My
Driving Personality Makeover Project
By
Chris Concepcion
Link to instructions:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy20/g20lecturenotes409a.htm
1. Preface
In my report 1, I did a lot of reviewing of previous generational reports. This report helped me get more in depth with
what driving psychology encompasses. I
defined key terms of driving psychology and commented on what driving
psychology is to me. It was also
somewhat of a review of my own current driving style and philosophy. How do media, driver’s education, family and
friends influence my driving style?
Report 1 was a starting point for me to understand what driving
psychology is and how its multiple aspects can explain my own driving
style. Being emotionally intelligent is
what is needed to become a supportive driver.
Through the three step driver's self-improvement program, a person is
able to acknowledge, witness, and modify bad driving habits. Only you can make yourself become a
supportive driver. It's hard to break
bad habits but this is the reason why driver's education is a lifelong
process.
Many times our driving anger stems
from subjective thinking and this differs from a supportive driver. A supportive driver thinks objectively. Say someone cuts you off, speeds, and weaves
in and out of traffic. A non-supportive
driver would get angered possibly to the point of rage. Subjective thinking causes you to believe the
erratic driver is just a jackass trying to beat everybody on the road. Switch the subjectivity to objectivity and
you'll come up with reasons like, "that erratic driver is heading to the
hospital because a loved one is in critical condition." The fact of the matter is that you really
don't know the reason why the driver is driving somewhat recklessly. Instead of thinking with a self-serving bias
towards that driver, it is safer and less stressful to reason the situation
with a supportive and objective perspective.
If everyone knew about driving psychology then the roads would definitely
be a lot safer.
The purpose of my Report 2 is to
test myself with various questionnaires from the book Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving. The book is a
good place to start my identification of the aggressive driving acts I commit,
but after these questionnaires I will drive around for one week straight to see
what my bad habits are. The reason for
report 2 is to help me identify what bad habits I need to correct. A makeover project to change from an
aggressive driver to a supportive one is the goal of report 2. Once the problems have been identified, I
will implement ways to correct them via modifying previous generational reports
to suite my problems.
2. Introduction
I took a few of
the questionnaires and tests that were in the book Road Rage and Aggressive
Driving by Dr. Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl. I have to find out what areas of driving I
need to improve to develop my own personal driving makeover plan. These are the tests I took.
Your Road Rage
Tendency (p. 40-41)
The first questionnaire
I took involved examining my road rage tendency. A few of the questions asked where:
(1) When a driver
in a parking lot tries to steal the space I've been waiting for, I get
furious? Yes No
(2) Pushy drivers
really annoy me so I bad-mouth them to feel better. Yes No
(3) If I stopped
driving aggressively, others would take advantage of my passivity.
Yes No
These questions above are questions I answered yes
too. According to the scoring system of
this questionnaire every question I answered with a yes, I must give myself 1
road rage point. Out of 20 questions I
got 7 road rage points.
Your
Involves a twenty step continuum
which increases in degrees of hostility the higher up on the scale you go. Step 1 is moderate aggression and increases
to step 20 which is extreme violence.
The object of this test is to see how far a person let’s themselves be
controlled by anger and frustration. The
question is at what number do you stop on this scale?
(1) Mentally condemning another
driver
(2) Verbally denigrating another
driver to passengers in your vehicle
(3) Closing ranks to deny someone
entry into your lane because you're frustrated or upset
(4) Giving another driver the
"stink eye" to show your disapproval.
(5) Speeding past another car or
revving the engine as a sign of protest
(6) Preventing another driver from
passing because you're mad
This
is the number in which I went up too. I
got six out of twenty. According to the
scoring system 6/20 is in the hostile zone of aggressive driving. Visibly communicating displeasure or
resentment with the desire to punish or retaliate, describes the hostile zone.
Your
Ten items are listed to establish
your level of passive resistance and you check the ones that describe you. Here are a few of the questions that pertain
to passive aggressive road rage.
I ignore yield signs.
I don't bother giving proper signals.
I repeatedly tap the brakes or slow
down to retaliate against a tailgater.
I make gestures and facial expressions
to myself to show my disapproval of pushy drivers.
I am slow to get going when traffic
lights turn green.
These
are a few of the items listed that pertain to passive aggressive road
rage. There isn't really a scoring
system for this questionnaire, it's just used to help one identify what
problems they may have to improve.
Your
A number of different verbal
statements are given in which you might catch yourself saying as you encounter
bad drivers. Here are a few samples of
which are listed in the questionnaire.
Hey fool, get out of the way!
Nope, I won't let you sneak into my
lane.
Hey, what's the big rush? Don't be so
pushy!
What's wrong with this driver, I can't
believe how slow he's going!
Figures, it's a woman. Women
can't drive for S%#T! (Also works for different social classes, orientation,
ethnic identity, and age groups)
Who do you think you are, creep?
Like
the previous questionnaire this one is also used to you identify driving
problems that need to be worked on.
Are
You A Rushing Maniac? (P.102-103)
Do you find it necessary to make it
to your destination the fastest way possible, even if it means endangering
other drivers? Or maybe you always find yourself
being late for work, school, or appointments.
In either situation the objective is to rush in order to make it to your
destination as fast as possible. I'm
going to list some of the books statements that may apply to you if you're a
rushing maniac.
One of my worst nightmares is sitting
in traffic, wasting my time.
I've learned to constantly look over my
shoulder for cops.
I like to leave as late as possible and
time things close to the minute.
I feel really good when I get somewhere
fast, beating my own record.
My schedule makes me rush in traffic-I
have to rush to make all my stops.
If
any of these statements apply to you, you may be a rushing maniac. This test is used to help you recognize
things that would make you a rushing maniac.
Once you have recognized the problems then you can concentrate on
improving them, so you don't rush when driving.
Are
You An Aggressive Competitor? (P.104-105)
Many drivers like to be competitive
when driving. Some drivers feel that aggressive
driving is the only way to survive on the roads these days. They may feel that people will take advantage
of them if they use passive driving techniques.
I'm going to list some statements that may apply to you if you are an
aggressively competitive driver.
I'm driving in the left lane
in heavy traffic and trying to switch to the right lane to make a right turn at
the next intersection. The driver in the car next to me sees my signal and
closes the gap, preventing me from entering the lane. I miss my turn as a result. This proves that he purposely kept me
out.
As the streets are getting
more crowded, drivers make each other angry. It's a competitive situation and I
can't afford to worry too much about how my driving makes others angry because we all make each other
angry.
I've discovered that I can force my way
into any lane by being pushy.
I love it when I pass a long
line of waiting cars, then when I cut in at the front of the line. Victory!
Only losers wait in line.
This
questionnaire is used to find out if you’re an aggressive driver. If these are thoughts you have then you are
probably an aggressive driver.
Do
You Support Passenger Rights In Your Car? (P.184)
This test wants to find out how
supportive you are of your passenger’s rights.
Do you feel that passenger’s shouldn’t be allowed any verbal input when
riding with you? Some people feel that
if you ride in their car, you really have no rights to be judgmental of their
driving style. Here are a few examples
of supporting passenger’s rights.
I insist on choosing the
radio station or tape and controlling the volume while I’m at the wheel.
I’ve ridiculed passengers
for telling me to turn somewhere, even when they were right.
I’ve denied doing something
a passenger saw me do.
I’ve insisted on choosing
the route and speed when the passenger wants it another way.
Basically
ignoring passenger feelings is what’s happening here. I’m sure many of us have been guilty of
ignoring passenger feelings at one time or another. Once again there’s no scoring system for this
questionnaire. This questionnaire is
used to help a driver notice their unsupportive characteristics of a
passenger’s right.
Positive
Driving Behavior (P.212-213)
What is your driving behavior
like? This questionnaire should help you
find out if you fall into the category of being a positive driver. Being a positive driver means you’re also a
supportive driver. Here are some
statements that may help reaffirm you of your positive driving characteristics.
Putting on the turn signal
in consideration of others; thinking of how to reduce stress for others
Recognizing higher
motivations in driving, like fairness, civility, morality, altruism, religion,
or spirituality
Learning to avoid mental
violence as retaliation; not letting frustration lead to aggressiveness and
hostility
Creating positive mental
scenarios and avoiding pessimism; saying, “Traffic is not too bad. I’ll relax,”
versus “Traffic is awful. I’ll never get home.”
If
you checked off on any of these you can consider yourself a positive driver in
some aspects of driving. It’s important
to remember that no matter how positive you are as a driver, there are always
ways to improve. The more positive, the
more supportive you are as a driver.
Much of the samples I’ve listed for passive
aggressive and verbal road rage tendencies, rushing maniac, aggressive
competitor, and supporting passenger rights are things I’m guilty of
committing. Though I’m not proud of
admitting I have unsupportive driving habits, acknowledging is the first step
of the three step driver self-improvement program. From here I can devise a program to help me
combat these bad habits. I’m glad to say
that I do practice the samples I’ve listed for positive driving behaviors,
almost every time I drive. Reviewing the
samples that I’ve listed from the eight questionnaires; I see a stylized
pattern of unsupportive driving techniques.
I realize that I am somewhat of an impatient driver. I mildly express my dislike towards pushy drivers,
(tailgaters) but at times I do find myself driving like the very drivers I
despise. I try to be supportive of my
passenger’s rights but at times I feel that they are in my car and they
shouldn’t complain if they are driving with me.
When it comes to my aggressive driving
actions, it is mostly unintentional. It
is usually because I’m in a hurry or because I’m in a bad mood. Mood plays a huge role in the way you act
towards other drivers around you. If I’m
irritated or upset with someone like my mom or girlfriend when I go driving it
greatly affects how I interact in the road.
I become more aggressive and less supportive. I can definitely say that driving is
situational for me, depending on where I’m going, where I came from, what I’m
going to do, what I was just doing, and so on.
As a driver and a person I am really laid-back in almost all
situations. I am for the most part, not
an aggressor and I don’t like to provoke people, so it takes a lot for me to
respond with aggression. For instance, I
almost never use my horn on cars that take awhile to get going and I almost
never eye other drivers down. Don’t
think I’m saying to you, that I’m an ideal driver because I’m not, but I for
the most part try to drive with an optimistic outlook.
3. My Driver Self-modification Attempt
(a)
Design of my experiment
As I looked back at prior
generations, I found some interesting perspectives and ways to improve my
driving style. Alan
Furukawa made a good point by explaining that the correct plan of action
would be a slow and steady self-improvement plan rather than expecting a
miracle in one week. I will keep this in
mind as I create a modification plan that suites me. Sheldon
Tawata brings an interesting approach to
modifying his bad behaviors, he uses music.
I think this is great if it works, it sounds like it was pretty
successful for Sheldon. I may
incorporate this into my modification plan because music can help a driver with
their emotions. Bryan Yucoco has a good technique of keeping his mind
occupied with stuff he enjoys to do. He
thinks of Tai Chi because it keeps his mind peaceful and free of negativity. Other thinks could be art, the beach, music,
movies, and anything else that could keep a driver happy and distract them from
committing aggressive acts. These are
all good ideas I may use to modify my driving behavior.
Driving has a lot to do with psychology especially
when referring to our affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor selves. I notice that I also have problems with my
level of hostility and verbal road rage tendencies. I truly think the hardest part of driving is
controlling one’s hostility and negative verbal remarks. One’s affective characteristics come from the
way we were raised and/or genetics. Our
affective domain controls the level of hostile emotion we put forth. Since negative affective characteristics stem
from an early age in our lives, we find it most difficult to refine and correct
them. The cognitive self is
characteristic of the way we think and reason when driving. Cognitive characteristics would be
representative of a rushing maniac because this person may thinks that time
spent on the road is wasted time. The
way one thinks and reasons could be characteristic of their on personality and
influenced by friends, family, media, and other drivers.
Finally, the sensorimotor self is
the physical actions we take when driving.
When a person reacts with their Sensorimotor
self, it ultimately comes from the affective and cognitive selves. If someone cuts you off, your emotions
probably react first by getting upset or scared. After that you have sometime to cognitively
evaluate the situation, then you react with your sensorimotor self. With every situation you encounter on the
road, all aspects of your driver’s threefold self will be involved. From the test and questionnaires I’ve took, I
know that I have a few aggressive driving behaviors that I have to
correct. I want to become a supportive
driver and I will become one by implementing the AWM driver self-modification
plan. Acknowledge, witness, and modify
is what AWM stands for. The first step
is acknowledging that you have a problem, weather it be tailgating, swearing at
drivers, cutting drivers off, or any other aggressive driving act.
Once you have acknowledged the
problem then it’s time to witnesses yourself in the act of committing
aggressive driving. Say that you are
trying to correct your swearing towards other drivers. At first this may not be easy to witness because
expressing verbal expletives towards bad drivers is second-nature for a lot of
people. When driving you have to really
pay attention to your behavior in order to witness it. Once you have witnessed yourself in the act,
then it is time to modify your bad behavior.
There are numerous was to correct one’s driving behaviors with driver’s
education. I will use this AWM driver
self-modification plan to alter my aggressive driving personality to a
supportive one.
The results of the tests and
questionnaires helped me to acknowledge the driving problems I have. Just to make sure that the problems I checked
off on the tests were true, I went driving around everyday for one week. These driving trips were at least a half-hour
long and were intended only to observe myself as a driver. I figured it was better to plan specific
driving trips instead of only trying to observe myself when I had a destination
to reach, like work or school. I did
this because a lot of the times when I’m on my way to work or school my mind is
distracted with expectancies of what I will have to do when I reach my
destination. In other words, I miss a
lot of my bad driving behaviors when I have to reach a destination. After answering the questionnaires and
driving around for a week I found out what behaviors I need to modify. I had reoccurring problems with tailgating,
swearing, failing to yield, and slowing down to irritate tailgaters. This is a data table of the problems I
had.
(b)
Data Tables
The numbers represent the amount of times I
committed each of the aggressive driving behaviors. I used some witnessing techniques from Road Rage and Aggressive Driving to catch my negative driving habits. I used one cup and four different colored
beads to represent each of my bad habits.
After each drive I wrote in my driver’s diary to refresh my memory of
every aggressive situation I caught myself doing.
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Observation
of My Driving Behavior (Week 1 - Baseline) |
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Slowing
Down- |
|
|
Tailgating |
Failure
to Yield |
Verbal
Expletives |
Upsetting
Tailgaters |
|
Monday |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
Tuesday |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
Wednesday 4 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
|
|
Thursday |
3 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
|
Friday |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
|
Saturday |
3 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
|
Sunday |
4 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
|
Observation of My Driving Behavior
Cont'd (Week 1 - Baseline) |
|||
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|
|
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|
Closing the Gap |
Lane Hopping |
Not Using Turn Signals |
|
Monday |
4 |
4 |
3 |
|
Tuesday |
6 |
4 |
4 |
|
Wednesday |
4 |
5 |
7 |
|
Thursday |
3 |
6 |
8 |
|
Friday |
6 |
4 |
6 |
|
Saturday |
4 |
5 |
4 |
|
Sunday |
7 |
3 |
5 |
These are baseline results with no intervention of
driver’s education methods. I had to
implement ways to correct this negative behavior. In order to modify my tailgating behavior, I would
remember that tailgating isn’t supportive.
I would remind myself that tailgating is an aggressive act and is a
self-serving bias. Another intervention
act was to put myself in the other driver’s shoes. It gave me that do one to others as you would
want done to you mentality. For failing
to yield I would remind myself that I put myself and others in danger when I
refuse to yield. To stop myself from
using verbal expletives, I would remember that swearing at other drivers would
only lead me to get angry. Anger isn’t
supportive and further more using verbal expletives reminds me that I have a
low level of emotional intelligence.
Slowing down to upset, anger, or irritate other drivers is probably my
worst habit. In order to correct this I
would think that perhaps this person tailgating me needs to get to a hospital,
or perhaps there is an emergency at home.
In order to correct closing the gap
I would remind myself about how my selfish ways would only make traffic
worse. Each time a car brakes in
traffic, it causes a traffic wave which could go as far back as 25 miles. I use this reasoning to prevent me from
closing the gaps and to drive with a few car lengths in front of me so traffic
flows easier. From Dr. Leon James
driving psychology course, I realized that lane hopping won’t get me to my
destination significantly faster so I might as well stay in one lane and be
safe. Finally my modification plan for
not using my turn signals is to remember that I am endangering myself and other
drivers. There is really no reason not
to be using my blinkers anyway so that also helped me to remember to use my
blinkers. These are my results after I
implemented my intervention plan. I also
listened to different music to see if it helped me be more of a supportive
driver.
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Observation
of My Driving Behavior (Week 2 - Intervention) |
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Slowing
Down- |
|
|
|
Tailgating |
Failure
to Yield |
Verbal
Expletives |
Upsetting
Tailgaters |
|
|
Monday |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|