Report # 2
My Driving Personality
Makeover Project
By
Britton Komine
Instructions for this report found
at
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy20/g20lecturenotes409a.htm
1. Preface
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says, about 66 percent of all traffic fatalities annually are caused by aggressive driving behaviors, such as passing on the right, running red lights and tailgating. The number of drivers on the road is also increasing. As of 1990, 91 percent of people drove to work. Psychology 409a, is taught by Dr. James Leon, co-founder of the term “Driving Psychology.” In February of 2004, I completed a paper that gives the definitions for many of the concepts used in Driving Psychology. A link to this paper, titled Driving Psychology: Theory and Definitions can be found at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/bkomine/report1.htm.
Another task that I completed
while doing this paper was a self analyzation of myself as a driver. This assignment has helped me to see that I
can be a dangerous driver sometimes. My
driving personality is very aggressive because I enjoying moving past the other
drivers, but at the same time I also don’t wear my safety belt. In my view half of the battle is already won
because I have recognized my faults and I have the opportunity to change my
ways before they get worse. I think
that the driving psychology approach to road rage can be useful towards helping
people realize their bad driving habits and the ways that they can effectively
change their habits. Hopefully this
approach can make a safer driving environment for everyone.
II. Introduction: Objective Self-Assessment
In the book Road Rage and
Aggressive, by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl, there are many checklists
that evaluate your driving personality.
The first checklist that I completed is titled “Winning and Losing in
the Driving Game.” Some questions that
were posed are, how many cars you passed, how many times you were the leader of
the pack, and how many cars you passed in a long line before cutting in. The authors state that even for the smallest
events we keep track of supposed insults or when someone’s action forces us to
do something. We gain or lose points in
this driving game by counting cars we passed, or how fast we get to our
destination, for example.
Another
checklist that I enjoyed taking is titles “Aggressive Thoughts and
Feelings.” This checklist focuses on
different areas of driving from fantasies of retaliation and revenge to
impulsive and reckless driving. Some of
the topics that are touched on in this checklist are feelings that I encounter
everyday. Topics such as feelings of
retaliation and revenge when someone is tailgating, someone cuts in front of
you, and pedestrians and cyclists in general.
On the other hand there are also supportive driving checklists in the
book that ask a driver questions about making room for another car and kind
thoughts about pedestrians.
These checklists helped me to
realize that I have behavior that is not very supportive of other drivers
around me. Sometimes I feel very
vindictive or revengeful towards other drivers because I feel they don’t
respect me as a driver. These types of
checklists allow a driver to analyze their behavior and bring them to the
realization that his or her habits are either positive or negative from a
supportive driving standpoint. What I
plan to do now is to effective change my habits by changing the thinking that
underlies them.
III. My Driver Self Modification Attempt
A. Design of my experiment
“Aggressive driving is not
solely how someone operates a vehicle, it is also a mental state, a readiness
to interpret the acts of others in a hostile way and a desire to respond in
kind. (Road Rage and Aggressive Driving, 133)”
When a human being is driving
down the road and another driver cuts in front of them, whether on accident or
on purpose, the driver doesn’t have an immediate response. Instead, emotions are activated and the
driver begins to think badly, in most cases about their fellow driver. The result of these emotions is what is
called road rage and aggressive driving.
Emotions and cognitive thinking are the root of road rage and aggressive
driving. In order to remedy these types
of behaviors, the base of the problem need to be addressed. Research done with hundreds of drivers lead
Dr. James and Dr. Nahl to develop a three-step program to help drivers develop
better emotional fitness on the road.
The first step is to acknowledge
that every driver, including yourself is in need of “traffic emotions education”(James and Nahl, 133). The tools that I used to acknowledge my
driving behaviors were the different checklists that I took throughout the
book. The checklists made me realize
that my driving behavior was very emotional and negative. The second step is to act as an actual witness
to your actual behavior while driving, while actually observing your thoughts,
feelings, and actions to identify the type and degree of aggressive and road
rage that you practice. I did this task
in a series of ten 30 minute drives
from Mililani Mauka to the University of Hawaii on various dates throughout the
semester. The third step is to try to modify
or change your negative behaviors, one at a time, and continue this throughout
your driving career.
As measurement for my
experiment I decided to measure, negative impulses or thoughts in my mind as
well as negative actions, whether they were verbal or not.
B. Data Tables
During the
witnessing sessions, I was focusing on driving normally, and exhibiting my
normal driving behaviors, so that the data would be accurate. During the modifying sessions, I gave a full
effort to change my behaviors, starting with the thoughts and emotions that I
would feel.
During the
witnessing sessions, I had a total of 36 Negative impulses, 18 instances of
Verbal actions, and 26 instances of Non-Verbal actions. During the modifying sessions, I gave a full
conscious effort to change my behaviors.
For example, I tried to increase the distance between myself and the
vehicle in front of me, signal sooner before changing a lane, think positively
about other drivers, and avoid angry emotions when other drivers perform
actions that I don’t agree with. I have
to admit that it wasn’t an easy task, but my numbers went down
significantly.
During the
modifying sessions, I had a total of 20 negative impulses, 11 verbal actions,
and 14 non-verbal actions.
C. Analysis and Discussion
During
my research I noticed one simple concept.
When I actively thought about my driving behavior, it was really easy to
change around what I wanted to change.
When I didn’t consciously think about the process of changing my
behaviors or eliminating them, I would just continue on with my selfish driving
behaviors. I call this my
emotional intelligence. A driver
emotional intelligence is the ability for an individual to know what makes them
emotionally unstable and the process of “cooling down” those feelings when they
arise. Having a good emotional
intelligence is having a good understanding of how your own anger escalates,
how your venting keeps it going, and how to “cool down” these feelings by being
positive. When you force yourself to be
positive, your negative feeling slowly disappear. Dr. James and Dr. Nahl describe six components of emotional
intelligence that can be learned. When
I chose to think in this mindset, I experienced a total change in my driving
behaviors.
· How to reappraise a situation and look for
alternative explanations
· How to self-regulate negative mood shifts
· How to empathize with “the other side”
· How to persist in a plan despite distracting
frustrations
· How to control or neutralize one aggressive
impulses
· How to think with positive outcomes
D. Conclusion and Future plans
My research shows that when a driver consciously thinks about his thoughts and actions, and gives an effort to change, then positive results
will prevail. As a result of this research, I have come to the conclusion that for me to become not only a better driver, but also a safer driver, I need to consciously think about my actions and improve my emotional intelligence about what is going on within me. I feel that I have learned new values about driving and I must practice these to become a role model for other drivers, including my loved ones.
IV. Conclusion
Throughout the duration of this assignment, I noticed many problems in my everyday thinking. I realized how much of a competitive person I am and how well I have been able to hide this characteristic from myself. While is was self-witnessing my own behaviors I began to see how this attitude was detrimental to myself as a driver. All I had to do to change was to consciously think about changing my behaviors and my thinking to a more positive role. My driving personality has made a vast improvement, even though it is still in the early stages of change. In the beginning of the semester, I didn’t really respect the whole concept of being a supportive driver. Now I realize the effect that my driving has on the people around me, especially the young siblings that I drive with. I don’t want them to learn the same negative habit that I carry with me. Hopefully I can maintain this positive attitude as a supportive driver for a long period of time.
V.
Future Generations
Good luck to anyone reading this
material. Getting educated in this
field is a positive step in making a change in your driving personality. Remember
that driving a vehicle is an extension of
yourself as a person. What kind of
impression are you leaving on other people?
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