Psychologist Says Driving Is a Team Sport
Feb. 13, 2005 -- -- We may not wear the jerseys and most of us haven't signed multimillion-dollar endorsement contracts, but when we're driving, we're all members of the same team.
That's the philosophy of Dr. Leon James, a psychology professor at the University of Hawaii who has been doing research on the subject of driving psychology for 25 years.
James' research focuses on why some of us scream and curse when stuck in traffic, while others calmly wade through their commute.
"Why does almost everybody, at some point in traffic, expresses negative emotions?" he asks.
James teaches his students that the negative behavior drivers exhibit on the road is a result of the social norms we pick up as children.
"We call the back seat of the car 'road rage nursery,' " James said. "Because that's when children are exposed to the verbal road rage of their parents."
As a result, he says, children learn that even though aggressive behavior is unacceptable in some places -- like work or school -- it is acceptable when driving a car.
"We drive the way our parents drive and the way television teaches us to drive," said James. "We're trained to drive aggressively. We're trained to be competitive. We're trained to look out for ourselves on the road."
James says the key to preventing this kind of behavior is for drivers to stop thinking of themselves as individual competitors, and start thinking of themselves as part of a team.
"It's just like a football game or any kind of game," James explained. "If someone is not a team player -- just looking out for themselves -- that team is not going to do as well."
Being a team player means not only being courteous to other drivers, but giving them the freedom to do what they need to in order to keep traffic flowing.
"If we learn to keep more distance and to allow other people to politely do what they want instead of standing in the way, then all of the traffic is going to start moving faster," said James.
To identify and deal with the problem, James has developed a three-step program he calls "A-W-M" -- for Acknowledge, Witness, Modify.
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