Am I Really Angry? The Influence of Anger Intensities on Young Drivers' Behaviors

Anger can lead to aggressive driving and other negative behaviors. While previous studies treated anger as a single dimension, the present research proposed that anger has distinct intensities and aimed to understand the effects of different anger intensities on driver behaviors. After developing the anger induction materials, we conducted a driving simulator study with 30 participants and assigned them to low, medium, and high anger intensity groups. We found that drivers with low anger intensity were not able to recognize their emotions and exhibited speeding behaviors, while drivers with medium and high anger intensities might be aware of their anger along with its adverse effects and then adjusted their longitudinal control. However, angry drivers generally exhibited compromised lateral control indicated by steering and lane-keeping behaviors. Our findings shed light on the potentially different influences of anger intensities on young drivers’ behaviors, especially the importance of anger recognition for intervention solutions.