The driving factors: The impact of empathy on aggressive driving behaviors moderated by stress

The researcher investigated the relationship between empathy, stress, personality, gender and the propensity for angry driving behaviors. Participants with complete data (n = 70) filled out demographic questions and four scales that measured each of these constructs: cognitive and affective empathy, big five personality dimensions, perceived stress, and the propensity for angry driving. Significant relationships were found between the variables of cognitive empathy and agreeableness in relation to the propensity for angry driving behaviors. Individuals with higher cognitive empathy were shown to have a reduced propensity to drive aggressively. Further analysis indicated that the agreeableness dimension of the Big Five personality dimensions had a significant relationship with the propensity for angry driving behaviors. Those who scored higher on the agreeableness dimension had a higher propensity for angry driving behaviors.