NCJ Number
112231
Journal
Journal of Clinical Psychology Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: (March 1988) Pages: 115-122
Date Published
1988
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The Personal Styles Inventory (PSI) was administered to 67 police officers from a midwestern police force to examine nonpathological personality characteristics that may be related to successful police performance.
Abstract
The PSI contains 24 scales measuring 8 styles of emotional expressiveness, 8 types of physical activity for seeking stimulation, and 8 styles of information processing. The concurrent validity of the composite profile of this sample was significant at the .05 level as evaluated by its correlation with a composite ideal police officer profile constructed from staff judgments of the importance of each of 24 characteristics needed for effective police work. Salient attributes were (1) showing restrain in terms of emotional effectiveness, (2) being a disciplined team worker without being overly dependent on others, and (3) having a realistic and pragmatic cognitive style without being disdainful of authority. Results provide evidence that normal characteristics of police officers that may be considered important to performance can be identified and measured and are in contrast to previous research using personality measures more oriented toward the assessment of psychopathology. 3 tables and 25 references. (Author abstract modified)