How drivers adapt their behaviour to changes in task complexity: The role of secondary task demands and road environment factors

The present study investigates the impact of different sources of task complexity such as driving demands and secondary task demands on driver behaviour. Although much research has been dedicated to understanding the impact of secondary task demands or specific road traffic environments on driving performance, there is little information on how drivers adapt their behaviour to their combined presence. This paper aims to describe driver behaviour while negotiating different sources of task complexity, including mobile phone use while driving (i.e., calling and texting) and different road environments (i.e., straight segments, curves, hills, tunnels, and curves on hills). A driving simulator experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different road scenarios and different types of distraction while driving. The collected data was used to estimate driving behaviour through a Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) with repeated measures. The analysis was divided into two phases. Phase one aimed to evaluate driver performance under the presence and absence of pedestrians and oncoming traffic, different lanes width and different types of distraction. The second phase analysed driver behaviour when driving through different road geometries and lane widths and under different types of distraction. The results of the experiment indicated that drivers are likely to overcorrect position in the vehicle lane in the presence of pedestrians and oncoming traffic. The effect of road geometry on driver behaviour was found to be greater than the effect of mobile phone distraction. Curved roads and hills were found to influence preferred speeds and lateral position the most. The results of this investigation also show that drivers under visual-manual distraction had a higher standard deviation of speed and lateral position compared to the cognitive distraction and the non-distraction condition.     

Exploring psychological factors of mobile phone use while riding among motorcyclists in Vietnam

Mobile phone use while riding is one of the five most common risky behaviors of motorcycle riders in Vietnam. This study investigated motorcyclist’s mobile phone use while riding intention and behavior based on the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework. Based on this framework, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, habits, and health motivation underlying the rider’s mobile phone use while riding intentions and behavior were included in a questionnaire and captured by direct and indirect measurements. Small-displacement motorcycle riders (N = 291) completed the extended TPB based questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis technique identified the selected factors (e.g., attitude, habit, etc.). Moreover, Structural Equation Modeling results showed moderate to good fits to the observed data. Therefore, the results supported the utilization of extended TPB framework in identifying factors of mobile phone use while riding intention and behavior. Specifically, negative attitude, perceived behavioral control, and mobile phone use while riding habit related to the intention to use a mobile phone while riding of small-displacement motorcyclists. Meanwhile, habit and behavioral intention related to the behavior to use a mobile phone while riding of small-displacement motorcycle riders. Especially, the correlation between behavioral intention and self-reported behavior was very strong. This finding embraced previous research indicating that intention was a major motivational component of behavior. Based on the results, safety intervention implications for small-displacement motorcycle riders were discussed.     

The transition from therapist to executive coach

A growing number of clinicians are making the transition from therapist to executive coach. High-powered executives are exceptionally receptive to the very straightforward and pragmatic approach of REBT. However, to be successful, even a REBT trained clinician had best adapt his approach to the executive client. The primary focus needs to be on more effective and efficient job performance, not on helping the client feel better. Although these executives believe many of the same irrational beliefs as one’s clinical clients, the REBT coach can effectively illustrate how each of these beliefs contributes to specific job related problems which the executive had best resolve. Teaching executives to challenge their ideas, then assigning work-related action plans, usually results in enhanced performance, which convinces even skeptical executives that coaching is a useful endeavor. Coaching has an advantage over therapy in that the coach can observe their client in numerous work situations (meetings, presentations, performance reviews) and give constructive feedback, and actually monitor additional progress. It is an exciting field that many clinicians find extremely challenging and stimulating. Dr. William D. Criddle, MBA is a managerial psychologist and executive coach in independent practice, based in Seattle, WA, USA. He is a Fellow of the Albert Ellis Institute in New York City.     

Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context

Whereas coaching is very popular as a management tool, research on coaching effectiveness is lagging behind. Moreover, the studies on coaching that are currently available have focused on a large variety of processes and outcome measures and generally lack a firm theoretical foundation. With the meta-analysis presented in this article, we aim to shed light on the effectiveness of coaching within an organizational context. We address the question whether coaching has an effect on five both theoretically and practically relevant individual-level outcome categories: performance/skills, well-being, coping, work attitudes, and goal-directed self-regulation. The results show that coaching has significant positive effects on all outcomes with effect sizes ranging from g = 0.43 (coping) to g = 0.74 (goal-directed self-regulation). These findings indicate that coaching is, overall, an effective intervention in organizations.     

Evidence-based training in cognitive-behavioural coaching: can personal development bring less distress and better performance?

Coaching has become during the past years an emergent guidance profession. Cognitive-behavioural coaching (CBC) emphasises the importance of enhancing the emotion–regulation abilities of clients and replacing their non-productive behaviours. Qualified professionals are needed in order to effectively facilitate the desired changes in their clients. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the personal development component within a training programme in CBC. Pre- to post-training comparisons showed a reduction in the participants’ level of depressed mood, as well as an improvement in their work performance. The active components were the emotion–regulation skills acquired and the quality of their homework tasks. Implications are discussed underlying the use of an evidence-based approach for training professionals in the field of CBC.     

Team coaching: One more clue for fostering team effectiveness

Introduction and objectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine the effects of team coaching (provided by the leader and by peers) on team performance and on the members’ satisfaction with the team. The mediated role of peer coaching in the relationship between leader coaching and individual and team results was also analyzed.MethodAdopting a multilevel approach and a cross-sectional design, 506 employees from 75 teams were surveyed. In the test of the hypotheses, multiple regression and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) were computed.ResultsThe results showed a direct positive effect of peer coaching on individual and team outcomes, and also a mediated effect of peer coaching in the relationship between leader coaching and both outcomes measured.ConclusionsOur findings put forward the importance of coaching in the achievement of team goals.     

Constructing bridges and systemic connections: In brief dynamic therapy

The author outlines how the conceptual framework which underpins cyclical psychodynamics, a branch of relational psychoanalysis, provides an opportunity for a coherent integration of constructivist CBT principles and techniques and family systems theory within a model of brief dynamic therapy. Drawing upon Wachtel’s articulation of a more flexible notion of the internal world and one in which current interpersonal patterns are seen to shape the psyche and internal conflicts, the author goes on to identify ways in which attending to a client’s behaviour and the ways in which affective experience is expressed interpersonally can open the way to an integration of therapeutic features from constructivist CBT and family systems theory. The contribution that coaching a client in the ways in which they behave interpersonally in the context of both family and workplace relationships can make to therapeutic effectiveness is explored. These themes are illustrated with a case study.     

Even experienced phone users drive worse while texting – A driving simulator study

Several studies have clearly shown that texting on a mobile phone increases crash risk (e.g. Dingus et al., 2006; Victor et al., 2014). However, the frequency of texting while driving still remains high (e.g. Vollrath, Huemer, Teller & Likhacheva, 2016). One reason may be that drivers are convinced that they are able to manage this dual task due to their competency in driving and texting. From a theoretical point of view, this may be true within limits – two well-learned, automatically processed tasks may require so few resources most of the time that interferences may not occur.In order to test this assumption, a study with a standardized driving simulator task (the lane change task, LCT; Mattes, 2003) was done with n = 40 drivers selected for their driving experience and tested for their texting abilities. The effect of driving experience (high vs. low) and texting competence (high vs. low) on driving performance was examined in single (driving only) and dual-task (driving and texting) conditions. Additionally, a subjective assessment of one’s task performance was obtained. Texting on the mobile phone significantly impaired driving performance. While driving experience did not have an influence, the deteriorating effect of texting was significantly less pronounced in highly competent phone users. Interestingly, this objective effect was not found in the subjective assessment. Drivers with a high texting competence felt as impaired as drivers with a low texting competence. This is in line with the finding that even in this simple driving task their performance was still significantly deteriorated as compared to driving, only. Thus, it seems that the reason why people text while driving is not that they are not aware of the performance loss. However, this awareness of the possible risk does not seem sufficient to prevent them from texting while driving.     

Modeling the influence of mobile phone use distraction on pedestrian reaction times to green signals: A multilevel mixed-effects parametric survival model

Understanding and modeling the influence of mobile phone use on pedestrian behaviour is important for several safety and performance evaluations. Mobile phone use affects pedestrian perception of the surrounding traffic environment and reduces situation awareness. This study investigates the effect of distraction due to mobile phone use (i.e., visual and auditory) on pedestrian reaction time to the pedestrian signal. Traffic video data was collected from four crosswalks in Canada and China. A multilevel mixed-effects accelerated failure time (AFT) approach is used to model pedestrian reaction times, with random intercepts capturing the clustered-specific (countries) heterogeneity. Potential reaction time influencing factors were investigated, including pedestrian demographic attributes, distraction characteristics, and environment-related parameters. Results show that pedestrian reaction times were longer in Canada than in China under the non-distraction and distraction conditions. The auditory and visual distractions increase pedestrian reaction time by 67% and 50% on average, respectively. Pedestrian reactions were slower at road segment crosswalks compared to intersection crosswalks, at higher distraction durations, and for males aged over 40 compared to other pedestrians. Moreover, pedestrian reactions were faster at higher traffic awareness levels.