Hostile Gestures Research Articles

Aberrant driving behaviors as mediators in the relationship between driving anger patterns and crashes among taxi drivers: An investigation in a complex cultural context

Objective Taxis have become an integrated component of Qatar’s urban transportation network due to their convenience, comfort, and flexibility. Qatar has seen an uptick in the demand for professional taxi drivers. Most Qatari taxi drivers come from developing countries with poor awareness of road safety; therefore, they regularly engage in aberrant driving behavior, leading to traffic violations and crashes. For taxi rides to be safer, it is essential to determine the association between driving aberration and road traffic crashes (RTCs), with an emphasis on the underlying factors that trigger these behaviors. Methods To this end, we collected the data from taxi drivers relying on standard questionnaires, namely the Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ), together with the real crash data of the same taxi drivers obtained from the police department. We relied on factor analysis to identify the main factors of these tools and then structural equation modeling to predict their causal relationship with RTCs. Results The results indicated that the component of DAS, namely “illegal driving”, triggered all dimensions of aberrant driving behaviors, whereas hostile gestures had a positive correlation with lapses. In addition, the factor “error” was identified as a significant direct predictor, while the factor “illegal driving” was identified as a significant indirect predictor for RTCs. Regarding demographic characteristics, professional driving experience was found to be negatively associated with RTCs. Conclusion Driving aberration mediated the impact of driving anger on RTCs. The findings from this study could help road safety practitioners and researchers better understand these relations. In addition, these results could also be very helpful for driving instructors to train taxi drivers in a way to cope with provoking situations.

Constructive Resistance in the Frontlines: How Frontline Employees’ Resistance to Customer Incivility Affects Customer Observers

Frontline employees (FLEs) often face customer incivility—rude or demeaning remarks, verbal aggression, or hostile gestures. Although incivility from customers is rising at an alarming rate, most organizations refuse to act decisively to protect their FLEs and stop customer incivility. This research asserts that an organizational policy of ignoring and accepting incivility from customers is neither a wise business strategy nor has positive outcomes. In contrast, customer incivility should be handled promptly and decisively. Specifically, the authors present FLE Constructive Resistance (FLE CR) as a strategy to confront customer incivility. The authors conduct interviews with FLEs, develop a Constructive Resistance (CR) scale to fit the context of FLE–customer encounters, and test a conceptual model to examine the impact of CR by FLEs. The results suggest that customers who observe incivility perpetrated by fellow customers respond positively to FLE CR, including greater future purchase intention, greater positive word-of-mouth intention, and reduced future misbehavior intention. These effects are mediated by the observer’s perceived fairness of the FLE’s CR. Finally, the indirect effects of FLE’s CR on observer outcomes are more likely to manifest in customers with higher moral identity as well as newer customers.

Understanding the growing role of driving anger in the risk of traffic incidents involving Vietnamese motorcyclists

Objective This study validates the Vietnamese versions of the Driving Anger Scale and Driving Anger Expression Inventory, two prominent instruments for determining driving anger proneness and expression. Using these scales, the authors investigate the relationships between driving anger and motorcyclists' on-road risks in Vietnam. Methods Factor analyses are conducted to explore the dimensional constructs of the two scales with a dataset of 960 Vietnamese motorcyclists. The t-tests were applied to assess the differences in driving anger levels between motorcyclists' subgroups. Negative binomial regression is used to predict the probability of motorcyclists' traffic incidents based on driving anger factors and individual differences. Results The Vietnamese Driving Anger Scale has three factors, including Hostile gestures (α=.78), Unpleasant conditions (α=.80), and Traffic violations (α=.74). Hostile gestures elicit the most driving anger among Vietnamese motorcyclists. Besides, females report higher propensities for driving anger than males over three anger-provoking factors. The Driving Anger Expression Inventory has a two-factor structure, including Aggressive expressions (α=.83) and Adaptive expressions (α=.74). Vietnamese motorcyclists are more prone to have adaptive expressions than aggressive expressions when angry on-road. The regression results reveal the significant effects of gender and two factors of the Driving Anger Expression Inventory on the probability of traffic incidences. Females have considerably fewer traffic accidents and offenses than males. Besides, the number of minor crashes and violations grows by 1.54 and 1.93 times with each unit rise of the Aggressive expressions factor. Increasing adaptive expression level is associated with a decrease in the numbers of major crashes and offenses (40% and 19% less, respectively). Conclusions This study provides insights into driving anger in Vietnam, a motorcycle-dominant country. The findings corroborate the Vietnamese versions of the Driving Anger Scale and Driving Anger Expression Inventory, which contributes to understanding the formation and expression of driving anger and its roles in predicting driving outcomes. Furthermore, the higher on-road risks of males and motorcyclists with more aggressive expressions are highlighted. Generally, enhancing the risk perception about driving anger and promoting the advantages of on-road adaptive expressions may significantly reduce traffic issues in Vietnam.

Driving anger in Germany: Validation of the driving anger scale for German drivers

In 1994, Deffenbacher et al. published the Driving Anger Scale (DAS), a tool for assessing a driver’s propensity to experience anger in road traffic. Since then, much research has used this scale to measure the driving anger experienced in various countries around the world. This study examines the scale’s validity for German drivers. It also relates their experiences of anger while driving to their experiences and expressions of anger in general, as well as to certain demographic variables. In addition, it compares German drivers’ experiences of driving anger to those reported by drivers from other countries. We distributed a German version of the DAS and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) to a sample of 1136 German drivers. Results showed that a 22-items version of the DAS with six factors produced good fit indices for German drivers. Furthermore, data analysis revealed small to moderate significant relationships between German drivers’ driving anger experiences and their experiences and expressions of anger in general, underlining the idea that driving anger is a personality characteristic that is related to one's general experience and expression of anger. Finally, German drivers' driving anger experiences differed from those of drivers from other countries in that German drivers reported less driving anger than drivers from Spain and New Zealand, comparable levels to those from Turkey, Malaysia, and the United States, and more driving anger than drivers from France, Australia, China, and the United Kingdom. In addition, discourteous driver actions and hostile gestures consistently triggered highest driving anger ratings whereas police presence was rated lowest. Given these results, we conclude that the DAS can be applied to German drivers in its modified version.

The influence of driving anger on truck drivers’ speeding behavior in Serbia: the evidence from naturalistic global positioning system driving data

Objective Speeding behavior is recognized as one of the three main causes of risk on the roads and the most frequent ordinary violation among truck drivers. The study reported in this article focused on the driving anger personality trait and its role in predicting the observed speeding behavior in a sample of truck drivers. Methods A longitudinal study design was implemented, where 93 Serbian truck drivers filled in an adapted form of the Driving Anger Scale designed to assess the amount of driving anger evoked by specific traffic situations. The drivers’ second-by-second speeding behavior data were captured using GPS tracking and recording devices installed in the vehicles over a period of six months. Hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to examine the predictive performance of driving anger. Results The results showed that more than three fourths of the exceeded speed ranged from 1 to 9 km/h and the highest percentage of speed events occurred in urban areas. The findings suggest that truck drivers experienced the highest level of anger in driving because of the discourteous and illegal behavior of other drivers. Younger truck drivers are more likely to drive fast compared to older drivers. Truck drivers who perform driving tasks more often and spend less time driving are more likely to participate in speed events. The results revealed that the subscales of anger, hostile gestures and traffic obstructions have a positive effect, while slow driving has a negative effect on the observed speeding behavior of truck drivers. Conclusions This study confirms the predictive performance of driving anger facets. The results of the research can help us improve our understanding of the mechanisms of speeding behavior of truck drivers.

Driving anger and factors related to aggressive driving among Serbian drivers

Objective: Driving anger has been found to be a motivational determinant of risky and aggressive driving. The study reported in this article focused on research questions concerning the conceptualization of driving anger and relationships between driving anger and aggressive driving.Methods: In a cross-sectional survey study, 1,020 regular Serbian drivers completed a web-based online questionnaire. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to assess the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Driving Anger Scale.Results: The results showed that the adapted DAS was a valid and reliable instrument divided into five subscales such as discourteous behavior, illegal behavior, slow driving, hostile gestures and traffic obstructions. The robustness of the five-factor model obtained from the EFA was confirmed by the CFA. The study provided evidence supporting the predictive validity of the adapted DAS and revealed that the dimensions of driving anger are differently associated with prosocial and aggressive driving behaviors.Conclusions: The study supports the adapted DAS validity and produces evidence that driving anger is associated with driving outcomes.

Multigroup invariance of the DAS across a random and an internet-sourced sample

It is well established that angry and, subsequently, aggressive drivers pose a problem for road safety. Over recent years, there has been an increase in the number of published studies examining driver anger, particularly using the Driving Anger Scale (DAS). The DAS measures six broad types of situations likely to provoke anger while driving (i.e., police presence, illegal driving, discourtesy, traffic obstructions, slower drivers, and hostile gestures). The majority of the recent studies have moved away from traditional paper-and-pencil methodologies, using the internet to collect data, for reasons of convenience. However, it is not yet completely clear whether data obtained from this methodology differs from more traditional methods. While research outside of the driving arena has not found substantial differences, it is important to establish whether this also applies to driving-related research and measures, such as the DAS. The present study used Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA) to investigate the invariance of the DAS across a random sample from the electoral roll (n = 1,081: males = 45%) and an internet sourced sample (n = 627; males = 55%). The MGCFA showed the same six-factor solution was supported in both datasets. The relationships between the DAS factors and age, sex, trait anger, and annual mileage were broadly similar, although more significant differences were identified in the internet sample. This research demonstrates that driving measures administered over the internet produce similar results to those obtained using more traditional methods.

Driving anger among motor vehicle drivers in China: A cross-sectional survey

Objective: Driving anger is a common emotion while driving and has been associated with traffic crashes. This study aimed to investigate situations that increase driving anger among Chinese drivers.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 3,101 drivers in southern China. The translated version of the 33-item Driving Anger Scale (DAS) was used to measure driving anger. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews between June 2016 and September 2016.Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the fit of the original 6-factor model (discourtesy, traffic obstacles, hostile gestures, slow driving, illegal driving, and police presence) was satisfactory, after removing 2 items and allowing 5 error pairs to covary. The model showed satisfactory fit: goodness of fit index (GFI) = 0.90, incremental fit index (IFI) = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.06, 90% confidence interval (CI) = 0.061–0.064. Driving anger among Chinese drivers was lower than that in some Western countries. Compared to older and experienced drivers, younger and new drivers were more likely to report driving anger. There was no difference in total reported driving anger between males and females. Additionally, the higher the driver’s anger level was, the more likely he or she was to have had a traffic crash.Conclusion: Driving anger is a common emotion among Chinese drivers and has a strong correlation with aggressive driving behavior and traffic crashes.

Driving anger in Argentina

Angry driving is a risk factor for traffic crashes and injuries, however it has been understudied in Latin American countries. The main aim of the present study was to translate and adapt the short form of the Driving Anger Scale (DAS; Deffenbacher et al., 1994) to the Argentinean Spanish. We also included further situations linked to bad conditions of the road network in Argentina. The sample of the study included 988 Argentinean drivers from the general population. Exploratory and confirmatory analysis supported a five-factor structure which were named as infringements by another driver (α = 0.91), progress impeded (α = 0.77), hostile gestures (α = 0.95), police presence (α = 0.67) and poor road infrastructure (α = 0.84). The DAS in the Argentinean driver’s context obtained good psychometric indexes. We also found effects of gender, age, traffic violations and crash involvement on DAS and its subscales. Our findings are valuable as long as they provide information that has not been studied intensively in low and middle-income countries.

Driver Anger: Experienced and Expressed

This study aimed to explore driver anger using a Driving Anger Scale (DAS), a subscale of the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) and a General Anger Scale (AX-O). The driving anger scale measured both experienced and expressed anger in various driving related contexts. In connection with this we also explored the effect of gender and age. Participants in this study who received a postal survey were 1794 adult subjects (1283 males and 511 females). The items dealing with different anger provoking situation were analysed using a principle-components factor analysis and formed four sub-scales: impeding driving, illegal driving, hostile gestures and police presence. The result showed that young drivers scored higher on impeding driving, hostile gestures and police presence. Women in all age groups scored higher on illegal driving and in the oldest age group this also applied to impeding driving. The results also showed a high correlation between the degree of provocation and expression of anger in both men and women. Young drivers expressed their anger more overtly than older drivers. With regard to gender very few differences was found except for young men expressing more anger in connection with hostile gestures and women in the oldest age group expressing more anger in relation to illegal driving. The combination of DBQ and DAS presented a significant relationship indicating that own behaviour was related to their reaction of others. Finally the results could establish that the expression of anger behind the wheel was related to how people express their anger in other situations. In conclusion the degree of anger varies according to its context. Men and women and different age groups are provoked by different events in traffic although when they are provoked very few suppress this feeling. Anger on the road is also strongly related to anger off the road.

Driving anger in Malaysia

The present study examined the types of situations that cause Malaysian drivers to become angry. The 33-item version of the driver anger scale (Deffenbacher et al., 1994) was used to investigate driver anger amongst a sample of 339 drivers. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the fit of the original six-factor model (discourtesy, traffic obstructions, hostile gestures, slow driving, illegal driving and police presence), after removing one item and allowing three error pairs to covary, was satisfactory. Female drivers reported more anger, than males, caused by traffic obstruction and hostile gestures. Age was also negatively related to five (discourtesy, traffic obstructions, hostile gestures, slow driving and police presence) of the six factors and also to the total DAS score. Furthermore, although they were not directly related to crash involvement, several of the six forms of driving anger were significantly related to the crash-related conditions of: near misses, loss of concentration, having lost control of a vehicle and being ticketed. Overall the pattern of findings made in the present research were broadly similar to those from Western countries, indicating that the DAS is a valid measure of driving anger even among non-European based cultures.

Driving anger in China: Psychometric properties of the Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and its relationship with aggressive driving

In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of the Driving Anger Scale (DAS; Deffenbacher, Oetting, & Lynch, 1994) and its relationship with aggressive driving in Chinese context. A total of 411 drivers from five cities in China completed the survey. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the fit of the original six-dimension solution was good. Chinese drivers reported lower level of anger than their American counterparts on all six subscales, as well as New Zealand and Spanish drivers on discourtesy and illegal driving. No gender effects were revealed on driving anger. Those drivers reporting a higher level of anger on some subscales tended to be younger, from a more congested city, reporting a lower weekly mileage, and more experienced. The overall driving anger was significantly related to aggressive driving. Further relative importance analysis showed that anger from slow driving, police presence and hostile gestures contributed to most of variances in aggressive driving.

Propiedades psicométricas de la versión abreviada de la Escala de Ira al Conducir (DAS) en población española: diferencias por edad, sexo e infracciones de tráfico.

The personality factors are an important group of factors associated to traffic accidents. Specifically, driving anger can be one of the more remarkable variables because it can motivate and elicit aggressive behavior. To measure this personality factor Deffenbacher, Oetting & Lynch (1994) developed the Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and its abbreviated version (with only 14 items). Because of the widely dissemination of this short version, owing to its validity and time-saving properties, it have been accomplished its adaptation into Spanish too (Herrero-Fernandez, 2011). This first Spanish adaptation did not use general population and found a three-factorial structure. In the present study we have carried out an extension to general population, including data on traffic violations. Appropriate psychometric properties and a new four-factorial structure of «driving anger» have been achieved. The three factors on previous short versions of the DAS have been called «traffic obstructions», «illegal driving», and «hostile gestures», but we have find a fourth factor we have named «possibility of being fined». Its rationale is both empirically and theoretically discussed.

The Politics of a Good Picture: Race, Class, and Form in Jeff Wall'sMimic

Mimic(1982) is an early and much discussed picture by the Canadian photographer Jeff Wall, with the discussion centering largely on two topics: its subject matter and its setting (fig. 1). The subject is racism, and in this regardMimicis “characteristic,” as Wall's best critic, Michael Fried, has observed, “of Wall's engagement in his art of the 1980s with social issues”(Why235). Subsequently, as Fried also notes, “Wall has tended to distance himself from the overtly political concerns that are front and center in works likeMimic”(64). Indeed, in recent interviews Wall has insisted on this distance, remarking, for example, that “[t]wenty-five years ago I thought subject matter had some significance in itself” and going on to say that“Mimicwas about racism in some way, about hostile gestures between races, but I'm glad the picture itself is good and it doesn't need that to be successful. Now I try to eliminate any additional subject matter—those things are for other people, they're not my problem” (Denes). His point here is not exactly thatMimicisn't antiracist—actually, its antiracism is so obvious and uncontroversial that a recent critic, Régis Michel, has complained that it “verges on political correctness” (63). The idea is rather that the success of the picture—the fact that it's a “good” picture—has nothing to do with those politics. Which leaves open the question of whether the picture's success has nothing to do with any politics or nothing to do with the particular politics of antiracism. In other words, is the picture's success independent of politics as such? Or is there a politics of the good picture?

Perceived Sexual-Orientation-Based Harassment in Military and Civilian Contexts

The Office of the Inspector General's (2000) Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue Survey was the Department of Defense's first assessment of perceived sexual-orientation-based harassment in the military. For the study presented here, a parallel survey was developed to collect comparable data from a civilian sample. Responses of 196 civilian participants were compared to that of 200 military participants selected randomly from the Department of Defense sample. In each group, the most commonly reported type of harassment was offensive speech, and most reported incidents involved men as perpetrators and as targets. Both civilian and military groups perceived fairly low levels of all 8 types of sexual-orientation-based harassment, but civilians reported higher levels of offensive speech and hostile gestures than did military respondents. On the other hand, larger percentages of military than civilian respondents reported that a senior person perpetrated and witnessed the harassment. In both groups, approximately one third of participants who indicated that a senior person witnessed the incident also reported that the senior person attempted to stop it. Findings are interpreted in light of contextual differences between military and civilian groups that might shape reports of sexual-orientation-based harassment. Recommendations are made for refining assessment of sexual-orientation-based harassment in the military.

Anger amongst New Zealand drivers

Abstract This research investigated the types of situations that cause drivers to become angry while driving. The Driver Anger Scale [Deffenbacher, J. L., Oetting, E. R., & Lynch, R. S. (1994). Development of a driver anger scale. Psychological Reports, 74, 83–91] was used to investigate driver anger amongst 861 drivers. The resultant data were factor analysed, producing four categories of anger provoking situations; progress impeded, risky driving, hostile gestures and discourteous driving. Overall levels of driver anger were higher than equivalent research in the UK, but appeared to be lower than that found in America. In line with overseas research, female drivers reported more anger overall and in two of the four categories of driver anger (risky driving and hostile gestures). There were also regional differences, with the drivers from the main urban areas reporting more anger than those from the secondary urban areas. Reported anger declined with age for all categories of anger provoking situations. Those drivers reporting a higher level of driving anger across all potential anger inducing situations tended to be; female, younger, from a main urban area, report a higher annual mileage, be less experienced (in terms of years driving) and prefer a higher speed. The overall level of driver anger was not related to crash involvement, and neither were any of the four categories of driver anger.

The Relationships between Driver Anger and Aggressive Communication Traits

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between college students’ level of driver anger and their aggressive communication traits. Driving anger is an individual's tendency to become angry while driving. In 1994 the driving anger scale (DAS) identified six dimensions of driver anger: hostile gestures, illegal driving, police presence, slow driving, discourtesy, and traffic obstructions. Results of Pearson correlations show that police presence, slow driving, discourteous driving, and traffic obstructions were positively related to all of the aggressive communication traits. “Hostile gestures” was related to assertiveness. Illegal driving was related to indirect verbal aggression and assertiveness.

Development of a Driving Anger Scale

A cluster analysis of responses from more than 1500 college students to 53 potentially angering driving-related situations yielded a 33-item driving anger scale (alpha reliability = .90) with six reliable subscales involving hostile gestures, illegal driving, police presence, slow driving, discourtesy, and traffic obstructions. Subscales all correlated positively, suggesting a general dimension of driving anger as well as anger related to specific driving-related situations. Men were more angered by police presence and slow driving whereas women were more angered by illegal behavior and traffic obstructions, but differences compensated so there were no gender differences on total score. A 14-item short form (alpha reliability = .80) was developed from scores more highly correlated (r = .95) with scores on the long form. Driving anger may have potential value for research on accident prevention and health psychology.