Discomfort, affects and coping strategies in driving activity

AUTHORS: Cahour, B
JOURNAL: Proceedings of the 15th European conference on Cognitive ergonomics: the ergonomics of cool interaction, 2008

ABSTRACT: "Psychological comfort/discomfort is a global feeling constructed from the affective states which are lived by the users during the activity. This empirical study is about discomfort and emotions lived during all sorts of driving situations, and it is based on "explicitation interviews" and questionnaires. The analysis allowed us to specify the categories of uncomfortable situations during driving and their level of discomfort, to develop the underlying cognitive and social sources of discomfort (need of multiple attention; impossible anticipation; loss of control and feeling of un-ability; social image and relation), and to look at how people cope with the disagreeable situations, specifying the different types of coping modes (internal coping, external coping, avoidance)." [Full text available here (pdf)]

SUMMARY: This study is based on hour long interviews with 18 participants from a range of age groups. It is a general examination of experiences that cause negative emotions during driving. It was found that the most commonly experienced emotions were "tension and fear", followed by anger and then all other feelings. The sources of these feelings seem to be the need to attend to multiple aspects of a situation, of failures to see or anticipate events, feelings of being out of control or unskilled and the interference and opinions of other people. Coping strategies fall into three main groups: trying to change ones own thoughts or behavior, trying to change the situation, and avoidance of situations such as driving in certain areas. "It seems that older people are more often avoiding uncomfortable situations of driving..."

MY THOUGHTS: While not specifically about driving anxiety this paper gives a good background to the causes and outcomes of negative feelings whilst driving.

Béatrice Cahour (2008). Discomfort, affects and coping strategies in driving activity ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 369

Measuring emotions in traffic

AUTHORS: Mesken, J.
CONFERENCE: Towards Safer Road Traffic in Southern Europe, 2002

ABSTRACT: In this paper, three categories of methods to measure emotions are reviewed and possible applications for traffic research are discussed. Of the three measurement categories - overt behaviour, physiological measures and self-reported behaviour - examples are given of past use of these measures in traffic research. Also, implications for further research are discussed. [Full text available here (pdf)]

SUMMARY: This paper discusses the measurement of driver emotion.

MY THOUGHTS: This paper discusses how very little is known about how to measure, and so understand, the emotions of the drivers. The interactions between emotion, motivation and action are discussed. Many subjects were covered but elements relating to driving anxiety, in brief, are:
* Emotions can negatively effect driving behaviors. Specifically: "anxiety narrows attentional focus." Driving is a complex task and overly narrowed focus can be dangerous.
* However, positive moods can be equally dangerous as they increase risk taking.
* Therefore it is important to measure both the emotions and the performance of the task (driving).
* There are various types of measurement that can be taken to appreciate the emotion of a driver, including: behavior, physiology and spoken reports. In general it is a good idea to take at least two measures and where possible more when trying to understand a driving situation.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: In many cases where driving anxiety is being treated the potential for impaired ability and so legitimate danger during driving seems to be overlooked, and there is a tendency to rely exclusively in verbal report as a measure. This report is a useful reminder to step back to try to capture more about the situation in order to understand it better.

Mesken, J. (2002). Measuring emotion in traffic ESF Congress: 'Towards Safer Road Traffic in Southern Europe'