Reducing young drivers’ crash risk: Are we there yet? An ecological systems-based review of the last decade of research

The involvement of young novice drivers in road crashes and violations has remained a significant transport and public health issue worldwide. Despite extensive evidence that multiple individual, social, and environmental factors contribute to risk while driving, crashes among young novice drivers have decreased only marginally. There is a need to define clear indicators of risk as well as develop effective interventions.The current study reviews the literature on young novice drivers, including empirical studies, systematic reviews, and crash reports published over the past ten years to provide a synthesis of risk and protective factors across multiple domains, from individual characteristics, to social influences, to behavioural and social interventions, to the car and road environment. Adopting an ecological systems perspective, we discuss links between these domains to clarify the strongest indicators of risk for young novice drivers as compared to experienced drivers, and we collate the available evidence on social and environmental factors that can improve young drivers’ behaviour so to reduce the rate of their road crashes.Among the factors discussed, the incomplete maturation of cognitive skills crucial to safe driving (visual scanning, hazard anticipation, handling of in-vehicle distractions) and the higher susceptibility to social influences (especially peers and parents) emerged as the strongest determinants of discrepancies in performance between young novice and experienced drivers. Growing awareness of the complex array of factors intervening synergistically in young drivers’ risk, as well as technological advancements have led to the design of interventions with some level of effectiveness, however, further research and more robust programmes adopting ecological and holistic approaches are needed to fully address the young driver problem.     

Return of the mental image: are there really pictures in the brain?

In the past decade there has been renewed interest in the study of mental imagery. Emboldened by new findings from neuroscience, many people have revived the idea that mental imagery involves a special format of thought, one that is pictorial in nature. But the evidence and the arguments that exposed deep conceptual and empirical problems in the picture theory over the past 300 years have not gone away. I argue that the new evidence from neural imaging and clinical neuropsychology does little to justify this recidivism because it does not address the format of mental images. I also discuss some reasons why the picture theory is so resistant to counterarguments and suggest ways in which non-pictorial theories might account for the apparent spatial nature of images.     

Are we there yet? Trip duration and mood during travel

Are longer trips more strenuous or unpleasant than shorter ones? This paper examines this question using data from the American Time Use Survey’s well-being module, which queried individuals about the extent to which they felt happiness, pain, sadness, stress, and fatigue during three randomly selected daily activities. Over 22,000 instances of individuals traveling are observed, including their trip duration, mode, purpose, and demographic and geographic information. Each emotion, plus a constructed, composite mood variable, is regressed on trip duration. Overall, the relationship between trip duration and traveler mood is not strong, which is unsurprising given prior findings on the limited impact of activities on mood. However, there is a statistically significant and negative association between trip duration and mood, primarily because of rising stress, fatigue and sadness on long trips. This is particularly true for drivers, while negative emotions do not rise with increasing trip duration for auto passengers. This suggests strain rises as the result of operating the vehicle for long periods, not traveling in an auto per se. Long bicycle trips are more painful than shorter ones, probably due to the physical demands of the mode, and long train trips are associated with less sadness. For commutes, long trips significantly degrade the mood of both drivers and bus riders, in the latter case probably due in part to vehicle crowding and standing. The findings imply that reducing the duration of trips, for example through land use policies that reduce trip distances, or congestion reduction, would have emotional benefits. Policies to promote ridesharing instead of solo driving for long trips may increase traveler mood in the aggregate. Improving bus service or substituting rail for bus for long commute trips may also improve traveler mood.     

What are we frightened of?

I am concerned to understand that relation to a situation which we call fearing it. Some say this cannot be done: it is a brute fact about us that we fear certain things and we understand another's fear when we see that he confronts a situation of this sort (a basic fear object) or one which he understandably associates with this sort. In Section I, I argue that being associated with a basic fear object will not usefully explain a current fear. In Section II, I argue that the obvious candidates for being basic fears will not do the required work. The notion should be rejected. I then argue that to fear an object is to take it as exhibiting one's lack of control and I proceed to describe the nature and content of this notion.     

Are we there yet? A review of gender comparisons in three behavioral journals through the 20th century

Despite overwhelming evidence that gender plays a significant role in the course of numerous psychological disorders, researchers have historically neglected to address gender similarities and differences in their research. Previous reviews of the psychological literature have indicated that personality, psychotherapy, and behavioral psychology journals have published few studies that focus on gender comparisons. The current review examined published articles in three prominent behavioral psychology journals—Behavior Therapy, Behavior Modification, and Behaviour Research and Therapy—from their inception through 2001. Raters coded each article (N = 4,635) for gender content in the title or abstract, analyses of gender differences, and discussion of gender. Overall, very few articles focused on gender content in the title, abstract, or discussion or analyzed data by gender. Implications of these results and suggestions for enhancing attention to gender comparisons are discussed.     

Stereotypes of singles: are singles what we think?

Four studies examined the accuracy of the single stereotype by comparing perceptions of single and partnered targets with self‐ratings and ratings by others of single and partnered participants. Results revealed that single targets were evaluated more negatively than partnered targets in terms of a wide range of personality characteristics, overall well‐being, and satisfaction with relationships status. These findings were very robust and not qualified by target sex, participant sex, and participant relationship status. In contrast, self‐ratings of single and partnered participants were remarkably similar for all personality characteristics as well as overall well‐being, which was corroborated by ratings of participants by others. However, partnered participants were indeed more satisfied with their relationship status than single participants. When all is considered, the single stereotype is largely inaccurate. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Language in autism and specific language impairment: where are the links?

It has been suggested that language impairment in autism is behaviorally, neurobiologically, and etiologically related to specific language impairment (SLI). In this article, the authors review evidence at each level and argue that the vast majority of data does not support the view that language impairment in autism can be explained in terms of comorbid SLI. The authors make recommendations for how this debate might be resolved and suggest a shift in research focus. They recommend that researchers concentrate on those aspects of language impairment that predominate in each disorder rather than on those comparatively small areas of potential overlap.     

Parenting and children's aggression: are there differences in the influence of the father and the mother?

Child rearing provides messages and rules that mediate the children's personality. These messages have a positive or negative influence on their behaviour. The objective of this empirical study was to analyse the relationship between physical and verbal aggression of sons and daughters and parenting style practiced by the father and the mother. The sample consisted of 2,788 students, aged 10 to 15 years, studying either the third cycle of Primary Education (44%) or the first cycle of Secondary Education (56%). Of them, 1,412 were boys (50.6%) and 1,375 were girls (49.3%). The results show that children's aggressiveness is more related to factors associated with the mother's parenting. In the case of daughters, the influence of parenting factors are caused by both parents (father and mother).     

Are we explaining consciousness yet?

Theorists are converging from quite different quarters on a version of the global neuronal workspace model of consciousness, but there are residual confusions to be dissolved. In particular, theorists must resist the temptation to see global accessibility as the cause of consciousness (as if consciousness were some other, further condition); rather, it is consciousness. A useful metaphor for keeping this elusive idea in focus is that consciousness is rather like fame in the brain. It is not a privileged medium of representation, or an added property some states have; it is the very mutual accessibility that gives some informational states the powers that come with a subject's consciousness of that information. Like fame, consciousness is not a momentary condition, or a purely dispositional state, but rather a matter of actual influence over time. Theorists who take on the task of accounting for the aftermath that is critical for consciousness often appear to be leaving out the Subject of consciousness, when in fact they are providing an analysis of the Subject, a necessary component in any serious theory of consciousness.     

Developing the ‘Religiate’ primary RE teacher: where are we starting from and how do we get there?

Delegates at the 2003 AULRE conference were asked to consider the features of a ‘religiate’ pupil, that is, what would we expect of pupils leaving school with a good religious education. This prompted a consideration of how far trainee primary teachers on a one‐year PGCE programme could be considered ‘religiate’. In the following article the findings of an investigation into the starting points of these trainees at the beginning of their Religious Education course are discussed.     

Engaging distortions: are we idealizing marriage?

The present study was an investigation of the premarital status of engagement in terms of relationship satisfaction and marital expectations using the Evaluation and Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication and Happiness (ENRICH) Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS) and its two subscales of Idealistic Distortion (ID) and Marital Satisfaction (MS) (D. G. Fournier, D. H. Olson, & J. M. Druckman, 1983). There were 104 students (23 men and 81 women), of which 15 were married, 19 were engaged, and 70 had extended dating relationships. On average, participants had been in the relationship for 3.8 years, and the mean age was 22 years. Results demonstrated that individuals engaged to be married had significantly higher idealistic distortion scores (M = 86.89) than did either married individuals (M = 56.67) or those in extended dating relationships (M = 61.19). Finally, a negative relation was found between length of relationships and marital satisfaction subscores. Results are discussed in light of factors contributing to such idealized thinking.     

So, are we the massively lucky species?

We are in vehement agreement with most of Vaesen's key claims. But Vaesen fails to consider or rebut the possibility that there are deep causal dependencies among the various cognitive traits he identifies as uniquely human. We argue that "higher-order relational reasoning" is one such linchpin trait in the evolution of human tool use, social intelligence, language, and culture.     

Consciousness and identity: who do we think we are?

This article proposes that the epistemological concerns raised by the inherent incoherence of thought requires a dialogical approach to understanding consciousness and identity. It is argued that such an approach leads to (a) a fundamentally spiritual view of self, (b) a radical view of consciousness as a non-local field that shapes the limits of our perception, and (c) a determination of the degree of gap between reality and thought's representation of it. A method of measuring this kind of consciousness is examined, and examples of insights gained through this methodology are provided. Implications of this perspective are explored, and conclusions arising from this inquiry are presented.     

Epistemic issues in the free will debate: can we know when we are free?

In this paper, I argue that the views of Robert Kane on the one hand and John Fischer and Mark Ravizza on the other both lead to the following conclusion: we should have very low confidence in our ability to judge that someone is acting freely or in a way for which they can be held responsible. This in turn means, I claim, that these views, in practice, collapse into a sort of hard incompatibilist position, or the position of a free will denier. That would at least be an unintended consequence, and it might be regarded as a virtual reductio. Versions of the objection could likely be made against a number of other accounts of free will, but I will limit my focus to Kane and Fischer. Along the way, by way of response to some possible objections to my argument, I make some comments about epistemic closure principles.