RE: Self Assessment

Binnema, Gerry (BINNEMG_at_TC.GC.CA)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 10:36:34 -0500

I would be very interested in getting information on the class exercise you
have devised re: George Miller's 7 +/- 2 phenomena, and how you demonstrate
the effect of stress on this. It sounds like an excellent way to bring home
the point about the impact of stress. When I teach a CRM class and we
discuss stress and fatigue I always ask if people feel that fatigue is an
important factor in aviation and if they feel their performance has been
degraded by fatigue. I always get a 100% response rate. But when I ask the
same question later on, about stress, the response is always somewhat muted.
60-70% of the hands go up but they are only halfway up and wavering.
Something that brings home the impact of stress would be super.

Thanks
Gerry Binnema

> ----------
> From: AAdamski_at_aol.com[SMTP:AAdamski_at_aol.com]
> Reply To: crm-devel_at_db.erau.edu
> Sent: February 18, 1999 6:49 AM
> To: crm-devel_at_db.erau.edu
> Subject: Re: Self Assessment
>
>
> 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.
>