Dynamic Measures of Spatial Ability, Executive Function, and Social Intelligence
Abstract
By improving selection and classification of incoming military personnel, the Navy has an opportunity to recruit and retain talented sailors, thereby increasing readiness and reducing personnel costs. Here we introduce six new measures that are useful in personnel selection and classification. Three of the measures tap into spatial abilities useful in various contexts, such as radar operation and satellite imagery interpretation. The other three measures tap into executive functions, for example, the ability to focus one's attention on a visual task without being distracted by auditory information. This skill might be useful on the flight deck or other military situations where auditory distracters are loud and frequent. Our measures are based on objective behaviors, rather than subjective self-reports. As such, it is more difficult for subjects to intentionally bias their responses to put themselves in a positive "socially desirable" light. A series of six experiments were penformed to establish the psychometric properties of the tests. Factor analyses of our experiments showed that the measures we developed are distinct from previously described ability tests. These measures also correlate with interesting demographic variables. Thus, they offer considerable promise for future personnel selection and classification 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES Personnel selection; personnel classification; spatial ability; 5
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 31, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA414704
Entities
People
- Gary Bradshaw
- J. M. Giesen
Organizations
- Mississippi State University