My Driving Personality Makeover Project
by SAYO YOSHINO
A link to Instructions for Your Report 2
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy20/g20lecturenotes409a.htm
1.
Preface
A link to Report 1: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/sayo/report1.htm
Brief
review of Report 1:
The purpose of the
report 1 was to introduce the overall theories and applications of driving
psychology. Mainly, I defined 10
different theories and applications that are shown below to help us understand about driving psychology.
1.
The driver's threefold Self
2.
Self-witnessing methodology
3.
Road rage
4.
Aggressive driving legislation
5.
The driver's emotional intelligence
6.
The driver's emotional spin cycle
7.
Newsgroups for drivers
8.
Lifelong driver education
9.
“TEE CARDS”
10.
“Driving Cartoons”
For instance, a
definition of “the driver’s threefold self” is that driving behavior involves the whole
personality of an individual. The
individual’s personality (the driver’s threefold self) can be divided into
three parts: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor.
|
The
Driver’s Threefold Self |
||
|
Affective |
Cognitive |
Sensorimotor |
|
Feelings,
motivation, emotions, attitudes, values |
Thoughts,
reasoning, judgment, knowledge |
Sensation,
perception, vision, fatigue, pain
motor reactions, stress |
|
|
|
|
In
addition to defining the definitions of droving psychology, report 1 included
autobiography as a passenger. In
the section, how behavior of my parents, media, my friends influence my behavior
as a passenger and my perspective about driving in general.
Brief
summary of the conclusion section:
Driving psychology
seems very useful for all generations, from children to elderly throughout the
world. Since traditional driving education
covers a limited area especially in the technical part of driving (sensorimotor), driving psychology is necessary to teach the
emotional mechanisms and control strategies.
About
Report 2:
The purpose of the
report 2 is to describe some self- assessment tests and questionnaires, and to
try using a driving personality makeover method to modify a driver’s behavior
to a more supportive driving behavior. A driver’s
resistance to change his/ her driving philosophy and style are normal reactions
that many drivers experience when they try driver self- modification exercise
for the first time. In fact,
according to Dr. Leon James’s research, “70 percent of drivers complain about
the aggressiveness of others, but only 30 percent admit to their own aggressiveness”
(P185). A driver to make it through
“A W M” (Acknowledge, Witness, and Modify) is a key to develop emotional
intelligence and to become a supportive driver. Both the self- assessment tests and the
driving personality makeover method explained in this report 2 cover “A W M”
differently but effectively.
Hopefully, at the end of this report, readers will understand how each
test and method works and try using them to have a more supportive driving life.
2.
Introduction: Objective Self- assessment
Trying checklists
like “YOUR ROAD RAGE TENDENCY” and “HOW PASSENGER- FRIENDLY ARE YOU” is a good
start to find out about yourself as a driver.
CHECKLIST:
YOUR ROAD RAGE TENDENCY (P40)
Brief description: The checklist can
be used to assess your current road rage level mainly from four perspectives
that are anger theory, driving philosophy, habit of compulsive rushing or
feeling competitive, and oversensitivity to social pressure by motorists.
Examples
of statements:
²
I swear a lot more in traffic than I do elsewhere.
²
I feel that it’s important to force certain
drivers to behave appropriately on the highway.
²
I try to get to my destination in the shortest
time possible, or else it doesn’t feel right.
²
I hate large trucks and I refuse to drive
differently around them.
²
Click here to see all statements CHECKLIST: YOUR ROAD RAGE TENDENCY (P40)
Scoring
system:
²
Write a circle when a statement applies to you
(Yes) and do not write anything when a statement does not apply to you (No).
²
After you go through all the statement, count
the number of circles.
²
Score range from 0 to 20
Interpreting
the score:
²
less than 5: you
are not an aggressive driver and your road rage tendency is controllable
²
between 5 and 10: you have moderate road rage habits
²
greater than 10: your road rage tendency is out of control
²
A participant scored 9 out of 20.
²
He has moderate road rage habits since his
score fall in between 5 and 10
²
9 statements which he did agree were:
1.
2- I normally have critical thoughts about
other drivers
2.
6- It’s good to get
your anger out because we all have aggressive feelings inside that naturally
come out under stressful situations.
3.
7- When I’m very upset about something, it’s a
relief to step on the gas to give my feelings an outlet
4.
8- I feel that it’s important to force certain
drivers to behave appropriately on the highway.
5.
12- I try to get to my destination in the
shortest time possible, or else it doesn’t feel right.
6.
13- If I stopped driving aggressively, others
would take advantage of my passivity.
7.
15- I feel energized by the sense of power and
competition I experience while driving aggressively.
8.
17- Once in a while I get so frustrated in
traffic that I begin to drive somewhat recklessly.
9.
19- Sometimes I feel that I’m holding up
traffic so I start driving faster than feels comfortable.
²
Analysis of questions
1.
Your anger theory (questions
1 to 7)
2.
Your driving philosophy (questions
8 to 11)
3.
Your habit of compulsive rushing or feeling
competitive (questions
12 to 17)
4.
Your oversensitivity to social pressure by
motorists (questions
18 to 20)
·
A participant had 3 anger theories (questions
2, 6, and 7) out of 7.
·
He had 1 driving philosophy (question 8) out
of 4.
·
He had 4 habits of compulsive rushing or
feeling competitive (questions 12, 13, 15 and 17) out of 6.
·
He had 1 oversensitivity
to social pressure by motorists (question 19) out of 3.
·
Since all of the above leads to road rage in
some degree, going through the 3 steps of “A W M” (Acknowledge, witness and
modify) is important for him and people around him to have safe driving life.
·
Especially, at the part checklist which
assesses his habit of compulsive rushing or feeling competitive, he scored more
frequently compared to other part of checklist like his anger theory and his
driving philosophy. Thus, I would
suggest that modifying his habit of compulsive rushing or feeling competitive
is a good start for him to become more supportive driver.
A word of caution: Since
this checklist is done by you and it only tells your opinion about each
statement, the result you get is not necessarily true in real driving
life.
CHECKLIST:
HOW PASSENGER- FRIENDLY ARE YOU (P184)
Brief description: This checklist can be
used to assess the degree of your passenger- friendliness as a driver.
Examples
of statements:
²
I always consider my passenger’s feelings.
²
I adjust my driving to accommodate to my
passengers’ comfort.
²
I let my passengers influence my driving for the
better.
²
I want my passengers to think of me as a good and
safe driver.
²
Click here to see all statements CHECKLIST: HOW PASSENGER- FRIENDLY ARE YOU (P184)
Scoring
system:
²
Write a checkmark when you think a statement
is true to you
²
After you go through all the statement, count
the number of checkmarks.
²
Scores range from 0 to 10.
Interpretation
of the checklist:
²
A participant scored 7 out of 10.
²
I would say he is a 70% passenger- friendly
driver.
²
3 statements which he did not agree were:
Ø
7- My
passengers can control the air conditioning and windows.
Ø
8- Passengers
have the right to criticize the driver’s behavior.
Ø
10- My
passengers can select the music.
²
He has the tendency to not want passengers to
control devises inside his car.
²
Also, it seems that he already has built his
own driving philosophy.
A word of caution: This checklist
is just a self check. In other
words, the result of checklist only tells your opinion about each statement, so
the result you get is not necessarily true in real situations.
3. My
Driver Self- modification Attempt
Here
are two links to prior generation reports:
²
driving personality
make-over is it for me? by a G11 student
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as99/manibusan/report3.html#what
The
G11 student describes a personality make- over process in 3 steps which is
shown below.
1.
During driving, witnessing and
acknowledging your faults and actions
2.
Trying out a behavior
modification plan to change your driving behavior to more positive driving
behavior.
3.
Taking responsibility for your
actions because a driver is the one who controls a vehicle and behavior to
avoid harm your self and others.
The student also mentioned that a driving personali