Report 4: Modifying Other Peoples Resistance to Change

Introduction

Welcome to my Report 4: Modifying Other Peoples Resistance to Change. This report is quite similiar to my Report 3: My Driving Persona Modification Plan. In report 3, the focus was on my resistance to change as I attempted to alter my own driving behavior by creating a method to decrease and eventually eliminate the target behavior. Report 4 focuses on the resistances to change of others as I attempt to modify their driving behaviors. I was able to do this by conducting a case study with two voluntary subjects. The subjects chosen for this experiment were people I've known for some time. I chose my subjects in this fashion since I wanted to help someone I knew change any behavior they wanted to modify. This experiment was done over a period of two weeks. With in these two weeks, I met with the subject three times. First meeting consisted of an introduction of the experiment, questioning of the subjects and to introduce the subjects self-assessment plan. Second meeting involved my own observation of their driving behavior. The third meeting consisted of chosing the target behavior and creating a modification plan.


Subjects was asked if they would consent to the following study: I, Abe Cabuag, conducted the study which consisted of several steps. Step one consisted of questioning subjects and subjects conducting a self-assessment which they observed their driving behaviors. Following their self-assessment, they reported to me what they observed. Step two consisted of my own observation of the subjects driving behaviors. I observed the subjects as I rode with them to obtain the necessary data. Following my observation, the subjects and I decided on a target behavior to change. Once we obtained a target behavior which we agreed on, the third step was to create a method for behavior modification. The final step consisted of carrying out the modification plan and recording the results. Following the subjects execution of the modification plan, I ask them to contact me to report on their progress. Throughout the whole case study, I examined any forms of resistance to change which I will comment on throughout this report.





Subject One

The name of the first subject has been modified to preserve his confidentiality. In this case study, his name will be David. David is 24 years old Hawaiian-Caucasian man who resides in Waianae, Hawaii. He works as a delivery specialist for a company in Downtown, Honolulu. David asked that the name of the company not be released. David and I have been a friend for many years. I chose David to help me with my research for two reasons, (1) he does a lot of driving, and (2) I rode with him in his car many of times and I feel David could use some changes in his driving behavior.


Step One: David's Self-Assessment

After obtaining David's participation consent for this experiment, I started off by asking David a couple of questions. The first question I asked was, "What do you think about your driving behavior?" The second question was, "If there was a driving behavior that you felt you could do without, would you want to change it?" After asking the first question, David a ppeared puzzled by the question then replied, "I never really thought about it." After a quick pause, he then answered, "I believe I'm a good driver since my job is dependent on my driving skills, not to mention my traffic abstract." After asking him the second question, he seem a bit offended as he replied, "Why should I change the way I drive, I drive good!" His response to the second question was the first sign of resistance to change I observed. I then proceeded on with the rest of the experiment. I asked David to do a self-assessment of his driving behavior. I advised him to observe any behavior he notices while driving. I gave him some examples of what he might look for such as tailgating, cutting people off, speeding, thinking devilish thoughts of what you want to do to the other driver because he cut you off, and running stop signals. I told him to observe himself for 5 days and to report his observation to me after the fifth day. Five days later he called me to report his results. He was astonished with his self-assessment observation. He couldn't believe the amount of negative driving behaviors he observed. He said, "Like I said at the beginning, I never really thought about it (driving), but after doing this self-assessment thing, I've became more aware of my driving behaviors." I then told him, "Congratulations, you've taken the first step of becoming a Traffic Psychologist." We then set up a time to meet so I could observe his driving behavior.


Step Two: Observing Subjects Behavior

Once we scheduled a time, he pick me up at home and took me with him to work. The first behavior I noticed was that he drove fast. I guess being a delivery man requires that deliveries be done promptly. Throughout the day, I observed a lot of behaviors that David could change such as changing lanes without signaling, not letting other drivers cut in front of him, speeding, tailgating, swearing when someone cuts him off, and my favorite, speeding around turns. I was surprise with this observation because I thought that since David knew that I was observing him, he would drive more carefully, almost trying to avoid executing negative driving behaviors. After 4 hours of driving, we decided on what behavior he would like to change. I told him that I was interested in changing his speeding around turns behavior. As a result, we both agreed to modify his speeding around turns behavior.


Step Three: Creating a Modification Plan

Once we attained a target behavior, we created a modification plan. I suggested that we keep the method as simple as possible to avoid confusion. The procedure we utilized stemmed from a concept I studied in a social psychology class. Its called mere exposure which is one of the many factors of used to explain conformity. It basically means that people will become accustomed to things after being exposed to it over a period of time. I asked David to think of something to remind himself to accomplish a task. For example, I asked him, "Is there anything you do to remind yourself to go to the bank or to the store after work?" He claims he mounts those little sticker-memo paper on his dashboard where he jots down a list of things-to-do. I told him that's exactly what I was looking for . David had already set the foundation of modification plan. All that was left to do was to reconstruct the modification plan to focus on decreasing and eventually eliminating his speeding around corners behavior. I told him to get a yellow index card and to write SLOW DOWN ON TURNS on it. I chose yellow since in traffic, it represents caution. I suggested that he tape the index card on the top, left-hand corner of his windshield making it very noticeable. Once that was done, the next step was to perform the modification plan.


Step Four: Execute Modification Plan

I asked David to perform the above procedures for 4 to 5 days, both with his personal car as well as the vehicle he uses at work. Following the last day, I asked that he contact me to report his results. After the fifth day, David reported back to me. He stated that he was amazed of the improvements he made with his driving. He said that he hadn't eliminated his speeding around turns behavior but did decrease its frequency. He found that the index card did not only remind him of the target behavior, but also made him aware of other driving behaviors which he said he would later modify.


Back to the top




Subject Two

The name of subject number two has been changed to preserve her confidentiality. She will be called Jane Doe. Jane is a 24 years old Filipino woman who resides in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is a full-time student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She also works part-time as a pool attendant at a hotel located in Waikiki. I've known Jane for over ten years. I asked Jane to help me with this experiment because she was readily available. Also, I frequently ride around with Jane which made observing her driving behavior much easier for me to monitor which was the main reason why I chose Jane to do this experiment.


Step One: Survey Subject and Self-Assessment Introduction

After obtaining Janes' participation consent, I proceeded to ask her the same two questions I asked David. Top re-illustrate, the first question I asked was, "What do you think about your driving behavior?" She too seemed a bit puzzled by the question. I then reanalyzed the question to figure out what caused the puzzled reaction. Could it be a sign of resistance to change or could it be just a bad question. Her response to the question was quite similar to David's but without the offensive vibes I observed with David. She claimed that she's a fairly good driver and that she has never gotten a traffic citation which supports her statement. In a joking manner, I told her, "Maybe, the reason you haven't gotten a traffic ticket is because you haven't got caught doing illegal acts." We laughed and proceeded with the next question. The second question I asked was, "If we detect an unsafe driving behavior of yours, would you change it?" She immediately answered, "yes!" Her response led me to believe that her resistance to change was very minimal if any. Following the questions, I then asked Jane to perform a self-assessment of her driving. I then explained the purpose of a self-assessment which is a procedure used to observe oneself preferably from an objective point of view. I told her that this procedures allows the detection of behavior which is one the objective in this experiment. Like David, I gave her some examples of behaviors she might be on the look out for. Those examples were tailgating, cutting people off, speeding, thinking devilish thoughts of what you want to do to the other driver because he cut you off, and running stop signals. I told Jane to observe herself for 5 days and to report back to me after the fifth day. Five days later she called me to report her results. She was amazed with what she found. She stated that the self-assessment made her aware of many behaviors she was unaware of. She recalls an incident while driving on H1. She states that she sped without knowing it. I asked her to elaborate on that statement. She said, "I was driving along H1, maintaining the same speed as the other cars beside of me when I suddenly glanced at the speedometer which read 65mph." She had no idea she was speeding, Jane claimed. She also claimed that she observed herself tailgating, boxing other drivers in, and even showing the "birdie" a few times. She then mentioned she also caught herself speeding around corners. This discovery caught my attention. I then told her about David's speeding around turns behavior and that that was the behavior we targeted to change. We then talked about setting up a time that I could observe her driving behaviors.


Step Two: Observing Subjects Behavior

Since I ride with Jane a lot, observing of her driving behavior was easily accomplished. Indeed, I did observe her above mentioned behaviors including her speeding around turns behavior. I immediately suggested to her that we modify that behavior. She happily agreed. Now that we found the target behavior, we needed to construct a modification plan.


Step Three: Creating a Modification Plan

Although Janes' behavior was the same as David's, I avoided the use of the same modification plan. In fact, this situation gave me the opportunity to compare two different method. The method I used was a bit creative. It included my old canvas wallet filled with a bunch of coins. The coins in the wallet are used as weights so that the wallet weighs about 10oz. I gave Jane the wallet and told her to put it on her dashboard of her car each time she drives. I then illustrated the purpose for the wallet. Knowing that a canvas wallet slides across a vinyl dashboard when a car speeds around a corner, the wallet will be a regulator for you (Jane) that will gage your driving speed around corners. I then told her that if she sped around corners, the wallet will slide. If she doesn't, the wallet will remain in its place. "Clever idea", I humorously told Jane. All that was left to do was to perform the above procedure.


Step Four: Execute Modification Plan

I asked Jane to perform the above procedure for a period of 5 days when driving her Honda Civic. I then told her to report back to me after completing the fifth day. After five days lapsed, Jane gave me a call. She reported that the target behavior is near extinction and that the wallet gadget is working. "Each time I sped around a corner, the wallet began sliding which caused me to first, reach for the wallet to prevent it from sliding all the way across the dashboard, and second press on the brake to slow down." She goes on to say, "In the beginning, I had to hold the wallet each time I approached a corner because the wallet slid as I made a turn. But later, I was able to turn corners with both hands on the steering wheel keeping the wallet from sliding." Jane said she will continue using the wallet until she eliminates her target behavior.



Conclusion

Although both subjects didn't completely eliminate their target behavior, they did making great progress. To add, both subjects will continue their therapy, (if I may say) until they have completely suppressed their behaviors. As far as their resistance to change, the only signs of resistance I observed was with David at the beginning of the experiment. His resistance depleted rapidly once I informed him of the importance of modifying or adjusting negative driving behaviors. As for Jane, I barely picked up any forms of change throughout the entire experiment. She was willing, able, and ready the change her target behavior. Could resistance to change be dependent on gender? I'm not sure since the sample of this experiment was too small to tell. Who knows, I might conduct a larger experiment next time.

READERS OF THIS REPORT, BE ADVISED THAT THE PROCEDURES IN THIS REPORT WERE USED FOR THIS EXPERIMENT ONLY AND SHOULD NOT BE DUPLICATED IN ANY WAY. USE OF THESE PROCEDURE ARE AT YOUR OWN RISK BASIS.

Back to the top \