Introduction: Finding Generation One's Files and The Five Topics I Chose
Introduction: Finding Generation One's Files and The Five Topics I Chose
How I Found Generation One's Files on the Internet
There are several ways you can locate Generation One's traffic psychology files on the Internet. The easiest way would be to link directly to the file itself using the URL address http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/
club/leonj/leonpsy/traffic/stlabreports.html, which is Traffic Psychology: Reports and Interlinked Student Discussions: Generation 1.
However at first, I did not realize you could go directly to a file by clicking the icon "open" and
then typing in the URL address. Because I am just a novice, what I did was use one of the Search Engines to try and locate it. By typing in the term "traffic psychology" the search engine gave me a list of topics which were related. Dr. James's Homepage was on the list and all I did then was double click on the appropriate link that would take me to his homepage. Once there, the next link I made was to Traffic Psychology at the University of Hawaii. At this point all I needed to do then was to link on to Generation One's files.
Scanning Generation One's Files
The way I conducted my search through the files of Generation 1 was quite simple. Given the list of names with all the different students, I started at the top of the order and worked my way down making sure to read all of each person's file. Doing this allowed me to obtain a good understanding of what constituted a good report and what made up a bad report. Well, I can't really say that there were bad reports because each student had something interesting to discuss. Instead I should say that some reports were easier to follow than others. Those who used subheadings and a lot of links made it so much more convenient for me to read. This is something I hope to incorporate in my report.
One of the students who I feel did a good job on her report was Michelle Ota. Reading through her report, I was particularly interested in her self-observation that her personality changed once she got behind the wheel. It was sort of a Jekyll and Hyde mentality because according to her, once behind the wheel, she was no longer well mannered and cool tempered. She feels that a lot of people use driving to express a different side to their personality, herself included. Jae Isa is the person she interlinked her report to and Jae also agreed with Michelle that a lot of people assume a totally different personality while driving.
Personality change is significant to traffic psychology because it reminds us of how the environment can influence our personality. We as drivers, have the luxury of control, right in the palms of our hands. On the sensorimotor level, we can control the temperature, what we hear, what we smell, and even to the degree to which we see things (bright or dark: depending if you wear dark glasses or not). On the cognitive level we have the ability to choose where we want to go and how to get there. The environmental change within our cars causes many of us to under go personality changes, because we don't often have the chance to be at the top of the hierarchy. Let's face it, not many of us have the kind of control like we do in our cars. Psychologically, we are overwhelmed with a sense of power and control that not all of us know how to deal with. On the other hand, some of us do realize we have this control and take full advantage of it. We don't know how to cope with our problems, so we use driving to help.
Being aware of the types of personalities we assume, and in what context, is highly important. In traffic psychology, it is important to know what kind of personality we have behind the wheel in order to realize why we drive as we do. Just understanding that some of our personalities do change, is a step towards
self improvement in the area of driving.
Monitoring my own personality to see if it changed during driving gave me a chance to realize a few things I never really noticed before. Because of the mobility of the car, the feeling of power and control behind the wheel, and the secluded environment, I had more confidence in expressing my own feelings and
thought verbally. If some other driver did something stupid I wouldn't be afraid to call that person an idiot out loud. What I also noticed is the conditions under which I drove had a lot to do with the type of mood I
assumed. The more conditions I could control the happier I was. Of course, there were some conditions which I could not control, such as the amount of traffic on the road. I noticed this had a huge impact on
how I felt because as soon as traffic became heavy I had a hard time remaining in a good mood. Basically
what I discovered while being aware of my personality during driving, was that I tend to become more egocentric. Thoughts and feelings towards other drivers weren't there. All I could think about was how I was feeling and how traffic was affecting me. Another thing I noticed while doing a self observation of my personality while driving was that my personality was also dependent upon who was riding with me.
Speeding: Why people do it?
The second subject in Traffic Psychology some the students from Generation 1 discussed in their reports was speeding and why people do it.
According to Shane, what is meant by speeding as a self fulfilling prophecy is that drivers on highways are expected to drive very fast and they do. Those who don't speed are affected because they feel they are holding up traffic and thus speed themselves. The second possible reason Shane gave as a cause for speeding was Schizophrenia. He feels some people envision, or hear things, which cause them to speed (voices, hallucinations, etc.). The third reason, speeding because of poor planning and time restraints, I believe, is a big reason why people speed excessively. Shane touches on this area a little saying that thinking and planning ahead can help you to be "less in a rush". His last reason on why people speed is due to aggression, anger, and frustration. According to him, speeding helps to alleviate these problems.
In his report on why people speed, Shane made several links to other students discussing the same subject. Besides the second reason he gives, schizophrenia as a possible cause to speeding, the students he linked to had similar ideas on why people do it. However two students, Caroline Balatico and Joleen Lai, go into a bit more detail on the subjects of, "being in a rush because of poor planning" and "speeding as a self fulfilling prophecy", respectively. Caroline feels many of us speed because we don't allot ourselves the necessary time it takes to get to our destination. Either its because we underestimate the time it takes to get there, or we overestimate our driving skills. Through poor planning, we increase the chance of seriously hurting ourselves. Joleen discuses speeding on the freeways, especially during heavy to medium traffic, as a self fulfilling prophecy of serious injury to yourself or others. Those of us who speed in traffic don't take into consideration the risk factor involved. Perhaps we get to our destinations a little earlier, but according to Joleen is the sacrifice worth it? No, definitely not! Joleen feels speeding in heavy to medium traffic is big risk. But somehow I get the feeling she's saying it's all right to speed a little when there is no traffic on the road.
Speeding: Its Significance To Traffic Psychology The basic hypothesis in traffic psychology is that: "Self-witnessing produces a protocol analysis which brings personal awareness. This awareness or new insight provides an opportunity or occasion for self-modification of one's traffic behavior from anti-social to peaceful and altruistic". Speeding is significant to traffic psychology because it serves as a cue to when our driving behavior becomes anti-social. When we speed the only person we think about is our self. All the reasons students in Generation 1 gave as to the cause of speeding reinforce this notion. Think about it for a moment, except in extreme emergencies, the reasons why we speed are due to frustration, impatience, poor planning, etc.. Speed limits were established to ensure our safety and those around us. Every time we speed, its not so bad that we increase our risk factor, but when we increase the risk of others, we need to stop an examine to see if what were doing is really worth it.
Before rambling on about speeding, I should have gave an operational definition to its meaning. I don't believe speeding is when you keep up with traffic and drive a little over the speed limit. Nor do I believe it is driving a little faster on the freeway when there are no cars on the road. What I do mean by the term "speeding" is when you drive recklessly and excessively over the speed limit, with no regard for others. I would consider anything ten to fifteen miles above the speed limit as speeding.
Self Observation On Speeding
Prior to taking this class, it would be no lie to admit that I was an avid speeder. To be honest, I just never thought about the way I drove. The self awareness wasn't there simply because of the overconfidence I had in my driving ability. Being forced to monitor myself during driving has brought a new insight that I will treasure forever.
Because I now realize speeding is anti-social, and because of my new found awareness in the way I drive, it was difficult to observe myself speeding because I was reluctant to do it. ( I guess you could call this observer bias). Thus, its kind of hard for me to give a self observation on why I speed. The best thing for me to do here is to speculate on what would be future reasons that would cause me to speed. The way I look at it, the only reason I would speed in the future would be due either to poor planning or emergencies. So to avoid speeding, what I have to do is make sure I plan ahead and make sure to try an avoid emergency situations. Basically in other words I need to be prepared!
Pedestrian Traffic On Campus
Kendall Matsuyoshi brings up some interesting points regarding pedestrian traffic. The first point he discusses is that people tend to walk on the right side of the walkway. According to him, it only seems natural because we drive on the right side as well. He also talks about encounters in which people are walking in the same line but in opposite directions and what happens when they come face to face. Because each tries to step aside they sort of "toggle". Another point Kendall brings up concerning pedestrian traffic is the varying degree's of speed in which people walk. There are those at the extreme ends of the spectrum who walk extremely slow or very quickly and each type has there positive and negative features.
The two other students Kendall interlinks his report to are Jae Isa and Rayson Noguchi. Jae is fascinated on how the rules of the road carry over to the do's and don'ts of pedestrian traffic. She notices how similar pedestrian traffic is to road traffic in that people move at varying speeds and unconsiously they manuever themselves to one side. I'm sure Rayson had some intersting comments to contribute to this topic but somehow he lost all of his work. See Kendall Matsuyoshi. See Jae Isa. See Rayson Noguchi.
Pedestrian Traffic: It's Significance to Traffic Psychology
Pedestrian traffic is significant to traffic psychology because it reminds the majority of us how we should act in traffic situations. In pedestrian traffic, most of us are polite and aware to those around us because we don't want to be rude and offend anyone. We don't have the luxury of a metal shell around us to screen out reactions nor can we simply "zoom away". If we offend someone we have to face them and deal with it. Essentially we are forced to be more aware because it reflects on the type of person we are. Yet there are some of us who don't give a damn at all and there are some of us who are aware only part of the time. Those of us like this need to be shown how to think more about others expecially in traffic situations. Perhaps there is an underlying cause to their behavior which needs to be examined?
Self Observation: Being A Part Of Pedestrian Traffic On Campus.
Whenever I'm walking in crowds I notice I always tend to become more alert. For some reason I tend to feel vulnerable because I can't monitor the actions of everyone around me. Who knows, for some reason someone could run up behind me and do what ever they want and I wouldn't know until its to late. Many people avoid being in crowded places simply due to this reason, and I'm definately one of them. If at all possible I try to avoid being in crowded places. But sometimes like in the instance of being in school you can't really help it. In observing myself, I noticed the reason for my increased sense of alertness is because I don't want to give anyone any reason for doing something behind my back. Okay, I know some of you who are reading this think its really stupid for me to think this way. But I just can't help it. No matter how preoccupied my mind is, whenever I enter a situation in which there are a lot of people around me, the only thing I can think about is not to offend anyone.
Overconfident Drivers
Jo Allen and Caroline Balatico both allude to the fact that overconfidence causes drivers to be less aware of others and I agree. Instead of focusing on those around them, overconfident drivers tend to focus on themselves because they're so big headed. Nothing they do in regards to driving is ever wrong, even when they speed. There's no doubt that having confidence is a necessary prerequisite to good driving, but having to much can definately hurt you. The overconfident driver takes way to many risks because he over estimates his driving capabilities. For some reason he thinks he has the same capabilities as Mario Andretti. One would normally assume that the prevalence of overconfidence is found more in men than it is in women. No official surveys have been done but I'm sure the majority of you would agree. Traditionally, men have done most of the driving and women have been criticized as poor drivers so it only makes sense that men have more confidence. See Jo Allen. See Caroline Balatico.
The Significance Of The Overconfident Driver In Traffic Psychology.
In traffic psychology, the Overconfident driver can serve as a model to show people how not to act as drivers. If we notice the many flaws of someone who very overconfident, then perhaps we can learn not to become like him. The biggest thing we need to focus on, when examining the extremely overconfident driver, is that he is incapable of learning any new driving skills because he thinks he knows everything there is to know about driving. If you were to ask a person who was extremely overconfident to come up with a driving personality makeover plan he would laugh in your face and say "get real"!
There are some of us who are not at the extreme end of the continuum but rather periodically become overconfident drivers. Those of us like this need to be aware when our personality changes . Like I mentioned before the situation and context have a lot to do in determining what type of personality we assume. But perhaps instead of letting the situation and context control our actions, maybe we should let our actions control the situation in order to create a better environment for everyone.
Self Observation On Being An Overconfident Driver.
Prior to having any experience in traffic psychology, I can say that I thought I was a "bad ass" in the way I drove. Upon first entering the class and looking at the syllabus, I laughed because I could not see the practicality of the whole thing. But after doing these self observations on myself, I realized I had a lot to learn. Being an overconfident driver only blocked my way to doing this. Once I accepted the fact that I was not a good "social" driver I was able to understand the need for traffic psychology.
Observing myself to see when I became overconfident I noticed that I no longer had the confidence I used to have. I guess the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know. Thus, it was difficult to monitor my overconfidence while driving because I simply would not let my head swell.
Discussion On The Article Written By Dr. James Entitled: The Private World Of The Driver.
In his article, Dr. James discusses five different areas in the realm of traffic psychology. He starts by discussing the studies of inner activities done in the past few decades to reinforce the notion that the use of silent verbalizations or thinking out loud can help mediate and control overt performances. He then uses this to illustrate how driver self-witnessing can increase awareness in the three areas of the driver's self: Affective, Cognitive, and Psychomotor. He then goes on to discuss the improvement of the mental health in drivers and the development of driving expertise through the use of the drivers threefold self. Basically, Dr. James believes self awareness in the three areas (psychomotor, cognitive, and affective) can greatly enhance one's ability to deal with problems concerning traffic and driving. Finally, Dr James talks about future needed research in the area of driving behavior. See The Private World Of The Driver.
As a student I have become very interested in the approach presented by Dr. James to the area of traffic psychology. In my conclusion, I will discuss the many good points that traffic psychology has to offer. However, right now I'd like to bring up some problems with this approach. Whenever driving, your mind should be focused on the conditions around you. If your constantly trying to monitor thoughts, feelings, and actions, how much attention are you really giving to the conditions around you? Are we really being aware of what we need to be alert to? Instead of being alert to the physical environment around you, your mind is wrapped up with itself. Does this not slow reaction time? Secondly, many people don't agree with, or cannot see, the self being divided into three parts. If this is true, than how does this approach to traffic psychology work for them? Most people don't think this deeply, either it's because they don't want to, they're not able to, or they have another theory that they believe in more. Third, most people feel they drive perfectly well. In other words there really is no need for improvement. Let's face it, the majority of our time is spent either at home or work and not on the road. So why should so much emphasis be placed on driving? Aren't we only wasting time? Isn't it just a waste of energy?
Conclusions For Myself And For Traffic Psychology.
The need for traffic psychology is definately there. See The Need For Traffic Psychology. Traffic Psychology can be used as a way to remind us how we should interact socially at all times, not only in traffic. The benefits of traffic psychology are limitless because through it, we are made more aware of those around us. Basically, what it does, is take us away from our egocentricity and shows us how social our world has become. Perhaps twenty five years ago the need for traffic psychology would not been as great. But with the increasing population today, it is almost a must. So much of us forget how we should interact with others. We don't put in the necessary time to think how others feel perhaps because we are to busy. So instead of getting upset and frustrated during driving, perhaps we should use the time to learn about how others feel. As for me, I feel so much more aware of the thoughts and feelings of others thanks to the approach of Traffic Psychology.
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