The selection of entrants for medical school, as now widely agreed, should include measurements of non-academic as well as academic attributes. The authors have developed a process to assess the personal attributes of applicants. This included a structured panel interview carried out twice on each applicant by independent interviewers and a group exercise in which several applicants were observed whilst discussing a problem. Training for interviewers took the form of a half-day interactive workshop. One hundred and forty-one school-leaving applicants completed the new assessment. No relationship was found between academic achievement as reflected by marks in a national examination and scores in the panel interview, the group exercise, or the school principal's report. However, significant intercorrelations were found between the panel interview, group exercise and school report. The results of this experience have encouraged the Auckland School to continue to explore methods to measure these attributes in a carefully controlled study.

The present study examined whether social evaluation could heighten individuals' physiological responses to the CO(2) stress test, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response in particular. Twenty-five healthy volunteers undertook the CO(2) test under three conditions: (i) standard CO(2) protocol, (ii) standard CO(2) protocol conducted in front of a full-length mirror (mirror) and (iii) standard CO(2) protocol conducted in front of a video camera deemed to be transmitting live images of the procedure to investigators evaluating participant performance (video). Despite counterbalancing for task order, there were significant differences in anger and depression among the conditions. Repeated measures analysis of variances (ANOVAs), controlling for these mood indices, revealed that salivary cortisol, heart rate and systolic blood pressure responses to the CO(2) test were not affected by social evaluation (i.e. mirror or video). Although the data provide no evidence that endocrine and cardiovascular responses to the CO(2) test are affected by social evaluation, the potency of the social evaluation manipulation in this study is in question. Thus, further research is warranted which includes evidence of, or instructions suggesting negative social evaluation.