on a new life In response to a fact-checking email, Colonel Robert Gruny, commanding officer, Recruit Training Regiment, MCRD San Diego, wrote: “From the moment the recruits first step off of the bus onto the yellow footprints they are exposed to a degree of collective shock and stress that is designed to emphasize teamwork [and] obedience to orders and to reinforce the fact that they are entering into a new phase of their life in which selfless dedication to each other is coveted far more than individual achievement. In addition to the medical processing and haircuts reference above night one includes being checked for contraband, the very practical tasks of administrative processing and clothing issue, and making an initial call home to inform their parents or other designated individual that they have arrived safely at the Recruit Depot.”
“their whole life” In response to a fact-checking email, Colonel Gruny wrote regarding Krulak’s reforms: “The series of reforms were centered on the institution of values based training into recruit training and the introduction of the Crucible. While self-motivation and leadership were certainly enhanced by these reforms they also focused on teamwork, followership, and core values development (honor, courage, and commitment). Gen. Krulak sought to embed a training philosophy that resulted in our Marines making the right kind of values based decisions, in combat or in peacetime.”
best course of action For my understanding of USMC boot camp, I am indebted to General Krulak and Major Neil A. Ruggiero, director of public affairs at MCRD San Diego/Western Recruiting Region. Additionally, I am indebted to Thomas E. Ricks and his book Making the Corps (New York: Scribner, 2007). I have also drawn upon Vincent Martino, Jason A. Santamaria, and Eric K. Clemons, The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005); James Woulfe, Into the Crucible: Making Marines for the 21st Century (Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 2009); Jon R. Katzenbach, Peak Performance: Aligning the Hearts and Minds of Your Employees (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2000); Megan M. Thompson and Donald R. McCreary, Enhancing Mental Readiness in Military Personnel (Toronto: Defense Research and Development, 2006); Ross R. Vickers Jr. and Terry L. Conway, “Changes in Perceived Locus of Control During Basic Training” (1984); Raymond W. Novaco et al., Psychological and Organizational Factors Related to Attrition and Performance in Marine Corps Recruit Training, no. AR-001 (Seattle: Washington University Department of Psychology, 1979); Thomas M. Cook, Raymond W. Novaco, and Irwin G. Sarason, “Military Recruit Training as an Environmental Context Affecting Expectancies for Control of Reinforcement,” Cognitive Therapy and Research 6, no. 4 (1982): 409–27.
since the 1950s Julian B. Rotter, “Generalized Expectancies for Internal Versus External Control of Reinforcement,” Psychological Monographs: General and Applied 80, no. 1 (1966): 1; Timothy A. Judge et al., “Are Measures of Self-Esteem, Neuroticism, Locus of Control, and Generalized Self-Efficacy Indicators of a Common Core Construct?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83, no. 3 (2002): 693; Herbert M. Lefcourt, Locus of Control: Current Trends in Theory and Research (Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum, 1982); Cassandra Bolyard Whyte, “High-Risk College Freshmen and Locus of Control,” Humanist Educator 16, no. 1 (1977): 2–5; Angela Roddenberry and Kimberly Renk, “Locus of Control and Self-Efficacy: Potential Mediators of Stress, Illness, and Utilization of Health Services in College Students,” Child Psychiatry and Human Development 41, no. 4 (2010): 353–70; Victor A. Benassi, Paul D. Sweeney, and Charles L. Dufour, “Is There a Relation Between Locus of Control Orientation and Depression?” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 97, no. 3 (1988): 357.
“Internal locus of control” Alexandra Stocks, Kurt A. April, and Nandani Lynton, “Locus of Control and Subjective Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Study,” Problems and Perspectives in Management 10, no. 1 (2012): 17–25.
difficult puzzles Claudia M. Mueller and Carol S. Dweck, “Praise for Intelligence Can Undermine Children’s Motivation and Performance,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75, no 1 (1998): 33.
that study, told me The specific experiment conducted by Professor Dweck described in this chapter was focused on her implicit theory of intelligence rather than locus of control. In an interview, she drew comparisons between that work and its implications for understanding locus of control.
“in control of themselves” For more on Professor Dweck’s fascinating research, I recommend Carol S. Dweck and Ellen L. Leggett, “A Social-Cognitive Approach to Motivation and Personality,” Psychological Review 95, no. 2 (1988): 256; Carol S. Dweck, “Motivational Processes Affecting Learning,” American Psychologist 41, no 10 (1986): 1040; Carol S. Dweck, Chi-yue Chiu, and Ying-yi Hong, “Implicit Theories and Their Role in Judgments and Reactions: A Word from Two Perspectives,” Psychological Inquiry 6, no. 4 (1995): 267–85; Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (New York: Random House, 2006).
ketchup bottles In response to a fact-checking email, Colonel Jim Gruny, commanding officer, Recruit Training Regiment, MCRD San Diego, wrote that “this sounds like a scenario that may have been accurate at the time the Marine describing it experienced recruit training. Recruits no longer clean mess halls. That said, this scenario does accurately illustrate the methods used by our drill instructors and the lessons they seek to impart on our recruits.”