Re: Self Assessment
AAdamski_at_aol.com
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 09:49:23 EST
Hello to Jeff and all CRMers,
I offer you the following suggestions regarding personal assessment, stress,
and loss of judgement. First, take a look at Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe's
Social Readjustment Rating Scale. You can find it in many introduction type
psychology texts such as The World of Psychology by Samule Wood and Ellen
Green Wood (p. 489). It will provide you some data on how life events can
affect performance. Plus it provides a questionaire that will help one
calculate his current level of stress based on life events. I and my
associates have used this scale for a stress management program for
professional pilots (a program we published over 10 years ago) and for a
personal improvement program for first-line supervisors for a major automobile
manufacturer.
In CRM classes, I have found that discussing George Miller's plus or minus
two concept regarding short-term memory and integrating it into situational
awareness to be very beneficial. Miller maintained that we can process 7 plus
or minus 2 bits of information at a time. I have devised a class exercise that
demonstrates this phenomenon.
As the stressors increase, I suggest that one's personal capability to
process information is decreased. Thus, if one typically can process 6 pieces
of information, as stress increases (stress being a reaction to stressors:
either internal or external) one may only be able to process 3 pieces of
information. This leads to a decrease in situational awareness.
You will also find information about George Miller and short-term and long-
term memory in the psych books. I have found it very worthwhile to demonstrate
the affects of stress on memory.
I had the pleasure a few months ago of attending a workchop on CFIT at Wayne
State University with one of your cohorts - Capt. Nick Islin. If you run
across him, say hello for me.
Tony A.