Week 5 & 6: Driver Behaviour & Internet Pornography (PDF)

Week 5 & 6 Week 5: Driver behaviour Week 6: Internet Pornography and violence against women Week 5 Traffic Psychology (Rothengatter) “the study of the behaviour of road users and the psychological processes underlying that behaviour” aims to apply theoret...

Week 5 & 6 Week 5: Driver behaviour Week 6: Internet Pornography and violence against women Week 5 Traffic Psychology (Rothengatter) “the study of the behaviour of road users and the psychological processes underlying that behaviour” aims to apply theoretical aspects of psychology in order to improve traffic mobility and reduce accidents. theoretical aspects include: Cognition – Attention – Memory – Visual Learning Perception Human Factors – organizational psychology Personality Social Psychology Developmental psychology Forensic psychology – legal aspects of driving, enforcement of traffic laws  Road safety psychologists why a crash occurred Could it have been prevented? If so How? ❖ Could we change the road to make it safer ? ❖ Could we enforce the road rules more effectively? ❖ Could we challenge the optimistic view about their driving skills? Aim: increase the perception that risks don’t pay-off! Every police car is a mobile RBT! 2023 → 2024 = NSW road death toll increased by 23% Deaths in regional and remote Australia Due to: Road quality Wildlife Speed — fatal crashes occur in high speed zones above 100km/h Fatigue  Road death toll reduced when seatbelts were enforced (in 1970s) NSW department of transport aims to reduce deaths & serious injuries by 2026, however it is increasing! Why the increase? 1 reason could be the change in the Type of vehicles Top selling vehicles = Utes and SUVs! 1.Ford Ranger — 63k 2.Toyota Hilux — 61k  design features are problematic for ‘vulnerable road users’ increase in aggressivity in their design larger vehicle more protective of driver & passenger more aggressive toward others Aggressivity Crashworthiness ratings = measure of the serious injury risk = measure the safety of vehicles in vehicles pose to other road users preventing severe injury to their own drivers in crashes. SUVs and utes have high fronts —> causing blind spots higher fronts pedestrians were more likely: suffer head or neck injuries rather than leg injuries knocked down and run over rather than flip onto the bonnet. Children are 8x more likely to die when hit by a SUV compared to a passenger car.  Why Utes? besides feeling safer – TAX benefits! They are exempt from Luxury Car Tax (LCT), which applies to ALL utes. This loophole subsidies these large utes ( $250 million to taxpayers in 2023) Other imported cars valued above $81,000 are subject to the Luxury Car tax. E.g. a luxury hybrid sedan worth $133,000 and a ute priced at $138,000 After-tax —> Hybrid cost $11,000 more than the ute The $11,000 was exempt for the Ute driver The fatality data allows us to see: Who are most at risk of dying on the roads? What was the immediate cause of the crash? i.e. what behaviour led to the crash? Where do crashes tend to occur? What can we do ?  5 fatal risk behaviours 1. Speeding → 41% of road fatalities and 24% of serious injuries 2. Alcohol and drug driving – drugs prescribed or recreational 3. Failure to wear a seat belt 4. Fatigue 5. Distraction 1. Speed: Speeding reduces field of vision Affects ability to react to hazards on the side or behind the car Drivers just focus on the road ahead The faster the car goes harder the impact more distance the vehicle needs to stop.  2.Alcohol & drugs crashes account for around 40% of road fatalities annually 24% due to illicit drugs 3. Seat belts – best safety intervention Wearing a seat belt reduces risk of death for front seat passengers by 40-65% Nils Bohlin (1959) developed the three-point seat belt. Seatbelt cameras —- since August more than 11,400 fines issued 75% were for incorrect use of a seatbelt.  5. Distraction and Inattention 3 major types of attention ❖ arousal - excitability / stress / fatigue ❖ capacity or resources - for information processing ❖ selective attention - i.e. allocation of attention ( to road / passenger/map/ mobile) Impact of getting distracted: Reduce your reaction time. Hard to maintain a consistent speed Drifting across lanes Miss traffic light changes NOT see vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists) Not seeing traffic slowing → rear ender! 23% = rear-enders  Vision Zero reaching 0 deaths In 1997, the Swedish Parliament adopted a new long-term goal The goal is that no one should be killed or seriously injured through a road accident. It is not acceptable for human mistakes to have fatal consequences. Traditional view Vision Zero if an accident happens, then it was the Humans make mistakes, but they should not fault of the road-user. cost a person's life or health. Punish them to change their behaviour. must create a system that can reduce mistakes focus is now on the Roads vehicles Drivers rather than the individual road-user  Why do we commit unsafe acts ? Taxonomy of Errors / Human malfunctions Intended action Unintended action Deliberately violating the rules Error types E.g. Slip attentional failure Driving knowing BAC is above.05 (e.g. being distracted and swerving) Using phone when driving Lapse Memory failure (e.g. forgetting still in school zone) Mistake Rule and knowledge based (e.g. wrong lane on roundabout)  Risk – Biased decision making we underestimate our risk Other drivers have crashes – 3rd person effect Change driver behaviour using the 3 approach: ❖ Enforcement of rules (stop it or cop it) ❖ Education (marketing about speeding) ❖ Engineering (perception road changes to slow down) Making a safer road system  Week 6 Internet pornography In 2019 nearly 6,650 centuries of porn consumed on Pornhub Mindgeek parent company of Pornhub — owns many subscription sites owns advertising service entity, TrafficJunky Mindgeek were sued for distributing child exploitation material (therefore, Instagram banned Pornhub in Sept 2022) Technological developments (1980s) Video Graphics Array (VGA) — images could be rendered on personal computer Hard drives — storage of personal files Once computers were networked —- distribute or trade pornographic materials  What is driving this Passion? changes in attitudes to ‘Triple A Engine’ pornography accessibility Technology — cheaper and easier to (sites available 24/7) manufacture & deliver material affordability Easier access to free images (competition keeps prices low or free) anonymity Impact of COVID increase of 24% on March 2020 —- offered free Premium access Covid & lockdowns = increases in social isolation, loneliness and stress People with problematic pornography use may also relapse Higher use of pornography —> links with coping & emotional avoidance & boredom  Pornified Culture of Violence Why does this matter? Public health concern influencing young people’s understanding of which sexual behaviours and attitudes are normative, acceptable and rewarding viewing of IP associated with men’s desire to engage in behaviours: hair pulling Slapping Choking verbal abuse Objectification Theory - Sociology pornography & violence link Sexual objectification: instrumentalization or division of a woman's body, body parts, or sexual functions from her personhood Prioritizing of female genitalia in IP particular sexual acts that suggest a women is simply an instrumental sexual object. Men depicted as socially powerful and physically violent IP normalising sex acts most women do NOT enjoy may experience to be degrading, painful or violating Meta‐analysis (Wright et al., 2015) on pornography consumption and actual acts of sexual aggression 22 studies from 7 different countries Consumption IS associated with sexual aggression in US and internationally  Theoretical explanations of media violence link Cognitive: Priming Theory violent media activates or ‘primes’ other aggressive thoughts & behaviours Social learning theory: young children imitate almost any specific behaviours they see, including aggressive acts seen in media Social/Learning & Behaviour: Connection between observation and behaviour acquired through 3 social-cognitive structures schemas — about a hostile world scripts — for solving social problem that focus on aggression normative beliefs — that aggression is acceptable  General Aggression Model (GAM) (Bushman & Anderson, 2002) immediate situation (e.g. being insulted) combine with individual factors (e.g. beliefs about using aggression to solve problems, impulsive personality type, hostile attribution bias) combine to produce internal set of aggression related thoughts & feelings likely to lead to aggressive behaviour  exposure to media violence Short term Long term increases in aggressive behaviour increases in aggressive behaviour following following repeated violent media exposure due to repeated violent media exposure due to Priming Observational learning Mimicking Desensitisation of emotional processes Arousal changes Gender Schema theory (Bem 1981) how children acquire sex defined characteristics. During adolescence, understanding of socially dominant definitions of male and female roles is extended and refined. Schema a pattern of thought or behaviour that organises categories of information and the relationships among them  Sexual Script theory (Learning & Behaviour) Huesmann (1986) 3 components to understanding media effects on behaviour: ❖ acquisition when an observer learns a new behavioural script ❖ activation when media exposure provides a cue for retrieval form general rules, such as about female desire and malleability of consent portrayed in IP ❖ application  Critics of media violence link A Minority disagrees Personality pre-existing level of aggression draws them to violent media Social violence is falling but violent media use is increasing, so there can be NO connection Limitations to this personality view: Nearly all the research about everyday aggression, needs to research more severe category of ‘acts of violence’ impossible to determine contribution of single factor suggest the GAM theory doesn’t adequately allow for individual differences due to biology/personality. Argument — Detailed applications of the GAM clearly factor in these and many other influences Critics questioned the validity and relevance of social cognitive theories Argument — odd approach given their huge evidence base Critics suggest small effect sizes found are not meaningful. Many effects are very important risk of aggression may increase with an accumulation of risk factors without protective factors Pornography & young people Teens spent average of 14.4 hours a week online males (15 hours) females (13.8 hours). negative online experiences of teens included receiving inappropriate, unwanted content such as pornography or violent material Easy Access Free mainstream IP sites have NO barriers to entry for under 18s. Ways to reduce access use browser filters like Google Safe search and parental controls on devices many kids know how to unblock  Exposure of Children to IP Prevalence rates of intentional exposure Prevalence rates for unintentional exposure 7% of 10- to 17- year-olds in a U.S. study 19% of 10- to 12-year-olds in the U.S 59% in a more recent study of Taiwanese 60% among Australian girls 10-12th-grade students 84% among Australian boys aged 16 to 17 U.S. study found average first exposure age was 11 years with 100% of 15-year-old males 80% of 15-year-old females reporting they had been exposed to violent, degrading IP  IP Exposure & Consequences sexual socialization of adolescents and young adults Key Findings 1.Theoretical review consumption of IP represents a credible risk factor in the perpetration of aggression and violence against women. Sexual violence, abuse, and degradation of women is commonly depicted in mainstream heterosexual IP. Contention is that depictions of violence in IP may contribute to real world aggression and violence against women, with 2 relevant spheres of inquiry proposed. IP as a ‘zone of cultural exception’, in which the perpetration of violent and degrading acts against women are eroticized and celebrated, despite such behaviours being considered antisocial in wider society. This excepted status is enabled by the operation of the third person effect to negate the detrimental effects of IP. The objectification and dehumanization of women in IP and the use of moral disengagement by viewers to enable their disavowal of any harm in the depicted violence. 2.Early Exposure Most male (57.3%) and female (33.7%) respondents recalled their first exposure to IP as occurring between 12 and 14 years associated with self-assessed problematic IP viewing Higher IP viewing frequency positive affective responses to IP at current exposure elevated sexual impulsivity the endorsement of IP-related sexual beliefs IP viewing motivations linked to mood management or emotional avoidance were positively associated with problematic IP (PIP) viewing. sexual sensation seeking and moral disengagement associated with the tendency to adopt personal sexual behaviours consistent with those viewed in IP Problematic IP viewing associated with psychological vulnerability factors higher levels of sexual impulsivity Depression tendency to dissociate. early & more frequent exposure to pornography associated with initiation of sexual behaviours Exposure to violence against women in media linked with: reduced sympathy for female victims of violence increased rape myth acceptance increased attitudes in support of sexual violence more stereotypical gender role attitudes increased negative attitudes toward women increased aggression toward women  NSW government first to hold parliamentary inquiry into impacts of pornography on young people examine impact of exposure to harmful pornography improvements to support parents to educate children about pornography. Recognises need to address domestic violence and sexual assault 2021 National Community Attitudes towards violence against women found: 25% —- strongly agreed that a man may not realize a woman does not want to have sex if he is very sexually aroused 21% — agreed that a woman who sends her partner a naked picture of herself is partly responsible if the partner then shares the image without her consent  School Education NO universally taught IP education programs in Australian schools instead schools that choose to address this do so with limited presentations/outside experts schools should teach about the risks of IP viewing.