Territorial Markings as a Predictor of Driver Aggression and Road Rage1
The authors thank Ross Loomis for his assistance with previous drafts of the manuscript.
Abstract
Aggressive driving has received substantial media coverage during the past decade. We report 3 studies testing a territorial explanation of aggressive driving. Altman (1975) described attachment to, personalization of, and defense of primary territories (e.g., home) as being greater than for public territories (e.g., sunbathing spot on a beach). Aggressive driving may occur when social norms for defending a primary territory (i.e., one's automobile) become confused with less aggressive norms for defending a public territory (i.e., the road). Both number of territory markers (e.g., bumper stickers, decals) and attachment to the vehicle were significant predictors of aggressive driving. Mere presence of a territory marker predicts increased use of the vehicle to express anger and decreased use of adaptive/constructive expressions.
Number of times cited: 7
- Peter Bolcha and Jan Rovný, Luck or luxury? Possible corruption in the car registration process in the Czech Republic, Journal of Public Policy, 36, 04, (603), (2016).
- Christy Ashley and Stephanie M. Noble, It's Closing Time: Territorial Behaviors from Customers in Response to Front Line Employees, Journal of Retailing, 90, 1, (74), (2014).
- Paul Sârbescu, Predrag Stanojević and Dragan Jovanović, A cross-cultural analysis of aggressive driving: Evidence from Serbia and Romania, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 24, (210), (2014).
- Andry Rakotonirainy, Frank Feller and Narelle Haworth, In-Vehicle Avatars to Elicit Social Response and Change Driving Behaviour, Sociological and Philosophical Aspects of Human Interaction with Technology, 10.4018/978-1-60960-575-9.ch019, (343-366), (2011).
- Harry T. Reis and Samuel D. Gosling, Social Psychological Methods Outside the Laboratory, Handbook of Social Psychology, (2010).
- Andry Rakotonirainy, Frank Feller and Narelle Haworth, In-Vehicle Avatars to Elicit Social Response and Change Driving Behaviour, International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction, 5, 4, (80), (2009).
- Matt Kaplan, Bumper stickers reveal link to road rage, Nature, (2008).
