{"id":288,"date":"2013-07-18T10:10:02","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T10:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sciencecomma\/?p=288"},"modified":"2013-07-18T10:10:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T10:10:02","slug":"the-science-of-selecting-soldiers-in-wwii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sciencecomma\/2013\/07\/18\/the-science-of-selecting-soldiers-in-wwii\/","title":{"rendered":"Officer! I moustache you a question: The Science of Selecting Soldiers in WWII"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which type of fine- follicled fellow would you pick to be an officer: trimmed, divided, clipped, line or bushy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wartime researcher G.R. Perberdy gave the matter considerable thought, compiling data on the facial hair of hundreds of participants \u2013 whom he helpfully notes were male \u2013\u00a0 that went through the War Office Selection Boards (WOSBs) set up to choose officers for the British Army in World War II. Perberdy figured that moustaches probably reflected their wearer\u2019s personality, and that some personalities were more suitable to be officers than others, so perhaps this was reflected in what sort of moustaches passed Officer Selection Boards.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t sound terribly scientific, and as you may have noticed, this blog post is connected with a History of Science conference\u2026 so what does science have to do with choosing army officers?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, whilst Perberdy notes that his moustache investigation, \u201cwas an outcome of a personal curiosity\u2026 never in any way connected with the sternly practical task\u201d of officer selection, the decision was made that a scientific procedure for selecting officers was required, and social scientists were brought in to help the Army. Beginning with the first experimental WOSB in January 1942, a huge project was undertaken to choose officers: despite a late start, approximately 140,000 men passed through the new scientific WOSBs during World War II.<\/p>\n

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\"Raven's<\/a><\/p>\n

Raven\u2019s Progressive Matrices: An example of the sort of visual intelligence test administered to officer candidates. Are you officer quality? Can you spot the correct missing piece?
\nSource: Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, Public Domain<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

So why was this enormous application of a scientific approach used when it was? And how do you scientifically select an officer? Factors that influenced this decision to use scientific methods included:<\/p>\n