Negative Experiences are a Part of Life

A Japanese university experimented to see how people socially share their experiences when they see images that evoke unpleasant feelings. When participants were left alone in a waiting room with a friend after seeing the unpleasant images, 95.3% of them told their friends about the images. Even when they were told not to disclose, 53% of them ended up talking about their experience a week later. Our desire to share bad experiences with others is so strong, and we struggle to keep it to ourselves.

In clinical psychology, verbalization of emotions is believed to have a cathartic effect that removes anxiety and tensions. Verbalizing emotions is also linked to better mental health, as it has significant implications for depression recovery. People seem to derive these effects from “cognitive” and “interpersonal” aspects of this behavior, which we will discuss below.

Emotional Support Stabilizes Our Feelings

Tough times can make us feel frustrated and anxious. When these experiences occur, our trust, self-image, perception of others, and the world can be shaken. We all desire to sort out what happened, why it happened, and know what kind of social support we can get. When there’s something out of our control, we feel the need to discuss it with peers so that we can restore our faith again. Receiving the emotional support from our peers makes us feel better about the mistakes we made. These are the “cognitive” reasons we vent our feelings to others.

Staying Connected to Society

When we’re upset, we tend to focus on ourselves and our negative experiences. As a result, we tend to forget about the rest of the world. We try to recover from the loneliness we experience during these times by sharing our negative experiences with friends and family. Our desire to communicate stems from wanting society to know how we’re feeling and to feel accepted through emotional support. This is the “interpersonal” reason why we talk about painful things.

Do We Want to Share Our Embarrassment?

It’s not rare to share the little embarrassing things that we experience. Like when we mess up during a presentation or trip on a flat surface. A Japanese university set to find out if and when students would talk to others about their saddest, angriest, and most embarrassing experiences. Researchers expected results to show that participants seldom shared their embarrassing experiences. However, 71.4 % of participants claimed to share their most embarrassing experiences with others. Also, more than half shared their experience almost immediately after it happened.

Everybody Shares Their Feelings with Others

Sharing feelings is part of our universal behavior. A social study of shared emotional behavior across six countries, including Belgium and Suriname, found no differences by country, age, or gender, in the way that humans shared emotions. Talking about embarrassing or upsetting occurrences seems to be a common phenomenon for men and women of all ages and backgrounds worldwide.

Nevertheless, it can be somewhat stressful for a listener to hear someone’s negative experience, as well as to provide undivided emotional support. It’s wiser to spread your venting among several people rather than dumping everything onto just one person.

Sharing difficult or embarrassing experiences is natural. We should always support our circle of family and friends to help each other get through these experiences.

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Image: Unsplash

Reference:
Kawase, T. (2000). Why We Talk About Our Emotions: Why Do People Talk About Negative Emotions to Others? Bulletin of Miyazaki Municipal University Faculty of Humanities 7(1), 135-149.

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Causes for Car Accidents by Location

According to the WHO, while the car ownership population has increased, the ratio to car accident death has not changed.

Low-income countries almost never decline in car accident deaths and have 3 times a higher probability for death. These countries and poor regions don’t have the infrastructure to create sidewalks and bike lanes or don’t have laws that hold speeding and drunk drivers accountable. Some regions have very lax rules for driving and this also accounts for reasons of car accidents.

However, developed countries that don’t have these problems still face car accident issues. The most common reasons are; falling asleep behind the wheel, drunk drivers, and elderlys who mishandle control.

Among the many reasons, it is known that our emotions contribute to these errors as well. Dangerous driving and road rage happens when a driver’s emotions take over. Strong emotions create certain beliefs to over capacitate a driver’s abilities, which then results in car accidents.

Road Rage Statistics

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) defines aggressive driving as “the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger persons or property.” Road rage can result in traffic violations, and can sometimes even escalate to a criminal offense.

According to an AAA survey in the US, “Regardless of gender, nearly 8 in 10 (79%) American drivers demonstrate aggressive behaviors when behind the wheel.” Dr. Leon James, who has done extensive research on driving psychology, also demonstrates evidence that road rage has become a cultural norm in the United States.

Although the degree of aggressive behavior varies, surveys indicate that many people around the world have encountered aggressive behavior while on the road.

How Does Anger Influence Driving?

According to the NRSPP (National Road Safety Partner Program), “anger makes us feel more confident, leading us to overestimate our control and make stereotypical judgments.” In other words, aggressive driving is a manifestation of our emotional state.

There are 4 big reasons anger is triggered on the road:

• Traffic Obstruction: Long traffic lights and traffic jam
• Traffic Violation: Witnessing other cars that don’t obey traffic laws
• Traffic Manners: Rude and inconsiderate gestures such as honking and cutting in
• Traffic Danger: Almost hitting another car or sudden animals/humans jumping in front

• The likelihood of crash involvement is 35 times higher
• Accident risk increases nearly 10 times

Therefore, it is important we learn how to manage anger and know how to control our emotional states when we take the wheel.

Anger Management and Risk Control

How to Better Manage Anger on the Road

Anger is said to reach its precipice after 6 seconds. According to how the brain functions, there’s also about a 6-second gap between us feeling angry to gaining back rational control. Therefore, the first 6 seconds are crucial when we try to handle our emotions while out on the road.

Anger management helps us better deal with our anger, and is a great way to train our emotional response to avoid road rage. As an example, here are things to try for the first 6 seconds when you feel angry or stressed out while driving:

• Take deep breaths
• Simple mathematics (Example: Start from 100 and keep subtracting 3)
• Rate your anger (Objective quantifying gives us the space to gain rationale)

According to a survey here are a few methods that people typically choose to relax after a road rage incident:

• Listen to music or a podcast: 30.5%
• Think of something more peaceful: 19.2%
• Letting off steam by yelling in the car: 9.5%

Don’t Let Road Rage Take Over

Any driver should assess risk factors and learn how to control their anger before it turns into road rage. In England, drivers are required to take a Hazard Perception Test (measures the driver’s ability to recognise potentially dangerous situations on the road with appropriate response) when getting their license. Overconfidence often causes risk-taking behavior too. Therefore, in Sweden, drivers are required to go through Risk Sensitivity Training where discussion and feedbacks are given on the weak points of each individual driver.

It’s very important that we keep our stress levels low so that we don’t exhibit aggressive behaviors that could lead to accidents. Anger management is crucial to staying safe for the sake of ourselves and others on the road.

Looking to improve your mental health?

Try the SELF MIND app FREE for 1 week!
If you’re looking for more tips on how to care for your mental health, check out some of our past blog posts!

References：

Budget Direct & National Road Safety Partnership Program. (2020, September). Road Rage Study & Statistics | Car Research & Statistics — Budget Direct™. Budget Direct. https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/car-insurance/research/road-rage-study.html

Carslake, J., Fetalvero, G., Cooke, K., Xavier, C., Stephens, A., Khouzami, Y., & Roberts, T. (2020). NRSPP Australia » NRSPP Fact Sheet: Aggressive Driving – What Is Aggressive Driving? National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP). https://www.nrspp.org.au/resources/nrspp-fact-sheet-aggressive-driving-what-is-aggressive-driving/

Covington, T., & LinkedIn, T. C. (2021, April 20). Road Rage Statistics in 2021. The Zebra. https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/road-rage-statistics/

Gross, A. (2020, December 10). Survey Says: Men Are More Aggressive Behind the Wheel. AAA Newsroom. https://newsroom.aaa.com/2020/12/survey-says-men-are-more-aggressive-behind-the-wheel/

James, L. (2000, August). The Effect of Age, Gender, and Type of Car Driven Across the States. DrDriving.Org. http://www.drdriving.org/surveys/interpretations.htm

Ogawa, K. (1993). Risk Perception and Hazard Perception. The Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka University, 19, 27–40. https://doi.org/10.18910/5893

Precht, L., Keinath, A., & Krems, J. F. (2017). Effects of driving anger on driver behavior – Results from naturalistic driving data. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 45, 75–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2016.10.019

Renge, K. (2000). Psychological processes of risk-taking behavior in driving and new approach toward promoting risk-avoiding behavior. IATSS Review, 26(1), 12–22. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/download/digidepo_8217800_po_26-1-06.pdf?contentNo=1&alternativeNo=

Richardson, R. (2018, January 28). Who Is In More Accidents? Men or Women? | OSV | Learning Centre. OSV. https://www.osv.ltd.uk/iam-research-confirms-men-more-likely-to-be-involved-in-crashes-than-women/

Shimofure, T., & Kiyama, K. (2016). A study on introduction significance of anger management to health and physical education. Annual Reports of the Faculty of Education, Gunma University. Art, Technology, Health and Physical Education, and Science of Human Living Series, 52, 57–70. https://gair.media.gunma-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10087/11067/1/07%20GKGEI-KIYAMA.pdf

Stuster, J. (2004, March). Aggressive Driving Enforcement: Evaluation of Two Demonstration Programs. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34137

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