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Introduction: TV and Our Actions
TV has been in our lifestyle for more than a few decades. Growing up with TV, we have learned to watch TV in order to catch the latest news and trends of the world today. Besides that, we watch TV for entertainment. Thanks to the development of cable lines and satellites, now we are able to choose what to watch from nearly 100 TV networks. The variety of programs is expanding--we can watch sports, movies, news, talk shows, soap operas, quiz shows, documentaries, and others by only flipping the channel with one finger movement.
While TV is a good source of getting information, it has a side effect as well. People have a tendency to follow trends with or without consciousness. The world today is controlled by the media; everything we see on TV has the power to convince viewers that what is on the screen is a trend of the world. Without proper intervention, we might believe in something that we are not supposed to just because it has been displayed on TV. It is all up to TV producers whether or not they provide good, accurate information to educate viewers.
As a Traffic Psychology student, I looked at the influence of TV on the "Road Rage" phenomenon that is creating serious problems in our society these days. When we watch TV, we might not think of one particular driver behaving badly that is portrayed on screen to be carried out by ourselves; however, even unaware, we could take the information into our mind and possibly carry it out when we are not paying attention. For example, studies of the influence of violence on TV to children proved that even unaware, children carry out violent behavior after viewing programs that contain violence.
A driver who has been driving a car for more than a certain period experiences "automatic self" driving the car rather than himself or herself consciously driving. When automatic self is developed, a driver is able to concentrate on something other than driving while he or she is behind the wheel, which means that the driver is not conscious of his or her driving. The relationship between being unconscious about driving and the unconscious input of bad-driving behavior is something that we might need to take a look at. That might be where a part of our "Road Rage" behavior is being nurtured.
Another concern is that the portrayal of drivers behaving badly could enhance our modeling what is on TV. Nowadays TV has become so powerful in controlling people's perceptions of what is accepted in or appealing to our society that continuous showing of drivers behaving badly could lead to our thinking that such bad car maneuvers are "cool" to mimic, or that aggressive driving is acceptable in our society. Children might even learn basic concepts about driving a car from those bad depictions of driving.
I screened ten examples of drivers behaving badly on TV programs and movies that have been aired on TV and took notes on specific activities that took place in the programs. I also analyzed the content in terms of how it might influence children and drivers. An overall rating system was developed for an easier determination of the behavior of drivers. The rating is based on three key areas; 1) Prominence throughout the course of the program; i.e. how much emphasis does the scene have? 2) Riskiness of the driving behavior; i.e. does the driving behavior pose a threat to others and/or to the driver? 3) Realistic nature of the program; i.e. is the driving behavior easily copied or imitated? Each key area contributes to a third of the overall 1-10 scale rating. Scale 10 represents the worst and most dangerous driving behavior while scale 0 not bad or dangerous driving. The maximum points for these categories are
Prominence...0-3
Riskiness...0-4
Realistic Nature...0-3
Total Possible...10
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