I__. - International Military Testing Association

each demonstrated in behavior, enhanced their chances of survival (Riider & Minich,
1987).
Of these four psychological characteristics, only morale and will-power can perhaps be
detected in a basic assessment of volunteers. How can we assess whether morale and
will-power of soldiers can be increased to such an extent through training and education
so that they could survive dangerous situations. It is extremely difficult to predict such
an “ultimate” criterion. And because of that we are unable to base a selection and
placement model on aptitude criteria for extreme situations.
It is by no means so that the prediction for “normal” situations are considerably less
difficult than the predictions for dangerous situations. You only have to think of the
quite “normal” prediction of the superior’s ratings at the end of any military training
course, and of the many imponderable factors that can influence the aptitude and
performance rating of an officer candidate.
The environmental factors accompanying military operations, space missions, rescue
operations, or sports activities can - as dangers - drastically affect the behavior of
individuals concerned and have consequences for the life and limb of both those in
charge and their teams, Although predictions are very difficult, psychologists remain
under an obligation for ethical reasons to contribute to predictions by researching into
aptitude criteria and the characteristics of poorer performance and performance enhancement
due to training, in order to improve the selection, the training, and mission
accomplishment with psychological methods.
One example from the domain of sports activities serves as clarification: when dangerous
situations in mountaineering have been analyzed retrospectively from a psychological
view point, it has been noticed that some behavioral characteristics of the men at
risk brought about the potential accidents of guided groups:
- careless and technically deficient safety measures;
- failure to give precise orders, if any at all;
- unrealistic over-estimation of one’s technical skills and fitness;
- euphoria or fatigue combined with decreasing attention;
- arguments and annoyance.
Accidents happen with increasing probability if such behavioral characteristics appear
in the group, and if environmental factors interact in a fateful manner: The guide climbs
a rock passage with crumbling grips and steps; the second member of the group fails to
take adequate securing measures and at the same time chatters to the third member of
the group without observing the guide, who for his part fails to give precise and pressing
instructions to the group to do things right.
The behavioral result of the leader may be a fall, if the environmental factor “loose grip”
comes to bear, a fall which could mean the fall of the whole group because of the
incomplete and inattentive securing, with fatal consequences for all the members. The
guide should be advised to pay attention to the reliability of the members when selecting
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