Self-Witnessing Report on the Age of Rage
Personal Experiences of Rage

Charisse Ono
Psychology 409a
Spring 2001

Self Witnessing Rage
Pedestrian Rage

Introduction:

One afternoon I was driving home.   I was in a rush and was stopped at a red light.  When the light turned green I began to drive down the street.  A few seconds after the red light I noticed that passengers from a parked car began to walk out of their car.  In the following seconds I noticed that three women and a toddler, approximately two years old, exited the car.   In the next second or two I saw one of the women yell to the other to look after the toddler.  In response the woman yelled at the toddler, something to the effect of "come here".  In response the toddler began to run toward the road.   At this point I began to slow my car down to a complete stop. One of the women they ran toward the toddler and caught his hand.  By that time the toddler   was standing on the curb.

Three Step Method

Step1: Acknowledge

As I saw three of the women passive call for the toddler to come to them I began to feel the rage. With three of them I could not believe that all did not feel the need to walk the toddler out the car.  

Step 2: Witness

Sensorimotor

As the toddler began to run toward the road my body became more aware. I was sitting up straight in my chair and gripping the wheel tightly.   My care was now in a complete stop and my eyes were on the toddler.

Cognitive:

As this episode of rage occurred all my thoughts were blaming the women for not watching the toddler.  I felt that I was being a careful driver and expected others around me to do so also.  When they did not I became raged.  With this feeling of rage my thoughts were full of complaints about the irresponsible  pedestrians. 

Affective:

During this episode of rage I was worried and scared.  My feelings were similar if I was in the same position as the toddler.   That is if the toddler knew the amount of danger he was in.

Step 3:

Sensorimotor:

As I sat with the rage inside of me I first attempted to adjust my posture in hopes that it would help ease my rage.  Then I loosened my grip on the wheel.

Cognitive:

I tired to modify my behavior by thinking about being relaxed.  I also focused on the the most important fact, that no one was hurt

Affective:

In the end it was the love for children that helped me to modify my behavior.  This love helped me to realize what is really important in life.

Summary:

Conclusion:

In researching anger for this paper I found an article called, Controlling Anger Before it Controls You.  One aspect that I enjoyed about this web page is that it offered suggestions to help rid a person's mind and body from the stress that they are experience.  The main section that I found useful was the relaxation techniques that a people can use.  For my own personal life I feel that I can incorporate these techniques to keep more rage episodes away.  

The following is excerpt from the web site:

In conclusion I was able to see that although this was a stressful event for me that prompted a moment of rage, there are more important things to focus on instead of rage.

Self-Witnessing Observations:

Shopping Rage
Phone Rage

Discussion of Self-Witnessing Experiences