The Relationship between Dimensions of Personality and Situational Awareness in a Navigation Simulator

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between personality and situational awareness (SA). 34 first year students from The Royal Norwegian Navy Officer Candidate School participated in this study. SA was measured during training in the navigation simulator at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy. Both subjective and observer ratings of SA was measured using the Situational Awareness Rating Scale (SARS). Personality was measured using The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R). The results indicated that neuroticism was negatively related to both subjective and observer SA. Extroversion and conscientiousness were positively related to subjective SA. Regression analyses showed that the dimension of conscientiousness with the facet competence could predict subjective SA, and the dimension of neuroticism predicted observer ratings of SA.

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