A Note on the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule for Use With Basic Airmen

are approximately equal in social desirability as determined by a scale based on judges’ ratings. Because of the elimination of the social desirability factor the obtained scores are expected to reflect accurately the needs of the subject rather than a set of scores which put him in the best light. When the means for the 213 basic trainees were examined many of them were found to differ markedly from the published norms. These differences were more readily explainable in terms of Air Force pressures than in probable differences in actual need. The scales on which the basics were significantly above the norm, for example, were Deference, Order, Abasement and Enduranceall virtues the Tactical Instructor is likely to insist on. Those on which the trainees were below the norm were Exhibitionism, Autonomy, Aggression and Heterosexuality, the first three of which would probably not be tolerated by the T.I. Expression of interest in the last might be inhibited by men who felt any need to &dquo;cover up.&dquo; The scales on which the trainees did not differ