Determinants of Emotional Experiences in Traffic Situations ... - OPUS

57 The Emotional Spectrum in Traffic Situation
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O" P-O" P-P" C" O" P-O" P-P" C" O" P-O" P-P" C" O" P-O" P-P" C"
Arrival" Safety" Arrival" Safety"
Goals blocked"
Goals promoted"
O = Other-blame; P-O = Participant influences goal achievement of others; P-P = Participant influences own goal
achievement; C = Circumstance-blame; y-axis: intensity of anger
Figure 7: Situational properties and intensity of anger in study 2
2.3.2.2.2 Testing H2
In goal blocking situations anxiety occurs more intensively when safety related goals are blocked by
generic circumstances than in situations where another driver or self directed actions are responsible
for the negative safety-related outcome.
Similar to anger, anxiety was only triggered in goal blocking situations (F (1, 186) = 306.61; p < .001;
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η ! = .63) and safety-related goals seemed to trigger more intense levels of that emotion
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(F (1, 186) = 241.10; p < .001; η ! = .57). In those situations, the various blame settings elicited
significantly different intensities of anxiety: average means ranged from M = 0.46 (SD = 1.12) when
others were to blame (e.g. took right of way), and up to M = 2.83 (SD = 1.56) under generic
circumstances (e.g. bad weather on a rural road at night) (Figure 8). These findings were supported by
a three-way interaction (F (3, 558) = 48.70; p < .001; η ! ! = .21) and post-hoc tests (all p < .001).
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2"
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O" P-O" P-P" C" O" P-O" P-P" C" O" P-O" P-P" C" O" P-O" P-P" C"
Arrival" Safety" Arrival" Safety"
Goals blocked"
Goals promoted"
O = Other-blame; P-O = Participant influences goal achievement of others; P-P = Participant influences own goal
achievement; C = Circumstance-blame; y-axis: intensity of anxiety
Figure 8: Situational properties and anxiety intensities in study 2
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