Chapter

12

Individual Differences and Interpersonal Relationships

Introduction					227
Personality					227
Interactive Style					231
The Individual’s Contribution within a Group					232
Cohesion					234
Group Decision Making					234
Improving Group Decision Making . . . . . .	. .	. . . . . . . . . .	. .	.	237
Leadership					238
The Authority Gradient and Leadership Styles . .	. .	. . . . . . . . . .	. .	.	243
Interacting with Other Agencies					246
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	.	. . . . . . . . . .	. . . .247
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	. .	. . . . . . . . . .	. .	.	250

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Introduction

This chapter should be read in conjunction with Chapter 13 (Communication and Co-operation) since both are part of the bigger picture of individual differences, communications and intercrew cooperation.

Personality

Introduction

People differ from one another in many respects such as size, skin colour, gender, intelligence and personal characteristics. Some of these differences are irrelevant in aviation, but many are not. The size of an individual may limit the type of aircraft flown, and the personality and intelligence of an individual will determine the way that he or she interacts both with other crew members and people in general.

Personality traits are initially innate - inherited through genes - and acquired very early in life. They are deep-seated characteristics which constitute the essence of a person. They are stable and very resistant to change. However, over time, personality can be influenced and developed by outside factors and thereby undergo a degree of change. These changes can occur at any stage in a person’s life.

One of the greatest challenges in psychology is to understand how much people bring into the world - their biological/genetic nature - and how much the environmental conditions and events affect them after they arrive (nurture). It is generally accepted today that the two intertwine to shape personality and mental processes. Thus heredity, upbringing and experience all tend to contribute to a greater or lesser degree.

One useful way of thinking about the relative contributions of nature and nurture is to think of genetics as roughly defining a fairly broad potential of range of abilities and nurture as pushing a child up or down within this range.

Self Concept

A child first develops an awareness of himself/herself as an entity separate and distinct from the environment surrounding him because other people respond to him as a separate and autonomous object.

As he/she (referred to as he for the rest of this chapter) develops a concept of “self”, he becomes aware of himself as an object of his own perception. Furthermore his own evaluation of himself arises as a reflection of others’ evaluation. As he grows his personality is gradually developed by social interaction with other people.

Thus it is possible to say that:

•Self-concept is crucial to any change or adjustment in personality.

•Self-evaluation changes in response to changes in other’s evaluations of oneself.

To amplify the two statements, a gradual change in personality will only take place if either the individual is unhappy about the person he sees himself to be or this realization is triggered by the reaction of others to him. For example, a spoilt and only child is sent to school and, from the reaction of other children to his selfishness, realizes the kind of personality he has and may deliberately set about to change it.

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Many outside sources may also influence personality. Success is one of these. An underconfident co-pilot is promoted to Captain and, with the realisation of his own capabilities, becomes assured when dealing both with his work and others around him. Other factors influencing personality are social origins, education and past experience.

Defining Personality

Personality is the term used to embrace all those stable behavioural characteristics that are associated with an individual and it is extremely important when determining relationships with others. It refers to the total organization of the individual’s motives, attitudes, beliefs, ways of perceiving and of behaving.

We are all used to the common descriptive words and phrases used to describe individuals - ‘a daredevil’, ‘a good sport’, ‘a sour faced skinflint’ or ‘a good listener’ for example. These terms, however, are unscientific and too general for use in assessing personality with any degree of accuracy.

Personality, Attitude and Behaviour

Attitude and behaviour differ from personality in that attitude is a way of believing and feeling about an object or class of objects. Attitudes are learnt and they may be general or specific. They represent predispositions to respond, favourably or unfavourably, towards the “target” of the attitude. Unlike personality, there seems to be no real evidence that attitudes are genetic.

Behaviour

Is the outward result of both personality and attitude. However, behaviour is not always the natural outcome since behaviour may be controlled if the individual is so motivated. We are all able to adapt our behaviour to the circumstances or, indeed, the person with whom we are associating at the time. This ability is particularly important in a pilot who has to fly with many differing and diverse personalities.

Assessing Personality

We all make assessments of personality in any social encounter. We even make quick decisions on a stranger’s personality by their appearance or dress. To illustrate this, study Figure 12.1 in which individuals are classified into three groups: endomorphic, mesomorphic, or ectomorphic.

The endomorph is soft and round in physical appearance and we tend to think of him as easy going, sociable and self-indulgent. The mesomorph appears physically hard, muscular, and rectangular, and is considered to be psychologically restless, energetic, and insensitive. Finally the ectomorph is physically tall, thin and fragile and is looked upon as introspective, sensitive and nervous.

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Figure 12.1 Biases

Personality Questionnaires and InterviewingTechniques

Although we do make judgements of personality from a person’s appearance, our assessments are often wrong. Irrespective of the number of times that we have been proved incorrect in our initial assessment we still tend to stick to these preconceived images when meeting a stranger.

Personality may be assessed by various techniques such as single or panel interviews, projective tests, and even role play. However, it has been proved that the written questionnaire is, on the whole, the most reliable form of personality assessment.

Dimensions of Personality

Personality, attitudes and beliefs are intangible in as much as they cannot be isolated or studied directly but only inferred from what a person says or does. Personality may be classified in a number of dimensions. The major dimensions may be said to be extraversion and anxiety but other major traits such as warmth and sociability, impulsiveness, tough-mindedness, dominance, stability and boldness will all contribute to the overall personality of the individual.

Extroversion and Anxiety

At the very basic level extroversion may be associated with boldness, impulsive behaviour and sociability.

Anxiety is normally linked to emotional instability, tension and suspiciousness. As extroversion and anxiety are not related to one another, some people may be anxious and extroverted, others anxious and introverted.

The results from a series of tests or questionnaires may be plotted on a simple two dimensional graph of personality with axes of extroversion and anxiety, see Figure 12.2. Most people will be about the average in both dimensions.

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As deviation from the average increases so the characteristics of that personality become more pronounced, for example:

•The anxious extrovert will be regarded as aggressive and changeable.

•The stable introvert will be regarded as thoughtful and controlled.

•An anxious introvert will seem sober and pessimistic.

•Stable extroverts will be seen as responsive and easy going.

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Figure 12.2 A two dimensional model of personality

Personality and Aircraft Accidents

Personality is a factor in many aviation accidents. The anxious extroverts tend to have more flying accidents in which risk taking is involved. The anxious introverts tend to have a different sort of accident when their rigid and sober approach may lead them to underperform when confronted with an emergency and to mismanage their task when under pressure.

Risk taking and risk assessment represent the biggest problem in many accidents, especially in single pilot operations. Some of the risks may be taken for personal reasons, showing off for example, but other risks may be taken due to commercial pressure. To reduce these possible risks pilots should be aware of their own personality type and, if they recognize impulsive and thrill-seeking elements in that personality, should take steps to satisfy these characteristics away from the flight deck.

Preferred Personality

The preferred average pilot should be stable and extroverted but whether this represents the ideal personality type for flying is arguable. Certainly military flying, with its requirements to fly to extended limits or take greater risks, may require different characteristics than those required in commercial operations. With the ever-increasing advance in cockpit automation, associated with long periods of boredom, this is perhaps pushing the ideal pilot “position” more to the left of the chart towards - but not into - the introvert sector.

A pilot must also be self-disciplined and have the ability to control his/her internal emotions and external actions. This personality trait is essential in the “ideal” pilot.

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