CENTRAL ROLE OF G IN MILITARY PILOT SELECTION

The role of general cognitive ability (g) in the selection of military pilots is discussed. Four seminal issues that threaten the interpreta tion of the results of ability studies are introduced and examined. A brief history of the use of g in pilot selection is presented, going b ack to the World War I era. At that time, many countries used tests su ch as perception and reaction time, later shown to be mostly measures of g. The World War II era brought the age of the multiple aptitude ba tteries, and with it, the theory of differential abilities. However, m ost militaries still used highly g-saturated measures. More recently, an awareness of the prominence of g in job performance has led to a se ries of studies that showed the central role of g in predicting pilot success. In comparative analyses, g was found to be a better predictor of pilot criteria than specific abilities. However, some specific abi lities or measures of job knowledge were found to increment the predic tiveness of g. Several selection variables that appeared to measure ch aracteristics other than g were found to measure, at least in some par t, g. These include psychomotor tests and structured interviews. Final ly, speculation on the future of the measurement of g is presented.