Oral
Presentation 1
Jeremy Kubo
E-mail: jeremyku@hawaii.edu
02/23/04
Chapter 4: The Road Rage
Spectrum
Reference: Road Rage and
Aggressive Driving by Dr. Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl
I. Jekyll-Hyde Syndrome (p.84)
A.
Definition-
Switching of personalities when in the drivers seat.
Example- An example would be, say your best friend
is the nicest, shyest person you ever knew, never put down or teased
anyone. But for the first time, you get
in the passenger seat with your best friend driving, and all of a sudden, your
once shy, nice friend is swearing every other word and complaining how horrible
the other drivers are. He has a new
personality.
B.
Culturally- In our culture we learn to drive from our parents and peers. Most drivers believe that they are really
good drivers and that they are doing nothing wrong, but they criticize everyone
around them.
Psychologically- In our society, how would we view a person
who experiences this syndrome? In my
abnormal psychology class, I learned about dissociative identity disorder
(previously known as multiple personality disorder).
C.
Driver’s
Education
Become aware of how you are when you are
driving. Record your feelings, thoughts
and actions. Be able to take other
driver’s criticism. Notice the
differences in your personality while you are driving and while you are not and
compare and analyze these differences.
This is called self-witnessing.
II. Verbal Road Rage (p.89)
A.
Definition-
A constant mental or verbal expression of anger against another person or thing
(traffic signs or speed limits).
Example- An example would be swearing at another
motorist for cutting you off.
B.
Culturally- Culturally we are taught that venting our anger is a good thing. Verbal road rage such as yelling, swearing,
and complaining to your self or others are ways we vent our anger while in the
car.
Psychologically- We may have been taught or conditioned not
to keep anger in and it may make us feel better to vent our anger, but
according to last class in our discussion on chapter 3 venting anger is harmful
to both your health and well-being.
C.
Driver’s
Education
In driver’s education classes we could teach the
three-step driver self-improvement program (ch.6). “acknowledge, witness, modify”
III. Epic Road Rage (p.91)
A.
Definition-
Taking extreme action against another driver sometimes resulting in chasing,
beatings, shootings and even killings.
The motive is to seek revenge and punishment.
Example- You come to a four-way stop. You get there first, come to your complete
stop, look at all three sides and attempt to go straight, when all of a sudden
a car comes across of you, doesn’t make a stop at all, and cuts a left directly
in front of you. This infuriates you and
you make an immediate right chasing after the other car. You follow it down the road, forcing the
other driver to the side, causing it to stop.
You get out of your car, pull the other driver out of his car and
instantly start beating him up.
B.
Culturally- Chapter 4 of our text talks about how “epic road rage is a product of
fantasizing comic-book roles”. I feel
that in our culture today the media has taken the place of the comic-book.
Psychologically- The debate of the media and its influences
on our minds and actions is a well debated issue. I think it depends on a lot of other factors
because
not just the media affects the way we think.
C.
Driver’s
Education
This concept can be taught by preparing these future
drivers for this type of road rage.
Preventative measures should be taken to ensure a person wouldn’t get to
this point. Like verbal road rage,
implementing early on, the three-step driver self-improvement program would be
essential here.
IV. Rushing Maniac (p.100)
A.
Definition-
A person who is always in a rush no matter what.
Two elements play a role in a rushing maniac
1.
an
extreme need to avoid slowing down
2.
anger
against anyone who has caused the slow down
Example- a good example form the text was: The
person who speeds past you and is at the next light waiting
B.
Culturally- I think that in our culture there is the idea of doing everything the
fastest way possible. When it comes to
driving people have the idea that if
they rush or speed then they will get there faster. This is not true.
Psychologically- People have pressures to rush. They’re feeling there’s not enough time to
complete all the tasks needed to be done for the day. They
go through a rush of
different emotions, trying to keep up with every demand expected of them.
C.
Driver’
Education
In our society we need to teach people that faster
is not always better. I think this
should start with parents because we learn from the way they drive. If they are always in a rush then we may
pick up that habit.
V. Scofflaw (p.105)
A.
Definition-
A habit of unconsciously disregarding traffic laws.
Example- My example is not coming to a complete stop
at a stop sign.
B.
Culturally- Our culture has given us an image of what to do as drivers. We have been taught how to dive by watching
other drivers getting away with something over and over. Like blocking an intersection, or driving
way faster than the speed limit.
Psychologically- We learn through imitation.
C.
Driver’s
Education
To quote a section of our text “Every driver has a choice
of orientation: either focus on yourself and do whatever you can to get away
with or see yourself as part of a community and do what’s intelligent and safe
for everyone.”
I don’t really like giving oral
presentations, so it was quite difficult for me. I was pretty nervous and didn’t want to look up at people just
staring at me. I think it was a good
experience though, because it will help me, I’m sure, later in my future. I think it was better doing a presentation
in front of a small group like our class versus a large class of nearly a
hundred. That would surely be nerve
wrecking for me. Also, I think I get a
little less nervous when I’m doing a presentation with someone else or in a
group and I’m not up there alone. I
feel like I have support and the nerves go away. But all in all, I think this was a good experience for me.
Oral
Presentation 2
Jeremy
Kubo
E-mail:
jeremyku@hawaii.edu
04/19/04
Topic: Student Reports on
Driving Personality Makeovers
Reference 10: www.drdriving.org/articles/makeover.htm
I. Driving
Personality Makeover
i. Definition-
Like any other makeover, a driver’s personality makeover is a change in the way
you once thought, acted or even looked.
According to
Adele
Kimura, G1, it is a “process whereby you realize what kind of a driver you are,
and to modify your driving behavior, if it is a problem”.
Example-
A good example would be what everybody did for their second report.
ii. Culturally-
Today there are many reality shows where people get their rooms made over and
even their appearance. For example, there’s the new TV show
“The
Swan” and “Queer eye for the straight guy”.
What would it be like if there
was a show where we got our driving styles made over???
Psychologically- In psychology we use terms to describe
different behaviors.
One of
the reports by Trisha Hashimoto from G10 mentioned:
Altruism-
an “unselfish concern for the welfare of others, or selflessness”
This can be seen in the
driving world when someone stops to call in a
stalled vehicle they see on the road.
This can be seen in the driving world when you have
the impulse to lane hop and at the same time you see another driver hopping
lanes and you call them a bad driver.
iii. Driver’s Education- The three step drivers
self improvement program was mentioned in almost every report I read. I agree that this program is key to a
driver’s personality makeover.
II. Three Step Driver Self Improvement Program
i. Definition-
The three-step process you can use to improve your driving
personality/behavior. The three steps
are acknowledge, witness and modify.
Example-
I acknowledge that I like to speed up to make a yellow light. For my second report, I witnessed
myself speeding to make the yellow light.
Finally, I worked out a plan that would modify my behavior of
needing to speed up to make the yellow light.
ii. Culturally-
No one likes to be wrong or to be the one that makes mistakes (that’s what makes it hard to ACKNOWLEDGE we
have a problem)
Psychologically-
You can look at this program somewhat like therapy. It may help with bringing down your stress levels. In some cases, it could help to
boost
your self-esteem and make you feel better about yourself as a driver.
iii. Driver’s Education- I think it is
important to incorporate this method into our drivers education classes. Maybe by giving an assignment similar to our
second
report to these new drivers, they will be able to approach driving with a more
positive attitude.
III. The Speed Limit Debate
i. Definition- Some say that the speed limit is set too low,
some say it’s too high, yet others say that the speed limits are right where
they should be.
Example- I think on the freeway in certain areas the
speed limit is too low, but on the other hand, my girlfriend feels the speed
limit is too high.
ii. Culturally- In our culture, hardly anybody drives the
speed limit. They usually go maybe 5-10
miles over or under the speed limit.
This can be seen in Hawaii
almost anywhere, but I see it
mostly on the Pali when I’m coming into town from Kailua.
Psychologically- People always seem to be in a
rush. They want to be able to get to
their destination as quickly as possible.
They have it in their head, the
faster they go, the faster
they’ll get there (which, as I mentioned in my first oral report, isn’t always the case).
iii. Driver’s Education-
Speed limits are posted for a reason. They
should be followed, otherwise it would be breaking the law. It is important to teach new
drivers the consequences of
not only driving over the speed limit, but under as well. A motorist could be
hazardous to other motorists by driving too slow,
also.
IV. Tailgating
i. Definition- This is when you follow close behind a car
with the intention of punishing them for something they have done to you.
Example-
Following someone too close with the intention of punishing them, because they
cut you off.
ii. Culturally- In our culture, we are taught not to push
unless pushed first, not to throw the first punch. For example, when you got expelled from high school
for fighting, you would justify
it to your parents as, the other person hit me first, so I thought it would be
okay to fight back and defend myself.
iii. Driver’s Education-
We need to rethink the whole idea that it’s ok to do something if the other
person started it. This idea, I think,
starts in the home
and how we are raised. Some parents teach their kids that it’s okay
to punch someone back if they punched you first. You’re just defending yourself.
So,
naturally when it comes to a
somewhat similar situation like driving, and another driver did something to
upset you, in your mind you’re thinking it’s
okay to get them back. I think we need to get our parents and
community involved in order to get this to work.
V. Portrayals of Driving Behavior on TV
i. Definition- What we see a driver doing in a movie whether
bad or good.
Example- In the movie, “2 fast 2 furious”, the actor
Paul Walker is driving at a high rate of speed while looking at his passenger
the entire time.
ii. Culturally- In our culture, TV has become a priceless tool
for new parents because they can sit their kids down in front of it and take a
break. I think this
is why we tend to learn a
lot form the TV now days and why what we see on TV influences us so much. Newer movies like “fast and the furious”,
“biker
boys”, and “torque”, just to name a few, portray
street racing with little or no consequences.
When we grow up watching these movies we may become less
aware of what is real.
Psychologically- When we are young we have what is
called a personal fable, this is when we think we are invincible. So of course when we see movies of
big time
stars we look up to doing crazy stunts in their cars, we’re going to want to be
just like them. We have it in our head
already that we can’t get
hurt, so
we’ll easily try the same crazy stunts too.
iii. Driver’s Education-
In these classes, I think it would be important to show new drivers what the
actual consequences of street racing, for example, are.
Let
them see an actual news report or pictures of accidents happening right in
their own neighborhood. Help them to
see the difference between Hollywood
and
reality.
This time around, I think I felt a
little more comfortable, but I of course was nervous again. I think giving presentations in front of
people without getting nervous, is something that truly needs a lot of
practice. I think I’ll always get a
little nervous when I do presentations in the future. Hopefully though, I believe I can take this experience and make
it something positive for myself for future times.