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Identity in situation: Differences between
police and military
Kristian Firing, Ragnheidur Karlsdottir and Jon Christian Laberg
This paper examines a case study of a military exercise conducted among
cadets at four academies: the Norwegian Air Force, Navy, Army, and Police
Academies (n = 128). When the cadets were presented with a case-study situation, we induced reflection as a mediating process for the actions they chose
to take. While standing half-naked and blindfolded on a wharf, the cadets
were given the option (offer) of either jumping or not jumping into the icy
water, and were then also given the opportunity to reflect on the process before
jumping or not jumping. The reflection process transformed the exercise from
one of dealing with given options into dealing with a question of identity: Who
am I in this situation? Exploration of the cadets’ reflection process disclosed
different identities related to their academy affiliation. These differences were
reflected in the cadets’ jumping rates, which ranged from 43% to 79% among
the academies. One important implication of these findings is that identity in
a given situation varies according to academy affiliation. Another important
implication is how the reflection process transformed the situation from an
offer of jumping into a question of identity, and thus may be a promising way
of improving military education.
Keywords: education, identity, situation, action, reflection
Introduction
We argue in this paper that self-awareness of identity is related to behavior
in stress-related situations, and propose that reflection in situation is the
process through which to explore such an identity. The significance of this
work for officer cadets is that reflection develops knowledge with regard to
the question of «Who am I?» in close relation to stress-related situations.
Firing, K., Karlsdottir, R., & Laberg, J.C. (2011). Identity in a situation:
Differences between police and military. Tidsskriftet FoU i praksis, 5(1), 9–28.
9
Kristian Firing
Department of
Education, NTNU
kristian.firing@
lksk.mil.no
Ragnheidur Karlsdottir
Department of
Education, NTNU
ragnheidur.karlsdottir@
svt.ntnu.no
Jon Christian Laberg
Department of
Psychosocial Science,
UiB
jon.laberg@psysp.uib.no
01-28-FOU 1-2011.fm Page 10 Wednesday, March 30, 2011 8:27 AM
FoU i praksis nr. 1 2011
There has been very little research on identity in military situations.
Identity has been addressed through large survey studies within military
sociology (Battistelli, 1997; Franke, 2000; Franke & Heinecken, 2001) and
military psychology (Bartone, Snook, Forsythe, Lewis, & Bullis, 2007)
without tapping directly into military situations. Knowledge of identity in
such situations is mostly provided post-action through investigation of real
incidents (Snook, 2000; Zimbardo, 2007). Thus, the amount of research on
identity in military situations is limited. However, Larsen’s (2001) study of
military cadets firing their guns at people with what they thought was live
ammunition is such an example. The research presented in this paper,
which pays close attention to officer cadets’ reflections, is a unique contribution to such a line of research.
Our point of departure was traditional, at least in a military context:
half-naked, blindfolded officer cadets were led into a situation in which
they were expected to perform an action. However, we interrupted their
expected action by inducing a reflection process. We offered an action
option and invited each cadet to participate in a reflective dialogue, disclosing personal arguments such as «mastering of stress and coping» and social
arguments such as «I don’t want to be the only one not doing it.» The reflection process transformed the situation from a matter of action into a question of identity: «Who am I»? At an individual level, this process was
unique. However, we asked whether there were aggregated differences
based on academy affiliation. With this in mind, the aim of the study was to
explore differences between the academies with respect to identity in a
given situation.
Sociocultural context
During the Cold War, military doctrines regulated how and when military
force should be used down to the final detail, and the armed forces had to
follow fixed «standard operating procedures» (Flin, 1996, p. 35). Currently,
however, officers must be prepared to switch between full-scale military
actions, peacekeeping operations, and humanitarian relief missions (Forsvarsstaben, 2007). The parties involved can be a mix of civilians, paramilitary personnel, and/or military personnel, armed or otherwise. Thus,
today’s officers need the capacity for divergent thinking in ambiguous situations (Segal, Moskos, & Williams, 2000). Such complexity presents certain
pedagogical challenges.
Military pedagogy is a process full of conflicts. On the one hand, soldiers
are exposed to the process of socialization and need to take on a social identity (Arkin & Dobrofsky, 1978). On the other hand, they are supposed to
undertake hermeneutic reflection and maintain their individual identity
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Kristian Firing, Ragnheidur Karlsdottir and Jon Christian Laberg: Identity in situation:
Differences between police and military
(Toiskallio, 2008). The challenge to officer education is to cover this wide
span in identity as it unfolds in the operative context.
Military officer education is a full three-year program of studies that
leads to a bachelor’s degree in military studies. The education is supported
by an extensive mentoring system to enhance personal development.
However, this mentoring, together with mentoring by the class commander,
is also part of the evaluation process that culminates in the awarding of a
grade in military conduct. This grade is important for further assignments
within the service to such a degree that it can be assumed that it can
promote or impede personal development (Steiro & Firing, 2009).
The requirement to provide education for leaders that «combines
practice and theory to develop reflective officers» (Luftkrigsskolen, 2005, p.
24) has led the Air Force Academy to base its education on the concept of
learning from experience (Dewey, 1961; Skjevdal, Solheim, & Henriksen,
1995). The Academy has chosen to found its educational philosophy on
three pillars: theory, reflection, and practical training (Firing & Laberg,
2010). Regarding theory within leadership, important themes are psychology, organizations, educational science, ethics, and theories of leadership.
Reflection stands out as a key process. Based on the humanistic psychology
of Rogers (1961), group guidance is the main process of reflection. Log
writing has been developed into a method of reflection which both supports
and is intertwined with group guidance (Firing, 2004). Practical training
takes place within military exercises. During the Cold War the exercises
were long endurance tests, where the drilling of fundamental military skills
such as marching, shooting, donning gas protection, and practicing first aid
was the primary focus.
Exercises have followed a traditional design in which the reflection
process has been accomplished post-action and has been undervalued. The
traditional design of military exercises is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: A model for traditional military exercises
Within «Sociocultural Context,» people bring their «Identity» into a «Situation» in which «Action» is expected. Being part of such a sociocultural
context may have impact on their identity.
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Identity
The essence and the organizing construct of the study presented here is the
concept of «self». The self is organized into different identities, each related
to different aspects of the social structure (Stets & Burke, 2003). Identity
can be derived from several within-person sources, such as the individual,
relational, family, and collective self (Sedikides & Gaertner, 2001). Self is
closely connected to identity: while the self is the inner core, identity is what
relates to the outside.
Within authentic leadership, self-awareness is a process in which a person
reflects on his or her identity, and in that way develops self-regulation where
his or her behavior is made more autonomous (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans,
May, & Walumbwa, 2005). Against the backdrop of authentic leadership, we
propose the following three levels of identity as the basis of our study: personal, relational, and collective identity (Brewer & Gardner, 1996).
Personal self focuses on the unique characteristics, including attributes,
which specify how one differs from others, an approach that is basic in
Western psychology (Brewer & Gardner, 1996). Working from this premise,
Higgins developed the self-discrepancy theory, a systematic framework for
revealing interrelations between three self-states: (1) the actual self, (2) the
ideal self, and (3) the ought self (Higgins, 1987). Bearing this in mind,
Higgins described two major types of discrepancy: the first type is between
actual self and ideal self as associated with appraising a person’s hopes,
wishes, or aspirations, and the second type is between the actual self and
ought self, which is associated with appraising someone’s duties, obligations, or responsibilities.
The theory of relational self holds that the self-concept is derived from
connections and role relationships with significant others (Brewer & Gardner, 1996). This corresponds closely with social comparison theory as
described by Festinger: «to the extent that objective, or non-social means
are not available, people evaluate their options and abilities by comparison
respectively with the options and abilities of others» (Festinger, 1954, p.
118). Moreover, the process of social comparison takes place between
discrete individuals. Comparison with typical group members and aggregated standards, such as norms, also falls within social comparison’s purview
(Alicke, 2007).
The collective self corresponds to the concept of social identity theory
evolving as a process. Initially, people quickly categorize between «ingroups» and «out-groups». Moreover, the intra-group change is made possible by people adjusting themselves in the direction of the accentuation of
a perceived prototype of an in-group member. Finally, on an individual
level, people are essentially depersonalized in the direction of an in-group
prototype rather than a unique individual (Turner & Reynolds, 2004).
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Differences between police and military
Bearing in mind that the role of a military officer is practiced in a stressful context (Forsvarsstaben, 2007), our point of departure is that identity is
malleable to contextual variations (Sedikides & Gaertner, 2001). Using the
three levels of identity, we will explore identity as a process of participation
or non-participation (Wenger, 1998) in a situation where cadets face a
matter of action.
Situation
Military operations place combatants in extreme situations where they may
face the threat of losing their life or the responsibility for killing another
human being. Military exercises cannot mirror such extreme reality; they
are only a game to be played. However, what the player may not be aware
of is that the game has its own seriousness as it is a process that takes place
«in between» (Gadamer, 1989, p. 109). The game’s back-and-forth movement taps into the playful nature of the contest. Bearing this in mind, all
playing is about being played. «Play fulfills its purpose only if the player
loses himself in play» (Gadamer, p. 103). It is in this process of playing that
the player can discover himself. Vygotsky adds to this when stating that
meaning becomes the important process through which play is connected
to pleasure but also to rules for renouncing impulsive action. The paradox
is dealt with through the process of self-control in which rules are given privilege (Vygotsky, 1978). In our case, we intended to explore this process
within a military exercise.
Given that military exercises mirror modern operations, one can
imagine that physical stress would be present in such situations. Such stress
may move the players into the traditional stress and coping mode (Lazarus,
1999). Moreover, we argue that ambiguity and uncertainty should be facilitated (Bartone, 2008), encompassing social uncertainty (Hogg, 2007, p. 77).
Finally, the situation should utilize various possible behavioral responses,
forcing the players to take a course of action and reveal themselves to the
other players.
Action
Initially, action may be thought of as a physical act; one performs a drill and
follows a procedure. However, it is more than that. Following a sociocultural approach, action is the entry into an analysis of the mind: «Human
beings are viewed as coming into contact with, and creating, their surroundings as well as themselves through the actions in which they engage»
(Wertsch, 1991, p. 8). Moreover, the concept of «mediated action» points
to the fact that «human action typically employs meditational means such
as tools and language, and that these meditational means shape the action
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in essential ways» (Wertsch, p. 12). Finally, action can be seen as a social
act—an action performed in interaction with «the other» (Mead, 1934).
Such a wide view of action is also visible in the definition of social psychology as «the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals as shaped by the
actual, imagined, or implied presence of others» (Allport, 1935, p. 3).
Exploring such an extended view of action requires that the reflection
process is in the foreground.
The study
Reflection is a key process in the current study.. Mead’s point of departure
is that reflection makes possible positive control by the individual «with
reference to the various social and physical situations in which it becomes
involved and to which it reacts» (Mead, 1934, p. 91). Vygotsky elaborates
on the reflection process further by emphasizing humans’ language as a
major mediating tool in their thinking: «thought is not merely expressed in
words; it comes into existence through them» (Vygotsky, 1986, p. 218).
Such a use of a mediating tool cannot be understood in isolation, but has
repercussions for the person using this tool: it mediates action or thinking
(Vygotsky, 1978).
Schön’s concept of «reflection in action» (Schön, 1983) indicates a close
relation to a given situation and also that reflection might take place subconsciously as part of professional work. The concept of «reflection on
action» indicates a more conscious reflection process in which language is
used to make a distinction. Facing a new situation, the practitioner can
acquire language to «make sense of an uncertain situation that initially
makes no sense» (Schön, p. 40). Given that military personnel operate
under conditions of great uncertainty, reflection is a key process in constructing experiences from which to learn (Dewey, 1961).
The backdrop to our study was the traditional design of the exercise
known as the «the water jump,» which was developed in police training and
later adopted by military academies in Norway (Røkke, 2009). The study
focused on merging the traditional design of military exercises with a
reflection process, as shown in Figure 2.
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Kristian Firing, Ragnheidur Karlsdottir and Jon Christian Laberg: Identity in situation:
Differences between police and military
Figure 2: A model of the water jump as a military exercise
Figure 2 shows how the traditional design of military exercises (see Figure
1) is mirrored by the bar labeled «Sociocultural Context» and the three
underlying boxes: «Identity,» «Situation,» and «Action». From there, the
reflection process is illustrated by the triad «Situation,» «Action,» and
«Reflection». The offer of jumping and the reflection process breaks the
stimuli-response relation, making the action the background and the
reflection dialogue the foreground.
Given the above-described design of military exercises, the matter of
identity in a given situation was explored based on «reflection in situation»
and subsequent action. As our study involved people from different academies, the research question was: How can we understand differences
between police and military academies regarding identity in a given situation?
Methods
The case study research approach was used. Creswell’s definition of case
studies emphasizes exploration of a case through detailed in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information (Creswell, 1998). The
details of this process are outlined below.
Participants
The study participants came from the available population of first-year students at the Norwegian Air Force (n = 29), Navy (n = 37), Army (n = 42),
and Police Academies (n = 20), in total 128 participants. The sample included 13 females and 115 males, of which 90% were between the ages of 21
and 30 years. The participants were attending studies as part of a three-year
bachelor’s degree course.
Participation in the research project was based on informed consent. All
participants were thoroughly debriefed to ensure that the exercise was a
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learning experience for them and to ensure that their integrity was preserved. Ethical approval of the study was granted by the Regional Ethics Committee of Mid-Norway in 2007.
Procedure
The military exercise took place during March and April in 2007. The water
jump was part of the training programs at all four academies, and lasted
between one and two days together with other similar exercises. The water
jump started out as a regular exercise, with the cadets operating in their
regular teams from a military field vehicle. At a checkpoint, they were met
by a staff member from their academy, ordered to step out of the car and
strip down to their underwear. A hood was then pulled over their heads to
cover their eyes and they got back into the car; the cadets had no visibility
outside the vehicle. After a five-minute drive to disorientate the cadets as to
their position, the car stopped approximately 30 meters from a wharf. One
by one, the cadets were taken out of the car, led over the icy ground, dressed
in a life-jacket, given a safety line, and placed on the wharf. They were addressed as follows: «[…] you are now standing on a wharf and you are being
given the option of jumping into the sea.»
The dialogue evolved from that starting point. Initially, the cadets’ questions about the physical environment were answered briefly through utterances such as «three meters to the water» and «safety is well taken care of».
Moreover, the basis for the decision was explored by the staff member,
asking open questions such as «What is your reason for your decision?» and
«Could there be further reasons?» Finally, the decision was executed by the
cadets, either by jumping into the icy water or stepping back, taking off the
hood, and being given their clothes. In both cases, the exercise participants
were thoroughly debriefed to ensure that their integrity was preserved and
to ensure that the water jump was a learning experience.
Data collection
In all cases the dialogue with the officers took place on the wharf. Interpretive listening and follow-up questioning were used to provide each cadet
with the opportunity to reflect over the reasons behind the decision he or
she had made. Openness and honesty were essential to make the cadets
reveal his/her experience of the situation. Hence, the dialogues functioned
as short field interviews, capturing the cadets’ thoughts and emotions in the
process of making their decision about action in the situation that had been
presented to them. All of the officer cadets were observed during the
process on the wharf, and their behavioral response regarding whether or
not to jump into the icy water was registered.
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Differences between police and military
Data analysis
Firstly, the dialogues from the wharf were audio-taped, transcribed, and
analyzed to develop structures and categories for the cadets’ experience.
This was based on the finding that the officer cadets commonly started off
with a personal explanation for their decision, and that later most of them
developed their explanation on a social level. Thus, personal level and social
level became preliminary categories. Axial coding was used to interpret the
material in close relation to theory on a personal and social level. Through
the constant comparative method (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) these categories
were then analyzed in more detail. Thus, the personal level was interpreted
in connection with self-identity theory (Higgins, 2001). Moreover, the
social level was developed into two sub-categories: the relational level (Festinger, 1954) and the collective level (Hogg, 2004). To summarize, the
coding led to the following three categories: personal, relational, and collective identity.
Secondly, observations of the cadets’ behavioral responses were analyzed using chi-square analyses. In particular each cadet’s decision, i.e.,
whether to jump or not, was analyzed in relation to the cadet’s academy affiliation.
Results
Even though there was an extreme and exotic context on the wharf, the
reflection dialogue was the key process in our study. The identity of the
cadets was disclosed through different lines of reflection and action, as
shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Identity in situation
Reflection
Action
Navy
Air Force/Police
Army
Personal
No-jump
Relational
Jump
Collective
Jump
Note: The Air Force and the Police are combined in one column due to similarities; a finding that will be further explored during the upcoming results.
Reflection
As shown in Table 1, the cadets’ reflections over the choice offered during
the military exercise varied according to the four academies. While the
navy cadets gave personal reasons to justify not jumping, the cadets from
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the three other academies proposed social reasons for jumping, for example
not wanting to be seen as «chicken». The three categories are outlined as
follows.
Navy: Personal. The main approach among the navy cadets was connected to meaningful adaptability (Benton, 2005) to the ambiguous situation.
Typical of the reflections made in the dialogues on the wharf are the following:
1 Testing how I react when I get a little shock in cold water, maybe check it
in connection with a shipwreck. (Navy, p. 12)
2 If there were people in the sea who needed to be rescued, then there could
be a reason to jump into the water. Beyond that, I don’t see any reason to
jump into the sea of my own free will. (Navy, p. 29)
In the first quotation we can see how the cadet wanted to test how he would
react if he were to «get a little shock in cold water». Thus, jumping into the
icy water would presumably give the cadet first-hand experience in dealing
with extreme conditions. The relevance is «in connection with a
shipwreck,» which is within the operative range of being a naval officer.
However, the cadet still puts himself in the center of the adaptation process
(Benton, 2005).
From part of the second quotation, «if there were people in the sea who
needed to be rescued,» we can see how the cadet adapted to the situation by
using an operative appraisal. Such adaptation was probably influenced by
the Navy Academy’s focus on Boyd’s decision cycle (Boyd, 1995). The
observe-orient-decide-act process encourages the cadets to employ operative reasoning. As no operative context or mission is given, the cadets do
not see any reason to jump into the ocean of their «own free will». The latter
mirrors a common tendency at the Naval Academy; the situation was
adapted to on a personal and independent basis. Personal adaptation makes
sense in light of self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). The underpinning
could be the three different self-states: (1) the actual self, (2) the ideal self,
and (3) the ought self. The choice, or offer, on the wharf addressed the
cadets’ actual self—what would be sound adaptation for them in this situation. To some extent the offer also triggered the ideal self, a need to test or
check oneself by jumping into the icy water. However, the offer did not
trigger the ought self, expectations from oneself or others about jumping.
Thus, our interpretation was that the navy cadets did not experience major
self-discrepancies. They maintained their actual self and thus responded to
their own lack of a need to jump into the icy water.
Air Force/Police: Relational. The main approach among both air force
and police cadets was connected to relational aspects of jumping versus not
jumping. Typical of the reflections were the following:
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Differences between police and military
1 It’s a little embarrassing to be the only one not jumping (Police, p. 126). It
might just be that I don’t want to be a non-jumper then. I can feel that it
will be annoying if I’m the only one not jumping (Air Force, p. 39).
2 I don’t want to chicken out. That’s a major part of it, of course (Police, p.
128). I don’t want to be the one who hasn’t done it, because then you lose
face. You probably understand what I mean by that (Air Force, p. 65).
3 If you have chosen a profession which demands that you eventually have
to jump, then it may have been okay to have done it during an exercise beforehand (Police, p. 128).
In the first set of quotations, the cadets mentally moved the water jump
beyond the physical environment. They said that it would be «embarrassing» or «annoying» to be «the only one not jumping,» thus moving the
water jump into a process of officers’ identity. These utterances reflect a
relational identity: the cadet is exposed to a social comparison process in
relation to an imagined presence of the other cadets (Festinger, 1954).
People evaluate their performance in relation to the attainments of others,
for instance to classmates in a similar situation (Bandura, 1991). Moreover,
the utterances that expressed «I don’t want to be a non-jumper» addressed
the relational identity as a matter of participation and non-participation
(Wenger, 1998)—the former associated with the physical pain of the cold
water, the latter with relational pain of being rejected from the group, being
the «odd one out» (Brown, 2000, p. 135).
The second set of quotations, «I don’t want to chicken out» brings the
social comparison process beyond discrete individuals to aggregated standards, such as social norms (Alicke, 2007). In the military, values such as
discipline, obedience, and courage appear in the culture and are internalized through the process of enculturation (Benton, 2005). In this context,
not wanting to «chicken out» seems to reflect the social norm of courage.
Thus, courage is associated with coping with the physical environment, in
this case jumping into icy water. The consequence was that the cadets did
not want to be the ones not jumping because «then you lose face».
In the case of the single quotation above, the cadet referred to a «profession» that may demand activities such as jumping, and hence it may have
been okay to «have done it» beforehand. Thus, through these utterances the
cadet addressed another aggregate standard (Alicke, 2007). However, while
obtaining first-hand experience of stress and coping was a common reason
given by the cadets, such willingness may be difficult to separate from perceived social expectations and the potential social sanctions of not jumping.
In other words, the police cadet’s willingness to jump based on his future
«profession» as a decisive argument for jumping may have hidden the relational fear associated with not jumping.
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Army: Collective. The main approach among the army cadets was connected to social aspects of not jumping and perceived consequences in relation to the academy teaching staff. Typical reflections were as follows:
1 I don’t want to chicken out either, because doing it doesn’t really worry me,
but I would look at it as a major personal setback if I didn’t do it. (Army,
p. 92)
2 I feel there’s an expectation that you should do it. Like a kind of group conformity, I don’t want to be the only one not jumping. (Army, p. 81)
3 I don’t have any immediate wish to jump into icy water, but if that’s something I have to do to attend the school here, then why not? (Army, p. 75)
4 I reckon that this is something the instructors and the academy staff have
said will make me more of a man, so I probably have to do it. (Army, p. 84)
The first utterance, «I don’t want to chicken out either,» taps into the relational self and the process of social comparison (Festinger, 1954). In the
process of uncertainty, the cadet compared himself to an aggregated norm
(Alicke, 2007). Moreover, we see the imaginary presence of the norm in the
utterance «there’s an expectation that you should do it». Such expectations
would truly influence the cadet’s own self-efficacy or at least his outcome
efficacy (Bandura, 1997). All in all, this became a matter of «group conformity» (Brown, 2000), and the result was that he did not want to be «the
only one not jumping».
The utterance, «if that [jumping] is something I have to do to attend the
school here», illustrates the army cadets’ social identity. Viewed from the
position of a male army cadet, exercises such as the water jump will make
him «more of a man». Such a social identity is best described through a process. Initially, being an army cadet and a man has an inter-group function.
One discriminates against being a «random» student or being a woman by
accentuating the differences in these categories. Moreover, the intra-group
climate is accentuated in the direction of a perceived prototype of the ingroup member (Hogg, 2004). Finally, being a man, he «probably [has] to do
it». He speaks from a collective identity; he is depersonalized.
Looking back at the various categories, in the following we will follow
the participants’ progress from the dialogue to their actual behavioral
response on the wharf.
Action
In the ambiguous situation in the military exercise, the offer given was a
point of departure for a reflective dialogue. However, the situation also
demanded an action: the cadets either had to jump or not jump. The pro-
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Kristian Firing, Ragnheidur Karlsdottir and Jon Christian Laberg: Identity in situation:
Differences between police and military
portion of those who jumped according to their academy affiliation is
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Jumping rates by Academy affiliation (%)
As illustrated, the jumping rate varied within the range 43.2% to 78.6%.
Table 2: Academy affiliation and decision to jump or not: cross-tabulation
No Jump
Academy Navy
Jump
Total
Count/Exp Count 21/12.7
16/24.3
37
Std. Residual
1.7
2.3
Air For- Count/Exp Count 9/10
ce
Std. Residual
Police
Army
Total
.3
20/19
.2
Count/Exp Count 5/6.9
15/13.1
Std. Residual
.5
.7
Count/Exp Count 9/14.4
33/27.6
Std. Residual
1.0
1.4
Count/Exp Count 44/44
29
84/84
20
42
128
Note: Pearson’s chi-square, c2 (3, N = 128) = 12.26, p <.007. No cells have an expected count less
than 5.
As can be seen in Table 2, the different proportions of jumping sorted by
academy affiliation are statistically significant (chi-square (3, N = 128) =
12.26; p =.007). A closer look at the results of the chi-square analyses
shows that only the cell Navy ‘No Jump’ contributes significantly (Std Residual = 2.3) to the chi-square result. However, the cell Army ‘No Jump’ has a
Standardized Residual of 1.4. Even though it is not a significant contribution, it may reveal a tendency for army cadets to not prefer the ‘No jump’
option. The question is how these differences can be understood.
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Discussion
Our study explored differences between military academies regarding identity in a given situation, and the following discussion evolves in two directions: (1) «what» was found, i.e., the different identities in situation, and (2)
«how» these empirical findings were revealed, i.e., the reflection as a key
process.
Identity in situation
Our point of departure for identity was that it is contextually determined
(Sedikides & Gaertner, 2001), and in this regard we applied different levels
of identity: personal, relational and collective (Brewer & Gardner, 1996).
What we found was the emergence of a preferred identity in the situation
that the cadets were presented with. At the individual level, the negotiation
of doing and not-doing was a genuine process. However, when looking at
identity made salient at an aggregated level, differences were revealed. It
may be questioned whether such differences could be understood from a
physical perspective.
Regarding the physical environment, the icy water, height, and hood
functioned as important elements in activating the cadets’ thinking and
emotions in connection with the offer to take action. On the one hand, such
elements are common during stress and coping exercises in all the academies. On the other hand, the element of icy water may have especially influenced the navy cadets by triggering an operative reasoning along with
Boyd’s decision cycle (Boyd, 1995). In such cases, the lack of any operative
reason may have led to the tendency to not jump. However, looking beyond
the physical environment, one major distinction is apparent.
The navy cadets showed a sense of personal identity when they paid less
attention to what they thought the other cadets would do. Having no operative reason, the typical cadet did not see any reason to jump into the ocean
of his or her «own free will». The question is whether this was an act of independent thinking, or whether it simply was expected operative reasoning,
along with Boyd’s decision cycle (Boyd, 1995), within the naval profession.
Social identities were observed among the cadets from the Air Force,
Police and Army Academies. Relational identity was reflected in a fear of
being «the only one not jumping». The latter utterance mirrors the social
comparison theory process (Festinger, 1954), in which the cadets evaluated
the options by comparison to the other cadets. Assuming that the others
would have a tendency to jump, the cadets may have been left with a fear of
being «the only one» associated with negative social consequences, such as
being rejected by the group and being the «odd one out» (Brown, 2000, p.
135). A collective identity was revealed among cadets in their reflections on
their status as cadets and, in the case of male cadets, being «a man». Within
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Kristian Firing, Ragnheidur Karlsdottir and Jon Christian Laberg: Identity in situation:
Differences between police and military
social identity theory (Turner & Reynolds, 2004), this may point to a categorization between in-groups and out-groups, where a perceived prototype
of the in-group member is a «man» who chooses to jump. From this depersonalized position of conforming to the perceived prototype, the result was
to jump into the icy water.
The different levels of identity, personal, relational, and collective, are
not an «either/or» situation. The levels of identity most certainly coexist
(Brewer & Gardner, 1996). However, what we have seen is the preferred
identity as it played out in the studied situation. The process of disclosing
this identity was helped by the process of reflection.
Reflection as a key process
Reflection in situation was the key process for revealing the empirical findings in our study. Bearing this in mind, we now question whether reflection in situation could make a positive contribution to military education.
Viewed in these terms, the reflection process can be envisioned as taking
place in three different ways.
The first form of reflection is an activity-based perspective where one
focuses on the activity itself and overcome obstacles according to one’s abilities (Dewey, 1980). Traditionally, activity-based training has had a central
role in officer training based on behavioristic pedagogy (Skinner, 1953).
The immediate interpretation of the water jump exercise is probably
focused on the physical environment: coldness, height, safety, and so forth.
Utterances such as «own free will» confirm such a limited perspective of
reflection.
The second form of reflection is a synthetic perspective: thinking about
the activity without carrying it out. This perspective touches on the same
issues, and perhaps also addresses some social issues. However, the missing
part in the analogy is the construction of knowledge. Hence, the quality in
such a reflection remains incomplete because the mind cannot construct
the connection between the conducted activity and the felt consequence
(Dewey, 1980).
The third, and final, form of reflection occurs between mechanical
doing and pure thinking. Here, the thinking is focused on the activity and
the consequences in order to construct the relationship between the two
and fulfill the experience (Dewey, 1980). Within the water jump context, the
following questions were considered: (1) What would the cadets do? (2)
What were the perceived consequences? (3) What was the connection
between jumping as opposed to not jumping and the perceived consequences? Viewed in terms of this experience-based reflection, different identities, but also different educational practices may be revealed.
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The individual orientation was connected to the harsh physical environment and the lack of an intended mission. Even the cadets who wanted to
jump provided us with individual reasons, namely wanting to test their
ability to cope with icy water. These reflections mirrored an adaptation
towards the environment, as described by Piaget’s process of assimilation
and accommodation (Piaget, 1977). Following this perspective, the cadets
did not reflect on peer pressure or social expectations in the situation they
were presented with.
The social orientations appeared in the range from behaviorism to sociocultural perspective. On the one hand, the build-up to the water jump,
ordering officer cadets to undress, wear a hood, and step on to the wharf,
may reflect a behaviorist perspective (Skinner, 1953). Following this line
further, the solution was to jump into the icy water. On the other hand, the
water jump could be seen from a sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky,
1978). The exercises would give opportunities to learn about one’s stress
reactions and coping ability with challenging operative situations. However,
cultural force may have encouraged the cadets to conform to peer pressure
and organizational expectations to act courageously. The expectation to
show courage by jumping may thus be a bridge back to a behavioral perspective whereby cadets perform to gain a reward or avoid punishment
(Skinner, 1953). Thus, in an applied context, there may be little difference
between a behavioral perspective where we find more explicit guidelines for
reward and punishment and sociocultural perspectives where the cultural
forces implicitly give one limited room for choice.
Implications
In accordance with the line of authentic leadership (Gardner et al., 2005),
exploration of identity provided the cadets with self-awareness connected
to the identity made salient in the context. The revealed differences have
implications in different directions.
Self-awareness of one’s tendency to take on a collective identity can imply
a high level of conformity (Brown, 2000). This can be used as an advantage in
some operations, although it may well also be the first step on the way to selfregulating in the direction of a personal identity, protecting cadets from exaggerated macho action in cases where the consequences of such behavior
might be devastating. The paradox is that this could just as easily be turned
around. Self-awareness of personal identity, implying diversity and anti-conformist behavior, could be a point of departure for self-regulation towards a
collective identity in cases where this would be required. Making military
personnel aware of the potential of self-awareness and self-regulation could
be a promising way of bridging soldiers’ social identity and individual character, and could thus enhance performance.
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Limitations
The study presented in this paper was based on officer cadets in the Police
and the Armed Forces who were studying for a bachelor’s degree. The findings might not be readily generalized to the target population of all officer
cadets, or other civilian students. Moreover, the context of the water jump
exercise could be difficult to apply to other military or civilian situations.
However, if one is willing to look at the situation as providing an opportunity for reflective dialogue which taps into the range of identity, from personal identity to collective identity, generalization may be possible.
Conclusion
The findings in our study were derived from a special research design: stopping an expected action and opening for a reflection process that transformed a given situation from a matter of action into a matter of identity.
Bearing in mind our process of constructing knowledge of identity in situation, we argue that our research design might be a promising way of
improving military education.
Having explored identity as it played out in a specific situation, we found
that it was a unique process on the individual level, but there were differences on the group level. However, we do not argue that a collective identity is
bad and that a personal approach is good, or that one leads to problems and
the other to solutions. Rather, we propose that an enhanced level of selfawareness of identity, on both an individual level and a group level, could
be a vehicle into self-regulation for authentic leaders in (at times) extreme
situations.
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