Applying psychology in outer space: Unfilled promises revisited.

Abstract

It is argued that numerous issues directly relevant to the field of personality and social psychology are present and may become increasingly important in the U.S. space program. It is further suggested that data from personality and social psychology have been underused resources in the U.S. space program. The responsibility for this outcome is seen as resting both with investigators and in structural aspects of NASA. The contrasting centrality of psychology in the Russian space program is noted. Finally, suggestions for increasing the role of personality and social psychology in the U.S. space program are offered.The space program confronts one of the last frontiers in exploration and as such provides great challenges for the application of psychological principles and the refinement of social psychological theories. At our present stage of spaceflight, crews leave the earth in a fragile vehicle to face a hostile and unforgiving environment in which weightlessness and "space sickness" are givens. The ability of individuals to adjust to extreme crowding and discomfort, to postpone gratification during years of rigorous training, and to perform at a high level is a tribute to human adaptability.Relatively few psychological problems among crew members have manifested themselves in our two decades of spaceflight. However, a conceptual analysis of the likely course of future missions suggests that more rather than fewer psychological issues may arise as we turn to the exploitation of space. Certainly, common factors in the foreseeable future will continue to be danger, isolation, relative crowding, and limited access and escape. In other words, spacecraft will continue to be potentially volatile microcosms.I have argued elsewhere (e.g., Helmreich, Wilhelm, & Runge, 1980;Radloff & Helmreich, 1968) that part of the success of the space program can be attributed to the fact that although the psychological and physical costs of spaceflight are high (in danger and discomfort), the tangible and intangible rewards have also been great in terms of public adulation and even financial and political benefits. In terms April 1983 • American Psychologist

The overview effect: Awe and self-transcendent experience in space flight.

“…The psychological study of space flight is considered part of “bioastronautics”- the study of human beings in space. Historically, behavioral and psychological research was underutilized by NASA’s space program (Helmreich, 1983) and psychology’s role in space exploration was originally limited to screening astronauts for mental fitness and assessing psychological disturbances associated with space flight (Grether, 1962; Newberg, 1994). 2 It is now widely acknowledged that psychological insight into astronaut health can play an instrumental part in mission planning and success, and astronaut psychology continues to develop into a substantial subfield of research (Cox, Schmidt, Slack, & Foster, 2013; Suedfeld, 2005).…”

Behavioral science space contributions

“…In collaboration with industrial engineers, psychologists have expanded human factors research. The applications of psychology to outer space have been well documented by Helmreich andothers (1983, 1980), and a new specialty of space psychology has begun to emerge.…”

Towards an anthropology of gravity: Emotion and embodiment in microgravity environments

“…Douglas Vakoch (2011) showed how psychiatric warnings were systematically ignored to promote traits of machismo and nationalism that embody the ideals of American character. Space psychiatrists had been frustrated with the ways astronaut psychiatric data was systematically ignored or underutilized long before American collaboration with the Russian space programme aboard MIR (Helmreich, 1983;Harris, 1989). American Astronauts historically have held a culture of extreme negativity towards psychiatry which they viewed as a deterrent of progress.…”