Any stickers—small, large, political, apolitical. Even ones that say “Dennis Kucinich for President.”
That’s the upshot of a new study from Colorado State University.
CSU social psychologist William Szlemko observed that drivers who have “territorial markers” on their cars—decals, bumper stickers, vanity plates—are more likely to get road rage. The Journal of Applied Social Psychology recently published the results of Szlemko’s study, which found that drivers without markers were much less likely to honk, tailgate or exhibit other aggressive behavior.
And here’s the really surprising thing: it doesn’t matter what the markers say. Whether the bumper sticker reads “I’m reloading” or “My child made the honor roll at Fairview Middle School,” the propensity of the driver is the same: aggression.