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The Psychological Selection of Officer Candidates in AustriaE. FRISEMilitary Psychology ServiceMinistry of Defencel Austria

Maria Theresien-Kaserne, Am Fasangarten 2A-l 130 WienAustria

Summary:Austrias psychological officers selection is an integralpart of the selection procedure for officers training,which lasts for more than a year. During this psycho-logical selection, which takes 22 hours, due to the use ofselected stressors and a sleepless night not only intelli-gence and personality traits can be tested but also (byapplying the concept of Ergo-Psychometry) individualstress resistance.Austrias military defence is based on obligatory na-tional military service (Conscription System) for men.,which is composed of 7 months basic service and 30days 3 - 4 refresher training periods every two years. Allmale citizens are subject to the draft. So all young menare called up for mustering at an induction centre. Herethey are examined as to whether they are fit for duty inphysical and psychological respect. The psychologicalexamination there is only a basic one - but for of$cercandidates its the J;rst selection step, they have toprove, that they are able to meet certain requirements .They need a qualification called Maturity Examina-tion (entrance examination for college) and theirphysical and psychological performance must be betterthan that of other conscripts.After this pre-selection every year in October approxi-mately 800 oflcer candidates (Career and Reserve to-gether) are inducted and sent to special training units asOne-Year-Volunteers (they have to enlist for 6 addi-tional month after the 7 months national service). Inthese units they receive 4 months basic and generalmilitary training.During these 4 months all candidates must pass thePsychological Officer Selection TestThis rather long period is due to the fact that on the onehand there is a large number of candidates (800) andnot enough psychologists, on the other hand certainpsychological quality-standards have to be met.This together with the necessity to fulfill the expecta-tions of the military concerning a practice-orientatedtest system and the need to have the results for immedi-ate disposition resulted in the following system:

Framework:- Duration: 1 day (and one night) - 1400 hrs to 1200hlS

- Max. number of candidates: 30- Location: Military Installation- Personnel: 1 Psychologist; 1-2 Assistants; MilitaryTraining Personnel- Computation and Evaluation of Data: Immediately;computer-assisted- Additional Aspects: 3-4 turns per week are possible(90 to 120 persons)In cooperation with the military leadership and trainingexperts we listed the following abilities and properties,which we think are indispensable for an officer andwhich are not only accepted by the military but can alsobe tested under the above mentioned conditions:Intelligence:First of all it is necessary to test some basic traits ofintelligence. We found that general and verbal intelli-gence, reasoning and memory, have a high prognosticvalue. Other traits, such as concentration, perception,precision and practical intelligence (the ability to under-stand and perform complicated orders), we summed upas Performance-Potential and we know that this isvery important for selection.Stress Resistance:Since it is nearly impossible to simulate all kinds ofstress realistically, we decided to reduce the criteria forstress resistance to those, which can really be testedduring the officer selection test and which correspond tothe demands of field commanders. Last, but not least,they enable us to use Ergo-P.sychometry. The conceptof Ergo-Psychometry postulates, that tests under loadare more valid than tests under neutral conditions. Thetesting of stress resistance comprises- sleep deprivation (one night)- physical load (march and physical exercises)- mental stress primarily produced by sound)- frustration (comparison between parallel - tests underneutral and under frustrating conditions) and

Paper presented at the RTO HFM Workshop on Off icer Selection,held in Monterey, USA, 9-11 November 1999, and published in RTO MP-55.

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social exposure (to talk for a few minutes on a giventopic without preparation, while critically watched byfellow-candidates and psychologist)Ergo-Psychometry is used in the following way: Psy-chometric tests (Intelligence) are given firstly underneutral conditions, but are repeated in a parallel formafter the sleepless night and tiring under mental stress.Even personality questionnaires have to be filled in afterthis exposure to stress. We have experienced, that undersuch conditions the candidates are too tired to controltheir answers in respect to social desirability.Personality:The main instrument for the testing of personality traitsare two questionnaires. One is a commercial product,(Personality Research Form - PRF), the other was de-veloped by our service to get traits and attitudes, whichmight influence directly the motivation for militaryservice and the wish to become an officer. Also thebehavior of the candidates during the test is criticallywatched by the psychologist. Especially while they workunder physical and mental stress the psychologist maynotice some peculiarities in behaviour. Lastly he has thepossibility to complete and sum up all his informationduring a psychological interview. He then has to judgepersonality traits such as- Emotional Stability,- Social Competence and- Motivation for being an officerWe assume that, even if under the given conditions weare not able to test all required abilities and properties ascompletely as we would want to. But we are certainlyable to fulfill the principal demand of the military lead-ership: To filter out the worst and to give an importantcontribution to further assessments.The psychological offkers selection test system:Below the sequence of the individual tests of the psy-chological officers selection system is described:The officer selection test system lasts 22 hours - it startsat 1400 hrs and ends at about 1200 hrs the nest day.The jrst part lasts from 1400 to 1700 hrs: The candi-dates are tested with psychometric intelligence tests(paper pencil method, the data are calculated and ratedby computer) - the test situation is neutral, there is noadditional load.From 1800 to about 2200 hrs the second part of the testtakes place: Here we have qualitative tasks, which havethe function of telling the psychologist something aboutattitudes and social and personality traits. For examplethe candidates have to state in written form the reasons,why the want to become officers, they have to completesentenceswith special references, they have to talk for ashort period on a given topic and discuss it, they have toreflect on their views on life, and similar tasks.

During the following night hours (2200 to 0500 hrs) thecandidates are prevented from sleeping and they have tomarch a given distance and do written and physicalexercises in between: By morning each of them shouldbe stressedup to approximately 50 % of his physical andmental capacity. This is necessary for the next parts ofthe test.From 0600 to 0800 hrs the candidates have to work outthe personality questionnaires (as explained above). Wehave good reason to suppose, that their answers aremore valid after the stressful night.From 0800 to 1000 the parallel forms of some of thetests from the first part are given to the already verytired candidates, but now, according to the principles ofErgo-Psychometry, under load (noise and other stres-sors). The comparison between the neutral results andthose after a sleepless night and additional mental stresshelp to determine individual stress resistance.The last part of the test (1000 to 1200 hrs or longer)consists of interviews by the psychologist. Due to thecomputer-assisted rating and calculating of the data, thepsychologist can be supplied with all the information forthe test-period of all candidates (even with a ratingproposal) by this time. After the interview with eachaspirant he has to decide on the final ratings.The possible qualifications are- Well Qualified- Qualified (the majority)- Conditional qualification and- Failed.Conditional Qualification is given, if some weak-nesses of a candidate could be compensated by goodmotivation or other strong points. In this case the com-manding officer of this candidate has to assess he can-didates performance critically and finally decide,whether the aspirant should continue officers trainingor not.If the candidate fails the test, he is removed from off&cers training and reassigned to another unit.At the end of January the candidates have to pass theReserve Officers Examination Part I. For the rest of theOne Year Volunteer Training Career and ReserveOfficer Candidates are separated.Career Officer CandidatesThe Career Officer Candidates are sent in February onthe so-called Preparation Semester or the College forMilita~v Leadership at the Military Academy. Duringthis semester they receive specialized infantry trainingand their level of proficiency is standardized.Because the number of participants is limited, they haveto undergo at the end of the Preparation Semester us-sessment or admittance to the College.The criteria for this assessmentare:

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- relevant professional qualification and experience- experience in military training- physical fitness- stress resistance- social competence- leadership potential- adherence to democratic values- foreign languagesThis examination system is rather new and so the devel-opment of the methods and their evaluation has not beencompleted until now. Our Service and its psychologiststake part in this development.Finally a board consisting of field commanders, expertsand psychologists has to fix the final qualification ofeach candidate by summing up all available ratingsincluding the result of the psychological officer selec-tion test.If a candidate passes his assessment,he has to go on toa Practice Semester with an infantry unit. There he hasto train and command an infantry squad. If he is suc-cessful, he can then enroll for officers training at theCollege for Military Leadership, which lasts 3 years,after which he is graduated to Master of Military Lead-ership and promoted to 2d Lieutenant.Reserve Offker CandidatesAt the beginning of February the Reserve Officer Can-didates are transferred to the various branch schools.There they undergo specialized training specific fortheir arm or service and their individual function. At theend of August they have to pass the Reserve OfficersExamination Part II. The board is obliged to take intoaccount the results of the psychological selection testwhen fixing the final rating.Those, who have passed this examination continue theirtraining until September. They receive practical trainingas squad leaders and they are introduced to their tasks asfuture officers. After having finished the One-Year-Volunteer-Training they can continue their militarycareer by volunteering for the necessary reserve trainingcourses. At earliest 4 % years after being inducted, theReserve Officer Candidate can be promoted to 2d Lieu-tenant.

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