Citation

Szlemko WJ, Benfield JA, Bell PA, Deffenbacher JL, Troup L. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 2008; 38(6): 1664-1688.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00364.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Aggressive driving has received substantial media coverage during the past decade. We report 3 studies testing a territorial explanation of aggressive driving. Altman (1975) described attachment to, personalization of, and defense of primary territories (e.g., home) as being greater than for public territories (e.g., sunbathing spot on a beach). Aggressive driving may occur when social norms for defending a primary territory (i.e., one's automobile) become confused with less aggressive norms for defending a public territory (i.e., the road). Both number of territory markers (e.g., bumper stickers, decals) and attachment to the vehicle were significant predictors of aggressive driving. Mere presence of a territory marker predicts increased use of the vehicle to express anger and decreased use of adaptive/constructive expressions.