Publisher's Synopsis
This special issue is based on some of the papers presented at the International Conference of Applied Psychology, Madrid, 1994. A thematic approach is followed, focusing on the motivational aspects of risk-taking and deviant behaviour, preceded by a general overview of the main topics in the field. The book concludes with a research note about the analysis of the psychological literature on driver behaviour.;One of the papers discusses risk perception and acceptance within the framework of risk-homeostasis theory. Another discusses individual differences in terms of risk, social motivation and attitudes towards traffic law violators. The same issues are discussed in another paper, but in a strictly experimental stance, manipulating normative information presented to drivers.;These papers are a representation of where traffic psychology seems to be heading: a realization that driver behaviour is determined not only by performance factors (i.e. what he or she is willing to do), which are governed by individual, cultural and situational variables. The literature analysis shows that this focus is not yet apparent in the general literature, where alcohol and driver performance are still the dominant topics.
