The “Right Stuff”: Personality Tests and the Five-Factor Model in Landing Craft Air Cushion Crew Training

The purpose of our investigation was to determine if personality testing and a five-factor model could improve the selection of Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle operators. Vehicle operators for the LCAC are currently selected on the basis of their performance on a computer-based psychomotor selection system. The various psychomotor tests in the selection system have demonstrated predictive validity in LCAC crew training. Certain personality characteristics may also be involved in the LCAC vehicle operator training success. In fact, various researchers have found that personality testing may improve the selection of Navy/Marine Corps aviators. There is increasing evidence that a five-factor model may be useful in describing the personality characteristics involved in training success. We believe that a five-factor model may improve the selection system used for LCAC vehicle operators. A principal component analysis with varimax rotation was conducted to determine the underlying structure of the Adult Personality Inventory (API) with 168 LCAC crew candidates. The resulting factor scores were then entered into a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses to determine the relation of the personality factor scores and the performance-based test to an underway grade in training criterion. The results indicated that one personality factor, openness, significantly improved predictions of the criterion (p < 0.05). Based on these results, we believe that personality testing may improve the selection of LCAC vehicle operators.

[1]  H. Kaiser.  The Application of Electronic Computers to Factor Analysis , 1960 .

[2]  J. M. Digman.  PERSONALITY STRUCTURE: EMERGENCE OF THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL , 1990 .

[3]  Murray R. Barrick,et al.  THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS , 1991 .

[4]  Roy A. Davis.  Personality: Its Use in Selecting Candidates for US Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training , 1989 .

[5]  P. Costa,et al.  The structure of interpersonal traits: Wiggins's circumplex and the five-factor model. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[6]  D. W. Fiske.  Consistency of the factorial structures of personality ratings from different sour sources. , 1949, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[7]  D. Marlowe,et al.  A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. , 1960, Journal of consulting psychology.

[8]  Tatree Nontasak,et al.  Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) Crew Selection System Manual. , 1992 .

[9]  D. Day,et al.  Personality and job performance: Evidence of incremental validity. , 1989 .

[10]  O. John.  The "Big Five" factor taxonomy: Dimensions of personality in the natural language and in questionnaires. , 1990 .

[11]  J. Hunter,et al.  Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance , 1984 .

[12]  P. Costa,et al.  Updating Norman's "Adequate Taxonomy": intelligence and personality dimensions in natural language and in questionnaires. , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  C.,et al.  USING THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY AS A FRAMEWORK FOR GUIDING PERSONALITY-HEALTH RESEARCH , 2022 .

[14]  Frederick M. Siem,et al.  Predictive Validity of an Automated Personality Inventory for Air Force Pilot Selection , 1992 .

[15]  Picano Jj.  Personality types among experienced military pilots. , 1991 .

[16]  Robert L. Helmreich.  Pilot selection and training , 1982 .

[17]  W. T. Norman,et al.  Toward an adequate taxonomy of personality attributes: replicated factors structure in peer nomination personality ratings. , 1963, Journal of abnormal and social psychology.

[18]  J. M. Digman,et al.  Factors In The Natural Language Of Personality: Re-Analysis, Comparison, And Interpretation Of Six Major Studies. , 1981, Multivariate behavioral research.