G29, Spring 2009 Psychology 409a Driving Psychology

See also: Schedule of Weekly Readings

Instructions for Typed Report

Due on April 23

Version 1

Minimum length is 6,000 words total for WI credit.

You can write this Report on your own, or you can collaborate with another student. Both student names will then go on the Report. Remember the length is 6,000 words per student, so if there are two authors, the total minimum length must be 12,000 words.

Part I: Simulated interview on Driving Psychology
(between 2000 and 4000 words)

A former student of driving psychology (man or woman) went on to study it for several years then published a book on it. In the following scene an experienced science reporter (man or woman) is interviewing the author about the book. Construct this interview by giving the answers to the questions below. You can reword the questions if you want, but keep the same numbering order.

Most questions require a fairly elaborate answer with some details. Instead of making the answer a long paragraph, you need to use ‘follow up’ questions as a technique for homing in on the specific issues at a more detailed level. Your grade will depend largely on how well you construct these follow up questions in order to bring out the needed arguments or statements to bring out and justify rationally each answer. Rely on all our weekly class Readings to construct your answer, as well as on our class discussions and your class notes. For additional advice on how to construct dialog, read the instructions for the G29 Marriage class Instructional Soap. You might want to explore some of the links to the generational student reports in which they constructed and analyzed dialog.

You must number the alternating talking turns as well as mark them: Author: and Interviewer: (do not use an abbreviation)

Assume that the reporter has read the book and is very familiar also with driving psychology as we study it in this class, and with science in general. The reporter should probe into different basic issues that are mentioned in the following list. You will need to construct the answers to these questions and put them into a dialog format.

Select between 9 and 14 questions from the list below.

1. How did the author get into this topic to begin with, and what attracted him (or her) to it
2. How does he define aggressive driving and how is it measured. Why is it an important issue?
3. What is road rage, what types are there, how is it different from aggressive driving?
4. Where does aggressive driving and road rage originate from. Do they have to do with socialization and culture? Or is it more a kind of anger therapy problem?
5. What is the merging debate. What issues are involved? Why is it a difficult problem to solve? Who is right and who is wrong? Why? What are the current solutions for managing this issue?
6. What is speeding. How is it different from going over the speed limit? Is it possible to control the car’s speed at exactly the speed limit? Why do people speed? Why do people break the speed limit? Does it matter if cars travel in convoys? Are speed limits set too low? Should speed limits be eliminated? What about using cameras and radar to control speeding?
7. How do men and women differ in driving behavior. How do you explain this difference? Are the statistics on this issue reliable or valid? What motivates the stereotype that women drivers are worse than men, or that women don’t know how to park?
8. What is the great hypermiling debate? Are there dangers in the practice of hypermiling? Are there good things about it? Is this problem getting worse or better?
9. What is your position on cell phones—hand held or speaker based. Why is research unable to decide this problem once and for all? Should there be legislation to ban the use of all phones while driving? Should drivers be trained to use cell phones, and can this be the basis for licensing the use of cell phones in cars?
10. What is the threefold self of the driver. How does it help to think of the driver’s threefold self? Should drivers be taught about their threefold self? How is this to be done? How is the threefold self related to emotional intelligence? How is the threefold self of men drivers and women drivers different?
11. What is your proposal for lifelong driver education. What would it take to have this plan adopted by society? Why has this not yet been done?
12. What is the age of rage. How is it related to aggressive driving. What other sorts of rages are there today? Is it going to get better or worse? Do the media play a role?
13. What is the war between motorists and cyclists? What are the effects of this disagreement? What kind of citizen activism is going on in this social conflict? What kind of solutions might be available for it?
14. Is pedestrian death a big problem? How many pedestrians are killed every year in the US? Why does it occur? Are the drivers to be blamed, the pedestrians, both or neither? Should there be a pedestrian safety program in public schools? What activist groups are operating for pedestrian safety in this country?

Note: In the next few classes we are going to go over some of the topics in the list. Be sure to take notes and to ask for clarifications until you understand each topic clearly. You also need to look up each topic in the Readings that were presented in class and in the Sections of the Lecture Notes that they come from.

Part II: Driving Personality Makeover

(between 3000-4000 words)

Explore this site on DrDriving: http://www.drdriving.org/articles/makeover.htm

A number of generational student reports are linked there. Explore for awhile and read a few of them. Then make an outline for your own driving personality makeover plan. It should have the following titled sub-sections (in bold):

Introduction: (add a sub-title of your own following the column:)
(explain why you are doing this plan within the course context and the generational curriculum).

Prior Research: (add a sub-title of your own following the column:)
Summarize a few of the generational student reports. Give an assessment of these reports: how valid, how useful, how interesting. What needs to be done more?

My Makeover Attempt
Describe the makeover plan you designed for yourself. Your plan should include three makeovers, one for each portion of the threefold self: sensorimotor, cognitive, affective. Explain the threefold self and then describe what you picked to work on.

Examples for sensorimotor makeovers include:

• increasing following distance to be safer,
• not exceeding 7 mph over speed limit,
• wearing seat belt at all times without exceptions,
• less multitasking with phone or other gadgets,
• keeping the car clean,
• using less gas,
• maintaining vigilance and attentiveness on the driving
• etc.

Examples of cognitive makeovers include:

• thinking good thoughts about other drivers instead of bad,
• thinking of other motorists as deserving your support and cooperation instead of competition and hostility,
• thinking of passengers as having the right to tell the driver their worries about his driving,
• remembering to leave early so you don’t have to rush,
• reducing mental venting against motorists or road users
• reducing fantasies of revenge or punishment of other drivers or road users
• defining police as protectors of your safety instead of a threat to your peace of mind
• etc.

Examples of affective makeovers include:

• learning to feel more tolerant about other motorists who make mistakes or are competitive (i.e., forgiving them),
• learning to reduce hostile emotions in traffic
• practicing positive feelings and intentions towards other road users and passengers
• reducing your fear or anxiety about cops by not breaking any laws
• developing a stronger feeling of community on the road and less feelings of hostility or competition
• intensifying your feeling of responsibility towards other human beings who are the drivers on the road
• rehearsing in your mind what it would feel like if you injure other people
• etc.

Be sure to keep notes after each makeover attempt. Keep a diary book in your car and make the notes before you start the trip, and after you arrive. Each trip is one makeover attempt. You can have more than three makeover attempts. Summarize the data. Describe how you managed to perform the makeover during each attempt. Did you have to remind yourself what to do? Did you use a passenger to help you keep track? Did you have specific things to say to yourself? How did you react? How did you accept or resist your planned attempt? What more could you do in the future to strengthen these attempts?

Remember this: Others will be reading your report, so please don’t make things up just to finish the report! You are not being graded on how successful you were. Just tell it like it was. That would be the most objective and useful way of reporting your attempts.

Conclusion

What do you recommend about the use of driving personality makeovers? Who should be taught to do them?

Part III. Annotated Web Resources on Driving Psychology

(about 1000 to 2000 words)

Go over your report and select 10 words or phrases that you used. Number the entries (expressions) from 1 to 10. Do searches on the Web for each of them and give at least two links to sites where each is discussed. Add a couple of sentences explaining why you selected them.

Formatting Instructions

(1) Top of the document must have the following:

Title in Bold and Centered

G29 Generation, Spring 2009, Psychology 409a

Student author(s) must be a link to student Home Page

Instructor Dr. Leon James: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html

Instructions for this Report: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/409a-g29-report.htm

Class Home Page for G29: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/classhome-g29.htm

Introduction: Add a subtitle here

Part I: Add a subtitle here

Part II: Add a subtitle here

Part III: Add a subtitle here

G29 Class Home Page

(end of the document)

Note:

Be sure to check the number of words for each part so you stay within the limits. Also, the total should add up to at least 6000 words. Your word processor indicates the word count of your document.

See also: INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO UPLOAD:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/g29-ftp.htm

After uploading, check all your links. Points are deducted for bad links in your document.

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