AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

Accident involvement and the commission of traffic violations cannot, unfortunately, be explained simply by one factor; they are products of the complex interactions of cognitive processes, emotions, needs, personality traits, and situational variables. The present study examines the commission of traffic violations by drivers in relation to the theory of reasoned action, as well as to personality characteristics, driving-related emotions, and situational variables. The instrumental perspective of obedience to the law maintains that people are influenced by gains, losses, rewards, and punishments related to obeying or disobeying the law (Tyler, 1990). Accordingly, a considerable quantity of the traffic law-enforcement literature focuses on the instrumental dimension of drivers behavior and examines the effects of evaluated outcomes on obedience to traffic laws. Fuller (1 997), for example, argues that the commission of traffic violations should be controlled by the manipulation of its outcomes, namely prices and rewards involved in the commission of violations.

Transportation accidents are the leading cause of accidental deaths and injuries in the United States, with the vast majority of transportation fatalities (approximately 95%) and injuries (greater than 95%) occurring in the context of driving (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1999). The health and economic impact of motor vehicle accidents underscores the importance of investigating driving behaviors that may constitute risk factors. Aggressive driving has been implicated as one such risk factor. The U.S. Department of Transportation (1998) reported that approximately 21% of motor vehicle accidents involved speeding, and 5% involved reckless and careless driving. American insurance industry representatives (Snyder, 1997) estimated that 50% of motor vehicle accidents involved some form of aggressive driving. This was echoed by the National Highway Trafc Safety Administration (Martinez, 1997), which estimated that 67% of motor vehicle accident fatalities and 33% of injuries involved aggressive driving. Moreover, Stradling and Parker (1997) found that individuals with large numbers of driving violations were signicantly more likely to be in a motor vehicle accident. Thus, understanding the nature of aggressive driving and designing effective interventions for it could help to reduce the enormous toll of motor vehicle accidents. There is a consensus among researchers who have studied driving behaviors that aggressive driving is associated with anger (Arnett, Offer, & Fine, 1997; Deffenbacher, Huff, Lynch, Oetting, & Salvatore, 2000), as well as hostility and general aggressiveness (Donovan, Umlauf, & Salzberg, 1988). A number of studies have demonstrated that driving under stressful trafc and road conditions produces physiological arousal such as elevated heart rate and blood pressure (Littler, Honour, & Sleight, 1973; Simonson et al., 1968; Stokols & Novaco, 1981; Stokols, Novaco, Stokols, & Campbell, 1978; Taggart, Gibbons, &Somerville, 1969), and increased electrodermal activity (Hulbert, 1957; Michaels, 1962). Larson (1996), a cardiologist who pioneered the development of treatments for aggressive drivers, became involved with this population through his stress management program for patients with cardiovascular disease. Another recent cognitivebehavioral treatment for aggressive driving included a relaxation component, on the assumption that physiological arousal may contribute to the proclivity to drive aggressively (Deffenbacher et al., 2000). Moreover, Zillman and colleagues (Zillman, 1971; Zillman &Bryant, 1974; Zillman, Bryant, Cantor, & Day, 1975; Zillman, Katcher, & Milavsky, 1972) have demonstrated that residual physiological arousal produced by exercise or arousing lms transferred to subsequent contexts and facilitated subsequent aggressive behavior following provocation. However, there have been no investigations of the possible role of physiological arousal in aggressive driving. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate whether aggressive drivers would exhibit physiological reactivity in response to provocative driving stimuli, and to compare their arousal to that of nonaggressive drivers. Although the physiological reactivity of aggressive drivers has not been investigated, the psychophysiology of aggression has been studied. To the extent that aggressive drivers may also be angry and hostile (e.g., Arnett et al., 1997; Deffenbacher et al., 2000; Donovan et al., 1988), previous ndings on the psychophysiology of anger and hostility may also be relevant. a

Aggression

Much of the research on aggression has focused on heart rate and electrodermal responses. One of the most reliable ndings in the literature has been an association between lower resting heart rate and electrodermal activity, and aggressive behavior in noninstitutionalized children and adolescents (Davies & Maliphant, 1971; Kindlon et al., 1995; Maliphant, Hume, & Furnham, 1990; Raine, Venables, & Williamson, 1990a, 1990b, 1995; Raine, Venables, & Mednick, 1995; Schmidt, Solant, & Bridger, 1985). However, differential heart rate activity has not been associated with antisocial behavior in studies with adults (cf. Hare 1978; Scarpa & Raine, 1997). Attenuated electrodermal reactivity has been reported in adult antisocial populations. One consistent nding has been that antisocial adults exhibit reduced classical conditioning of electrodermal responses to aversive stimuli such as shock or loud tones (see reviews by Hare, 1978; Raine, 1993; Scarpa and Raine, 1997). In an early review of the research to date by Mednick (1977) and in Scarpa and Raines review of published studies since 1977, reliable associations between slower skin conductance half-recovery time after exposure to aversive stimuli and antisocial behavior were also reported. However, although these ndings suggest some reduced reactivity to aversive stimuli on the part of antisocial individuals, it is unclear how such populations would respond in response to situations that would specically provoke them to aggression. A further caveat is that the studies do not separate aggressive antisocial individuals from nonaggressive ones in their analyses. Thus, the ndings may not be specic to aggressive individuals or individuals who are intermittently aggressive but not antisocial per se. Research with adults without antisocial tendencies suggests that aggressive individuals may exhibit both greater heart rate and electrodermal activity. Calvert and Tan (1994) have found that playing a violent video game increased heart rate as well as the number of aggressive thoughts. Wolfe, Fairbank, Kelly, and Bradlyn (1983) found increased skin conductance amplitudes in physically abusive mothers who watched stressful scenes of parentchild interactions, as compared with mothers who did not abuse their children. However, there were no differences in heart rate reactivity between the two groups. McCanne and Hagstrom (1996) reviewed several studies of physical child abusers and people at risk to physically abuse children. The overall ndings were of increased heart rate reactivity and skin conductance in response to a variety of stimuli, including images of smiling and crying babies, stressful and nonstressful parent child interactions, as well as standard stressors such as solving anagrams. These authors suggested that physically abusive adults may be somewhat physiologically hyperreactive in general. One study of male wife batterers illustrates the complexity involved in determining the psychophysiological correlates of aggressive behavior. Gottman and associates (1995) found that they could classify batterers into two groups. Type I batterers exhibited decreased heart rates during the interactions. These men were more belligerent and verbally aggressive during interactions, but their aggressiveness declined as the interaction proceeded. They were also more likely to have a history of family violence, to exhibit violence toward others, and more likely to be diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder as compared with Type II batterers. They were also more likely to be married at 2-year follow-up. In contrast, Type II batterers exhibited heart rate increases and peripheral vasoconstriction during interactions and became more aggressive as the interactions proceeded. They were also more likely to be diagnosed with Dependent Personality Disorder and to be divorced at 2-year follow-up. As the increased heart rate and peripheral vasoconstriction may be associated with an epinephrine-like response (Schacter, 1957), the Type II batterers may have been anxious as well as angry during their interactions. Given the relative instability of their marriages and the greater prevalence of Dependent Personality Disorder, it is possible that the Type II batterers may have experienced more anxiety during the negative interactions, compared with Type I batterers, which may have been reected in the differential physiologi cal responses. Taken together, the ndings regarding spousal and child abusers suggest the possibility that individuals whose aggression is more reactive and somewhat anxious in nature may exhibit hyperreactivity when provoked, whereas those who may have a general proclivity toward antisocial behaviors may be somewhat physiologically hyporeactive. To summarize the psychophysiological literature on anger, hostility, and aggression, the most consistent physiological response associated with anger and hostility has been elevated blood pressure. The ndings for heart rate and electrodermal activity are mixed, with greater reactivity associated with anger, but either hyper- or hyporeactivity associated with aggression. Thus, this study provided an opportunity to explore these physiological responses in an aggressive but noncriminal population. Although the literature suggests that increased muscle tension may accompany anger, there is a dearth of research on the relationship between muscle tension and aggressiveness.