Banca de DEFESA: LIDIANE BENTO DOURADO RIBEIRO

EMPATHY AND PERSONALITY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE BEHAVIOR OF DRIVERS

Personality, behavior, empathy and traffic accidents

Traffic is a dynamic context composed of roads, vehicles, and people. However, most traffic
problems, including accidents, arise from the human factor. Many studies have been conducted
on empathy, personality, and behavior, but not addressing the relationship between them in the
context of mobility. Thus, this study emphasized these elements in order to give more visibility to
the discussions about traffic in the interior of the state of Bahia and to contribute to possible
future social and/or educational interventions. With this, we sought to analyze the possible
relationship between empathy, personality, and the behavior of errors, lapses, and violations
among licensed drivers, to know the profile of these subjects, and to look for possible differences
between sex, age, education, and involvement in accidents. The following printed instruments
were used, namely: the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI); the Personality Scale for Drivers
(EPM); the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (QCM); and a Sociodemographic Questionnaire
prepared by the author. The non-probability convenience sample was composed of qualified
subjects, obeying all ethical aspects. Of the 189 subjects, most were male, with a mean age of
38.8 years, complete high school education, licensed for car and motorcycle (AB), with no
history of accidents, with high pro-sociability and empathic consideration, and with more lapses
than errors and violations. Younger drivers showed more violation and less empathic
consideration when compared to older drivers. There was a negative correlation between
emotional instability and perspective taking; and between perspective taking and empathic
consideration and the violation factor. There was a positive correlation between error, lapses, and
violation behaviors and the factors emotional instability and sensation-seeking. Impulsivity and
lapses also correlated positively, and pro-sociability and violations negatively, suggesting that
people who violate traffic the most are those who are more unstable and who tend to put
themselves less in the place of others. The results suggest the need to intensify studies in the context of traffic, especially with regard to personality (pro-sociability, emotional instability, and sensation-seeking), rape behaviors, and empathy.