Uncovering the metaphysics of psychological warfare: The social science behind the Psychological Strategy Board's operations planning, 1951-1953.

In April 1951 president Harry S. Truman established the Psychological Strategy Board to enhance and streamline America's sprawling psychological warfare campaign against the USSR. As soon as the Board's staff began work on improving US psychological operations, they wondered how social science might help them achieve their task. Board Director, Gordon Gray, asked physicist turned research administrator Henry Loomis to do a full review of America's social science research program in support of psychological operations. Loomis willingly accepted the task. This paper documents Loomis's investigation into America's social science research program. It uncovers the critical role that government departments had in the creation of research in the early 1950s and thus highlights that the government official is an important actor in the history of social science and the application of social science to psychological operations at the beginning of the Cold War.

History of military psychology.

Military psychology is a specialist discipline within applied psychology. It entails the application of psychological science to military operations, systems and personnel. The specialty was formally founded during World War I in the UK and the USA, and it was integral to many early concepts and interventions for psychological and neuropsychological trauma. It also established a fundamental basis for the psychological assessment and selection of military personnel. During and after World War II, military psychology continued to make significant contributions to aviation psychology, cognitive testing, rehabilitation psychology and many models of psychotherapy. Military psychology now consists of several subspecialties, including clinical, research and occupational psychology, with the latter often referred to in the USA as industrial/organisational psychology. This article will provide an overview of the origins, history and current composition of military psychology in the UK, with select international illustrations also being offered.

Understanding the POW experience: stress research and the implementation of the 1955 U.S. Armed Forces Code of Conduct.

Facing accusations about weak military discipline following the supposedly poor behavior of American soldiers held captive during the Korean War, President Dwight Eisenhower instituted a Code of Conduct for the Armed Services in 1955. In response, military leaders hired numerous social and behavioral scientists to investigate the nature of the prisoner-of-war (POW) experience. These researchers not only challenged official government accounts of POW activities but opened up a new field of study-stress research. They also changed military training policy, which soon focused more on stress inoculation training, and, in so doing, helped lead the shift in psychology away from behaviorism to ego and cognitive psychology. In this sense, my article ties shifts within the social and behavioral sciences in the 1950s to the military history of the early Cold War, a connection generally missing from most accounts of this period.

[Professional psychological selection system in the Air Force - 50 years].

Given the data about the establishment of the professional psychological selection system in the Air Force in 1958-1964 in the NIIIAM Air Force by the team psychological department under the leadership of K.K.Platonova. Given the names of the developers of this system and given the results of their research. The result of all made work the order of Air Force Commander about the introduction of the psychological selection in Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, starting from a set of 1964 became. Recommendations for professional psychological selection of a wide range of aviation professionals in various fields, and in the future - and other professionals of the Armed Forces, became the results of future work.

The psychologist and the bombardier: the Army Air Forces' aircrew classification program in WWII.

During World War II, psychologists in the Army Air Forces were given an unprecedented opportunity to showcase their discipline by developing examinations to test the aptitude of aviation cadets as pilots, navigators, or bombardiers. These psychologists enjoyed success in classifying pilots and navigators, but became quickly frustrated by their results for bombardiers. The trouble lay not in their choice of tests but in their performance measures for bombardiering, a difficulty that came to be known as 'the problem of the criterion.' This episode in the history of military mental testing exemplifies the challenges faced by psychologists at the moment they were poised to gain the support of the armed services, and highlights how these new hazards shaped postwar military psychology.

Assessment for the U.S. Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program: the Global Assessment Tool.

Psychology and the U.S. military have a long history of collaboration. The U.S. Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program aims to measure the psychosocial strengths and assets of soldiers as well as their problems, to identify those in need of basic training in a given domain as well as those who would benefit from advanced training, and then to provide that training. The goals of the CSF program include the promotion of well-being as well as the prevention of problems. Assessment is the linchpin of the CSF program, and the Global Assessment Tool (GAT) is a self-report survey that measures psychosocial fitness in emotional, social, family, and spiritual domains. We review the history of psychological assessment in the military and the lessons taught by this history. Then we describe the process by which the GAT was developed and evaluated. We conclude with a discussion of pending next steps in the development and use of the GAT.

Yale University's Institute of Human Relations and the Spanish Civil War: Dollard and Miller's study of fear and courage under battle conditions.

In the late 1930s, the Institute of Human Relations of Yale University developed a research program on conflict and anxiety as an outcome of Clark Hull's informal seminar on the integration of Freud's and Pavlov's theories. The program was launched at the 1937 Annual Meeting of the APA in a session chaired by Clark L. Hull, and the experiments continued through 1941, when the United States entered the Second World War. In an effort to apply the findings from animal experiments to the war situation, John Dollard and Neal E. Miller decided to study soldiers' fear reactions in combat. As a first step, they arranged interviews with a few veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Taking these interviews as a point of departure, Dollard devised a questionnaire to which 300 former Lincoln brigaders responded. The present paper analyzes the main outcomes of the questionnaire, together with the war experiences reported in the interview transcripts. Our purpose was to evaluate a project which was initially investigated by the FBI because of the communists among the Lincoln ranks, but eventually supported by the American Army, and which exerted great influence on the military psychology of the time.

Yale University’s Institute of Human Relations and the Spanish Civil War: Dollard and Miller’s Study of Fear and Courage under Battle Conditions

In the late 1930s, the Institute of Human Relations of Yale University developed a research program on conflict and anxiety as an outcome of Clark Hull’s informal seminar on the integration of Freud’s and Pavlov’s theories. The program was launched at the 1937 Annual Meeting of the APA in a session chaired by Clark L. Hull, and the experiments continued through 1941, when the United States entered the Second World War. In an effort to apply the findings from animal experiments to the war situation, John Dollard and Neal E. Miller decided to study soldiers’ fear reactions in combat. As a first step, they arranged interviews with a few veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Taking these interviews as a point of departure, Dollard devised a questionnaire to which 300 former Lincoln brigaders responded.The present paper analyzes the main outcomes of the questionnaire, together with the war experiences reported in the interview transcripts. Our purpose was to evaluate a project which was initially investigated by the FBI because of the communists among the Lincoln ranks, but eventually supported by the American Army, and which exerted great influence on the military psychology of the time (AU)

A finales de la década de 1930 el Institute of Human Relations de la Universidad de Yale desarrolló un programa de investigación sobre el conflicto y la ansiedad como resultado del seminario informal de Clark H. Hull sobre la integración de las teorías de Freud y Pavlov. El programa se puso en marcha en la reunión anual de la APA de 1937 en una sesión presidida por Hull y los experimentos continuaron en 1941, cuando los Estados Unidos entraron en la segunda guerra mundial. En un intento de aplicar los hallazgos de los experimentos con animales a la situación bélica, John Dollard y Neal E. Miller decidieron estudiar las reacciones de miedo de los soldados en el combate. Como primer paso concertaron entrevistas con unos pocos veteranos de la Brigada Abraham Lincoln. Tomando estas entrevistas como punto de partida, Dollard diseñó un cuestionario al que contestaron 300 antiguos brigadistas de la Lincoln. Este artículo analiza los resultados principales del cuestionario, así como las experiencias de guerra reflejadas en las transcripciones de las entrevistas. Nuestro propósito ha sido evaluar un proyecto que fue investigado inicialmente por el FBI por la presencia comunista en las filas de la Lincoln, pero finalmente apoyado por el ejército norteamericano, y que ejerció una gran influencia sobre la psicología militar de la época (AU)

General George S. Patton, Jr. and the conquest of fear.

General George S. Patton, Jr. was a highly successful World War II battle commander whose flamboyance and many idiosyncrasies made him a focus of interest for biographers. But he was an enigmatic and complex man whose success came at a high price. Despite his prominence and celebrity, there have been minimal efforts to examine his psychological makeup so crucial to his success on the battlefield. In this essay, Patton's personal story and how it relates to the stresses of war and to his leadership of men in arms is examined. Central to his success was his early triumph over dyslexia, his ability to control the fear and guilt inherent in combat, his intense physical activity, his theatrical skills, and his deep knowledge of the history and methods of warfare.

[Psychology and psychiatry in the 7th Navy Hospital in the light of its 75th anniversary]. / Psychologia i psychiatria w 7 Szpitalu Marynarki Wojennej w swietle jego 75-lecia.

2007 is a year of 75 years' jubilee of VII Navy Hospital in Gdansk. Reminding of it's history seems to be important element of military psychologists and psychiatrists conference organized by hospital's personnel. SHORT HISTORY OF THE VII NAVY HOSPITAL IN GDANSK: The VII Navy Hospital came into existence in 1st May of 1932 in Gdynia Oksywie and included one hundred beds on surgery and general practice wards. In 1949 the hospital has been connected with general military hospital in Gdansk and has got it's actual place. There have been fifteen commandants since that time. Commandore Piotr Drabarek is actual commandant of this hospital. The most interesting person in a group of commandants was admiral Wieslaw Lasinski, later chancellor of Military Medical Academy in Lódz. NOWADAYS OF THE VII NAVY HOSPITAL: The hospital actually includes twelve wards. There works one professors, fifteen physicians with degree of doctor and few doctors with open doctoral dissertations. Modern equipment, highly qualified medical staff, ensure professional medical care. History of the psychology and psychiatry The VII Navy Hospital in Gdansk hadn't included psychiatry ward until seventieth years of XX century. Psychosomatic ward came to existence in 1970 and in 1975 has become psychiatry. Actual boss of the ward is doctor Alicja Furmanska. It is worth to say something about psychosomatic ward which came to existence in 2005 and is lead by Ltd. Malgorzata Zychlinska. It is professional medical base in Polish army. Four hundred patients is treated in this ward in a year on forty beds. In addition, both wards employs five doctors and five psychologists. They control 3500 patients a year. HISTORY REFLECTION: In spite of many historical, political, economical event difficulties the institution which bases on determinations, competence and personal attitude develops constantly. Psychiatry and psychology ward in the VII Navy Hospital in Gdansk are said "unsinkable".

ANAM genogram: historical perspectives, description, and current endeavors.

This paper presents a historical overview and current perspective of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) test system. We discuss the history of its development along with a synopsis of the evolution of computerized testing that has occurred and led to ANAM over the past 30 years within the Department of Defense (DoD). We include a description of our current system and test library. Finally, we present an overview of advanced development projects that are presently underway. We have intentionally avoided addressing issues of reliability, stability, clinical sensitivity, and construct validity in this paper. These issues are presented in other reports in this special issue.

[Defense of the nation contrary to prosperity of the discipline: military engagement and institutionalization of psychology in Canada]. / Défense de la nation contre prospérité de la discipline: engagement militaire et institutionnalisation de la psychologie au Canada.

This article contributes to our knowledge about the rise of the social and human sciences through an examination of military uses of psychology in Canada and this field sensibility to external demand. The national crisis caused by World War II and the Cold War were perceived by psychologists as sizeable opportunities to promote psychological expertise outside academe and to strengthen the social authority of their discipline and profession. By the way of military patronage and psychological contribution to National defense, psychological expertise then gained new symbolic and material resources. Does it mean that this field exogeneity undermine its disciplinary practices or knowledge production? It is said that this is an empirical question that bears no univocal answers.

Psychological thought and practice in German-speaking Europe, 1900-1960.

Psychology has become a protean "multi-discipline" that occupies a peculiar place among the sciences, suspended between methodological orientations derived from the physical and biological sciences and a subject matter extending into the social and human sciences. At the same time, modern societies have become permeated--some would say saturated--with psychological thinking and practices, much of which relates tenuously at best to what goes on in the discipline. In these remarks, both of these developments are placed in historical context, focusing particularly on Germany and Austria. Particular emphasis is placed on the roles of politics, society, and culture in the formation and reception of psychological thought and research, as well as in the creation and uses of psychological knowledge in practical contexts.

"Forward psychiatry" in the military: its origins and effectiveness.

"Forward psychiatry" was devised in World War I for the treatment of shell shock and today is the standard intervention for combat stress reaction. It relied on three principles: proximity to battle, immediacy, and expectation of recovery, subsequently given the acronym "PIE." Both US and UK forces belatedly reintroduced PIE methods during World War II to return servicemen to active duty and made confident claims for its efficacy. Advanced treatment units also appeared to have minimized psychiatric battle casualties during Korean and Vietnamese Wars. Evaluations of its use by Israeli forces in the Lebanon conflict showed higher return-to-duty rates than at base hospitals. A reexamination of these examples suggests that reported outcomes tended to exaggerate its effectiveness both as a treatment for acute stress reaction and as a prophylaxis for chronic disorders such as PTSD. It remains uncertain who is being served by the intervention: whether it is the individual soldier or the needs of the military.