Head Strong

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
First Century ◽  
Military Psychology ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Sports Teams ◽  
Breaking News ◽  
New Material ◽  
The Military

Since the publication of the first edition of Head Strong: How Psychology Is Revolutionizing War in 2014, developments in military psychology have been rapid and important—so much so that this revised edition is necessary to accurately capture the vital role that psychology continues to play in twenty-first-century military success. The ideas contained in the first edition influenced emerging doctrine in the Army’s Human Dimension and informed military leaders around the globe of ways that psychological science and practice may be leveraged to improve combat effectiveness. Many of the predictions made in the first edition have come true, and new and exciting products of military psychology now offer novel ways of impacting military outcomes. This revised edition of Head Strong updates the 13 chapters included in the first edition with breaking news in military psychology and adds new material to augment those chapters. Two entirely new chapters are included in this edition. The first focuses on human performance optimization. It captures rapid developments in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and other disciplines that may help the military optimize soldier and unit performance. The second dives deeply into character and discusses how to measure it, how to develop it, and how character plays a vital role in the performance of individual soldiers and their units. Like the other topics in Head Strong, these two new chapters have significant applicability to nonmilitary organizations including schools, corporations, and sports teams.

Human Performance Optimization

Head Strong ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 78-98
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Human Physiology ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Leader Development ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Military ◽  
Near Future

Budgetary constraints and emerging advances in weapons technology have resulted in a substantial reduction in the sizes of contemporary military forces. The US Army, at less than 500,000 soldiers, is a fraction of its size of a generation ago, yet the demands for it to deploy in a variety of missions around the globe have only increased. This chapter reviews current and emerging strategies that may aid in optimizing soldier performance. Developments in human physiology, genetics, nutrition, neurotechnology, sleep, noncognitive amplifiers, and leader development are described. Currently available strategies are identified, as are approaches to human performance optimization that are likely to emerge in the near future. Extrapolations of human performance optimization protocols to other contexts beyond the military are considered.

Optimizing Human Performance

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews ◽  
David M. Schnyer
Keyword(s):  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Financial Constraints ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Training Requirements ◽  
Mission Success ◽  
Worker Performance ◽  
Civilian Employees ◽  
The Military

In an increasingly complex and fast-paced world, organizations must develop strategies to enhance or optimize worker performance in order to achieve their goals. This is especially true, for example, in the military, where highly skilled and competent personnel are needed, and where, because of lengthy training requirements and financial constraints, getting the most out of its existing soldiers and civilian employees is critical to mission success. Therefore, in many ways the military serves as the best model to understand how humans, when required to go well beyond common capabilities, can optimally function in extreme circumstances. This chapter describes the origins of an Army study to investigate human performance optimization (HPO), the results of that initial study, and introduces the topics included in the current volume that speak to scientifically grounded strategies that may enable the Army and other organizations to optimize the cognitive, physical, and social aspects of employee performance. The topics included in this book are relevant to organizations and individuals that seek to remain competitive by achieving HPO.

The Right Soldier for the Right Job

Head Strong ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 14-36
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
World War I ◽  
First Century ◽  
Noncognitive Skills ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Psychology ◽  
Aptitude Tests ◽  
Military Members ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Military

Military members serve in a wide variety of specific jobs that mirror civilian organizations, such as transportation, accounting, and law enforcement. They also serve in jobs unique to the military involving combat. A major contribution of military psychology is developing tests to aid the military in both screening out candidates unable to perform in a military setting, and once they are in the military, assigning them to jobs in which they may perform at their best. This chapter reviews how psychologists developed some of the first aptitude tests, used to select and assign personnel during World War I, to emerging developments in the twenty-first century that focus on noncognitive skills, including grit, hardiness, character, and a host of other attributes.

The Gospel as Manuscript

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Keith
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Early History ◽  
First Century ◽  
Interdisciplinary Work ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Material ◽  
Material History

This book offers a new material history of the Jesus tradition. It shows that the introduction of manuscripts to the transmission of the Jesus tradition played an underappreciated but crucial role in the reception history of the tradition that eventuated. It focuses particularly on the competitive textualization of the Jesus tradition, whereby Gospel authors drew attention to the written nature of their tradition, sometimes in attempts to assert superiority to predecessors, and the public reading of the Jesus tradition. Both these processes reveal efforts on the part of early followers of Jesus to place the gospel-as-manuscript on display, whether in the literary tradition or in the assembly. Building upon interdisciplinary work on ancient book cultures, this book traces an early history of the gospel as artifact from the textualization of Mark in the first century until the eventual usage of liturgical reading as a marker of authoritative status in the second and third centuries and beyond. Overall, it reveals a vibrant period of the development of the Jesus tradition, wherein the material status of the tradition frequently played as important a role as the ideas about Jesus that it contained.

scholarly journals Ancient Coastal Changes Due to Ground Movements and Human Interventions in the Roman Portus Julius (Pozzuoli Gulf, Italy): Results from Photogrammetric and Direct Surveys

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro P. C. Aucelli ◽  
Gaia Mattei ◽  
Claudia Caporizzo ◽  
Aldo Cinque ◽  
Salvatore Troisi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
3D Model ◽  
First Century ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Ground Movements ◽  
Vertical Ground ◽  
Coastal Changes ◽  
Fish Tank ◽  
The Military

This research aims to evaluate the amount of vertical ground movements during Roman times inside the archaeological area of Portus Julius (Gulf of Pozzuoli) using high-precision surveys on the most reliable archaeological sea-level markers. Measuring the submersion of ancient floors, structural elements belonging to a former fish tank, and several roman pilae, two different relative sea levels (RSLs), related to the beginning and the end of the first century BCE, respectively, −4.7/−5.20 m and −3.10 m MSL (mean sea level), were detected. A photogrammetric survey was carried out in order to produce a 3D model of the fish tank. The results in terms of the RSL variations have enabled us to reconstruct a morpho-evolution of the ancient coastal sector during the last 2.1 kyBP. At the beginning of the first century BCE, the area was characterized by a sheltered gulf with numerous maritime villae located along the coast. In 37 BCE, the construction of the military harbour of Portus Julius strongly modified the paleogeography of the sector, which was also affected by a prevailing subsidence at least until the end of the first century BCE (year 12 BCE), when the port was converted into a commercial hub.

scholarly journals Spatial aspect of modern warfare: from traditional warfare to cyberwar

2021 ◽  
pp. 136-149
Author(s):  
Natalia Aleksandrovna Balakleets
Keyword(s):  
Military Leaders ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Total Destruction ◽  
Spatial Aspect ◽  
Pessimistic Scenario ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
Modern Warfare ◽  
The Military

This author substantiates the thesis on the importance of spatial factors for conducting warfare. The article traces the evolution of warfare associated with the involvement of new territories and new types of spaces in the orbit of military activity. If the warfare of the past demonstrated a direct dependence on the geographical territory and the related “tensions” (C. von Clausewitz), the modern warfare are emancipated from the geographical shell of the Earth. The article explicates the factors that justify the need for arranging the new warfare spaces. Special attention is given to cyberspace, its structure, and conflicts unfolding therein. The scientific novelty of consists in the interpretation of cyberspace as an expected result of the spatial evolution of warfare. The conclusion is drawn that the emergence of cyberspace contributes to solution of the problem of information vagueness and creation of the stability zones for the military leaders, but at the same is a source of problems not less dangerous for the humanity. The cyberwar winner faces a tempting challenge of establishing global control over the territory of the plane using cyberweapon, or in most pessimistic scenario, its total destruction.

Effects of emerging leadership styles on engagement – a mediation analysis in a military context

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Ruiz Moreno ◽  
María Isabel Roldán Bravo ◽  
Carlos García-Guiu ◽  
Luis M. Lozano ◽  
Natalio Extremera Pacheco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Servant Leadership ◽  
Leadership Styles ◽  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Proactive Personality ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis paper aims to report the findings of a study examining the relationship between different leadership styles and engagement through the mediating role of proactive personality.Design/methodology/approachServant leadership, paradoxical leadership, authentic leadership, employee engagement and proactive personality were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of 348 military personnel in Spain. The questionnaire data were analyzed through SEM using EQS and bootstrapping analysis using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.FindingsThe results reveal that servant leadership style in officers partially impacts their cadets' engagement through proactive personality but that authentic and paradoxical leadership styles do not mediate the relationship. The authors also verify a direct relationship between proactive personality and engagement.Practical implicationsThe study implications advance the literature on leadership in emphasizing new leadership styles to increase proactive personality and engagement in the military context. This study verifies the importance of military leaders fostering servant leadership as an antecedent of proactive personality. Finally, the authors show that servant leadership partially impacts engagement through proactive personality.Originality/valueThis study explores the relationship among servant, paradoxical and authentic leadership styles, proactive personality, and engagement – relationships that have not been explored theoretically and tested empirically in the military context.

Russia Resurrected

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn E. Stoner
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
The United States ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Military

This book refutes the idea that Russia plays a weak hand well in international politics. The book argues instead that Russia under Vladimir Putin’s regime may not be as weak as is sometimes thought in the West. It takes a multidimensional approach in assessing Russian state power in international relations, going beyond metrics of power like relative strength of the economy, human capital, and size of the military, to also include the policy weight or importance of Russian firms and industries, as well as where, geographically, Russian influence has spread globally. The book includes fresh empirical data on the Russian economy, demography and human capital, and conventional military and nuclear weaponry capacities in Russia relative to other great powers like China and the United States. The book argues that realpolitik alone does not explain Russian foreign policy choices under Putin. Rather, Putin’s patronal autocratic regime and the need for social stability play an important role in understanding when and why Russian power is projected in the twenty-first century.

Sudan stand-off will persist beyond Hamdok’s exit

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Military Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Limited Impact ◽  
International Sanctions ◽  
The Military

Significance His departure is ostensibly a blow for Sudan’s military leaders and a symbolic victory for Sudanese calling for the military to leave power. However, the stand-off between the two groups remains fundamentally unchanged. Impacts If leaders cannot find enough civilians to form a cabinet, they may offer some posts to serving or retired military. Protests and possible strike action will continue but may have only limited impact, unless rising casualties trigger a new flashpoint. Significant new international sanctions are unlikely to materialise.

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