Assessing Judgment Proficiency in Army Personnel

摘要: Because of the unpredictable nature of the Army's current conflicts, operational requirements demand that Soldiers and leaders become proficient in military judgment and decision-making. This research presents an analysis of military judgment proficiency (MJP), which is judgment and decision-making in environments characterized by cultural, legal/ethical, and tactical complexity. We reviewed relevant literature in the areas of judgment, decision-making, and problem-solving to present a sound theoretical foundation for the MJP construct. We defined MJP as a complex skill and argued that in ambiguous, novel, rapidly changing situations in which there is limited time, information, and resources, Soldiers demonstrating MJP are more likely to select an effective course of action by appropriately identifying the nature of the situation, recognizing relevant situational factors, and forecasting the best overall outcome(s), given the situation. We describe also the initial stages of development of an assessment tool that will distinguish among Soldiers on MJP, and lay out future plans for test validation with Special Forces and non-Special Forces Soldiers.