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501 



personality. No one has succeeded in ap- 

 plying them to military screening, but few 

 reported studies have made a thorough at- 

 tack upon the problem. This method, if it 

 works, would be an ideal processing proce- 

 dure, since the man reveals his personality 

 through his actions rather than in a some- 

 times undependable self -description. Hunt 

 and Stevenson suggest an empirical approach 

 to this problem: for example, giving the 

 inkblots to hundreds of men and noting what 

 responses are given most often by good and 

 by poor men (29) . No one can say whether 

 projective tests will work for screening neu- 

 rotics, but one or two studies show sufficient 

 promise to warrant a serious attempt to 

 make them work (2, 24, 37). 



The most relied-upon technique is the psy- 

 chiatric interview, which attempts to elicit 

 evidence of maladjustment in a short con- 

 versation (49). Although this method is 

 known to work, there has been insufficient 

 research on it. Studies should investigate 

 how well different interviewers agree, how 

 accurate their judgments are, what questions 

 elicit the most useful information, and how 

 psychiatric interviewers can best be trained. 

 So important a problem is wide open for in- 

 vestigation. If 20 men were interviewed by 

 different psychiatrists, would the psychia- 

 trists agree about them? Are all psychiatric 

 interviewers equally good judges of men? If 

 not, by what tests can we select the best men 

 for this responsibility? Recordings of inter- 

 views should show how effective interviewers 

 proceed. If the process can be standardized, 

 it would then be possible to train intelligent 

 enlisted men to do at least preliminary 

 screening. All such improvements would 

 conserve the energies of the small number of 

 qualified interviewers now available, and in- 

 crease their effectiveness. 



Assessment of the Total Personality 



In contrast to the attempts to screen out 

 misfits, recent personality studies have tried 

 to come to an understanding of how person- 

 alities are organized. How a man exercises 



responsibility is no mere accident or outcome 

 of training — it is the product of his childhood 

 experiences, his affectional relations with his 

 father, his feeling that other people approve 

 of him, and other complex forces. Suitable 

 techniques can determine such facts about 

 the man, and with that knowledge it should 

 be possible to assess his suitability for many 

 types of duty. Will he vacillate in a crisis? 

 Will he be lax in an attempt to be popular? 

 Will he go stale on a job which does not bring 

 excitement? Knowledge of this sort can be 

 of great use. 



The most impressive application of total 

 assessment is found in the OSS (52). Here 

 a three-day processing of men going into 

 responsible assignments was conducted by a 

 team of experts. By observing men in 

 great variety of tests, social relations, and 

 interviews, they were able to make useful 

 estimates of their probable success in assign- 

 ments. The neuropsychiatric breakdown 

 rate for all the OSS was 0.26 percent; for 

 men passed by the assessment team at Sta- 

 tion S, only 0.04 percent (52, p. 433). The 

 striking difference between this program and 

 previous work on personality is that it at- 

 tempts to determine the duties for which a 

 man's strengths and weaknesses fit him, 

 rather than merely to give him a pass or fail 

 rating. 



These investigators and others have found 

 that one of the better indices of a man's 

 probable adaptation in the field is the com- 

 posite rating given him by his fellow assessees 

 after several days of close association. This 

 method of obtaining data should be given 

 more widespread trial. 



Assessment of the total personality is a 

 new technique both in science and in military- 

 processing. It is difficult, but will be very 

 valuable if it succeeds at all. It is most im- 

 portant for high level personnel, who can be 

 given a variety of assignments, and whose 

 success is important enough to warrant proc- 

 essing effort. Several studies are in progress 

 which attempt to apply these techniques to 

 business and professional people (for exam- 



