The purposes of this study were twofold. The first was to improve performance in an organizational setting (military) with the help of the following mental-training techniques: relaxation, meditation, and imagery rehearsal—alone or combined. Second was to routinize the process using the organization's staff as coordinators, minimizing teacher training, preparation, cost, and time. A training program was developed within these guidelines. An experimental group of 214 Swedish conscripts and cadets (men, 19–21 years old) followed the training program for approximately 8 months. The performance of this group was significantly better than the control group on actual task examinations and mental tests. No effects from the training program were found on physical and mental well-being. Most goals concerning the routinization of the training were reached. Necessary conditions for and possible benefits for large-scale applications of mental training in organizational contexts are discussed.
About eight percent of all male Swedish eighteen-year-olds are exempted from military service on a psychiatric basis annually. From the perspective of the labelling theory of mental illness, the aim of this paper was to study some consequences on other people's perception of individuals who have been exempted on this basis. An experiment was performed with two different groups of subjects; 81 conscripts and 61 students of personnel administration. The subjects were to listen to a tape-recorded description of a car accident and to evaluate its causes. A brief description of the life history of the driver was given which included a “label”. It was foud that with a psychiatric exemption label the accident was attribuited significantly more to factors internal to the driver than to external factors, as compared to a general problems-living label.