking.
The
article about drunken driving talked about the normal risks about drinking and
driving, but I wasn’t very entertained. I know drinking and driving is
dangerous but so does everyone else.
Many people take a risk when they decide to drink and drive. This goes for people of all ages. Another thing that was seen as a risk was
using a cell phone while driving. I
felt it was interesting to see that a cell phone was seen as more risky than
road rage. The article talked about the
statistics etc. but again it’s something we know is wrong and unsafe. One thing no one realizes is unsafe is road
rage.
I
also found that if a car has higher safety features then the more likely a
driver is of driving recklessly. The
driver feel safer therefore performs riskier activities on the road. I think I mentioned earlier that a person
who drives a SUV is more likely to get in to an accident because they feel
safer. When people think they will be
protected by something they are more likely to do something stupid. In a way it is a loose loose situation. In an attempt to keep people safer (with new
side air bags, etc.) the industries are actually making peoples driving
behaviors worse.
I
couldn’t find any articles that connected personality with risk taking although
I did find an article from http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/pub/risk.pdf,
which spoke a lot about youthful risk taking and driving. It seem that people blame young new drivers
as the biggest risk takers. It seems
that young people really are the biggest risk taker because they account for
the highest crash rates. Driving
fatalities are the major cause of death for young adults. This is all tied into risk taking. Young adults have the tendency to take more
risks. The article stated that people
who emerge out of adolescence with a lot of confidence are much higher risk
takers. The theories of risk taking
behavior also take into account environmental and individual’s characteristics.
The
article also went into great detail about influences of television, alcohol,
drugs, or other things. Other topics
discussed in the article were the rate of risk declining after a driver has had
more experience. Young drivers are more
likely to tailgate than others. One
very interesting point from the article was that people tend not to use their
seat belt as they get older. The
article says that risk taking behavior is preformed by how the risk is
perceived. Young drivers tend to
perceive less driving risk then adults.
Because
young people get into more accidents they are seen as higher risk takers.
Insurance companies also see them as a risk.
If you are a young male you are even a greater risk. I think this ties into the fact that young
people aren’t prepared for this new and dangerous activity. I feel that they don’t teach this fact
enough in driver’s education. In
drivers education young people are basically taught to drive. I think they should emphasize the risks of
speeding etc. by showing statistics and pictures or video of accidents. I don’t think young people realize how
deadly driving is to them because of their actions. Young people are so eager to be free they will literally kill for
it.
Advice
to Future Generations
I
think the key to succeeding in this course would be to keep an open mind. Many people out there need to know the risks
and dangers of aggressive driving.
Another thing you would need to do to succeed would be to accept the
fact that we all have a problem with driving and we need to fix it.
This
course deals with a lot of things people might not think are very important but
as you go through the semester you will learn what you need to do to keep
yourself and others safe. As far as
grading goes, as long as you keep up you’ll be ok. Don’t procrastinate! You can’t recover from it.
Class Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/classhome-g21.htm
My Home
Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/higa/home.htm