title: Fearless Temperament and Overconfidence in an Unsuccessful Special Forces Polar Expedition.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Assessment of the influence of personality and decision processes on the performance of two-person expedition teams has application for the composition of small teams for planetary exploration and potentially responding to off-nominal situations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied a two-man Special Forces team with a goal of reaching the North Pole in the shortest amount of time. Both subjects had high scores on measures of leadership/dominance, fearlessness, and achievement, and low scores on harm avoidance (high risk-taking). Differences were noted on scales measuring empathy, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional regulation, and callousness. Individual differences in the primacy of personal values of tradition vs. pleasure-seeking were evident.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High dominance traits of both team members, incompatibility in other characteristics and values, and minimal pretraining had a significant impact on the decision to abort the trek because of severe frostbite suffered by one subject. Implications for dyads exploring the Mars surface are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Gloria R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Leon
authors.forename: Noah C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Venables
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003081:Cold Climate; D005101:Expeditions / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment