Instructor: Dr. Leon James,
Professor of Psychology, Gartley Hall 213A
e-mail: leon@hawaii.edu Before and after classes (M, T, R), and by appointment
Course Description: Driving
Psychology
This research seminar on Driving in the Age of Rage examines the “threefold self” of the driver behind the wheel – affective habits, cognitive habits, and sensorimotor habits. Students will make oral presentations on two popular books that deal with road rage and other driver practices in traffic, including merging, hypermiling, and gender differences in driving. Students will collaborate in writing a report on how driving and traffic are treated as a topic throughout the socio-cultural spectrum in society, -- personal friends, online discussion groups, news articles with posted comments, Web sites on driving, legislators and safety officials, scientist experts, magazines and books about cars, songs about roads and travel, and the various media. Students publish their reports on the Web to become part of the cumulative Online Generational Curriculum that Dr. James has maintained since 1994.
Textbooks: (1) Leon James and Diane Nahl (2000). Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare. (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books) (2) Tom Vanderbilt (2008). Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (New York: Knopf)
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GRADES: POINT VALUE OF ACTIVITIES |
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40 points |
Oral Grade. Individual and
team oral presentations |
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60 points |
WI grade. Appearance, content, and quality of your Web site containing your Home Page and the required reports. Total length of typed text must exceed 20 pages, or about 7000 words. |
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A+ =95 points; A =94-90; A-
=89-85; B+ =84-80; B =79-75; B- =74-70 |
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Attendance is required and is taken at the start of each class. Being late for class or leaving early: -1 point each occurrence. Penalty points are on account of non-participation in oral exercises when not present in class. Absence Penalty: - 3 points per absence. Late Work Penalty: - 3 points per week late per item, up to -9 points per item. Due Dates are given in the instructions on the G29 Class Home Page.
Grading Policy:
Every student starts out with 40 points for the Oral
Presentation component of the course. If you perform all the required class oral
activities, you will retain those 40 points for your final grade total (out of
100). Points will be deducted for each week of not performing a specified oral
task, or for not being present when scheduled to present.
-1 for not being prepared to present as a scheduled Presenter, or
for not asking a question as a designated Commentator, or for not keeping track
of ratings as a designated Rater. -1 for arriving late in class (after the
Attendance is taken) Note: after class is over you need to ask Dr. James to
change the Absence to a Late. -3 for not being present when scheduled to
present.
Bonus point can be earned as a result of class activities.
It is expected that every student will upload their required work on time and according to the instructions. If technical reasons prevent you from temporarily uploading any required work on time, you must submit on time a printed version of it to the instructor to avoid a late penalty (or email the document to him by Attachment). You must however upload the report later. Always keep a back up copy of your files on a separate disk or CD, and not just on your hard drive.
You will receive email from the instructor with your grade for each report you publish on the Web, along with instructions on how you need to correct it. Corrections according to instructions can add points to your grade. For your oral presentations, you will receive email feedback at midterm on your oral presentations and class activities.
For publishing your work on the Web, you are allowed to use a made up name that is registered with the Instructor by email. You are allowed to delete your own published files at any time during the semester, or you can request the instructor to remove them from the Web after the semester, and at any other time in the future (just email the instructor: leon@hawaii.edu). The purpose of publishing your reports on the Web is threefold: (i) to enhance your Internet publishing skills; (ii) to leave your reports for future generations of this course who will be instructed to read and review them for their own reports, as you do with theirs; (iii) to share your scientific reports and topical reviews with the entire world (all your uploaded work is listed by search engines worldwide).
Class Structure: Every class is made up of three portions. (1) Instructor answers your questions about preparing for the oral presentations and exercises, and doing the written reports. He also discusses the assigned readings for the week. (2) Team meetings. (3) Students give the scheduled oral presentations and activities (details are on the G29 Class Home Page).
The G29 Class Home Page to access all course
information is at:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/classhome-g29.htm
Student Reports from prior semesters are accessible here:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/gc/generations.html
The Instructor's Home page is at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html
The Instructor's email is: leon@hawaii.edu