Selection of Personnel for Stressful Occupations: The Potential Utility of Psychophysiological Measures as Selection Tools

Abstract

The Manpower and Personnel Research Division identified a requirement to assess whether selection and classification for stressful occupations could be improved. An interdisciplinary review, evaluation, and synthesis was carried out to assess the feasibility of using psychophysiological measures to select individuals resistant to stress to improve selection and classification methods for stressful occupations. To integrate this literature, a new psychophysiological model was developed in the context of current industrial/ organizational practice. Researchers concluded that psychophysiological measures do have the potential to improve the selection/classification standards for stressful occupations. Three recommendations were made for future research. First, experimentation should begin to assess the validity of the proposed psychophysiological measures to predict successful performance under stress. Second, since people who cope successfully appear to share some personality traits, research should be conducted into the personality correlates of successful task performance under stress. Third, occupations should be analyzed in terms of stress dimensions to provide a rationale for the identification of valid predictors and criteria of successful performance in stressful jobs. A demonstration study was outlined.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA264571

Entities

People

  • Caran Colvin
  • Ronald J. Heslegrave

Organizations

  • Battelle Memorial Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena
  • Cardiovascular System
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Explosive Ordnance Disposal
  • Health Services
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Information Processing
  • Job Analysis
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Personnel
  • Nervous System
  • Psychology
  • Psychophysiology
  • Reaction Time
  • Social Psychology

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.