Personality and hardiness differences between Norwegian police and psychology students.

The present study investigated: (1) differences in personality traits and hardiness between police and psychology students; and (2) the relationship between personality traits and hardiness. To achieve these aims, we obtained scores using the Big Five Inventory-20 and the Dispositional Resilience Scale-15-R from n = 125 police students and n = 177 psychology students. Police students relative to psychology students, as expected, scored significantly higher on extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability, and lower on openness.

Does the Norwegian Police Force Need a Well-Functioning Combat Mindset?

This article discusses the apparent lack of a well-functioning combat mindset evident in the Norwegian Police Force during the terrorist attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011. We describe what a well-functioning combat mindset is and then continue to discuss challenges linked to the current mindset in the Norwegian Police Force. We then elaborate upon how the experience of an acute stress reaction may affect one's ability to solve a mission.

Big Five Personality Profiles in the Norwegian Special Operations Forces.

This study is the first to report on Big Five personality traits of employees in the Norwegian military Special Operations Forces (NORSOF). Three research questions were formulated for this study, aiming to investigate (1) whether age, number of combat-deployments and rank (OR/OF) had an impact on the personalities of NORSOF employees, (2) possible personality differences between personnel organized in the underlying departments of the NORSOF, and (3) if there were personality differences between SOF-operators and conventional forces applicants. SOF-operators from the Norwegian Special Operations Commando (FSK) and the Norwegian Naval Special Operations Commando (MJK) constituted 40% of the total NORSOF sample ( = 190), whilst the term SOF-support categorized the larger proportion of non-operators.

Attitudes towards prisoners, as reported by prison inmates, prison employees and college students.

Background: Positive attitudes towards prisoners are important in securing the effectiveness of various correctional rehabilitation programs and the successful reintegration of prisoners after release. We wanted to investigate the attitudes towards prisoners among prison inmates, prison employees and college students.

Methods: The Attitudes Toward Prisoners scale was completed by 298 inmates in 4 Norwegian prisons, 387 employees working in the same prisons, and 183 college students.