Rainer Höger

Responsibility and Environment Ecological Norm Orientation and External Factors in the Domain of Travel Mode Choice Behavior

In the domain of travel mode choice behavior, the interaction between ecological norm orientation and the external aspects “fare” and “subway station range” was investigated in an experimental field study. The ecological norm orientation is conceptualized based on the Schwartz theory on altruistic behavior, which is then applied to the environmental context. In a random sample of 160 persons, fare was experimentally manipulated by distributing free public transport tickets, whereas the station range was varied by selecting test participants at different distances from a station. Within the norm activation model, the mobility-specific personal ecological norm proves to be the strongest predictor of travel mode choice as recorded in standardized questionnaires. Reducing the fare by distributing free tickets has a quantitatively similar effect. The results suggest that the “economy-plus-moral” formula best describes the fact that the integrative mechanism (external factor fare plus normative ecological orientation) is the determinant of travel mode choice.

Living on Polluted Soil Determinants of Stress Symptoms

The study evaluated stress-related complaints of residents living on contaminated ground. Two hundred and fifteen residents of an area that was contaminated by toxics of a former coking plant (toxins were benzo(a)pyrene, dicyclopentadi-ene, benzol, toluol, and xylol) were compared to a control group composed of 200 subjects living in an uncontaminated part of the same city. Data are based on a standardized interview concerning stress-related somatic and psychological symptoms and on exposure parameters. The residents of the contaminated area were also required to report their estimation of danger and trust in the city council’s managing of the redevelopment. The results show that the residents reported significantly more stress symptoms than the control group. In a stepwise regression analysis, symptoms turned out to be best predicted by cognitive variables. Exposure parameters were excluded from the regression model because they provided a comparatively small contribution to the explanation of variance.

Emotional states of drivers and the impact on speed, acceleration and traffic violations: a simulator study

Maladjusted driving, such as aggressive driving and delayed reactions, is seen as one cause of traffic accidents. Such behavioural patterns could be influenced by strong emotions in the driver. The causes of emotions in traffic are divided into two distinct classes: personal factors and properties of the specific driving situation. In traffic situations, various appraisal factors are responsible for the nature and intensity of experienced emotions. These include whether another driver was accountable, whether goals were blocked and whether progress and safety were affected. In a simulator study, seventy-nine participants took part in four traffic situations which each elicited a different emotion. Each situation had critical elements (e.g. slow car, obstacle on the street) based on combinations of the appraisal factors. Driving parameters such as velocity, acceleration, and speeding, together with the experienced emotions, were recorded. Results indicate that anger leads to stronger acceleration and higher speeds even for 2 km beyond the emotion-eliciting event. Anxiety and contempt yielded similar but weaker effects, yet showed the same negative and dangerous driving pattern as anger. Fright correlated with stronger braking momentum and lower speeds directly after the critical event.

Introducing a multivariate model for predicting driving performance: the role of driving anger and personal characteristics.

INTRODUCTION Maladaptive driving is an important source of self-inflicted accidents and this driving style could include high speeds, speeding violations, and poor lateral control of the vehicle. The literature suggests that certain groups of drivers, such as novice drivers, males, highly motivated drivers, and those who frequently experience anger in traffic, tend to exhibit more maladaptive driving patterns compared to other drivers. Remarkably, no coherent framework is currently available to describe the relationships and distinct influences of these factors. METHOD We conducted two studies with the aim of creating a multivariate model that combines the aforementioned factors, describes their relationships, and predicts driving performance more precisely. The studies employed different techniques to elicit emotion and different tracks designed to explore the driving behaviors of participants in potentially anger-provoking situations. Study 1 induced emotions with short film clips. Study 2 confronted the participants with potentially anger-inducing traffic situations during the simulated drive. RESULTS In both studies, participants who experienced high levels of anger drove faster and exhibited greater longitudinal and lateral acceleration. Furthermore, multiple linear regressions and path-models revealed that highly motivated male drivers displayed the same behavior independent of their emotional state. The results indicate that anger and specific risk characteristics lead to maladaptive changes in important driving parameters and that drivers with these specific risk factors are prone to experience more anger while driving, which further worsens their driving performance. Driver trainings and anger management courses will profit from these findings because they help to improve the validity of assessments of anger related driving behavior.

Affective States and Driving Behavior of Novice and Young Drivers

ABSTRACT Although general car safety has increased considerably and at the same time accident numbers have decreased remarkably on average in the European Union during the last years, the percentage of novice and young car drivers involved in heavy car accidents is still remaining dramatically high, e.g., in Germany more than twice as high compared to older and more experienced drivers based on their proportion of the driving population. Traffic psychological research shows that maladjusted driving behavior caused by affective states is a main contributor to traffic accidents. Therefore, our current experimental study analyzes this influence of affective states on driving performance with regard to novice and young drivers. In an experimental scenario affective states (positive vs. negative valence) were induced in participants and subjects were then asked to drive predefined routes in a driving simulator. Results indicated that drivers drove significantly faster in a positive affective state compared with drivers in a negative affective state. This effect was pronounced by trend for novice drivers.

Discomfort in Automated Driving – The Disco-Scale

Due to the increasing amount of automation in vehicles the role of the driver changes from having an active part in the driving of the vehicle to a reactive monitoring task. Since there is currently no method to measure subjective comfort or discomfort we developed a 14-item scale to measure the discomfort of a driver. Research suggests that it is easier for users to sense the lack of comfort and because of this we used experienced discomfort as an indicator for the absence of comfort. The questionnaire was applied in an experimental driving simulator study and proved to have a high internal consistency (r = .91). Results suggest that this questionnaire is a useful tool for assessing discomfort in automated HMI. This first version is focused on, but not limited to, automation and advanced driver assistance systems in vehicles.

Emotional Human-Machine Interaction

This two-volume set LNCS 6771 and 6772 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Symposium on Human Interface 2011, held in Orlando, FL, USA in July 2011 in the framework of the 14th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2011 with 10 other thematically similar conferences. The 137 revised papers presented in the two volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers accepted for presentation thoroughly cover the thematic area of human interface and the management of information. The 75 papers of this first volume address the following major topics: design and development methods and tools; information and user interfaces design; visualisation techniques and applications; security and privacy; touch and gesture interfaces; adaption and personalisation; and measuring and recognising human behavior.