Personality of drivers in cars

To anger some people, it is enough to overtake them or drive in front of their car at a slower speed. That’s when they take a driving course with you or approach your car with the smallest distance and turn on their lights! Now, if you are provoked and react to his behavior, it is very likely that it will end in beatings and obscenities. But what is the cause of this murderous father and how can a stranger become so angry and hate you in a few seconds? Psychologists believe that people’s behavior while driving can reveal their personality traits and history of mental problems. So, if you have recently met new people and want to test their character, get in their car for once and drive around the busy streets.

 

Familiarity with behavioral patterns in communication

In their social relations, humans adopt four ways of communication, by explaining each of them, it is possible to examine the types of social behavior while driving. These four behavioral patterns are:

1-Passive behavior

People who follow this pattern do not react to various events and behaviors and do not defend their rights. In fact, the relationships of these people are win-lose; That is, they sacrifice themselves for the satisfaction of others. This pattern of behavior makes the people around them used to bullying and causes humiliation and loss of self-confidence.

2- Aggressive behavior

The aggressive behavior pattern is the opposite of the passive pattern. Relationships in this model are win-loss; It means that a person only pays attention to his rights and does not value others. These people are usually power-hungry and want to take control of everything. So they hurt others.

Many people want to park their cars exactly where they shop, even if they annoy others by doing so. It is as if they have special rights for themselves that others do not have. In fact, these people do not accept responsibility for their social behavior and only think about their own gain.

3-passive aggressive behavior

In passive-aggressive behavior, a person is usually quiet, but suddenly gets angry. Also, it is possible to have a calm appearance and demeanor and to annoy others in an unclear manner with behaviors such as playing around, procrastinating, sarcastic words, etc. In fact, people vent their anger secretly by doing this.

Getting too close to other cars and using high beam is one of the ways to release anger and is related to passive aggressive behavior pattern. In this situation, the person is not outwardly aggressive, but actually hurts others and puts them under pressure.

4-Mature behavior

This pattern is the only healthy behavior and creates a win-win relationship. People with mature behavior usually feel peaceful and healthy inside themselves and have healthy relationships; That is, they value both their own rights and the rights of others. As a result, they do not hurt themselves and others and do not allow others to hurt them.

 

Continuous beeping

This behavior is usually caused by anxiety and trying to achieve results. Perfectionists and result-oriented people show such behaviors not only in driving, but in many other aspects of life. In fact, they want to overcome obstacles very quickly and achieve results, so they do not care about the way to achieve results, and they may even harm others. In a more complicated form, this behavior can turn into obsessive behavior. In such a way that the person obsessively controls the situation so as not to get hurt. A few years ago, a study was conducted on people’s behavior in traffic, which showed that Iranians tend to fill empty spaces. It is as if they have a stress from inside that makes them drive faster because they think that if they are ahead, they will win. By looking at the four behavioral patterns, you will realize that these people only care about their own desires and gains and do not care about others. Unfortunately, one of the issues that has fueled this behavior in recent years is the entry of non-experts with a market attitude into the field of successful thinking. These people encourage people to act very quickly to achieve success and wealth, thus making people feel backward and anxious to achieve success. Such anxiety in the external social form can also show itself in the form of continuous beeping.

 

Profanity and violent behavior

Profanity in any situation is a way to empty the eyes and is related to the pattern of aggressive behavior. People who have poor anger management skills usually turn to the easiest way, i.e. swearing, to get rid of pressure and stress. But this behavior not only does not calm the person, but will intensify his anger. Showing anger in this way is like drinking a cup of poison and it hurts the person and those around him. Profanity can also be rooted in antisocial disorders. In this situation, the person cannot accept the facts and turns to violence to deal with them.

 

Getting too close to cars and using high beam

This behavior is another type of harassment and causes anxiety in the surrounding cars. Sometimes, due to unresolved internal and educational issues, people reinforce abusive roles in their personality and express them in different ways. In fact, when a person cannot defend his right, he may show the feeling caused by it in the form of anger and other harassment. Getting too close to other cars and using high light is also one of the ways to release anger and is related to the passive aggressive behavior pattern. In this situation, the person is not outwardly aggressive, but actually hurts others and puts them under pressure. Some drivers even use a kind of two-mode LED lamp similar to the light of a police car, so that others mistake them for the police and get away. These people can be dangerous because they may use any illegal, unconventional and antisocial behavior to achieve their goals in life.

 

Violation of traffic laws

This behavior is completely selfish. For example, many people want to park their cars exactly where they shop, even if it hurts others by doing so. It is as if they have special rights for themselves that others do not have. In fact, these people do not accept responsibility for their social behavior and only think about their own gain. This behavior is aggressive in appearance and can become an anti-social behavior in a pathological form. The conscience or parent of a personality in antisocial people seems to be cleansed and does not prescribe discipline and rules for them. Therefore, they may do anything.

 

High speed and cornering

This behavior is a kind of emotional discharge. In fact, those who drive at high speed are thrill seekers. If this excitement is not verified in a positive way, it will have bad effects. Part of this is related to the individual and the other part to the country’s managers. On the one hand, a person should be careful about his emotions. Otherwise, the child within the personality is strengthened and the person makes decisions based on emotions and feelings. On the other hand, managers must recognize these emotions and give them direction; They should provide places for this purpose so that young people can have emotional discharge at the right time and conditions. It should be mentioned that the pathological form of this behavior can also occur in people with bipolar disorder. These patients have manic/depressive states; That is, at some times they are too energetic and at other times they are completely depressed, and when they are energetic, they do strange emotional behaviors such as driving very fast.

 

Listening to music too loud

This behavior is clearly a type of attention seeking. Normally, listening to music is enjoyable and useful, but people who make others notice the sound of it, feel a lack of attention, emptiness and loneliness from the inside. Therefore, they want to make up for it by attracting the attention of others, but of course they do not succeed. Such behavior in a pathological form can become dramatic personality disorder. A showy person usually has exaggerated behaviors and wants to attract the attention of others by different ways, such as changing his appearance and the way he dresses, and even loud music.

 

Setting courses and playing games with other drivers

Playing games in driving by overtaking, braking in front of other cars, etc. clearly shows that these people’s way of solving the problem is childish. Such behaviors are related to the passive-aggressive pattern; It means that the person is not outwardly aggressive and does not argue or fight, but he still hurts. Those who solve life’s problems through the inner child do not face the situations directly and do not think about whether they are worth dealing with or not. Rather, they simply start to be stubborn and have more knots and conflicts.

 

Puncturing the car parked in the wrong place

This behavior is a kind of childish problem solving. In this situation, the person abandons the legal ways and mature methods and tries to reach the result in the shortest time. Although the person is right and the car driver may have consequences. Those who solve problems in emotional and childish ways, buy many consequences for themselves. Examples of these consequences are many fights that have even ended in the loss of human lives.

 

Drawing a line on the car

Drawing a line on someone else’s car is clearly a passive aggressive behavior that turns into antisocial behavior in its complicated form. Those who show this behavior do not care how much they hurt others. Instead of solving problems through appropriate dialogue and negotiation, they simply seek emotional release and use this behavior in all matters of life.

 

Fear of driving and speed

Those who are too afraid of driving follow a passive behavior pattern; That is, instead of facing problems, they run away from them. Most likely, these people have had bad driving experiences that have turned into a pathological fear or phobia. Such fear disrupts daily life and functions and is a sign of a person’s effort to control the situation and prevent injury. These people feel weak from the inside and are not aware of their abilities. Also, their coping skills are weak. As a result, not only in driving, but also in other situations, they prefer to escape rather than confronting maturely and decisively.

 

How to deal with annoying drivers?

Entering into a violent atmosphere also involves you. Humans, especially people with an aggressive behavior pattern, have special psychological and mental games and through them they lead you to an atmosphere of aggression to vent themselves. In these situations, you should have a mature look and ask yourself two questions: Is such a person with such a position really worth spending time on? Does this work at all help to solve the problem? Unfortunately, many people, as they have been proven in the childish parts of their personality, show emotional and childish reactions as soon as they face such behaviors and suffer adverse consequences. Also, if you were in a friend’s or family’s car and you encountered the driver’s violence, you should not argue with the person at that moment because it is possible that a flood of aggression will return to you by reminding them.

 

References

Addendum of Iran newspaper / Saturday 17th of Bahman 1994 / Setare Mohammad and expert: Pouria Pakrou, psychologist

 

Published on: July 22, 2023