Spin-Offs: A Better World Through Military Psychology

Military research routinely yields spin-offs that are useful in the civilian domain. In the hard sciences, World War I spun off advances in chemistry, and World War II produced advances in physics that changed the world. Military psychological science is no different. Aptitude testing sprung from the efforts of psychologists during World War I to help the military better select and classify incoming personnel. Clinical psychology and human factors engineering were boosted as a result of World War II. The Vietnam conflict led to a better understanding of combat stress and contributed to the including of posttraumatic stress disorder as a diagnostic label. All had direct application to the civilian sector. This chapter considers spin-offs from contemporary military psychological research that will benefit general society including better ways to treat stress and promote resilience, select and train employees, and enhance leadership strategies and cultural skills.

Leading Others in the Digital Age

The dominance of digital and social media in our lives presents opportunities both to enhance positive social influence and to interfere with it. Traditional military chain of command is rigid and evolved in the era before radio communication was possible. The ability to issue orders and plans in near real-time enables the speed of decision-making to be greatly increased, increasing the lethality of contemporary military operations. On the negative side, misuse of social media by individual solders can have devastating negative impacts at the strategic level. In this context topics of soft power and external manipulation of social media to disrupt morale are discussed. Psychologists may help the military better understand the positive use of information technology to achieve mission success and also develop training and other methods to mitigate against the social use of these technologies.

Character: The Essential Ingredient in Success

In recent years psychologists have developed new and comprehensive models of positive human character and methods for assessing it. This chapter reviews these developments as they apply to training and preparing soldiers for combat. Positive character is especially important for those who lead others in dangerous and threatening contexts, including leaders in the military, law enforcement, firefighting, and similar occupations. A model of character strengths is described, and different approaches to formally teaching character are explored. The West Point Leader Development System in described in detail. Specific character strengths linked to successful performance in in extremis conditions are described. The relevance of new developments in character science to nonmilitary domains is discussed.

Human Performance Optimization

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.

When the Going Gets Rough, the Rough Get Going: Leading in Combat

Leadership in dangerous, sometimes life or death, situations may call for different skills compared to managing a team of workers in a corporate setting. This chapter reviews recent research that defines the type of attributes that these in extremis leaders possess, including inherent task motivation, embracing continuous learning, sharing risk with followers, having a common lifestyle with followers, and having and inspiring high competence, trust, and loyalty. How such leaders develop psychological body armor is reviewed, with emphases on courage and resilience. Approaches to influencing others in dangerous situations and how organizations may be built and structured to support leadership when threat to life and well-being is tangible are considered. The chapter concludes with a model that helps clarify and define different types of in extremis situations and how these leadership styles and traits may apply in nonmilitary settings.

Psychological Science and the Art of War

This chapter explores the history of military psychology and its influence on war. Beginning with World War I and continuing to today’s military operations, psychology has provided the military with better ways to select, train, develop, and lead soldiers in combat. Notable contributions of military psychology include aptitude testing, human factors engineering, clinical psychology, cyber technology, and positive psychology. Military psychologists may be civilians or uniformed members of all branches of service. They are employed in universities, government laboratories, hospitals, and nongovernment organizations including corporations and private consulting firms. The Society for Military Psychology is a founding division of the American Psychological Association. Given that the human element is the most important factor in warfare, military psychology is an essential science for winning the wars of today and tomorrow.

Psychology, War, Peace, and Ethics

This chapter explores the psychology of war and peace, with a focus on how psychologists may set the occasion for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Topics include a discussion of the growth mindset and the social psychology of interpersonal conflict. The role of education in reducing conflict is examined. A discussion of ethical dilemmas faced by military psychologists and the boundaries that contemporary psychology sets for psychologists working on behalf of the military follows. The chapter introduces a new model of ethics that may help guide psychologists in deciding what research and practice is ethical versus that which is not.

Building Better Soldiers Through Science

This chapter looks at how psychology and related sciences may contribute to training and developing more effective soldiers. Topics include approaches to engineering a more resilient soldier, one that is less vulnerable to posttraumatic stress disorder and other forms of combat stress. Engineering 24/7 soldiers, that is, soldiers who can perform for extended periods of time without sleep, is examined. Psychological approaches to increasing the ability of soldiers to kill are considered. The chapter concludes with a discussion of approaches to increase the physical capabilities of soldiers that also have psychological consequences, including advanced prosthetics, robotics and human-robot interface, and augmented cognition.

The Twenty-First-Century Patton

The image of a tough, overbearing military leader, exemplified by the portrayal of General Patton in the movie Patton, has never truly reflected the characteristics and attributes of effective combat leaders. The Hollywood image of officers barking orders to soldiers loudly and with threats to comply are seldom seen on or off the battlefield. This chapter explores the types of leadership skills and attributes needed to successfully lead soldiers in the twenty-first century in conflicts characterized by insurgencies and cultural/religious divides. After reviewing military leadership doctrine, the role of trust is discussed in depth. The chapter closes with a discussion of functional contemporary leader attributes, including egalitarianism, transformational leadership style, adaptive thinking, technological competence, social and political intelligence, diversity, and the ability and willingness to work with nonmilitary organizations to achieve goals.

Turning Civilians into Soldiers

New soldiers must be trained in the special skills and capabilities needed to operate complex weapons systems, endure physical and psychological hardships, and develop the cultural awareness that is necessary for soldiers interacting closely—often in noncombat roles—with people from diverse political, cultural, religious, and social backgrounds. This chapter reviews the history of military training and current training practices and projects new approaches to training that will be necessary in coming years. In particular, the need for high-fidelity simulations that run the gamut from direct combat to complex social interactions such as negotiating with the enemy or the leaders of the local population is explored. Contemporary training must also focus on giving soldiers the personal skills needed to remain psychologically healthy and resilient in an era of persistent warfare.