The relationship between driving anger and risk could be non-linear. Towards a circumplex model of anger and risk on the road

Hypotheses of non-linear relationships are not common in the social sciences, although some relationships among variables are more likely to be curvilinear. Based on previous research, the current study analysed the relationship between driving anger (state anger) and risk (mean speed) in a simulation task. Seventy-two participants completed a driving simulation task and, immediately following task completion, answered a state anger self-reported measure. The results show that a quadratic relationship between these variables explained more variance than a linear relationship (22.2% and 9.0%, respectively). From these results and previous findings, a circumplex model of the relationship among anger, aggression and risky road behaviour is proposed. Finally, the implications of these results are discussed.