field dependence

Learned something new about field dependence and field independence. These are individual differences in learning style. There is a difference in how people perceive discrete items within a surrounding field. People at the one end of the extreme where perception was strongly dominated by the prevailing field were designated “field-dependent.” Field-dependent learners see the forest. At the other extreme, people were considered “field-independent”, if they experienced items as more or less separate from the field. Whereas field-dependent people see the forest, field-independent learners see the tree within the forest. Bomb disposal experts should be field independent whereas anti-terror units should be field dependent.

What are bodyguards made of?
Bodyguards were compared to soldiers, the last group were supposed to be the control group. Both groups were tested for personality and cognitive style. Participants were a total of 87 males, ranging in age between 22 and 41 years of age.
Bodyguards scored low on neuroticism, the body guard is extremely field independent, even more so than the bomb-disposal experts. Moreover, body guards score low on impulsiveness. Comparable to anti-terror and bomb-disposal experts, bodyguards also score high on novelty seeking and prosocial behavior.

When your looking for a good bodyguard he or she should be a prosocial (prosocial behavior is defined as actions that benefit other people or society as a whole) sensation seeker with low neuroticism, no impulsivity and a cognitive style of field independence. Don’t know if this is also true for female bodyguards, or does Dilma Rousseff, the new female president of Brasil and president Gadaffi know more than we do?

Glicksohn, J., & Rechtman, S. (2010). Profiling the profilers: Who is watching our backs? Personality and Individual Differences DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.12.010