Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6
PSVCHOI OGK. AL SCTENCb
Enhancing Human Performance
psychology soon became a bedfellow of the unconven-
tional training techniques
in the army,
FORMATION OF THE NRC COMMITTEE
In conversations between Edgar M. Johnson, techni-
cal director of ART and David A. Goslin, then executive
director of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sci-
ences and Education (CBASSE)
of
the NRC, and
in
a
formal letter request,
it was indicated that the AR1 lead-
ership wanted help, not only to reduce broad pressures
on
it that had recently intensified, but also with an im-
portant national problem of interest
to private industry
and the public as well as the military, CBASSE members
who evaluated
this request included psychologists Wil-
liam K. Estes, Ira J. Hirsh, Lauren Resnick, and Stanley
Schachter.
In response to the request, CBASSE moved
to
set up a committee especially
for the purpose,
with
suggestions
for particular kinds of expertise
also from
other advisers
including
psychologists
Robert
Boruch,
Wendell R. Garner, Bert F, Green, and Gardner Lindzey.
The first author of this article was enlisted as committee
chair and, together with Goslin, he developed
the
final
recommendations for membership that were endorsed by
the commission.
1 Daniel Druckman was appointed as the
committee's study director.
The Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement
of Human Performance (henceforth, the committee) met
first
in late July
1985. ARI’s Johnson along with George
Lawrence,
its liaison to the committee, arranged for sev-
eral
speakers
at
the
first
meeting, who informed and
sometimes perplexed the members. A tew speakers de-
scribed
single
techniques,
others waxed
enthusiastic
about the
full range of them, and one. a retired general,
spoke eloquently
of
his own
extensive
psychokinetic
powers.
General Maxwell
R. Thurman was
the
motivational
speaker
at dinner (he
first evening.
His graphs demon-
strated that in terms of recruits' test scores, the army was
doing increasingly better, and also better compared to the
other services. His review of the traditional and growing
demands placed on
soldiers, however, made clear that
these demands continued
to outstrip
abilities by a large
margin.
THE COMMITTEE’S APPROACH
The committee could easily imagine the great difficul-
ties faced
in converting recruits, most of them with min-
1. The committee ciHisisted
ol John
A.
Swets.
chuir,
Robert
A.
B.iork, Thomas D. Cook, Gerald
C. Dnviwn. Lloyd G. Humphreys.
Ray Hyman. Oamel M. Landers, Sandra A
Mobley, l.yman W. Porter.
Michael
I.
Posner.
Walter Schneider, Jerome
E,
Singer,
Sally
F
Springer, and Richard
F. Thompson.
ima) education as well
as short terms of duty,
into
sol-
|
diers who possess the personal and social skills needed in
battle as well as the technical skills needed to operate and
maintain complex equipment.
It could understand urges
to look beyond slow, narrow, and insufficiently targeted
mainstream research on human performance to enhance-
ments that could come From elsewhere. And
it was aware
thaL those
in the army responsible for training and tech-
j
nique evaluation would face difficulties in responding to
j
strong enhancement claims (both by army
officers and
outside vendors) for diverse and far-ranging techniques.
The committee agreed that the general problem deserved
objective and thorough examination and was
willing
to
initiate such a study.
Subcommittees were formed on various facets of the
problem, including evaluation issues, sleep learning,
ac-
celerated
learning, guided
imagery,
biofeedback,
split-
j
brain
effects,
stress management,
cohesion,
influence,
j
and parapsychology. The committee met as a whole
six
j
times
in 2 years,
in whole or part made ten
site
visits,
invited twenty or so
briefings,
and commissioned
ten
background
review
papers. 2
It met
twice
with
a
Re-
source Advisory Group of army officers formed
for (he
purposed
army BACKGROUND
The army's
interest
in parapsychology
is reported
to
j
be longstanding, including,
for example, sponsorship of
E5-P research by J.B. Rhine in the early
1950s. Remote-
j
viewing experiments were conducted for the army by the
|
Stanford Research institute in the 1970s. A military con-
cern has been
that
the Soviets have been
active
in
the
development of psychic abilities,
i ncluding the ability
affect the behavior of others through mental telepathy
. A
proposal developed
in the army for the
First Earth
Bat-i
lalion envisioned warrior monks with a range of parapsy-
j
2. Ten commissioned papers, available from the National Academy
Press, are these:
Ertc
E:ch, Learning during sleep. Ruben E
Slavin.
Principles
of effective
instruction;
Deborah
L.
Feltz.
Dunie! M
Landers, and Belsy
J.
Becker. A revised meta-analysis of ihe mrtiial
(
practice literature on motor skill learning'. Seymour Levine, Stress and
j
performance; KavmonJ W. Nnvaco, Stress reduction and the miliwf;
|
Dean Ci.
Pruitt. Jennifer Crocker, and Deborah Hanes, Matching and
|
other influence sirategies: Boav Tamir and Gideon Kunda. Culture
ir.d
j
'
military performance; James
E,
Alcock, A comprehensive review of
j
ma jor empirical studies in parapsychology involving random event gca -
;
era tors and remote viewi ng. Monica
J
Harris and Robert
Rosrnihii.
Interpersonal expcctaneyeffects and human
performance
research:
Date Griffin.
Intuitive judgment and the evaluation of evidence.
,
_V The Resource Advisory Group consisted of genera) officers who
]
held the positions ol Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. Deputy Chief
j
i
of Staff for Intelligence. Director of Army Research and Technology .
Commander of the Soldier Support Center, and Commander. Medail
j
Research and Development Command and as well ihe
Assistant S«-
;
retnry of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affuirs.
VOL
I. NO.
1. MARC
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R002200650001-6