Cognitive Profiles and Education of Female Cyber Defence Operators

Rapid technological developments and definition of the cyber domain as a battlefield has challenged the cognitive attributes of its operators. In order to meet these demands, higher education programs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) need to recruit suited. Recruitment to STEM studies focuses on increasing the amount of females in these studies, and factors involving retention also needs to be understood. This research focused on assessing the educational setting of Norwegian Defense Cyber Academy and its factors in promoting female student retention in their computer engineering program, and profiling female officer cadets to see if any differences in personality, cognitions, and behaviours strategies exist between male and female cadets.

[1]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Rumination Reconsidered: A Psychometric Analysis , 2003, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[2]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  Assessing metacognitive awareness , 1994 .

[3]  Melissa Dark,et al.  Toward curricular guidelines for cybersecurity , 2014, SIGCSE.

[4]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[5]  Hugo Carretero-Dios,et al.  Standards for the development and review of instrumental studies: considerations about test selection in psychological research , 2007 .

[6]  Harry P. Bahrick,et al.  The importance of retrieval failures to long-term retention: A metacognitive explanation of the spacing effect , 2005 .

[7]  Ricardo G. Lugo,et al.  Towards a Cognitive Agility Index: The Role of Metacognition in Human Computer Interaction , 2017, HCI.

[8]  Carla C. Johnson,et al.  What Is STEM? A Discussion About Conceptions of STEM in Education and Partnerships , 2012 .

[9]  J. Flavell.  Metacognition and Cognitive Monitoring: A New Area of Cognitive-Developmental Inquiry. , 1979 .

[10]  Ricardo G. Lugo,et al.  Exploring the Hybrid Space - Theoretical Framework Applying Cognitive Science in Military Cyberspace Operations , 2016, HCI.

[11]  Chiungjung Huang,et al.  Gender differences in academic self-efficacy: a meta-analysis , 2013 .

[12]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[13]  D. Schunk,et al.  Risk Taking: Theoretical, Empirical, and Educational Considerations , 1991 .

[14]  T J Meyer,et al.  Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. , 1990, Behaviour research and therapy.

[15]  R. Schwarzer,et al.  Is General Self-Efficacy a Universal Construct?1 , 2002 .

[16]  H. A. Witkin.  Individual differences in ease of perception of embedded figures. , 1950, Journal of personality.

[17]  Donald Meichenbaum.  Metacognitive Methods of Instruction: Current Status and Future Prospects , 1985 .

[18]  Sapna Cheryan,et al.  Do Female and Male Role Models Who Embody STEM Stereotypes Hinder Women’s Anticipated Success in STEM? , 2011 .

[19]  D. Halpern.  Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains. Dispositions, skills, structure training, and metacognitive monitoring. , 1998, The American psychologist.

[20]  Shaoning Pang,et al.  THE GLOBAL CYBER SECURITY WORKFORCE - AN ONGOING HUMAN CAPITAL CRISIS , 2014 .

[21]  Kirsi Helkala,et al.  Self-Regulation and Cognitive Agility in Cyber Operations , 2019, Front. Psychol..

[22]  P. Spinhoven,et al.  Negative life events, cognitive emotion regulation and emotional problems , 2001 .

[23]  Joanne McGrath Cohoon,et al.  Toward improving female retention in the computer science major , 2001, CACM.

[24]  Seymour Wapner,et al.  Field Dependence-independence : Bio-psycho-social Factors Across the Life Span , 2014 .

[25]  Marcus Noland,et al.  Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Survey , 2016 .

[26]  Ricardo G. Lugo,et al.  Cyber Officer Profiles and Performance Factors , 2018, HCI.

[27]  R. Schwarzer,et al.  The General Self-Efficacy Scale: Multicultural Validation Studies , 2005, The Journal of psychology.

[28]  J. Gross.  The Emerging Field of Emotion Regulation: An Integrative Review , 1998 .

[29]  Davison M. Mupinga,et al.  The Effectiveness of Engineering Workshops in Attracting Females into Engineering Fields: A Review of the Literature , 2011 .