Ok, let’s start with the term – “accelerousal”. It sounds so wrong, but it definitely gets your attention. It’s a new term for road rage. According to researcher Ioannis Pavlidis, “We call the phenomenon ‘accelerousal.’ Arousal being a psychology term that describes stress. Accelarousal is what we identify as stress provoked by acceleration events, even small ones,”.
Here’s the real news about this study. The U of H psychologists think that road rage could be genetic. As with many things in psychology, your parents could be to blame for your “accelerousal”. “The differences were significant, with ‘accelaroused’ participants logging nearly 50% more stress than non-accelaroused ones,” according to Pavlidis. This is why you feel exhausted after driving traffic.
Full article from University of Houston on “accelerousal”.
If you have ever driven on I-45, then you have definitely experienced “accelerousal” at some point. What freeway in your city casuses more cases of “accelerousal”?
— Doug O’Brien
