55th International Astronautical Congress 2004 - Vancouver, Canada IAC-04-G.5.a.04 Baseline personality comparisons between astronauts and Antarctic personnel: Implications for generalization of psychological research findings David M. Musson Human Factors Research Project, The University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A. musson@mail.utexas.edu Robert. L. Helmreich Human Factors Research Project, The University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A. helmreich@mail.utexas.edu Gro. M. Sandal Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Norway Gro.Sandal@psysp.uib.no ABSTRACT This paper presents a review of personality research conducted by investigators at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Bergen. Over the past several years, personality data have been collected on active duty NASA astronauts (N=66), final stage astronaut applicants (N=259), Australian Antarctic station personnel (N=111) and Norwegian polar scientists (N=34). Analyses of the astronaut data have demonstrated that astronauts and astronaut applicants possess atypical personality profiles characterized by positive affect, low neuroticism and high levels of conscientiousness and achievement motivation. Analyses of the Antarctic personnel data have suggested a cross culturally consistent profile of low interpersonal negativity and low neuroticism. These two populations differ primarily on measures of achievement motivation, with astronauts scoring higher than both the Antarctic personnel and a comparative student population on scales assessing those traits. Implications for the generalization of research findings from space analogue environments are discussed. INTRODUCTION This paper presents an overview of current and recent research conducted by the authors involving the assessment of personality in astronauts and Antarctic research personnel. Antarctic research stations are studied specifically because of the similarity on many levels between living conditions at those stations and life on board orbiting space stations and proposed interplanetary missions. Along with aircraft cockpits, undersea habitats, and hyperbaric chambers, the Antarctic is a popular venue for conducting such research. The degree of isolation, darkness, and hostile external environment has lead many to suggest that the Antarctic is one of the most appropriate venues to study the effects of such factors on individual and group coping [1-3]. A fundamental question concerning both researchers and space agencies alike is the degree of reliability in making generalizations from such “space analogue” environments to the actual environment of spaceflight. Key among the issues addressed in this paper is the question of whether the populations found in Antarctic research environments are significantly similar enough to the astronaut population to allow the generalization of findings from one environment to another. From the perspective of space human factors research, analogue environments are used to study human behaviour under conditions of isolation and confinement since access for research, numbers of subjects, and problems of subject recruitment are significant and often prohibitive barriers to conducting such research on board actual spacecraft. However, if the phenomena being studied are partly determined by core psychological characteristics, then it follows that those characteristics must be considered in any interpretation of analogue research. While the question of transferability is essential for the interpretations of findings from any space- analogue environment, this paper will restrict its analysis to the Antarctic populations currently being studied by our two groups. BACKGROUND: PERSONALITY AND PERFORMANCE In the last 20 years, personality trait researchers have generally come to agree that personality 1