Laurent Auzoult

Traffic offences: planned or habitual? Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour and habit strength to explain frequency and magnitude of speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol

This study addresses the socio-cognitive determinants of traffic offences, in particular of speeding and drinking and driving. It has two aims: (1) to test the hypothesis of a direct effect of habits on offences (i.e., independent of intentions) by employing a specific measure of habits (i.e., the SRIH) and (2) to analyse the offences by taking account of three distinct parameters: Frequency, usual magnitude (i.e., the most frequent deviation from the law) and maximal magnitude (i.e., the greatest deviation occasionally adopted) in order to represent more accurately the variability of the offending behaviours. A total of 642 drivers replied to a questionnaire. The results corroborate the idea that intention and habit are distinct and direct determinants of offences. The use of the SRIH dismisses the criticisms made with regard to the measure of past behaviour. The distinction between the three behavioural parameters proves to be relevant, as their determinants are not exactly similar. Finally, attitude and subjective norm had direct effects on the maximal magnitude and/or on the frequency of the offence. The discussion concerns the contribution of this study to the analysis of offences as well as its limitations and addresses the theoretical plausibility of the direct effects of attitude and the subjective norm.

An exploratory study of self-consciousness and emotion-regulation strategies in health care workers.

The goal of this study was to assess relations between public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness (self-reflectiveness and internal state awareness), and two emotion-regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. 59 employees of a public hospital completed a survey. Public self-consciousness was not associated with either emotion-regulation strategy, while both dimensions of private self-consciousness were related to the strategies. While self-reflectiveness was correlated with expressive suppression, internal states awareness was associated with cognitive reappraisal.

L’impact des distances psychologiques et des valeurs de distances de pouvoir sur le jugement socio-moral vis-à-vis de transgressions et de conduites atypiques en milieu professionnel

Resume On etudie aupres de 178 sujets la relation entre les valeurs de distances de pouvoir, les distances psychologiques et les jugements de severite et de rejet de conduites transgressives et/ou atypiques. Les resultats revelent que le champ des conduites au travail se structure autour des valeurs et des distances psychologiques, l’accentuation des distances conduisant a augmenter la severite vis-a-vis des deviances. Ces resultats suggerent qu’il est necessaire de considerer les jugements vis-a-vis des conduites deviantes au travail du point de vue des differents registres normatifs invoques par les salaries.

The mediating role of integration of safety by activity versus operator between organizational culture and safety climate

ABSTRACT In this study, we analyse the impact of the organizational culture and introduce a new variable, the integration of safety, which relates to the modalities for the implementation and adoption of safety in the work process, either through the activity or by the operator. One hundred and eighty employees replied to a questionnaire measuring the organizational climate, the safety climate and the integration of safety. We expected that implementation centred on the activity or on the operator would mediate the relationship between the organizational culture and the safety climate. The results support our assumptions. A regression analysis highlights the positive impact on the safety climate of organizational values of the ‘rule’ and ‘support’ type, as well as of integration by the operator and activity. Moreover, integration mediates the relation between these variables. The results suggest to take into account organizational culture and to introduce different implementation modalities to improve the safety climate.

When the social discourse on violation behaviours is challenged by the perception of everyday life experiences: Effects of non-accident experiences on offending attitudes and habits.

The aim of this article is to introduce the concept of the Non-Accident Experience (NAE) with regard to violations of traffic safety regulations. An NAE refers to the fact of not having been involved in an accident following the adoption of a behaviour socially recognised as promoting its occurrence. We hypothesise that this type of experiences has a strong effect on attitudes (valence and strength) and habits with regard to traffic offences such as speeding and drink-drive. An empirical study was conducted to test the relevance of this set of hypotheses. 543 French drivers participated to a survey designed to measure all these theoretical constructs. As expected, the results showed that the more frequently NAEs were experienced the more individuals had a favourable and weak (less certain, less important, more ambivalent) attitude towards violations, as well as strong habits. In addition, the more numerous NAEs experienced by others were perceived to be, the more ambivalent was the attitude. The discussion firstly concerns the methodological limitations of this study (e.g. use of cross-sectional design) as well as the integration of this concept into current research, especially in relation to the attitude strength concept and the theory of planned behaviour. Then, we discuss its practical implications (use of the experience based analysis technique, with consideration of both accident and non-accident experiences).