Artemio Baxa II- Report 1:Studying the Online Generational Curriculum in Traffic Psychology

Report 1:
Studying the Online Generational Curriculum in Trafic Psychology
Cruisin' the Online Files


Artemio Baxa II
Psychology 409:Cyber Psychology
University of Hawaii Summer '96
Dr. Leon James



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contents
Remember the Time
Driving Personality What!?!
To Do Or Not To Do
You Talkin' to Me?
Evaluation

Remember the Time

Remember way back in the day when you were still learning to drive in high school? As Michael Balisica(G3) explains, either your mom or dad was riding shot gun at your side yellng at you,"Brake!", "Slow down!", or "Stop playing with the radio and keep your eyes on the road!" I remember those days. I can still see myself trying so hard to keep my hands at 10 and 2 o'clock on the steering wheel, and trying to stay two seconds behind the car in front of me, and actualy turning my head to see if there was another car besides me when I wished to to change lanes. Ah yes! I was so careful back then. I was pretty safe and responsible. I bet you were too! But then we got our lisence didn't we! Oh yes! And as Christine Huisman(G3) states, we get our lisences and we think we're hot and begin to disobey the rules of the road. Now our buddies were with us, going crazy blasting the stereo. No longer did we follow the driving laws. We, as Laura Izutsu(G1) explains, began to conform to the way other's drove. Then we started speeding and going 20 miles an hour over the speed limit. And being rude sticking our middle finger at other drivers while swearing at them. And tailgating other drivers, practically touching their rear bumper. You and I are not alone. Just take a look at Generation 3 from the Generational Curiculum Archives and you'll know what I mean. These less than ideal driving habits as Joleen Lai(G1) says, may lead to accidents which cause harm or even death for those responsible and even innocent bystanders.

"So what can I do to remedy this?" you ask. One option is to undergo a Driving Personality Makeover.

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Driving Personality What!?!

"What's a driving personality makeover?", you ask. In a nut shell, a driving personality makeover is a plan of action that uses behavior modification techniques in a series of sequential steps to reduce negative driving behaviors and replaces them with more positive ones, thus making a person a better driver. These steps are as follows:
  1. Self Assessment
  2. Acknowledge you Have a Problem
  3. Observation of Specific Behavior and Interpretation of that Behavior
  4. Figure Out a Plan
  5. Excecute Plan
  6. Observe Results and Modify Plan
    7.

Self Assessment

"In order to grow and bring yourself closer to that goal of becoming a facilitative driver, we must first examine our driving persona..." says Michael Balisacan (G3). This may sound simple, however, as Donna Handoe (G3) says it is extremely difficult to be 100% objective when it comes to self analysis because everyone prefers to preserve our self-image. Practically everyone, before they observe themselves, probably thinks they are good drivers and that it is everybody else who are are the crazy, reckless, idiots who don't know how to drive. Before realizing she could improve as a driver, Sharla Supnet (G2) thought she was a "good driver". Bryan Yucoco(G2) after completing his self assessment as a driver could not believe what kind of person he was when he was behind the wheel. As he says, he was a "butt-head". He continues to add that sometimes on the road, people are not aware of those around them and they don;t mean to do the things they do when they drive. So it is important to keep an open mind when doing a self assessment and to deep all your preconceptions of yourself on the side.
To do a self assessment, set aside a certain amount of time to make observations (for example, five days). To record your observations, you can try to make a mental note of all the behaviors , attitudes, and then write it down in a journal as Sharla Supnet(G2) and Noreen Dorion(G3) did. The thing with remembering by memory is that it is not very accurate and your observations could be clouded by your personal prejudices. You can write down your observations on paper as Bryan Yucoco(G2) did, but make sure you don't get into an accident while sriting stuff down (because that would go against the very reason you are doing a driving personality makeover.) Another option is to use a tape recorder and simply speak your thoughts while you drive as Jason Nakasato(G2) did. If you are the kind of person who can not possibly admit to youself that you have any flaws, you can ask somebody else to do the observing for you as Abe Cabuag(G3) did for two of his friends. Record any thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that you think could be detrimental to your driving such as speeding, wanting to harm others, and getting angry, frustrated, or anxious. Also check for the frequency and intensity of your behaviors.


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Acknowledge you Have a Problem

Just like being an alcoholic at an A.A. meeting. You don't have to stand in front of everybody while looking at the floor all ashamed and say, "Hi I'm _____ and I'm a driving hazard." But, as Sol Valdez(G2) states, you have to realize and acknowledge that you have a problem. He adds that admitting he had a flaw was, "...the most difficult task for me." As with any behavior modification plan, some resistence to change must be expected.Donna Handoe(G3) when refering to do a driving personality makeover, she thought that the project was insane. As she said, "Why do I need to change my driving personality? I am a good driver and don'nt need any alteration." Abe Cabuag's(G3) friend David, after being told by Abe that he needed some fine tuning on his driving nearly bit off Abe's head saying, "Why should I change the way I drive!?! I drive good!" Besides showing that David has terrible grammer, his statement reflects the majority of us when it comes to changing our behaviors. However, as Bryan Yucoco(G2) puts it, "The only thing that will stop this therapy from working is ME, MYSELF, and I." If being willing to change or being receptive to others' inputs are not part of your personality, you will not be able to grow or be educated. Aaron Reisner(G1) says we should look past our arrogance and strive for personal improvement.

Observation of Specific Behavior and Interpretation

The next time you realize you are doing one of your bad driving habits, not only observe yourself, but go a little bit deeper. Go beyond what you can see and observe how you are feeling, your thoughts, your environment is like, what time of the day/week/month/year it is, and any other stressors that can contribute to your behaviors. You will realize that there is an extremely strong correlation between the way you drive, the specific driving situation, the way you are feeling, and other aspects in your life. For example, Donna Handoe(G3) admits that it is not other drivers who cause her irritation. It's usually somehting else in her life and she usually projects her anger onto the other drivers. It is then that she starts to yell or call them names. Dory Penton(G3) also observed that she actually enjoys driving on her motorcycle. Then, for some reason, other drivers who don't know how to drive, "attack her" and ruin the beauty of the ride. This is when she chases them down and askes them, to their face, why they are trying to kill her. So remember, ther are many facts that are combinded to make ys drive like idiots. The more we know why we do it, the more efficient we will be at correcting our mistakes


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Figure Out a Plan

Now that you know what behaviors to tackle and you have an idea about why you do them, it is time to formulate a plan to reduce or totaly diminish your negative driving habits. You must remember that all driving habits and problems are not exactly alike, so you must attack them individualy by creating a specific plan of action for each specific driving habit as Berna Collado(G2) did to reduce her habit of speeding. She notices that when she catches herself speeding, it is because she is either late or in a rush. To resolve this, she decided time management would be the helpful answer. This means waking up earlier and keeping a list of things to be done. She also realized in her self-assessment that emotional influences influenced her driving. For example, when she listened to an upbeat song on the radio, she began to press the gas more. So she planned to either change the station or lower the volume thus making her speed lower as well.

Execute Plan

Now that you have a plan, all you have to do is follow what the Nike commericals say, "...JUST DO IT!" As with observing yourself, impliment your plan for a period of time. While you are executing your driving personality makeover, keep these concepts from Jason Nakasato(G2) in mind:


    • Always think about your fellow man and woman. We are very egocentric people, however, by thinking about other people first, it may start a domino effect and make others start thinking about you and other drivers as well. As Jason puts it, "...always having a fellow "bruddah" or "sistah" looking out for you."
    • Always acknowledge the presence of other drivers. Being aware of others makes us more aware of ourselves
    • Always put ourselves in the other person's shoes. By stopping and trying to think about why others did a certain action permits us to be more sympathetic and understanding to those around us.


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    Observe Results and Modify Plan

    While on your driving personality makeover plan, observe yourself. What happened to your negative and positive behaviors while driving? Did your feelings, attitudes, and reactions change? Did anything at all happen. Make a note of the change in frequency and intensisty of your behaviors and what's going on in your mind. If you are satisfied with the rate you behaviors are changing, go ahead and keep on going with your plan. If however, your results seem to be slowly trickling in, as Sharla Supnet(G2) results did, find out what may be the reason for your slow progress. Bryan Yucoco(G2) may be able to give you some tips. You must take responsibility for whatever happens. Don't say it is someone else's fault and rationalize your actions. By taking all responsibility, you will be able to take it upon yourself to change. Also keep in mind that you have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you can run. Improvements come in slowly. And just because ine one incident, you were not able to control yourself, does not mean you failed at all. What counts is what happens in the end. And lastly, don't worry. Just be committed to change and make sure to persevere.

    To Do or Not to Do

    The concept of driving personality makeovers is vital to the safety of everyone utilizing the roads. Lori Kim(G3) from the the all powerful psy 409 summer '96 class says that a driving personality makeover is for anybody. She goes on to say that since our actions are influenced by factors beyond our control as well as within our control, we must focus on those we can control. Not only are drivers affected by the way others conduct themselves one the streets but also the passengers and pedestrians who share the public tranportation system. We must not fall victim to the overconfidence phenomenon in which we are so confident of our abilities that we think we can do anything wrong, as Jo Allen(G1) says. If just one out of every ten drivers would succeed in doing a driving personality makeover, I believe that the total number of accidents would go down. A lot of people would also be less intimidated by the stresses in traffic, thus leading to a safer transportation system overall. Rahnelle Ring(G3a) who is also from the fabulous summer '96 Psy 409 class understands that not every driver will be willing to do a driving personality makeover, however, while society as a whole may fail to become better drivers, individuals may be able to make substantial benificial changes in their driving. She also states that people may indulge in bad driving habits because they are rewarding through operant conditioning, but through the knowedge that negative driving hehaviors are also potentially dangerous, people should see that driving personality makeovers are essential to everybody's safety.


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    You Talkin' to Me?

    Would I attempt a driving personality makeover? To answer that question,...YEAH! In actuality, I have been taking on this challenge ever since I received my lisence in high school. I did something very similar to a driving personality makeover, however, I never thought to myself that I was doing anything other than trying to be more in control of myself. You see, at times, in reaction to the stressors in my environment, I tend to lost my temper. Since I started driving, I noticed that I become impatient and irritable when there is traffic and the pace begins to crawl. I also become extremely stressed and angered when others tailgate me or suddenly cut in front of me with no warning. Because these behaviors of other drivers are putting me in danger, I take it personally. When my mood changes from happy-smiley Artemio into pissed off-cranky Artemio, my driving suffers terribly. In response to heavy traffic, I begin to tailgate others and my mind starts wandering. In the case of the latter, I used to drive right up to the side of the other drivers and gave them a long, nasty, stinkeye stare. Both of these actions by myself endanger both myself and others around me. They also made me look down upon myself because I gave in to my feelings and was not able to control myself. In answer to my faulty driving habits, I made myself realize that I did not want to be that way. So everytime, I catch myself becoming agrivated or hostile when I drive, I tell myself that I am still safe and not hurt (which is better than being in an accident). I also just try to smile and laugh it off to lessen the impact of other drivers' actions towards me. And you know, it works! When you realize that you are the master of your own feelings and that nodoby makes you happy or angry but yourself, you end up being more in control of yourself and the situation. Now that I have gone through and read four online generational curriculum classes, I am sure I would be able to conduct my own driving personality makeover, step-by-step and precisely.


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    Evaluation

    Oh my Gosh!!!!!

    I must admit something. Before I entered Dr. James' 409 Cyber Psychology class, I never had any real experience with the internet, or computers in general. I mean I hate computers! I would always say to my friends, "Computers and I don÷t get along. They're evil!" The only time I would use a computer was when I had to do a paper or report for a class. And the only time I would touch a computer on my own free will and on my own time was if I could put in a quarter and then play Street Fighter or something like that. So, during my first day of class, when Dr. James said we were going to use netscape, and html, and all those other computer programs I almost freaked! But I said to myself, "I'll get used this. It can÷t be that bad." Well that was sorta true.

    Feelings! Nothing More Than Feelings!

    During the first two weeks in the class, I felt totally lost. As Caroline Balatico(G1) says this is no piece of cake. The first time I went to the computer lab, I spent at least five minutes trying to turn on the damn computer. I tried to hide my ignorance from the other people using the lab by pretending to be looking for my pen behind the computer, on the top of the computer, on the side of the computer. You name it. I felt like a total idiot! When on the computer, I tried so hard to look confident on the outside, but all the while I was saying to myself, "Oh my Gosh!! What did I do? What am I gonna do now?!" It's a good thing I made friends with the students in my class.


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    Like a Virgin!!!!!

    As for using the online generational curriculum in traffic psychology, it was a new and exciting experience. It's great to think that everybody's work over the past semesters has been preserved. In usual classes, the input that students submit is graded and given back to the students who eventually and probably throw it away or put it in a dark closet so nobody ever gets to see them again. With the generational curriculum, however, students' opinions and personal points of view on a subject are kept safe as Eva Garcia(G3a) from the all impressive summer '96 Psy 409 class states. Indeed, it is a liberal form of teaching. It was cool to see so much people's input. It also made a great deal of information accessible in such a short period of time and effort. All you have to do is click on a couple of buttons or change an address, and you÷ve got a new set of information to utilize. This way of teaching is unique in the sense that it gives the student most of the control in his or her education of a subject. The student has the choice to either get the most of what is given to her/him by reading and analyzing everyone÷s files, or wasting his/her time going only through s student's or two's files. It's sorta like a unit mastery course. You are reward form the class is a function of the amount of effort you put in. Rudy Dolfo(G3a) from my awesome summer '96 Psy 409 class says it all when it comes to dealing with computers. He says that the key to getting used to the online generational curriculum and not going nuts is to practice. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! It's the one thing which, in his words, "you realize the wealth of information just within your grasp." Without the knowledge of computers, you might as well kiss the competitive world good bye because you'll be left with the back of the pack. Until I read Rudy's report, I used to think that I could get through college without ever obtaining a computer. However, taking Dr. James' Psychology 409 class and being exposed to Rudy's insight made me alter my attitudes about computers. Rudy says that computers will control the future and that it's important enough to make it part of my life. After hearing Dr James' lectures, I now agree with both of them. Computers are essential to any individual's success and without this, one can not get very far in this world.


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    But...!

    The problem with the use of this system is that it loses the intimacy which is present in traditional teaching methods such as lectures. There is also no feedback. The computer files can't talk back to you if you have any questions. And if your instructor isn't there to back you up, what are you gonna do? While the online curriculum is a magnificent tool to go hand-in-hand with class lectures and discussions, it should not entirely replace traditional teaching methods. If used together, however, I believe that the classroom/on line teaching method should and will become a standard in higher learning. As far as it working for high school students, I have some doubts. Not everyone has a computer and many high schools lack the facilities to serve a large number of students. Also I think that high schoolers need more close attention from instructors or else the students will start procrastinating or start going off on tangents in the internet. It may work for students of higher caliber, but as for the less disciplined , I think that it could be to their disadvantage. They would probably fall behind on the great amount of work involved.

    Uh? Duh?

    Being that I am the most computer illiterate person that I know, I must speak out for myself and all those other dumb-asses who know jack about using computers. It would be helpful to have a section in class or in other student files on how to operate in netscape and the use of html. Not something extravagant or elaborate. Just something enough so that people like me won't be lost during the beginning of the course. Or maybe a couple of labs separate from the regular class to teach people like me how computers work. It would also help to have the lecture in the lab. When a lecture about computers and all the commands are explained when the students are not at a computer, it is likely that many students will not be able to grasp what the teacher is trying to convey. Thus, I suggest that class be conducted when the students have a computer available to them to try out the new commands and sequences. Grant Muranaka(G3a), also from the bestest Psychology 409 class ever (Summer '96), has an opinion I agree with. He offers the advice that Dr. James should assign a future Psy 409 class to undergo a project which goal would be to put together a report that would address the basic needs to know in order to survive this course. It would teach other students to use links, set up homepages, and do e-mail. Coincidently, all these needs are the ones I had trouble on. Good idea Grant!!
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