Mining the Generation Curriculum
By: Aris A. Banaag, Psy 409a, G 12
My Report1: Tailgating Behavior: Fair or Unfair?
My Report2: Acquiring Cyberspace Citizenship
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to my generations report. I have gone through many past generations reports, but the four that I have chosen below stood out the most. I hope that you look over everything and hopefully it will offer you some help some day. If you wish to find out how I did this report, the instructions are found in the Instructions for This Report .
SELECTION I: Tailgating Behavior: Fair or Unfair by Holly Ishikawa - G8 Psychology 409b
Why I Chose This Report 
I chose Holly Ishikawa's report due to the attractive appearance of the document. The colorful page quickly caught my eye. Unlike most colorful pages, this page was easy for my eyes to read. At first when I saw the title 'Tailgating Behavior', I thought of the tailgate parties before football games. Then I realized it was the other type of tailgating. I hate when drivers tailgate and that's why her report sounded very interesting.
Steps That Led Me Here 
After many hours of browsing various generation and report web pages, I started to get very interested on reports that related to traffic psychology. I then narrowed my browsing to pages that came from Dr. James's traffic psychology class. The tailgating titles captured my attention, so I browsed a couple of other reports on tailgating behavior and found Holly's the most interesting and informative.
Summary of This Report
Her
introduction begins with a brief definition of tailgating.
According to Dr. James, 'tailgating' is following too close to
another care with the intention to coerce or punish the other
driver when you they have done something wrong to you. She
explains the three domains to driving behavior:
1. The affective domain- a person's feelings and motives
2. The cognitive domain- a person's thought and judgments
3. The sensorimotor domain- a person's actions
The
second part of her report is dedicated to thoughts from prior
generations. Jae Isa from generation one defines tailgating
as driving extremely close to the car in front of you and stongly
believes that tailgating another driver increases the chance of
an accident. Laura Izutsu, also from generation one feels
that everyone tailgates but some people are not aware of
it. Laura admits that she tailgates and believes that the
only way to stop people from tailgating is to enforce as stricter
law against it. Ryan Mistsui from generation four admits
that he was a driver who tailgated to punish the other driver for
doing him wrong. Ryan shares an example of his
tailgating experience where he got angry and lost his
control. Kathy Teruya from generation six also shares some
of her tailgating experiences. Although Kathy admits to
have tailgated on a couple of occasions, she does not believe
that tailgating can be justified in any way.
Reaction to This Report
I enjoyed reading Holly's report on tailgating. I also found other people's opinions on the subject very interesting. Some drivers took responsibility for their tailgating actions while others' didn't think of it as wrong. I agree with Holly that tailgating is morally, ethically, and spiritually wrong and cannot be justified under any circumstances. Web pages like Holly's will definitely help to educate drivers as to the dangers of tailgating.
Comparison to Other Reports
Many of
the generation eight web pages were very creative and
attractive. Some of them however, were too bright and busy
looking. Holly's report was very colorful, but at the same
time easy to follow. Her format and structure was very
simple and well organized. I noticed that only a few
reports included as much opinions as Holly's report on
tailgating.
SELECTION II: Initial Self
Assessment as a Driver by Bryan M. Yucoco
Why I Chose This Report
I chose Bryan's report because I wanted to see what the earlier generations has wrote about. I was curious to see if there was difference, if any, between the earlier generation and now. I was also interested in his topic about self assessing while driving. I wanted to see if I was a good or bad as a driver I thought.
Steps that lead me here
It was by chance that I clicked on Bryan's name. However, his introduction really got my attention because he was having the same difficulties using a computer as I was. I also found it very hard and frustrating to get into the computer labs and having to wait or using my connections to get access to a computer. I even had a computer blew up on me. :Þ
Summary of This Report
The
topic of Bryan's report is self assessment as a
driver. He talked about various changes a
person goes through when they get behind the wheel.
Some of the things he discussed in his report includes swearing,
speeding, rushing, tailgating, and mood swings.
According to Bryan, he turns in to a Mr. Hyde as soon as he gets
into a car to drive. He rationalizes he actions by
saying that he feels pressured somehow, whenever he gets behind
the wheel, to go fast. He finds himself a victim of his
"driving personality". According
Bryan, he gets a rush whenever he gets into his car. The
feeling of anticipation for speed gives him that rush and the
more time he gets into his car to drive, the faster he has to
drive in order to reach that same rush he got last time.
Therefore fore he is driving faster and faster every time he gets
into a car. By observing himself, Bryan found a lot of
fault with his attitude while driving. However, he was not
surprised to find it so.
Reaction to This Report
The
impression I got from reading Bryan's report was that it was very
well thought out. He took his time to observe his own
behavior while he was driving and commented on it. It
didn't seem like he just rushed through his report just to get it
over it. I liked the fact that just because it was
himself he was observing, he didn't try to make himself look good
by saying things like he rarely engaged in those kinds of
activities.
Comparison to Other Reports
Compared to other reports I liked Bryan's report very much. I thought it was very good. His report was a very interesting read. He didn't just list his findings and observations. He integrated it into his story so that it actually made sense and I knew what he was talking about.
SELECTION III: Music and Driving by Terence Nakamatsu (G10/Psy459)
Why I chose this
report
I decided to add Terence’s report as one of my selections because the title of his report really caught my attention, "Music and Driving: Music…To Ease Your Mind." For me music and driving go hand in hand. I love listening to music when I drive. Like Terence, it seems to relax and soothe me, especially because I am usually always in a rush when I’m driving (I know this is a bad habit, I’m working on it). I also thought it was very creative of Terence to make different types of music available for viewers to listen to, simply by clicking on a link and downloading the song.
Steps that led me here
The steps that lead me here were simply the fact that I was listening to my radio one day and I didn't notice an ambulance behind me. I felt bad for not getting out of the way when I should have. So when I saw this report I decided to pick this one.
Summary of this report
Terence begins his report with several responses to music and driving from past generations. After quoting prior students, Terence expresses his agreement or disagreement with those people. Then he discusses the various factors that one needs to consider when posing the question, "Does music affect driving behavior." First there are the types of music (this is where Terence gives the viewer the option of sampling a variety of music, like rock, classical, reggae, etc.) because different types of music affect people in different ways. The next thing one must consider is the music volume. Terence even admits that his blasting stereo system impairs his hearing and thinking ability at times. Finally Terence believes that the tempo of the music has the most impact on the way people drive. He thinks that fast, upbeat music can contribute to speeding and recklessness, while slow tempo songs can inhibit the rage, especially when one is in a rush. He concludes this report by encouraging viewers to try the various techniques that he provided throughout his report.
Reaction to this report
I really enjoyed reading Terence’s report. I think he made a lot of valid arguments, and I especially liked the way he supported his arguments with examples and quotes from prior students. I could relate to Terence when he said that he often sings his heart out in the car, and that he thinks people must think he is out of his mind. Don’t worry Terence, you are not the only one who does or thinks that way, I am guilty of it myself. My favorite part from his report was in the conclusion when he says, "Music is like a drug, it can influence the way you drive, however, you are in control of the music, your car, and your mind. Don’t let music control you!"
Comparison to other reports
I liked the way Terence placed borders around the responses for prior generations. It was easy to see the distinction between what the past students said and Terence’s opinions to their remarks. I also thought his page was more creative than many of the others, for example, he included audio links to various types of music. His report also contained a lot more information than the other students who shared the same topic. Even with all this extra information, Terence has a strong argument that does not get lost throughout his report, in fact it gets stronger.
SELECTION IV: Being a Driving Buddy: What It's Like by Rudy Dolfo (G7/Psy459)
Why I chose this report
I was attracted to Rudy’s report because of the title. I am often the passenger of slightly reckless drivers, and thus I wanted to find out if there was anything thing I could do to improve their driving and mine as well. Rudy’s report provided me with some insight on being a driving buddy, and although it is tough to constructively criticize your friend, it is worth it if you can help save some lives.
Steps that led me here
I wanted to find another report dealing with traffic psychology because of the interesting subject matter. I was not very successful with the first few generation reports because they were a little more unorganized. I had already selected reports from generation 4, 6, and 10, so I randomly pick generation 7. Then I looked through several reports that sounded appealing until I came to Rudy Dolfo’s report. It was well organized, clear and precise.
Summary of this report
Rudy took part in a two day experiment in which he was to observe and critique the driving abilities of a friend. He was instructed to ask his friend to think aloud, or to say whatever was one their mind. On the second day, he was to tell his friend what he/she needed to work on. The subject was evaluated on the following: speeding, tailgating, switching lanes, and parking. The results of the study were very successful, but it wasn’t an enjoyable experience for either party. On the first day the subject abused the rules in all of the categories that Rudy evaluated. Rudy had the difficult task of commenting and criticizing his friend's driving techniques. Needless to say the friend was a bit insulted. Then the experiment needed to be repeated again for day two, which meant more anxiety. Fortunately things went much better. The driver was more conscious of his/her road rage and impatience, and as a result became a safer driver. Rudy attributed his friend’s resistance on day 1 by her defensiveness, hostility, and lack of cooperation. In the end, however, there were no hard feelings, and there was successful completion of the driving personality make over.
Reaction to this report
I really felt for Rudy because he had a very difficult task of criticizing his friend’s driving ability. I can empathize with him because I have been in his position. There are times when I tell my friend to slow down or to stop tailgating so much because I am honestly scared for our lives. It is very uncomfortable to do, but sometimes has to be done. I believe that these constructive criticisms will help them out in the long run. I have also been on the receiving end. Sure it is a bit annoying, but I know that my friend is only trying to help, and after all their life is in my hands.
Comparison to other reports
Again here was another report where simplicity won my affection. His layout was well organized, had a light background with large black font, and was not distracting like some of the other reports. I felt that his report was quite a bit more thorough than several of his classmates, the focus of Rudy’s report was apparent throughout, and it left me with some great advice.
Suggestions for future generations
I suggest that the future generations start early and do a lot of searching before you get down to it. There are many great looking generations files to look at. There are also lots of pictures and images to down load from the internet so you will need some time and patience to find what you like. It is not as hard as it seems. Once you get an idea of what it is you want to do, setting it up is a piece of cake. So good luck!!!!
My Report1: Tailgating Behavior: Fair or Unfair?
My Report2: Acquiring Cyberspace Citizenship
