The first general conclusion which can be drawn from the data is that 

 individual gregariousness is positively associated with performance. The iso- 

 lation of conditions which promote or hinder gregariousness will be a major 

 goal of later analyses of the TEKTITE data. In any event, this preliminary 

 look at the information collected suggests that the available data on social 

 interactions will account for much of the observed variance in group behavior 

 and performance. 



Comparison of Male and Female Aquanauts 



One of the questions of greatest interest concerning TEKTITE is the behavior of 

 the team of female aquanauts in contrast with that of male teams. Unfortun- 

 ately, the assignment of only one female team and a number of other external 

 factors make it impossible to draw firm conclusions about the two populations. 

 The reader should, accordingly, keep in mind the fact that the differences 

 described below probably reflect less on the relative capabilities of the two 

 sexes than on social and environmental factors. These factors will be dis- 

 cussed after presentation of the results. 



Comparisons between the five females and the 43 males were made by unweighted 

 means analysis of variance. On the activity criteria, the females worked sig- 

 nificantly more than the combined male population (F = 12.49, p ^.002), spent 

 more time on marine science (F = 5.56, p <.025), and spent less time on 

 leisure (F = 12.08, p <.002). They did not differ significantly from the males 

 in total sleep time, time spent in habitat maintenance, and time spent on self- 

 maintenance. 



The high work output of the female team implies that females are capable of 

 maintaining a work pace equal to that of males in an underwater habitat. The 

 fact that the females measured significantly higher than males on the work and 

 marine science criteria could be an indication of the natural superiority of 

 women or of differential motivation. Consideration of social psychological 

 factors suggests the latter interpretation, although causal forces cannot be 

 extracted from the data. 



Some of the forces which probably acted to increase motivation in the female 

 team can be isolated. These include selection procedures, potential effects 

 of the mission, on-site support, and publicity about the role of women in under- 

 sea research. Considering these in order, that only one of 10 missions was for 

 females and that it was the first female saturation dive undertaken, probably 

 led to more intensive screening and, in general, more rigorous criteria for 

 selection than were applied to male candidates. This probably resulted in more 

 of a sense of uniqueness and higher motivation to achieve than was present in 

 most male aquanauts. Directly related to this was the f irst-and-only type 

 category of the mission. Comments from program personnel and the scientific 

 community depicted this mission as determining the feasibility of women partici- 

 pating in both undersea and space exploration. This factor alone doubtless pro- 

 duced a strong pressure to produce and to excel on each of the female aquanauts. 

 Another factor which seems to have contributed to the high work output of the 

 female team was the fact that surface support personnel were more highly moti- 

 vated to provide assistance to the female team. These natural and commendable 

 reactions undoubtedly made conditions somewhat more propitious than they were 

 for male teams. Finally, the publicity and press coverage surrounding the 



VIII-40 



