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Psychologists figure out who gets road rage and find ways to calm
them down.
Findings
Psychologists are studying what makes some people more prone to
“road rage” and how to keep them from becoming a danger on the road.
In an analysis of 10,037 police reports and newspaper stories about
traffic accidents that led to violence, the AAA Foundation for
Traffic Safety found from 1990 to 1996, road rage contributed to 218
deaths and 12,610 injuries. Worse, AAA found that road rage
incidents increased nearly seven percent each year within that
six-year period. Understanding what fuels this dangerous behavior
may help psychologists to curb it.
At Colorado State University, counseling psychologist Jerry
Deffenbacher, PhD, has studied anger and aggressive driving for
nearly 20 years. His research has found that high-anger drivers (who
identified themselves as such) differ from low-anger drivers in five
key ways.
They engage in hostile, aggressive thinking.
They’re more likely to insult other drivers or express disbelief
about the way others drive. Their thoughts also turn more often to
revenge, which sometimes means physical harm.
They take more risks on the road.
High-anger drivers are more likely to go 10 to 20 mph over the speed
limit, rapidly switch lanes, tailgate, and enter an intersection
when the light turns red.
Not surprisingly, high anger drivers get angry
faster and behave more aggressively. They’re more likely to swear or name-call, to
yell at other drivers, to honk in anger. And they’re more likely to
be angry not just behind the wheel, but throughout the day.
High-anger drivers had twice as many car
accidents in driving simulations. They also report more near-accidents and get
more tickets for speeding.
Finally, short-fused drivers experience more
trait anger, anxiety and impulsiveness. Perhaps from work or home stress,
high-anger drivers are more likely to get in the car angry; they
also tend to express their anger outward and act impulsively.
Significance
Is road rage out of control? Not necessarily. Deffenbacher found
that even people with the consistent cluster of high-anger driving
traits stayed calm under certain road conditions – for example, when
they drove down a simulated wide-open country road. Congestion and
slowdowns seem to increase anger, but only for some drivers. There
are large individual differences, so it appears to be the mix of
temperament and environment that lights the fuse. As an example of
an outside factor, the rise in long commutes may be bring out more
road rage in formerly unflappable drivers.
Practical Application
Thankfully, a combination of cognitive and relaxation techniques
have shown promise for reducing road rage among high-anger drivers.
Deffenbacher has taught applied relaxation coping skills and used
cognitive restructuring, or reframing of negative events, to help
high-anger drivers stay cool.
In a series of studies, high-anger drivers who wanted help
attended eight therapy sessions involving either relaxation or
cognitive-relaxation therapy. In the relaxation-only condition, the
drivers learned deep breathing and other basic relaxation
techniques. In the cognitive-relaxation therapy condition, drivers
learned similar relaxation methods as well as cognitive change
strategies. Both groups practiced skills to better control their
anger while visualizing anger-provoking driving situations, such as
someone cutting them off in traffic, and then practiced these skills
when they were actually driving.
Deffenbacher found that both interventions were equally effective
in curbing road rage. They couldn’t completely douse a driver’s
anger, but they did reduce its frequency and intensity. What’s more,
some studies found that a year after therapy, people continued to
keep their cool at roughly their immediate post-treatment and
one-month follow-up levels.
In New York State in 1999, the University at Albany’s Center for
Stress and Anxiety Disorders treated 20 aggressive drivers referred
by the local District Attorney’s office and 10 volunteers who
described themselves as aggressive drivers. Tara Galovski, PhD,
designed treatment sessions that included deep relaxation,
stress-management coping skills, and cognitive restructuring, and
learning different ways to think about roadway events and stressors.
These strategies have proven very successful with aggressive driving
behaviors, as well as general anger and aggression. The treatment
group averaged a 64 percent drop in aggressive driving behaviors,
and showed marked reductions on measures of psychological distress,
a standardized Driving Anger Scale, and a Driver Stress Profile.
Improvements were maintained at a three month follow-up.
Other court systems are also working with psychologists,
considering whether to mandate anger- reduction programs for
aggressive drivers. Psychologists will continue to study the
effectiveness of these new types of programs.
Cited
Research and Additional Sources
Deffenbacher, J.L., Deffenbacher, D.M., Lynch, R.S., & Richards,
T.L. (2003). Anger, aggression and risky behavior: A comparison of
high and low anger drivers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol.
41(6), pp.701–718.
Deffenbacher, J.L., Filetti, L.B., Richards, T.L., Lynch, R.S., &
Oetting, E.R. (2003). Characteristics of two groups of angry
drivers. Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol. 50(2),
pp.123–132.
Galovski,
T.E.; Blanchard, E.B. (2002). The effectiveness of a brief
psychological intervention on court-referred and self-referred
aggressive drivers. Behaviour Research & Therapy, Vol. 40(12),
p.1385, 18p.
Galovski,
T.E.; Blanchard, E.B.; Malta, L.S.; Freidenberg, B.M. (2003). The
psychophysiology of aggressive drivers: comparison to non-aggressive
drivers and pre- to post-treatment change following a
cognitive-behavioral treatment. Behaviour Research & Therapy,
Vol. 41(9), p.1055.
Galovski,
T. E. & Blanchard, E. B. (2004). Road rage: A domain for
psychological intervention? Aggression and Violent Behavior: A
Review Journal, Vol. 9,
pp. 105-127.
Galovski,
T. E. & Blanchard, E. B. (in press). Psychological treatments of
angry and aggressive drivers. In D. A. Hennessy and D. L. Wiesenthal
(Eds.), Contemporary Issues in Traffic Research and Road User
Safety. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Galovski,
T. E., Malta, L. S., & Blanchard, E. B. (in press). Road Rage:
Assessment and Treatment of the Angry, Aggressive Driver.
Washington, DC: APA Books.
Lajunen,
T. & Parker, D. (2001). Are aggressive people aggressive drivers? A
study of the relationship between self-reported general
aggressiveness, driver anger and aggressive driving. Accident
Analysis & Prevention, Vol. 33, pp. 243-255.
Novaco,
R.W. (1991). Aggression on roadways. In R. Baenninger (Ed.),
Targets of violence and aggression. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science
Publications.
American
Psychological Association, July 21, 2005
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