Do you really want to hurt me?: Exploring the role of Narcissism, driver comparison and ego threat in driver aggression using a conceptual definition of aggression

Abstract

The present study examined the extent to which narcissism and driver comparisons contribute to driver aggression and aimed to determine whether these relationships were moderated by threats to one’s driving ego. In doing so, the research sought to define and operationalise driver aggression by replicating how it is defined in the general aggression literature - as behaviour intended to harm. A total of 286 participants (188 women) were recruited from a community sample of Australian drivers who completed an online questionnaire and watched a video vignette showing a provocative driving event. As expected, narcissism and driver comparison predicted higher levels of driver aggression, and aggression was higher in conditions where a driver’s ego was threatened. However, there was no interactive effect of ego threat and narcissism or driver comparison on driver aggression. Our findings have implications for the development of a consistent, theoretically grounded definition of driver aggression that focuses on intention to harm, and for the development of measures that operationalise the construct in this manner.