Hot or cold anger? Verbal and vocal expression of anger while driving in a simulated anger-provoking scenario

Abstract

Extensive research has examined the relationship between driving anger and risky behavior; however, little is known about how drivers express and regulate anger while driving. The present study was designed to examine the verbal and acoustic correlates of driving anger, as well as whether emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal are effective at reducing the outward expression of anger while driving. Forty-four participants were asked to drive in an emotionally neutral and an anger-provoking simulated driving scenarios, while their driving behavior as well as their speech was recorded. Participants were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions, with one group receiving instructions to reappraise the anger-provoking events and a control group receiving no instructions. Results show that in the anger-provoking scenario, participants exhibited more violations, horn-honking, and cursing. Few acoustic variations were detected and were compatible with the acoustic profile of cold anger rather than with the one of hot anger expression. Finally, reappraisal reduced the number of violations only. The implications of these findings are discussed.