Table
of Contents Self-Witnessing Report 1:
Carolyn
Agmata, G9, Psy 409
Carolyn Agamata, a G9er described a D.P.M. as "a way of allowing
yourself to alter your behavior and change your driving habits to remake
your 'traffic life' more healthier and zestful." She states that
there are 3 steps to improve your skills and change your faults in driving.
They are: 1) Acknowledge your shortcomings 2) Witness these
faults 3)Modify your behavior one step at a time.
Self-Witnessing Report 2:
Gary
Uno, G6, Psy 459
Gary Uno wrote that a D.P.M. is a process of understanding and
modifying feelings, thoughts, and the resulting actions. He believes
that reforming bad driving habits is a process that needs to occur throughout
a person's life (in order to prevent a relapse). He claims that there
are some crucial steps to initiating a makeover. They are things
such as being aware of your habits and reactions in certain situations,
committing yourself to making a change, researching background information
on traffic psychology and fully understanding and becoming involved in
the commitment. What method for self-modification is appropriate
for each individual depends entirely on the person and the situation.
The main point that Mr. Uno tries to make is that making changes to our
personality is a lot of work and sticking to the decision to make the changes
regardless of the failures/successes in the trial-and-error attempts that
we make is the key to being successful in the end.
Self-Witnessing Report 3:
Jenica
Guerra, G6, Psy 459
Basically, Ms. Guerra's report agreed with most of the claims
made by Gary Uno and Carolyn Agmata. I read and included her report
in my research because it was refreshingly honest and her attempts to change
her bad driving habits seemed sincere. I enjoyed reading about the
challenges she faced when trying to prevent herself from tail-gating (I
especially liked her little "I'm not mad" jingle!). It takes a big
person to acknowledge their faults, and an even bigger person to try to
correct them!
My Definition
A driving personality make-over is when a driver's negative attitudes
towards driving and other motorists are altered to include a more positive
view, opinion, and driving behavior. The first step to modify any
aspect of a driver's personality is to make the person aware of their own
negative behaviors. If the motorist is able to witness for him/herself
the way s/he interacts on the road, then s/he will be better able to address
the specific negative attitudes that need to be corrected. Before
any self-modification may be done, however, the driver must also be taught
the differences between anti-social and pro-social behavior and must be
shown what conduct in their driving practices are anti-social in nature.
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Self-defense Mechanisms
Self-defense mechanisms are described by psychologists as being the
unconscious functions of a person used to protect themself from anxiety-evoking
material by preventing accurate recognition of this material. One
form of self-defense is projection. Other forms include: rationalization,
displacement, denial, repression, regression, reaction formation, and sublimination,
all of which to varying degrees, may be found among the driver population.
Projection
Projection is a self-defense mechanism in which undesireable
ideas, feelings, and impulses are attributed to the actions of others.
Projection or displacement is one of the most common forms of self-defense
that is found in road ragers. It includes actions such as retaliating
when the driver of the car behind honks their horn to tell you that the
light has turned green at an intersection you have stopped at, following
closely the car in front when they are going the speed limit while everyone
else is travelling faster, and cussing at the commuters in other cars for
boxing your car in when you are trying to weave through traffic.
Rationalization
Another self-defense mechanism that can be found among road ragers
is rationalization. In this mechanism, drivers try to justify their
unacceptable behavior by using self-deceit. One example of this is
when a single person drives in the carpool lane with the excuse that everyone
is driving slow in the other lanes and no one would get "hurt" by the act.
Delusions of Grandeur
Delusions of Grandeur are the erroneous beliefs that one is omnipotent
and omniscent or to some extent "Godly". At very least, people who
suffer with Delusions of Grandeur believe that they are righteous, innocent,
and blameless. Drivers who have delusions of this type often exhibit
one or both of the self-defense mechanisms mentioned above or any of those
acknowledged by the field of psychology. These are the people you
can normally find yelling, cussing, and calling all the other drivers names,
as if everyone is wrong and they are right.
Pro-social Behaviors
Pro-social behaviors are behaviors that are characterized by helping
others and making a contribution to society. In terms of vehicular
activity, this would include any and all actions that are executed for
the benefit of others (ie. making room in a lane for another car to enter)
and sometimes disregarding one's own interests in order to extend help
to others.
Altruism is defined as the unselfish concern for the welfare of others,
or selflessness. Altruistic deeds in ground transportation include:
stopping for pedestrians to cross in a high-traffic area with no streetlights,
calling for help when sighting a stalled vehicle, or stopping to provide
aid when witnessing an accident.
Civic Duty
Civic duty is the obligation that a person feels to protecting and
providing for the needs and interests of others in his/her community.
This encompasses a large amount of each driver's ideology on and off the
roads. It originates and is a part of each individual's up-bringing,
moral values, religious views, and social practices.
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Self-observation
I began this experiment during one of the busiest times of the
year for me - Thanksgiving. I had a lot of errands to run, classes
to study for, shopping to get done, and other various obligations.
I noticed that when my son (or anyone else) was in the car with me, that
I tended to drive at the speed limit or at a speed that did not disrupt
he flow of traffic. When I was alone, however, I would speed, sometimes
exceeding the speed limit by as much as 15 m.p.h.! I noticed that
most of the time (when I caught myself speeding), that I was not paying
attention to my driving. Instead, I was thinking about what I had
to do next and where I had to go, or I was daydreaming about my day.
I also found that if a certain type of music was ont he radio then I would
be more inclined to speed (namely, faster or louder music, like rock).
Attempt to Intervene
I decided that the best way to modify my behavior would be to
make a conscious effort to focus solely on the task at hand - the driving.
I had learned previously in my Psychology 361 class to be "present" in
the here-and-now and to absorb all that is going on in my immediate environment.
I rarely use this technique, but I felt that it was appropriate for this
particular situation - so I used it. Every time I stepped behind
the wheel I began by closing my eyes and taking a deep breath and concentrating
on every move I made, from fixing my mirrors to turning the key in the
ignition. Every movement was made deliberately. As I drove
I periodically checked my spedometer and my rear-view and side-view mirrors
and concentrated on the entire area in front and around my car. I
did not put the radio on and all other distractions were minimized (ie.
object hanging from rear-view mirror was removed). If I caught myself
daydreaming or focusing on something other than driving, I brought my attention
back to my driving.
Results
For the most part, this experiment did decrease the amount of
speeding (incidences as well as m.p.h.) that I did. The first day
I spent most of the time that I drove getting comfortable with the new
procedure. The next two days were a bit smoother and somewhat more
successful.
Conclusion - The Value
of This Activity for Me
This was a very helpful exercise. The only time that I
found it hard to follow through on my attempts to modify my behavior was
when I was TIRED.
The only other problem that I encountered when driving in this manner was
that I tended to react slower
than usual. I guess that I never realized how natural driving has
become for me. Now when I have to think and drive deliberately, it's
actually less
efficient than if I just did what my instincts tell me to do!
Recommendations for Future
Students of Traffic Psychology
I have 3 recommendations for anyone who would like to try this
activity:
1) Be honest with yourself about your driving
"flaws".
2) Don't use self-modification techniques that
go against the grain of your personality - the desireable end result is
to alter your personality, but the way in which to do this should be compatible
with your style.
3) Have someone else observe you and tell you
what they think. Outsiders can sometimes provide good insight about
you.
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