Swedish Officer Selection

The use of psychological methods as an aid to offtcer selection in the Swedish armed forces dates back to the early 1940’s. The psychological examinations at that time were heavily influenced by German methods developed in the 1930’s with an emphasis on personality variables. In 1996, a new system was introduced, which is based on the theories of Jaques and Stamp and on the philosophy that the first stage of selection must be directed at deselecting applicants not at all suited for the officer profession, rather than trying to find those best suited. The new system has three main components: A cognitive test battery, a personality inventory and an interview. The test battery, comprising three inductive, four spatial and five verbal tests, was constructed with the aid of confirmatory factor analysis. It is evaluated in independent (orthogonal) factor scores over the three latent intelligence factors G (general), Gv (visualization) and Gc (crystallized), as well as in co-varying (oblique) factor scores over the factors inductive, spatial, and verbal intelligence. The personality inventory was also constructed using confirmatory factor analysis. It has 155 statements that yield five independent factors labeled Subjective Leadership Potential, Intlexibility, Adventurousness, Opportunism and Unreliability. The interview is semi-structured and lasts for about 90 minutes. It results in ratings of the six variables Social ability, Motivation for the profession, Emotional stability, Intellectual ability, Energy and Maturity. Construction of criterion instruments is under way, but so far it has not been possible to assess the predictive validity of the instruments due to the fact that criteria have as yet not been available. Historical background In Sweden, the use of psychological methods in offtcer selection was introduced in 1944. The ongoing war prevented exchange with psychologists involved in military selection in the belligerent powers, and so most of the methods had to be developed with the domestic resources available. The formalized psychological examination was strongly inspired by German methods used in the 1930’s. The most important part was an interview, carried out by specially trained psychologists. As a basis for the interview there was a biographical self-description, a questionnaire concerning interests and personality, a so-called “work curve”, situational tests (of social intelligence), an intelligence test, an essay, and tests of technical comprehension. In 1955 the Institute of Military Psychology (MPI) was established and given the responsibility of guaranteeing the professionalism of the methods used for officer selection. In the aftermath of the 1968 student revolution, however, public opinion against selection procedures grew strong and in 1981 formalized psychological selection was abandoned when a new officer structure was introduced which placed all offtcers, commissioned as well as non-commissioned, in the same category. In 1991, work started on a new system for officer selection, which was introduced in 1996. At this time, MPI had been reorganized to become a part of the National Defence College (NDC). Each single Army unit at the division level and each Navy squadron is responsible for its officer selection, having a selection board of its own. The Air Force has a central selection board that provides service to the different wings of the force, both as regards selection of commissioned officers and of pilots. In the last few years, a total of about 1500 applicants have been screened each year, which is approximately double the number required. The testing and interview procedures take place at the military units involved. NDC is responsible for the development and validation of the test instruments through its Department of Leadership. The actual testing, scoring, and the interviews are carried out by a central Defence agency, responsible for recruitment and selection to all three defence branches. Apart from the test and interview results, which are delivered to the selection board by the psychologists, the selection boards also collect information on the applicant from his or her training unit. This information concerns his or her service grades, as well as the opinions of peers and subordinates, which are collected by a conscript representative body at the unit in question. Paper presented at the RTO HFM Workshop on “Officer Selection “, held in Monterey, USA, 9-11 November 1999, and published in RTO MP-55.