I__. - International Military Testing Association

A further objective was to produce a diagnostic process model fordetermining and
evaluating the aptitude criteria for selecting officer applicants (Behling & Neubauer,
1990). We intend to question officers in the field, too.
The personal constructs are defined in behavioral terms. However, the method does not
allow to work out unambiguously, in which situation the behaviors defined has what
kind of results, success or failure, for the man concerned. Such distinctions are only
possible if we ask about so-called “behavior - situation - results - triangles” in real-life
environments. This means asking about typical situations, about behavior in such
situations and about the effects of this behavior, for example on the soldiers in the squad
entrusted to the officer candidate for the first time in the training unit. I
When asking about typical situations for leadership we have todifferentiate enormously.
Firstly, the size of the military groups (squad, platoon, company) and the responsibilities
increase during someone’s career.
Secondly, typical situations in peace time, in periods of tension, and in war are different.
Thirdly, we have different typical situations indoors and outdoors. Many further
distinctions are imaginable. It is essential for our problem that while leadership in a
small group will result in success, the same behavior might not be successful in a war
situation. In threatening situations where prompt, precise, and right action is necessary,
there is a need for different leadership qualities from those in situations where there is
no stress (Cardoso de Sousa, 1990).
Predictions for normal and dangerous situations
All military experts concerned with such topics assume that they are unable to reliably
predict leadership in war or to predict the character of that type of officer who would
in fact be able to lead successfully in war simply because the speed, variety, and
unforeseeability of events and behaviors in such crucial circumstances are beyond
precise description and simulation (Oetting, 1988).
On the other hand, there is some evidence that people with a certain pattern of basic
abilities will most probably be unable to hold their own in typical situations. For the
moment, we have left out of consideration the fact that a certain pattern of skills and
knowledge can be generated by training and education.
The psychological and medical assessments of such basic patterns conjoined with the
prediction of success in typical situations are difficult enough, but the educational
assessment of the increase achieved by training and education is incomparably more
complicated.
Let us take an example out of the domain of survival, The analyses of reports given by
survivors of accidents have shown that
- their belief in being rescued,
-the fact that they did not panic,
- their good morale, and
-their will to survive,