Bias whereby car usage is seen as a social norm
Motonormativity (also motornormativity, windshield bias, or car brain) is an unconscious cognitive bias in which the assumption is made that motor car ownership and use is an unremarkable social norm.[1]
Coinage
The term was coined by psychologist Ian Walker and colleagues in a 2023 study.[2][3]
Description and significance
Motonormativity is not a bias confined just to motorists, but is a feature of car-centric societies.[4] Walker has argued that a consequence of motonormative bias is that any attempt to reduce car use is not seen plainly for what it is, but interpreted as an attempt to curtail personal freedom.[4] This effect has been documented not just in famously car dependent North America, but around the world.[5]
Examples
Walker has cited certain road safety campaigns targeting children as an example of motonormativity: by encouraging children to wear brightly coloured clothing to avoid being run over, such campaigns normalize the idea of motor traffic as an accepted danger others must adjust to, in a way which in other contexts would be considered victim blaming.[4]
Motonormativity may affect planning decisions so that, for example, a new hospital is built outside a city even though that makes it less accessible to city dwellers who do not have use of a car.[2]
See also
Look up
car brain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
References
Further reading
