<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The rapid technical progress in cyber threats and cyber security poses increased cognitive demands on cyber officers. The macrocognitive demand characteristics placed on the cyber officers exceed those in most common military contexts and are new in nature. Research on decision-making competence within the cyber domain is needed to identify strategies and give a better understanding of how these strategies can have consequences depending on task characteristics. Belief in one’s capabilities to handle a certain task has been shown to be a key factor for cognitive performance. This study investigated how high self-efficacy negatively moderated intuitive decision-making tendencies on performance when facing a problem that required counterintuitive strategies.Twenty-seven cyber officer cadets from the Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy participated in an experiment assessing self-efficacy, interoceptive sensitivity, and decision-making. Participants with high situational self-efficacy generally performed better, but this relationship was moderated by interoceptive sensitivity.The findings suggest potential detrimental effects of intuitive decision-making tendencies in combination with high self-efficacy. Implications for training and feedback structures in cyber defense are discussed.</abstract>

The rapid technical progress in cyber threats and cyber security poses increased cognitive demands on cyber officers. The macrocognitive demand characteristics placed on the cyber officers exceed those in most common military contexts and are new in nature. Research on decision-making competence within the cyber domain is needed to identify strategies and give a better understanding of how these strategies can have consequences depending on task characteristics. Belief in one’s capabilities to handle a certain task has been shown to be a key factor for cognitive performance. This study investigated how high self-efficacy negatively moderated intuitive decision-making tendencies on performance when facing a problem that required counterintuitive strategies.Twenty-seven cyber officer cadets from the Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy participated in an experiment assessing self-efficacy, interoceptive sensitivity, and decision-making. Participants with high situational self-efficacy generally performed better, but this relationship was moderated by interoceptive sensitivity.The findings suggest potential detrimental effects of intuitive decision-making tendencies in combination with high self-efficacy. Implications for training and feedback structures in cyber defense are discussed.

The moderating influence of self-efficacy on interoceptive ability and counterintuitive decision making in officer cadets

Department of Psychology, Lillehammer University College, Lillehammer,

Department of Neurobiological Medicine, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet,

Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy, Lillehammer,

Journal of Military Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The rapid technical progress in cyber threats and cyber security poses increased cognitive demands on cyber officers. The macrocognitive demand characteristics...

	Mean (SD)	Minimum	Maximum
DMS	0.74 (0.86)	0	3
GSES	28.27 (3.28)	19	34
SSE	103.19 (57.26)	14	252
IS	0.67 (0.23)	0.08	0.97

	1. CRT	2. GSES	3. SSE
2.	0.082
3.	0.482 p < 0.01 (one tailed).	–0.065
4.	–0.155	–0.107	0.171

Variable	B	SE of B	β	T	R²	F
Step 1					0.29	4.91 p < 0.01 (one tailed)
SSE	0.450	0.150	0.524	3.001 p < 0.01 (one tailed)
IS	–0.210	0.150	–0.245	–1.403
Step 2					0.39	4.93 p < 0.01 (one tailed)
SSE × IS	–0.266	0.136	–0.319	1.954 p < 0.05 (one tailed).

The moderating influence of self-efficacy on interoceptive ability and counterintuitive decision making in officer cadets

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Dec 31, 2016

Page range: 44 - 52

Received: Feb 18, 2016

Accepted: Nov 17, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jms-2016-0005

Keywords
self-efficacy, decision making, interoception, cardiac accuracy, cognitive performance, cyber defense

© 2016, Lugo et al.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure. 1

Descriptive statistics.

Pearson’s product–moment correlations.

Hierarchical regression analysis.

The moderating influence of self-efficacy on interoceptive ability and counterintuitive decision making in officer cadets

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Dec 31, 2016

Page range: 44 - 52

Received: Feb 18, 2016

Accepted: Nov 17, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jms-2016-0005

Keywordsself-efficacy, decision making, interoception, cardiac accuracy, cognitive performance, cyber defense

© 2016, Lugo et al.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure. 1

Descriptive statistics.

Pearson’s product–moment correlations.

Hierarchical regression analysis.

Keywords
self-efficacy, decision making, interoception, cardiac accuracy, cognitive performance, cyber defense