Janice H. Laurence - Böcker

The critical link between psychology and the military is imprtant to recruiting, training, socializing, assigning, employing, deploying, motivating, rewarding, maintaining, managing, integrating, retaining, transitioning, supporting, counseling, and healing military members. These areas are hardly distinct, and the chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Military Psychology have contents that cross these boundaries.Collectively, the topics covered in this volume describe the myriad ways in which modern psychology influences warfare and vice versa. The extensive topics included come from within the areas of clinical, industrial/organizational, experimental, engineering, and social psychology. The contributors are top international experts in military psychology -- some uniformed soldiers, others academics and clinicians, and others civilian employees of the military or other government agencies. They address important areas in which the science and practice of psychology supports military personnel in their varied and complex missions. Among the topics addressed here are suitability for service, leadership, decision making, training, terrorism, socio-cultural competencies, diversity and cohesion, morale, quality-of-life, ethical challenges, and mental health and fitness. The focus is the ways in which psychology promotes the decisive human dimension of military effectiveness. Collectively, the 25 topical chapters of this handbook provide an overview of modern military psychology and its tremendous influence on the military and society as a whole.

This unique volume examines in detail two recent periods in military manpower history that have had a profound and lasting effect on military recruitment and selection policy. Project 100,000 and the ASVAB Misnorming brought hundreds of thousands of low-aptitude men into the military. While military officials recall these times with anything but affection, some social activists praise these periods as exemplary military social welfare ventures that could be resurrected today.Janice Laurence and Peter Ramsberger examine the history behind Project 100,000 and the ASVAB Misnorming as well as their outcomes--both for the military and for the men brought into the service. The data do not support the claim that a tour of duty will ultimately lead to civilian success for the low-aptitude veterans. While some have fond feelings for the military and may have profited from the experience, many were found to be less well off economically and socially than their nonveteran counterparts.

The discipline of military psychology involves the systematic and scientific study of the selection, training, adaptation, and performance of soldiers. Military psychology, by necessity, is a heterogeneous field of inquiry. On the one hand, it draws on all subdisciplines of psychology to understand the variables that affect soldier performance while on the other hand, lessons learned from military psychology are of vital importance to all areas of psychology. The purpose of this collection of readings is to capture significant developments from military psychology that are of general interest and importance to all psychologists and to promote understanding in human behaviour in challenging contexts.Volume One: Selection, Training and Performance captures significant advances in how soldiers are selected, assigned, and trained.Volume Two: Applied Experimental and Engineering Psychology includes topics of human factors engineering, cognitive engineering, ergonomics, situational awareness and soldier performance. Volume Three: Stress and Resilience focuses on classic and contemporary studies of combat stress and its consequences.Volume Four: Leadership, Culture and Morale advances the understanding of leading people in the contexts of dangerous environments.