Theories of Driver Behaviour and Driving Emotions

The paper will give an overview and assessment of the most prevalent theories of driver behaviour and focus particularly on research on the emerging role of the emotions in driver behaviour. The theory of planned behaviour has played a significant part in psychological theories of driver behaviour (Parker et al. 1995). Other theoretical approaches have attempted to address the behaviour of young drivers through constructs such as recklessness and sensation seeking in developmental (Arnett 2002) and social approaches (Jessor 1992). One of the themes that emerges most strongly from research on reckless driving in adolescence is the significance of the emotions and how they are managed in the context of driving. How the emergence of the role of the emotions impacts on the broader theories is discussed.