A way to assess the professionally important qualities of personnel involved in extreme activities

Background. This paper deals with the problem of the improvement and development of approaches, scenarios, methodologies, and methods for the psychological selection of personnel involved in extreme activities. Aim: to elaborate a flexible methodology for the development of psychometric tools for the psychological selection of special personnel. This methodology is implemented through the creation and use of certain methods that require hardware and software. The methodology for the development of special psychometric tools was elaborated for the assessment of psychological qualities, including those that are professionally important. Materials and methods. The development of methodology for the creation of psychometric tools involved such methods as analysis, synthesis, a review of scientific literature in the field, modeling, a deductive method, experimental verification, and a longitude retrospective study. Study materials included the results of psychometric measurements published by different authors involved in the psychological selection of military personnel and a database with the archived results of psychometric measurements obtained from the same sample by the same tests in different periods. Results. A flexible algorithm for the development of a psychometric tool with predetermined characteristics was elaborated. An example of the creation and pilot use of this tool was provided. Conclusion. The main characteristics of the methodology were provided, which allowed for the development and validation of methods for the assessment of psychological characteristics (qualities) in potential trainees or personnel involved in extreme activities.