TY - CHAP

T1 - Emotional states of drivers and the impact on driving behaviour - a simulator study

AU - Roidl, Ernst

AU - Höger, Rainer

AU - Pfister, Hans-Rüdiger

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - Statistics indicate that in 2009 more than 400,000 traffic accidents occurred on German roads inflicting almost 4,100 casualties. One important factor in those incidents was maladjusted driving behaviour caused by strong emotions in the driver (e.g. aggressive driving or delayed reactions). Several situational appraisal factors like blame, goal congruence and goal relevance are held responsible for the nature and intensity of emotions experienced. Based on two online studies, a framework of emotion eliciting situations was developed and transferred to a driving-simulator context. The aim was to explore the impact of several different emotions on actual driving behaviour. Eighty-seven participants completed a track consisting of four situations. These situations typically raise emotions of different types and intensities, for example anger, anxiety or surprise. Half of the participants were confronted with positive (goal congruent) and half with negative (goal incongruent) situations. The dependant variables consisted of observed driving behaviour and its sub-facets like driving speed, acceleration and lateral position on the street. The findings indicate that negative emotions like anger lead to higher speed and stronger acceleration by the driver, whereas anxiety causes stronger deceleration and lower speeds. Implications of these results will be discussed

AB - Statistics indicate that in 2009 more than 400,000 traffic accidents occurred on German roads inflicting almost 4,100 casualties. One important factor in those incidents was maladjusted driving behaviour caused by strong emotions in the driver (e.g. aggressive driving or delayed reactions). Several situational appraisal factors like blame, goal congruence and goal relevance are held responsible for the nature and intensity of emotions experienced. Based on two online studies, a framework of emotion eliciting situations was developed and transferred to a driving-simulator context. The aim was to explore the impact of several different emotions on actual driving behaviour. Eighty-seven participants completed a track consisting of four situations. These situations typically raise emotions of different types and intensities, for example anger, anxiety or surprise. Half of the participants were confronted with positive (goal congruent) and half with negative (goal incongruent) situations. The dependant variables consisted of observed driving behaviour and its sub-facets like driving speed, acceleration and lateral position on the street. The findings indicate that negative emotions like anger lead to higher speed and stronger acceleration by the driver, whereas anxiety causes stronger deceleration and lower speeds. Implications of these results will be discussed

KW - Business psychology

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 978-90-423-0406-2

SP - 171

EP - 182

BT - Human Centred Automation

A2 - De Waard, Dick

A2 - Gérard, Nina

A2 - Onnasch, Linda

A2 - Wiczorek, Rebecca

A2 - Manzey, Dietrich

PB - Shaker Publishing

CY - Maastricht

ER -