No abstract

An investigation of personality characteristics associated with favorable adjustment to northern isolated living, and the usefulness of psychological tests in the selection of personnel for northern posting. 197 electronic technicians already screened on other psychological tests completed MMPI, Edwards Personal and Brainard Preference tests, and General Information and Arctic Interest questionnaires prior to 1 year of isolation duty on the mid-Canada Line. Adequacy of work and social adjustment was associated with 11 of 35 test variables and 3 of 26 questionnaire items. The discriminating function of the MMPI was reduced by the use of the K correction. It was suggested that despite the highly select nature of the sample used, the test battery has potential value in the selection of civilians to work in the far north.––(17 ref.)

"An attempt was made to measure anxiety in a realistic situation which offered the possibility of combining clinical and experimental approaches. Two types of anxiety were identified: situational and basic. Situational anxiety appeared to interfere temporarily with the subject's ability to solve a new problem or adapt to a novel experience. Basic anxiety, on the other hand, was found to reduce the subject's ability to relate to people and to assimilate experience. Such a finding is consistent with the belief that basic anxiety early in life impairs the individual's orientation to reality by forcing him to develop a chronic self-protective adjustment which tends to insulate him from experience."

The value system of 204 Mennonite young people was compared with a comparable control group of 200 non-Mennonites using a battery of five psychological tests. The findings suggest that Mennonites are more strongly motivated to interpret behaviour in "religious" terms, which includes feeling the need for punishment for wrong doing, being more concerned about moral issues, and having a greater need to orient their life around religious values. Urban Mennonites were found to be more dominant and to feel more guilt than rural Mennonites. The greater dominance of the urban Mennonites possibly reflects the result of being exposed to surrounding cultural pressures, which may then increase anxiety as the influence of the primary value system is challenged. Les auteurs comparent les systemes de valeur d'un groupe de 204 jeunes Mennonites et celui un groupe comparable de 200 non Mennonites, utilisant une batterie de cinq test psychologiques.Les resultats suggerent que les Mennonites son fortement motives a interpreter le comportement en termes religieieux. Ceci inclus un besoin de chatiment pour iniquite, un souci des questions morales, et un desir approf ondi d'orienter leur vie en termes de valeurs religieuses. II est a remarquer que les Mennonites urbains sont plus dominants et ressentent plus de culpabilite de conscience que les Mennonites ruraux. Cette constatation pourrait s'expliquer par le fait que les Mennonites urbains sont exposes a des pressions culturelles plus severes, ce qui suggere une hausse de leur niveau d'anxigtfi alors que l'influence de leur systeme de valeurs primaires est mis en contestation.

An investigation of personality characteristics associated with favorable work and social adaptation in isolated, semi-isolated and urban settings. 614 Department of Transport employees completed MMPI, Edwards Personal and Brainard Occupational preference tests. For the total group adequacy of work and social adjustment was associated with 11 of 35 variables, the not K-corrected MMPI scale being the most consistent of the three tests in discriminating adjustment. The Suppressor (K) score was positively related to good psychological adjustment. The same personality traits appear to contribute to poor adaptation in urban as in isolated settings. Prediction formulae derived by discriminant function analysis from the total group failed to yield classifications beyond chance expectancy when applied to a validation sample. The predictive usefulness of this battery for northern selection is questioned.