Effects of Emotions on Driving Essay

in that respect ar reported cases of vehicular accidents every year in the United States. yet though device reasonrs atomic figure 18 aw atomic number 18 that drinking and utilise cellular recalls speckle campaign are fortuneinessous, they throw away other(a) factors that superpower contribute to accidents such as physical condition and sensation. Emotions, along with soulfulnessality types, ikon backs and gender deviations, determine driving behavior. Emotions atomic number 50 be a dogmatic force in ascertain driving behavior. For instance, a psyche can be motivated to exact safely by his jazz for his family.Moreover, if he fears any legal consequences or accidents, it dexterity restrict him from reck little driving. On the other hand, if a someone has ruttish problems, this can possibly tug to collision. Some may think that emotions may wipe out little effect on ones driving. But according to researches, any kind of emotion has negative impacts on dr iving, which can safari impairwork forcets that the number one wood is non fully aware of. A person who is frightened, depressed, upset or excited while driving may be in the same danger as just aboutone who is engaged in a phone call or is drunk (DMV, 2008).There are also cases when a person has to drive after(prenominal) attending to an emergency or after learning of a loved ones sickness or death. To avoid accidents, it is advisable that the driver pause a while to get his bearings uninterrupted before getting behind the wheel. Research most causes of vehicular accidents showed that those who are experiencing negative and nevertheless positive emotions were at a distraction level more(prenominal) serious than those who were engaged in a phone call. These emotions can imply even excellent drivers in many ways.First is that they world power experience dense or impaired observation and reaction times (DMV, 2008). Second, drivers might not see debris in the path or mig ht not deal situations such as slowing of traffic, which can expiry to hitting other railcars in the way. Third, drivers might not recognize what is happening around them (Connolly, 2007). For instance, they might not recognize that a car ahead is crook around or is about to cross. Fourth, emotions might cause drivers to make high-risk changes such as precipitant change of lanes.Fifth, they might feel as if they were marooned from their surroundings (DMV, 2008). There might be some cases wherein a person is involved in a road furore. Road rage has be coiffe withal common these days. It is responsible for many cases of bodily injuries and accidents on the road. These accidents can be attributed to the fact that some drivers overreact and personalize driving situations. Researches about road rage showed that more than half of all the drivers in the States can express road rage themselves, or they can be a victim of some other drivers road rage. Moreover, the U. S.Highway go losh Office declares that the many cases of accidents on the road are connected to road rage or militant driving, as such, road rage is now the prime cause of death (DMV, 2008). The constitution type of a person can also determine his driving behavior. Personality type is categorized into Type A and Type B. Type A is those that are impatient, militant and hostile while Type B is those hush individuals (Sedona. com, 2007). One of the traits common in the abusive personality or Type A individuals is recklessness in driving. Drivers categorized as Type A are always in ask of power and control.This might be an explanation for engaging in road rage situations. Emotions effects on driving can be further explained by what is going on in the move of the learning ability involved. Emotions relieve oneself effects on the part of the chief responsible for reason, belief and judgment. These brain parts mature when a person reaches 25 geezerhood of age. Thus, drivers below 25 years old, especially teenagers, are at risk of accidents (Davis, 2005). The parts of the brain related to emotion and decision-making of the teens are settle down developing. As their brain develops, teens are susceptible to dubious behavior such as driving in addition fast.Brain immaturity is responsible for the high number of teen crash rate today. Recent brain researches of the National Institute of Health (NIH) have come out and shown that young drivers are at risk of accidents because the exe distinguishive branch of the teens brain that is largely responsible for weighing risks, making judgments and imperious impulsive behavior is not yet developed. Results have shown that a 16-year-olds brain is far less developed (Davis, 2005) than those teens who are a bit older. This explains why there are more 16-year-old drivers who are at a higher risk of crashing than those older teens.In fact, a recorded number of 937 drivers who are 16 years of age were involved in bootleg crashes in 2003. Almost half of those drivers and 352 of their passengers were killed. Thus, young teenagers need supervision because they are too young to drive. some other factor that psychologists and doctors looked into to explain the many cases of teen crashes is the telly games. Video games on locomote feature vivid driving environments wherein players must race through city and traffic (Wood, 2007). Several studies were conducted to determine the relationship surrounded by motion-picture show games and driving.One such study was conducted by Douglas Gentile and Craig Anderson, both(prenominal) psychologists. Video games are interactional and engaging. Plus, cherry behavior in video games is rewarded. Thus, teens and even adults tend to repeat these behaviors as they play. Gentile and Anderson indicated that for these reasons, violent video games may have stronger effects on aggression. The moderates have also shown that video game is instantly related to having aggressive t houghts and behavior (cited in American Psychological Association, 2004). Another study by German researchers has also shown that video games affect those who play them.The researchers tell that the video games exhibit competitive and reckless driving, go and crashing into cars or pedestrians, or performing risky stunts (cited in Wood, 2007). This means that the actions in video games can result to accidents or crashes in a realistic racing environment. The researchers chose 198 men and women to participate in the study. Results showed that those who play more often were likely to engage in risky and aggressive driving and getting into car accidents while those who played less often were more wide-awake in driving (Wood, 2007).Studies were done to determine the resistence between antheral and fe anthropoid when it comes to driving. Men are more aggressive than women, as is explained by testosterone, the male sex hormone responsible for aggressiveness in men. Most people want to know if men tend to be aggressive compared to women when driving, as such, a study showed a situation wherein a male driver became upset when another driver cut in front of him. He followed the car until he found out that the driver was a female. He was shocked because the female driver drove violently, when in the society women are not depicted to drive aggressively.If the other driver was not female, would the drivers behavior of following the car be warrant? Just from observation alone, we see how men and women differ in emotional behavior when driving. Men go out likely criticize another driver, making sure as shooting that the other driver can hear him. Women, on the other hand, will likely criticize other drivers to themselves because they fear retaliation. There are also instances when emotional behaviors get in the way of safe driving. For instance, a girl asked her companion to drive her home, but the boyfriend got upset.At 60mph, he sped around corners where the speed dress was 25mph. The boyfriends want for being in control forced his girlfriend to comply with his emotions. animosity sometimes gets the best of drivers. It results to behavior that is destructive for both the driver and the passenger (Lucey, n. d. ). Emotions affect driving. When a person is elated, frightened, worried or depressed, he or she might not be able to perform sound in driving. Aside from emotions, other factors that can affect driving are personality types, video game influences and gender differences.ReferencesAmerican Psychological Association.(2004, June 8). Violent video games Psychologists help protect children from harmful effects. Retrieved celestial latitude 1, 2008, from http//www. psychologymatters. org/videogames. hypertext markup language Connolly, A. (2007). How to control your emotions on the road. Associated Content. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http//www. associatedcontent. com/article/157425/how_to_control_your_emotions_on_the. hypertext marku p language Davis, R. (2005). 16, Is it too young to drive a car? USA Today. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http//www. usatoday. com/educate/college/firstyear/articles/20050306. htm DMV. (2008). How emotions affect driving.Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http//www. dmv. org/how-to-guides/driving-and-emotions. php Lucey, C. (n. d. ). Gender differences in driving norms. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http//www. soc. hawaii. edu/leonj/459ss97/clucey/report2. hypertext mark-up language2 Sedona. com. (2007). Type A personality, Type B personality How much are we really controlled by personality types? Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http//www. sedona. com/lp-typeA. aspx Wood, J. (2007). Video racing games may spur risky driving study. Soft32. com. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http//news. soft32. com/video-racing-games-may-spur-risky-driving-study_3722. hypertext markup language