Measuring explicit and implicit aggressive attitudes in drivers ' A new approach to novice driver education

Abstract

The master thesis focused on explicit and implicit measures of aggressive attitudes in drivers. Aggressive driving behavior is a frequently observed phenomenon that is prevalent among young novice drivers until 24 years and continues to prevail among male drivers. Aggressive driving can have life-threatening consequences since the drivers endanger themselves and others on the road. Thus, aggressive driving represents a serious problem for traffic safety and requires more research to understand the mechanisms of aggression with regard to driving. Moreover, explicit and implicit attitude measures can help to identify and counteract traffic-related aggressive attitudes already during the learning phase. The thesis consists of two chapters that present two independent papers with different aims, scopes, and target groups. Nevertheless, the results of both papers create an overall understanding of the incremental value of explicit and implicit measures of aggression types for better interventions in novice driver education.