Report 3:
My Driving Personality Makeover Plan
MAKEOVER
This driving personality makeover plan is
the same to improve one's personality. It is to improve one's driving
attitude which includes emotional feelings. These feelings are the main
root that will lead to one's rudeness and cruelty in driving. Before one
can control the attitude and behavior, one has to find out its root.
Going in depth of one's feeling and soul is not every driver will think
of doing when he/she participates in making their driving or others' driving a
enjoyable one. Most drivers never spend time to think about how their
driving attitude and behavior can relate to their inner self. To most
of the drivers, driving simply is one of those daily routines like
washing the dishes. Who cares about the feeling that one is
encountering when washing the dishes. One just wants to get
the chore done. Driving for most people is similar to getting
the dishes washed, drivers want to get to their destinations in
time.
In the process of getting to the destination,
one mostly pays attention only to the road, to what is ahead blocking their
process. The emotions and the attitudes and behaviors which cause by
negative emotions are usually ignored. This is why one has to pay
attention to one's inner voice before one can learn to control
their attitude and behavior on the road. This theory also applies
in improving attitude and behavior of one's daily life off the road. In
this personality makeover plan, one can see the beast
of their own in driving and out of driving if paid enough attention and can
see the changes in one's attitude and behavior with enough practice. Both
paying attention and practice, with consistancy and time, will melt into one's
routine in order to modify one's personality so naturally.
My Topical Index: Links to other
interesting sites
My web site: I can't stop being impatient
and seeing other cars as just inconvenient obstacles in my way
Contributions: Stories of traffic from
visitors
OBSERVATION
In making an observation, you as a driver can have a friend
sitting next to you in the passanger's seat to take note at your usage of language,
facial expression, attitude toward other drivers, passangers, and self. Have
yourself speak out loud your feelings and thoughts in
time of undesirable events--this can help you to remember that specific moment
of thoughts and feelings as Dr. James has mentioned in class. Plus speaking out loud the emotional state is
a necessary thing to do when the note-taker can't read what the driver is
thinking and feeling. Other than the emotional state, there is physical changes
occur as a result of the changes in emotion. It is also best to speak it out when
experiencing physical changes, for example: rapid heartbeat, sweat, tightening
of muscles, etc., before forgetting or before the next event of traffic irritation
happens.
Another way of making an
observation is to record everything down into a tape recorder,
the small and cheap one. Instead of having a friend discovering the devil and
the horror in you, this can save yourself some face and respect. You can also
save yourself some inconvenience in finding time to meet both your friend and
your schedules to do the note-taking. All you have to do is just get a thirty
to sixty minutes blank tape, get a cheap tape recorder with charged batteries,
put the blank tape in the recorder, carry it along while you are in traffic, press
the 'record' button down and SPEAK YOUR
MIND OUT with 100% HONESTY into the microphone. The information
which needed to be recorded is the same as having a friend to take note.
If you don't have a tape recorder and also don't
want to reveal your beasty side to your friend, the last way which I can
think of in how to make a good observation is to keep a small journal like Conrad
Moreno did. He writes down his experience after every traffic trip. The
writing has to be done right after each trip while your thoughts and feelings
are still fresh, although, in my opinion, it's still not as vivid and as accurate
when comparing with recording at the immediate moment of event. Jotting
down the materials during driving is a very dangerous thing to do to yourself
as well as to other passangers and to other drivers, therefore, don't try it.
Report 1: My travel through
G1 & G2
Report 2: My adapting to Internet
Report 4: Resistance to Traffic
Psychology
PROBLEM
Through several weeks of observation, I found myself get
impatient very easily when I am in challenge with time. I would speed,
because I don't want to be late for class or for appointment. In
time of speeding like
this, I became awfully impatient at almost everything on the road such as when
the car in front of me puts on its signal light to change lane, when the street
signal light changes from yellow to red while my car is only three cars away
from it, and so forth. I also noticed myself cursing other people if they are in my
way to slow me down when I am trying to make the time. Although I have
never done any bad sign language to anyone so far, but ultimately if I don't
learn to control my temper of impatience,
the destruction of my driving personality will manifest.
Generation
One of Traffic Psychology: Students of G1
Generation Two
of Traffic Psychology: Students of G2
Generation Three of Traffic
Psychology: Students of G3
IMPLICATIONS
When I get impatient in traffic, my implications of
sensorimotor self
are taking long, deep breaths and playing with my fingers. My eyelids
also are lowered as my eye brows tighten together making the gap between
my eye brows winkles up, and my left elbow is lean on the car door with my
forehead resting on my left hand. I would put the car on 'park' if the traffic is
not moving, and my right foot would press on the brake inconsistantly.
My body temperature is also higher than at normal (calm) emotional state
of driving. Glancing at the driver who I feel is in my way, talking bad about
that driver and things which are in my way to myself, and checking the driver
behind my car from the rear mirror are my sensorimotor
implications.
The implications of cognitive self
are the evil thoughts
in my mind. Any drivers or people or things such as 'stop sign', which
hinder my time-limited driving trip, will trigger my impatience. Once it is
triggered, I found myself engaging in thoughts of degrading other drivers of
their poor driving abilities. I asked myself pathetically if that driver or that
person has any vision problem or muscle problems in controlling his/her car
or motions. I wanted to let them know how bad their driving skills are and
to tell them to get off the freeway and
use the streets if they and their cars can't handle the speed. In cases of running
into 'yield' and 'stop' signs, I immediately thought of their inventors and at
the same time wished there is no cars is coming in order for me to go without
having to fully stopped. I mostly thought about protecting my image on the
person(s) whom I have to meet. I didn't want to destroy that image for being
late, but in reality, I have already given a very terrible driving image of myself
to many people on the road before reaching my destination.
The emotional self, which deals
with feelings such as anger, hatred, excitement, frustration, and the like, is
called the affective
self. In my
observation, I engaged in anger and hatred toward other drivers and people,
especially to the one who blocked my way and slowed down my progress. I
felt that those drivers, people and signs are taking away my rights on the road.
I lost a sense of security from fearing of loosing my image due to tardiness. The
fear of loosing overtook me, and I got frustrated. I got frustrated
at the moment of not being able to do any more improvement to make the
situation better other than speeding. I got frustrated because I can't stop
myself of feeling so impatient. In occasions, there were times when I felt joy
and excitement of winning from a successful revenge such as cutting in front
of a 'turtle' car (with the speed of a turtle).
My home page
Dr. James' home page
Top of this page
RESISTANCE
There are numbers of specific things that I resisted to do when
I am impatient on the road. They are stopping for pedestrians, waving
to the drivers whom I have cut in front of, maintaining within the speed limit,
slowing down and stopping on yellow light and on traffic signs, signaling light
to change lanes, being thankful to drivers who let me into the lane, and being
humble, considerate, caring, honest, generous and loving.
My Topical Index: Links to other interesting sites
My web site: I
can't stop being impatient and seeing other cars as just inconvenient obstacles in my
way
Contributions: Stories of traffic from
visitors
METHODOLOGY
Report 1: My travel through G1 & G2
Report 2: My adapting to Internet
Report 4: Resistance to Traffic Psychology