Doctors Pamela Parada and David Herrero, professors of Psychology at the European University of the Atlantic, have published a scientific article in Science Direct in which they study the emotional dysregulation between anger and aggressiveness in drivers through a sample taken in Spain.
The article is titled “The mediation effect of emotion dysregulation in the relationship between anger and aggression on the road in a sample of Spanish drivers”.
In the aforementioned study, the role of emotional regulation was analyzed in the ability to control aggressive behavior once feelings of anger are experienced while driving. In other words, we assumed that anger as an emotion automatically leads, to a greater or lesser extent, to aggressive behavior including displaying behaviors such as ironic or sarcastic statements, verbal slights, insults, threats, etc.
However, the hypothesis that doctors Pamela Parada and David Herrero based this on was that, if a person possessed high self-regulatory capacities, he or she would be able to suppress aggressive behavioral expression, even if experiencing a high level of anger. The results have confirmed this hypothesis, which enables establishing new horizons in terms of prevention and intervention in reducing aggressive behaviors in drivers highly prone to experiencing anger while driving through therapies focused on improving behavioral self-regulation capabilities.
The article by the two professors of the European University of the Atlantic is included in Volume 79, corresponding to the current month of May 2021, in the Transportation Research section: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour and can be read or downloaded through this link: