The psychology of the car : automobile admiration, attachment, and addiction / Stefan Gössling.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed July 10, 2017).

Online resource; title from PDF title page (ScienceDirect, viewed June 30, 2017).

Title page; Table of Contents; Copyright; Dedication; Acronyms; List of Boxes; List of Figures; List of Tables; List of Plates; Preface; Acknowledgments; 1. The Automotive System; In Love With the Automobile; Growth of the Automobile System; 2. The Psychology of the Car; Car Culture; The Car in Movies; Advancing the Understanding of Automobility; The Complexity of Transport Behavior; A More Comprehensive Transport Psychology; 3. Automobile Personalities and (Co)Identities; Car Driver Personalities; Cars With Personalities; Car Identity; Driver-Car Coidentities.

4. Feelings, Emotions and the CarEmotions and the Car; Fear, Anxieties, and Phobias; Power, Dominance, and Control; Anger and Aggression; Anger and Contempt; Revenge; Rebellion; Escape; 5. Automobility, Gender and Sex; Car Semiotics: The Evolutionary Social Psychology of Attraction; The Car as Space for Sexual Activity; Sex on the Road; Dominance and Submission; Automobile Sexuality in Movies; Paraphilia; 6. Speed; Speeding Up; Psychological Reasons for Speed; Speed=Friction; Speed and Accidents; Video Games and Speed; 7. Rights, Authority, and the Police; The Right to Automobility.

Hatred of GovernmentPolice, Authority, and the Law; Driving Outside the Law; Popular Culture and Perspectives of the Police; 8. Community, Friends, Family; The Importance of Relations; Community in Car Cultures; Community in Car Movies; Community and Automobility; 9. Risk and Death; Risk and Death in the Automotive System; Seeking Death; Racer Biographies: Troubled Childhoods; Movies and Automobile Death; 10. The Clinical Psychology of the Car; Being Mentally Ill; Personality Disorders and Transport Behavior; Communicative Violence, Private Languages, and Personality Disorders.

Trauma, Neglect, Abuse: Car Movies and Real World11. Barriers to Automobile Change; Defining Desirable Transport Futures; Car Order, Car Identity; Reconsidering Structures of Automotive Dependency; Maintaining and Validating the Automotive System; The Risk of Psychological "Tipping Points"; Towards Systemic Change; 12. Sustainable Automotive Futures; Structures of Dependency; Interventions: Regime Change, Habits, and Car Values; Successful Interventions: Positive Communication and Reward Systems; Further Insights for the Design of Interventions; The Future is an Open Road; References; Index.

The Psychology of the Car explores automotive cultures through the lens of psychology with the goal of achieving a low-carbon transport future. Worldwide there are now more than one billion cars, and their number grows continuously. Yet there is growing evidence that humanity needs to reach 'peak cars' as increased air pollution, noise, accidents, and climate change support a decline in car usage. While many governments agree, the car remains attractive, and endeavors to change transport systems have faced fierce resistance. Based on insights from a wide range of transport behaviors, The Psychology of the Car shows the "why#x94; of automotive cultures, providing new perspectives essential for understanding its attractiveness and for defining a more desirable transport future.

The Psychology of the Car illustrates the growth of global car use over time and its effect on urban transport systems and the global environment. It looks at the adoption of the car into lifestyles, the "mobilities turn, #x94; and how the car impacts collective and personal identities. The book examines car drivers themselves; their personalities, preferences, and personality disorders relevant to driving. The book looks at the role power, control, dominance, speed, and gender play, as well as the interrelationship between personal freedom and law enforcement. The book explores risk-taking behaviors as accidental death is a central element of car driving. The book addresses how interventions can be successful as well as which interventions are unlikely to work, and concludes with how a more sustainable transport future can be created based on emerging transport trends.

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