Full text of DOI:10.1177/00139160021972441

Environment and Behavior
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Is it Really So Bad? : A Comparison of Positive and Negative Experiences in Antarctic Winter Stations
Joanna Wood, Sylvia J. Hysong, Desmond J. Lugg and Deborah L. Harm
Environment and Behavior 2000 32: 84
DOI: 10.1177/00139160021972441
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EWNooVdIReOt aNl.M/ AENNTTAARNCDTIBCEEHXAPVEIORIREN/ JCaEnSuary 2000
IS IT REALLY SO BAD?
A Comparison of Positive and Negative
Experiences in Antarctic Winter Stations
JOANNA WOOD is a visiting scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she
conducts psychological research. She earned her Ph.D. in applied experimental psy-
chology at Southern Illinois University. Her research interests include group adapta-
tion in extreme environments, social cognition, and responses topsychological stress.
SYLVIA J. HYSONG is a graduate student in industrial/organizational psychology
at Rice University and a research scientist at Wyle Life Sciences’Psychology and Be-
havior Laboratory.
DESMOND J. LUGG is a graduate in medicine with a doctorate for Antarctic re-
search. He heads polar medicine at the Australian Antarctic Division and is the pro-
gram leader for ANARE Human Biology. Since 1962, he has wintered in Antarctica,
led many expeditions, and written numerous papers on polar subjects. He is currently
the chair of the SCAR Working Group on Human Biology and Medicine.
DEBORAH L. HARM is the head of the Neuroscience Laboratories at Johnson
Space Center. Her research deals primarily with space flight and neurosensory and
perceptual motor functions, as well as autonomic mechanisms involved in space
motion sickness and manual control.
ABSTRACT: This study examined the range of positive and negative themes reported
by 104 Australian Antarctic winter personnel at four stations during two austral win-
ters. Reports from the expeditioners were subjected to a content analysis using the
TextSmart software from SPSS, Inc. Results indicated that, although the list of nega-
tive experiences is lengthy, most events are relatively rare. On the other hand,
although the list of positive experiences is short, the frequencies with which they are
reported are much greater than for most of the problems. Possible explanations for
these themes and for future directions are discussed.
Polar psychology has evolved appreciably as a discipline during the last
three decades. What began as a collection of observations and anecdotes has
ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR, Vol. 32 No. 1, January 2000 84-110
© 2000 Sage Publications, Inc.
84
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 85
now grown into a body of empirical research. Collectively, this research has
been influential in dispelling numerous myths about life in the Earth’s polar
regions. Two themes in particular, (a) the focus on psychological symptoms
resulting from Antarctic life and (b) the search for a third-quarter effect, have
developed over the years and continue to recur throughout the literature. Each
of these is discussed in turn.
FOCUS ON SYMPTOMS
In the early days of polar exploration, potential expeditioners were not
screened for psychopathology. According to Rasmussen (1973), the begin-
nings of programmatic psychological research in isolation and confinement
can be traced to an incident during the 1957 International Geophysical Year,
when one of the U.S. expeditioners developed a severe schizophrenic illness
in the middle of winter. Polar exploration, saturation diving, and space explo-
ration programs all have the pragmatic need to prevent disruptive incidents in
their respective programs and have added to the impetus to study small
groups in isolation.
Early research focused on documenting symptoms of physical or psycho-
logical distress. Some of the most reported symptoms included sleep prob-
lems, loneliness, irritability, feeling critical of others (Gunderson & Nelson,
1963), superiority complexes, headaches, low morale, anxiety (Law, 1960),
problems of individual adjustment, poor concentration, and psychomotor
retardation (Palmai, 1963b). Despite advances in screening and selection
procedures, this line of research is still quite popular. Palinkas (1991)
reported a group of symptoms that he labeled the winter-over syndrome;
symptoms included “depression, irritability and hostility, insomnia, and cog-
nitive impairment, including difficulty in concentration and the occurrence
of mild fugue states known as ‘long eye’ or the ‘Antarctic stare’” (Palinkas,
AUTHORS’NOTE: The work reported on in this article is part of an on-going study
of psychological adaptation to extreme environments, and it is supported by a NASA
NRA grant and by the Australian Antarctic Division. The authors wish to thank the
doctors and communications officers at the ANARE stations who maintained our
computers and handled the data transfers. Without their assistance, this research
could not have been completed. The authors also wish to thank Peter Sullivan, Stephen
VanderArk, and Daniel Eksuzian for their editorial comments. Correspondence con-
cerning this article should be addressed to JoAnna Wood, KRUG Life Sciences Inc.,
Psychology and Behavior Laboratory, 1290 Hercules, Suite 120, Houston, TX 77058.
Electronic mail may be sent to jwood@prpcmail.jsc.nasa.gov
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86 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
1991, p. 784). Similar psychological symptoms continue to be reported in
recent literature (Palinkas, 1991; Palinkas, Cravalho, & Browner, 1995; Pal-
inkas, Suedfeld, & Steel, 1995).
THE THIRD-QUARTER EFFECT
A second theme that reappears in the literature is that of the third-quarter
effect—a significant decrease in mood and morale, and increase in psycho-
logical symptoms during the third quarter of any mission, purportedly
because it is far enough into the mission that the expeditioners are burned out,
but not far enough along to look forward to the end. Evidence of the existence
of this phenomenon is mixed at best. Palinkas (1991) found a decrease in the
incidence of winter-over symptoms during the later stages of polar expedi-
tions; however, this effect was moderated by the size of the station and the
severity of the physical conditions. Similarly, Rivolier and Bachelard (1983)
reviewed more than 20 years of French Antarctic research, in which they
describe the three phases of wintering mental syndrome, which they state that
almost all winterers experience. In the simplest cases, these phases progress
from alarm reaction (feeling a lack of privacy, frustration, questioning the
reasons for being there) through resistance (aggression, querulousness,
depression) and finally to exhaustion (tolerance, indifference, emotional vul-
nerability). They also describe acute and chronic manifestations, corre-
sponding to more extreme symptoms and more severely disturbed behavior.
Palmai (1963a) reports the existence of a decrease in morale and an increase
in irritability during the third quarter, followed by an increase in tolerance for
fellow crew members during the fourth quarter. Palmai’s data, however, were
obtained from the medical officer’s psychological log and not directly from
the individual expeditioners. Steel and Suedfeld (1991) tested for the exis-
tence of a third-quarter effect in data collected from five research participants
who were isolated for nearly 2 months in the Arctic; they found no significant
third-quarter effects. Similarly, Wood, Lugg, Hysong, & Harm (1999) found
no significant changes in group tensions, individual morale, emotional state,
or cognitive readiness during the third quarter among 7 groups of Antarctic
expeditioners and two short-duration life-support facility studies at Johnson
Space Center. Their data did, however, suggest that some individuals may
experience such third-quarter changes. In short, the literature seems to sug-
gest that, if there is a third-quarter effect, it is not universally experienced by
all individuals in an extreme environment.
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 87
IN SEARCH OF BALANCE
Parallel to the traditional symptom-oriented school of thought, a new
growing body of current literature suggests that the physical environment is
not as salient a factor as once believed. Lugg (1977) reported a ready adapta-
tion to station life in the Antarctic that was mainly attributable to individual
motivation and group achievement. While studying anxiety and coping
mechanisms, Mocellin (1995) found no significant changes over time in the
anxiety levels of expeditioners. Palinkas, Suedfeld, et al. (1995) found that
the same mechanisms used to cope with everyday stressors are used to cope
with the stresses of life in the Antarctic. They also found a significant decline
in negative effects as the expedition progressed.
What appear to be conflicting findings may indicate that the phenomena
under study are group dependent. That is, subjects are always nested within
the isolated group. Most of these studies examined members of only one or
two small groups. Members of some groups fared considerably better than
did members of other groups.
Events with serious or potentially serious outcomes have been reported in
both the scientific and popular press. Williams (1989) noted an acute anxiety
reaction in one expeditioner who presented no symptoms for the first 11
months of his stay. One of Wood’s research computers was destroyed in a
moment of anger at an Antarctic station (Wood, Lugg, Harm, & Eksuzian,
1996). Certainly, the popular press made much of two recent events: a mutiny
at one Australian Antarctic station and a fight between two cooks at the U.S.
McMurdo station (Spielmann, 1996). Such rare events give little clue to the
normal climate on Antarctic stations during most expeditions; however, they
do indicate the extent to which interpersonal tensions can escalate and the
potential danger if they do. On the other hand, the number of returning win-
terers (e.g., 25% of the Australians return for two or more winters) suggests
that their year in the Antarctic was gratifying enough that they want to repeat
the experience.
We clearly have evidence that the normal aspects of Antarctic life can be
quite pleasant (hence the returnees) and that extreme events can and do occur.
This article is an effort toward having balance in understanding life in small,
Antarctic winter groups. To understand the negative impacts of living and
working in such an environment, we must also understand and appreciate the
positive aspects, and how they help to ameliorate the negative effects. To
achieve this balance, we will explore the verbal descriptions of both positive
and negative events collected from Antarctic expeditioners living in eight
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88 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
small groups. This approach allows respondents to present whatever
thoughts they think are relevant and express them in their own words.
Content analysis provides a consistent method for categorizing and organ-
izing the verbal responses. This is ideally suited for the exploratory research
presented here. Thus, in conducting this research, the authors attempted to
maintain an open mind and made no a priori hypotheses about the themes that
would emerge. However, in conducting our analyses, we tried to answer four
basic questions.
1. Do positive and negative experiences co-occur?
2. Are there seasonal variations in the salient experiences of the participants?
3. Are the same issues important to all groups?
4. Is there a higher density of positive experiences than negative experiences, or
vice versa?
METHODS
SUBJECTS
Subjects were recruited from the Australian National Antarctic Research
Expeditions (ANARE) expeditioners at four stations during 1996 and 1997.
Each winter party consisted of 15 to 20 expeditioners. Of the 104 volunteer
participants, 15 were female, and 89 were male. Ages ranged from early 20s
to late 50s. Prior Antarctic experience ranged from none to several previous
winters. Occupations included scientists, support personnel (station leaders,
medical officers, chefs, and tradespeople), and meteorological observers.
STATION LIFE
There are four permanent ANARE stations: Mawson, Davis, Casey
(located on rocky outcrops on the edge of the Antarctic ice plateau), and Mac-
quarie Island (sub-Antarctic). Each station has buildings housing crew quar-
ters with a mess, a kitchen, recreation and expeditioners’ rooms, physical
plants, medical facilities, workshops, stores, communications facilities, and
scientific laboratories. Remote field groups can live for extended periods in
huts, traverse vans, and temporary field accommodations that are inland, near
the mountains.
The Antarctic climate is quite variable across seasons. Summer and winter
see extreme changes in temperature of more than 50°C. Blizzards of up to 90
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 89
knots occur year-round. The ice can extend out hundreds of kilometers from
land during the austral winter. During summer, daylight can extend to 24
hours of sunlight. Winters are harsh, with temperatures well below 30°C and
strong winds. Darkness can last more than 20 hours a day, with daylight being
more like twilight.
During winter, the station is staffed by 15 to 20 crewmembers; during the
summer months, the number may increase to around 100 with the addition of
scientists and other support, including air crew and ships’complements. Sci-
entists studying geoscience, biological sciences, glaciology, atmospheric
sciences, oceanography, human impacts, and human biology are supported
by a station leader, doctor, chef, and communications, technical, and trade
personnel. Although individuals are initially selected to fulfill specific roles,
in the physically and socially isolated environment, distinctions between sci-
ence and support can lose significance. Everyone assists with group tasks,
takes turns assisting the chef, and cooks when the chef has a day off. At meal
times, some stations form rigid social hierarchies, whereas others have a
more informal structure.
All of the stations are physically isolated when the last ship leaves at the
end of the austral summer. No crew, equipment, or food is flown in to any of
these stations. The temperature, ranging from 10 °C to –40 °C, along with the
extremely low humidity, also provides a form of biological isolation. The
only animal or insect species indigenous to the continent year-round are
Emperor penguins and mites. All other species, other than humans, live in the
water or migrate. Plant species are also extremely limited, although many
types of lichen are present year-round.
The ANARE stations, their locations, and conditions are described in
greater detail in Bowden (1997). The reader is also referred to Williams
(1989) for a detailed description of lifestyle, living conditions, and activities
on ANARE stations.
EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURE
Each station was equipped with two IBM ThinkPad notebook computers,
which were used to administer a research questionnaire to each participant
twice per week. Responses were stored in a database that was periodically
electronically returned to the principal investigator. The questionnaire com-
prised of 48 quantitative items, 2 checklists, and 4 open-ended questions. The
questionnaire administration software permitted users to type in as much, or
as little, text as they chose for each of the open-ended items. Responses varied
in length, from a word or short phrase to more than a page for a single answer.
In addition, personality data, as measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor
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90 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
Questionnaire (16PF) (Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, 1991),
were obtained for 35 of the participants.
Analyses of quantitative responses have been reported elsewhere (see
Wood, 1997; Wood, Lugg, Eksuzian, & Harm, 1997; Wood, Lugg, Eksuzian,
Harm, & Shepanek, 1997; Wood et al., 1996; Wood et al., 1999). However,
resource limitations had precluded us from analyzing the open-ended verbal
portion of the data until now. Therefore, this article addresses only the con-
tent analysis of two open-ended items: “please tell us about any positive or
pleasant experience since your last report”(positive), and “please tell us
about any negative or unpleasant experience since your last report” (nega-
tive). These two questions provide the participants with a significant deal of
latitude in their responses and allow them to discuss issues that are not other-
wise prompted for in the questionnaire. This has two important effects on the
data: (a) it provides the opportunity for unforeseen variables to emerge, and
(b) it provides the opportunity for issues to emerge from different perspec-
tives. Because the questionnaires are completed by each of the responding
expeditioners, the data are not subject to the intense condensation or editing
that inevitably occurs when one person (sometimes untrained in observa-
tional research) is asked to chronicle the events experienced by a group of
people. Furthermore, because the questionnaires are completed at regular
intervals, we are more likely to obtain consistent data over time than would be
expected of an unstructured journal.
The two other qualitative items, Stress (“tell us about a stressful event
since the last report”) and Miscellaneous (“tell us about anything else”) were
excluded from this study. In the case of the Stress items, we found that, in
approximately 65% of the cases, the respondents had either nothing to report
or had done so under the negative experiences category. In the case of the
Miscellaneous items, we found that the respondents used this space to either
write about world events or about goals and aspirations, a sort of diary as it
were. Neither one of these items, then, was appropriate for the findings pre-
sented here.
CONTENT ANALYSIS
Responses to the two items of interest were exported to a word-processing
file, where they were checked for spelling and formatted for analysis.
TextSmart, a new software package from SPSS, Inc. (1997), was used to sort
and categorize individual responses according to the themes expressed in
each. The 104 subjects who participated in the study provided 788 usable
responses to each question.
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 91
TextSmart windows display a list of responses, a list of included words
and synonyms, a list of excluded terms (words that have little semantic value,
such as the, are, and pronouns), and a list of categories. Categorization was an
iterative process in which one key term or phrase that indicates a theme (such
as station leader or sex) was identified, and a new category was created. The
included word list was then searched for related terms to be included in that
category. Uncategorized responses were examined to identify a new theme.
This process was repeated until all responses were categorized. Categorized
responses were given a final reading to ensure that no themes were over-
looked and that no responses were erroneously categorized. In the few cases
in which responses were ambiguous, the two analysts discussed the
responses until they reached an agreement. Because open-ended responses
could contain many themes, only the “no problems” negative responses and
the “nothing special” positive responses were exclusive; that is, they could
not occur in a response containing any other theme. In the 788 positive
responses, 1,382 theme statements were identified, reflecting 21 themes. In
the 788 negative responses, 1,348 theme statements were identified, reflect-
ing 38 themes. The TextSmart categorization data were exported into SPSS
for statistical analysis.
RESULTS
The data consist of frequency counts for a certain number of categories.
Given a finite number of instances to categorize, the number of instances in
any one category will decrease as the total number of categories increases.
This results in a positive skew in the data. Therefore, because the data violate
the assumptions of normality required for standard parametric statistics, a
combination of descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests of significance
was used to analyze the data. Figures 1 and 2 graphically present the absolute
frequencies of all response themes to the negative and positive questions,
respectively. Most obvious in these figures is that the nothing responses (“no
problems” and “nothing special”) are the most common. The first question to
be addressed is whether the negative and positive nothing statements are co-
occurring. If they, in fact, do co-occur, it would suggest that things are normal
and that there have been no significant events, either positive or negative. It
could be argued that the presence of so many nothing statements implies that
the subjects are responding only casually to the questionnaire, or not
responding at all. However, there are 10% fewer qualitative than quantitative
responses to the questionnaire, because the participants turned off the
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92 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
Figure 1: Frequencies of Negative Response Themes
NOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.
computer after the quantitative portion. This leads us to believe that partici-
pants are responding honestly to the questionnaire, and that they have
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 93
Figure 2: Frequencies of Positive Response Themes
NOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.
nothing significant to report. Further examination of the data reveals that only
seven individuals never reported any positive or negative events.
Because the nothing responses are exclusive and the categorization data
are counts of occurrences by subject and date, a cross-tabulation and chi-
square statistic can be used to answer the question (see Table 1 for expected
and observed totals), χ2(1) = 181.747, p < .000. Of the 778 reports (one sub-
ject’s responses to both positive and negative questions), 28.3% (vs. the
17.06% expected) were “no problem” and “nothing special,” whereas 43.3%
(vs. the 32.04% expected) of the responses included both positive and nega-
tive experiences.
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94 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
TABLE 1
Cross-Tabulation of Nothing Responses (Expected Frequencies)
Nothing Special
Reported
Not Reported
No problems
Reported
Not reported
223 (134.5)
33 (121.5)
191 (279.5)
341 (252.5)
The second question to be posed concerning these data is whether there
are seasonal or monthly variations in the responses. Due to large monthly
variations in reporting (workload, trips off the station, lulls in subject compli-
ance), statistical tests for this question are not suitable with this data set.
However, Table 2 lists the top five positive and negative themes for each
month. In the positive themes, the only unusual item is Festivities, which
appears in June—the month when the stations hold elaborate midwinter cele-
brations. The November list of negative themes is particularly sparse.
November is the month when a major transition begins. Some expeditioners
leave on the first ship out to Australia, whereas the rest must finish their work,
get a last field trip or two, and begin the process of saying good-bye to fellow
expeditioners.
The third question to be addressed in these data concerns group differ-
ences. Are the same issues important in all of the groups? The information
presented in Tables 3 and 4 indicate that such is not the case. Among the
groups with more than 100 responses (G1, G2, G3, and G6), one group (G1)
had many more negative reports concerning the station leader, and G6 had
many fewer reports of antagonisms or irritation than the other groups.
Although there were only 75 responses from G5, there were 14 negative
statements concerning sexual behaviors on the station. A Kruskal-Wallis H
statistic confirms this. As seen in Table 5, there are significant differences
among groups in the incidences of complaints about the head office, moods,
station life, technology, and general unhappiness. On the positive side, there
are significant differences among groups in the incidence of celebrations,
family issues, comments about love and relationships, positive attributions,
reports about photography, and field trips (jollies).
The final issue to be explored in these data is that of quantity. Do the peo-
ple in these eight groups report the same number of issues to the positive and
negative questions? Table 6 displays the mean themes-per-response ratios for
positive and negative questions for each group. A paired t test indicates that
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TABLE 2
Top Five Positive and Negative Themes by Month
Positive Themes
Negative Themes
–3
Month
1
2
3
4
5
–1
–2
– 4
–5
January
February
March
April
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Nothing
Field
trips
Field
trips
Field
trips
Work
Work
Chatting
with others
Outside
communications
Work
General
pleasure
Nature
No problems Work
No problems Work
No problems Work
No problems Work
No field
trips
Station
leader
Antagonism Station
leader
Antagonism Station
leader
Community Health
life
concerns
Sex on
station
Antagonism
Conflicts
Weather
Outside
communications
Family
Work Field trips
Friends
General
pleasure
Nature
May
Field
trips
Field
trips
Field
trips
Field
Work
Outside
communications
Festivities
No problems Station
leader
No problems Station
leader
Work
Sadness
Conflicts
June
Outside
communications
Work
Sense of
community
Nature
Sex
Antagonism Gender
roles
Antagonism Health
July
People
No problems Sex
Work
concerns
August
Nature
General
pleasure
Work
Work
No problems Antagonism Health
concerns
Health
concerns
Sex
Community
life
special trips
September Nothing
special
October
Field
trips
Field
trips
Field
trips
Field
trips
General
pleasure
Nature
Family
People
No problems Station
leader
Community Negative
life
attributions
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Nothing
special
Photography
Family
No problems Antagonism Family
issues
No problems Work
Negative
attributions
November
December
Work
Goal
attainment
Outside
Nature
Work
No problems Gender
roles
Work
Fatigue/rest
communications

96 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
TABLE 3
Negative Themes by Group
Theme
G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8
No problems
84 48 132
15 13 18
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
6
22 107
9
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
4
0
1
2
1
1
0
1
0
1
1
2
0
0
0
0
3
0
3
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
3
0
1
5
0
1
0
0
0
1
Antagonisms or irritation
Performance appraisals
Bad behaviors of others
Alcohol related
Boredom
Community life
12
2
4
3
1
9
9
2
1
3
4
11
0
6
5
4
12
4
10
5
1
3
1
9
3
1
5
14
0
6
7
11
0
0
5
3
16
5
0
0
1
0
7
5
2
0
2
0
6
2
1
0
1
5
1
4
2
3
4
0
13
0
0
6
7
1
5
3
3
1
1
1
2
12
7
3
8
2
11
10 12
4
0
0
6
6
0
3
4
12
11
1
6
4
4
3
1
6
2
0
5
7
0
3
5
5
5
0
1
3
3
6
5
3
2
2
1
8
1
3
6
7
12
4
0
7
1
5
0
3
0
5
1
6
2
3
17
5
2
4
5
9
Conflicts
Control issues
2
3
2
3
12
1
2
4
5
9
3
6
8
1
0
5
12
3
1
Lies and deception
Errors and mistakes
Fairness or ethics
Family problems
Fears and worries
Food complaints
Gossip or rumors
Gender roles
Health concerns
Homesick
Hurt feelings
Field-trip complaints
Loneliness
Management complaints
Bad moods
Negative attributions to others
Party animals
Lack of privacy
Feeling restless
3
11
1
1
5
Feeling sad or depressed
Social discomfort
Station duties
4
1
Sex on station
13
28 11
3
0
8
5
Station leader problems
Lack of support from others
Technology complaints
Unkindness of others
Weather complaints
Work issues
3
2
1
4
19 18 23
306 233 315
168 111 228
Total theme statements
Total responses
214 213 15 41
75 162 14 21
NOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 97
TABLE 4
Positive Themes by Group
Theme
G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8
Nothing special
Field trips
Work
41 30 95
40 42 50
26 19 38
23 17 33
10 15 31
21 12 19
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
17
15
20
21
14
21
8
66
29
19
31
13
10
7
4
4
3
1
2
1
1
3
1
2
8
6
5
3
3
0
0
4
Life is good
General pleasure
Outside communications
Positive attributions
Chatting with others
Support from others
Recreational activities
(sports, etc. not listed elsewhere)
Sense of community
Festivities
Awed by environment
Photography
Alcohol related
Food and meals
Romance
Goal attainment
Feeling included
Rest and relaxation
Adventures
5
5
14 18
11 18
10
7
5
6
11
6
16
5
8
15
8
3
1
17
18
6
2
0
1
3
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
10
8
6
9
3
4
7
1
0
7
4
3
3
4
3
12
4
0
2
4
4
1
1
0
1
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
4
0
1
6
0
1
2
1
1
1
0
0
19 15 26
2
6
1
9
4
4
5
1
9
7
3
3
3
4
4
2
9
8
7
4
11
5
6
5
3
1
Total theme statements
Total responses
261 228 440 16 195 227 25 48
168 111 228 75 162 14 20
6
NOTE: Descriptions of each of the themes may be found in the appendix.
the positive themes-per-response ratio is significantly higher than the nega-
tive ratio, t(7) = –3.188, p = 0.015.
DISCUSSION
This study sought to examine the scope of psychological experiences per-
ceived by individuals living in Antarctic stations over extended periods. This
was achieved by content analyzing the responses to open-ended questions in
a regularly administered psychological adaptation questionnaire. In particu-
lar, they sought to ask four questions. First, do uneventful positive days co-
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98 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
TABLE 5
Results of Kruskal-Wallis Test for the Groups With More Than 100 Responses
(Each of Positive and Negative, Nils Included), Significant Themes Only
2
Test Statistics
df
Asymptotic Significance
Negative themes
Head office
6.373
7.627
8.187
8.846
8.567
8.188
3
3
3
3
3
3
.095
.054
.042
.031
.036
.042
Moods
Nil
Station life
Technology
General unhappiness
Positive themes
Celebrations
Field trips
9.066
9.662
6.291
11.269
8.633
13.751
3
3
3
3
3
3
.028
.022
.098
.010
.035
.003
Love and relationships
Nature
Photography
Positive attributions
TABLE 6
Positive Versus Negative Themes per Response by Group
G1 G2 G3 G4
G5 G6 G7 G8
Negative themes per response
Positive themes per response
1.82 2.1 1.38 1.33 2.85 1.31 1.07 1.95
1.79 2.5 2.26 3.33 3.33 1.56 1.79 2.75
occur with uneventful negative days? Second, are there seasonal variations in
the responses? Third, are there group-dependent variations that might also
affect the results? Finally, do people report the same number of issues to the
positive and negative questions? Because the research is exploratory, no a pri-
ori hypotheses were made.
The answer to the first question, co-occurrence of positive and negative
events, is yes. It was found that, for the most part, days in which there was
nothing positive to report coincided with days in which there was nothing
negative to report, making those days simply uneventful. Given that this was
by far the largest theme, this would suggest that, for the most part, Antarctic
living is not quite as psychologically risky as posited by the early research.
This would certainly support previous findings of the rapid adaptation to the
Antarctic environment (Lugg, 1977).
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 99
With regard to the second question, the existence of seasonal differences
in responses, the results are inconclusive due to monthly variations in report-
ing (see results section). Nevertheless, a visual inspection of the available
data suggests that variations in responses tend to revolve around major sta-
tion events, such as ships leaving and the midwinter festival. This phenome-
non could be the result of a response bias on behalf of the participants:
Respondents may only report those events that are salient, or that they think
are important enough to be newsworthy. Alternatively, this pattern of data
may be related to a dynamic equilibrium model of subjective well-being
(Headey & Wearing, 1989), which proposes in part that each person has a
normal or equilibrium pattern of life events and subjective well-being, and
that only major changes in life events would produce noticeable changes in
subjective well-being. Given the inconsistency of reporting, however, it is too
early to tell whether this resemblance is due to a potentially good model fit, or
due to missing data. More research is clearly warranted.
The answer to the third question, the presence of intergroup differences in
responses, is a clear yes. Both the visual analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis Test
indicated that different positive and negative issues are differently salient to
different groups. Also of interest is the observation that most of the themes
along which groups vary are social or interpersonal in nature (e.g., positive
attributions, unhappiness, celebrations). This makes logical and theoretical
sense. According to Tuckman’s (1965) theory of group development, new
groups go through four different stages, whereby the members establish the
structure of the task for which they convened (forming), emotionally react to
the demands of the task (storming), negotiate intragroup and intergroup roles
to develop group cohesion (norming), and resolve role conflicts and move on
to the successful completion of the task (performing). To the extent that the
groups are charged with different tasks and are composed of people with dif-
ferent roles, it is only logical that they should vary along interpersonal
themes.
If we apply Tuckman’s (1965) model to the patterns observed in the previ-
ous question, the change in response patterns around major events, particu-
larly ship departures and arrivals, could indicate changes not only in personal
life events and introspections but also renegotiations of group norms with
new group members. A test of this proposition would make a fascinating
future study.
Finally, with respect to the fourth question, the ratio of positive to negative
themes per response, the data clearly indicate that there are more positive
themes per response than there are negative themes. This is not to say that
people talk less about bad things—many of the longest, most detailed
responses were about a single negative experience, or about a small series of
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100 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
rather interrelated experiences. It simply means that, on the average, more
positive things are being mentioned per report than negative things, regard-
less of their length or luxury of detail. Two alternate explanations are possi-
ble. The overabundance of positive reports may signify a genuine deficiency
in adverse events or feelings. Conversely, it may signal the denial of one or
more traumatic events that occurred either at the station or in their hometown
while they were away from home. However, neither the qualitative nor the
quantitative data suggested the presence of any such event. Thus, at least for
now, the former alternative is the most plausible.
The comparisons of the verbal responses with the quantitative data reflect
an unprecedented opportunity to combine the statistical power of quantita-
tive data analysis with the richness and flexibility of qualitative data, while
still maintaining methodological rigor. The following excerpts from some of
the written responses exemplify the richness of the data.
We had a big St. Patrick’s Day party, as you can imagine with an Irishman on
station. Everyone joined in to a lesser or greater extent, and overall it was a very
good night. [Person’s name deleted] and a group of other guitarists and singers
had been practising for a while for the night, and I joined them towards the end
when I’d finished my university assignment. I found singing with the band, in
the practise sessions and on the night, a very pleasant experience, especially as
they specifically included one of the Russian songs I love so much and on the
night it went over very well, with everyone joining in as much as they
could—the tune was well known. I learnt some very nice new songs too. There
were other things that were not so good about the night. Once the live music
stopped, and people started to drink more, especially once the station leader
brought out seven bottles of various spirits, which I didn’t think a wise move,
things got a bit wild. . . .
I have been made to feel old a few times this time round—on the ship for exam-
ple, the songs I like were almost all “too old “ for the others. I didn’t think there
were songs that were too old! I don’t mean deliberately made to feel too old,
just that it happened. . . .
Why have I told you all this? I think because I needed to “talk” to someone, and
of course I can’t. I can’t talk to anyone on base for obvious reasons, I can’t talk
to my daughter, my closest confident, or my friends. . . .
I am aware again of the isolation . . . on station. I have recently had others com-
ing to me . . . and talking to me about their problems in their jobs or relation-
shipsandI hope I have been helpful tothem, but there isno one I can go to. . . .
I woke early, having gone to bed early because I was weary from night watch
the night before, and I thought it a good opportunity to do the NASA program
while there was no one else about. I find it a bit inhibiting to do it if there are
people at the computer next tome, especially ifI have something Iwant tosay.
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 101
Although these findings are somewhat preliminary, they show potential in
that other personality characteristics not covered by the 16PF (such as the
need for achievement or locus of control) may differentiate among response
patterns. This line of research is in its infancy and is full of opportunity. To the
extent that personality characteristics can discriminate among different pat-
terns of response, one could use that information to better compose crews for
Antarctic winter-overs and crews for similar environments, such as space
stations.
A COMPARISON WITH THE PAST
Lugg’s (1977) list of discussion topics from one 1966 Antarctic winter
station (see Table 7) makes an interesting comparison to the current results.
Although Lugg did not differentiate between positive and negative themes,
every item on his list appears somewhere in Figures 1 and 2. Even with all the
changes in technology and communications, it appears that some issues have
not changed all that much in 30 years. However, there are new issues being
reported in addition to the veteran themes. Themes such as hurt feelings, gos-
sip, deception by others, and gender roles have previously gone unreported.
Several of these themes were more frequently reported than were some of the
classic problems such as lack of privacy, bad moods, and weather complaints.
It is equally interesting to note that these new themes being reported all relate
to social or interpersonal issues and not isolation and confinement issues.
This would suggest that these groups experience many of the same develop-
ment issues that any other group experiences, independent of the extreme
environment where they operate.
A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
The research extends the current literature in several ways. It is notewor-
thy in that the response categorization is done using the words of 104 subjects
from eight groups—a relatively large sample for studying groups in isola-
tion—who were queried repeatedly throughout their 9 to 12 months in Ant-
arctica. By studying multiple groups, we can begin to understand which
situations are local (unique to specific groups of individuals) and which are
more general (occurring in all or most groups). The research also presents a
not so dismal view of the Antarctic in that the participants enjoy themselves
to a great extent and have many positive experiences. These findings contra-
dict the traditional dogma of the Antarctic as an austere, barren wasteland
where expeditioners struggle for their very lives and souls. It suggests that
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TABLE 7
The Distribution of the Subjects Discussed at Davis According to the Topic and Month
b
Subjects Discussed
February a March April May Juneb July August September b October November December January Total
Amenities
General
Alcohol
Films and photography
Library and records
Tobacco
3
1
2
3
8
11
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
7
2
2
1
ANARE
Davis field work and
domestic issues
Other stations,
expeditions, head office
Biology (including huskies)
Communications
Current affairs
Australia
1
1
2
3
1
2
9
4
4
2
37
1
3
2
1
2
1
2
2
2
7
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
4
5
3
1
25
23
7
1
1
2
4
The world
1
1
2

Education and science
Environment
Food
Home—families and
Australian issues
Law, authority, and
censorship
Medical and psychological
Miscellaneous
Money
Past experiences
Politics
2
1
2
1
1
5
12
6
1
1
3
1
1
1
4
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
3
1
2
8
2
2
1
1
1
2
3
15
7
1
3
5
6
18
2
3
1
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
Religion
Sex
Sport
2
6
1
1
1
4
1
1
Total
214
SOURCE: Lugg (1977, p. 123). Reprinted with permission.
a. Conversations recorded during 1 week only in February.
b. Conversations not recorded during 1 week in these months.

104 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
life in the Antarctic is quite livable and shares many of the common problems
of everyday life—albeit to a different degree.
Although this article provides an in-depth exploration of positive and
negative themes in expeditioners’ reports, it fails to address several issues.
First, the themes need to be related to mood and behavior. Although some of
the verbal reports give indications of the intensity of affect that the respon-
dents attach to some events and conditions, such reporting was inconsistent
and often lacking.
Second, the data are incomplete, perhaps underrepresenting or overrepre-
senting some themes. In more than a few instances, individuals failed to
respond to the open-ended questions. We know that they either turned off the
computer or quit the questionnaire program because we have quantitative
data from sessions for which we have no written responses to the open-ended
queries.
Third, statements that were not clearly positive or negative themes were
ignored for this analysis. Some respondents attempted to explain how or why
events transpired, to explain the rationale for their feelings and behaviors,
and to explain their views on issues that they considered important. Others
took a more clinical approach to answering the open-ended questions. They
listed events and, less often, feelings. Personality traits and other characteris-
tics may be related to the depth, quantity, and quality of such explanations.
CONCLUSIONS
The results presented in this article speak to the resiliency of human
nature. Even in the sparse environment of Antarctic winters, most people
have more positive than negative experiences.
The lists of positive and negative experiences presented in Tables 1
through 3 tell us a lot, both about the Antarctic winter experiences and about
the people who volunteer for such duty. Although the list of negative experi-
ences is lengthy, most events are relatively rare. This could indicate that most
problems are transitory or intermittent rather than continuous, or it might
indicate that individuals adapt to many of the less-than-pleasant aspects of
Antarctic life. On the other hand, although the list of positive experiences is
short, the frequency with which positive experiences are reported is much
greater than for most of the negative experiences. There seems to be an almost
unlimited number of reasons for Antarctic expeditioners to be sad, angry,
depressed, frustrated, lonely, or irritated, and to have fewer sources of joy and
happiness. Yet, they seek out the pleasurable and cope with the unpleasant
reasonably well.
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 105
APPENDIX
Descriptions of Positive and Negative Theme Categorizations
Theme
Description
Negative themes
No problems
Responses such as “nothing to report,” “nil,” and
“nothing noteworthy”
Antagonisms or irritation Reports of being annoyed, irritated, frustrated with
something or someone’s behavior
Performance appraisals
Descriptions of ANARE Personnel Performance
Instrument (APPI), the Antarctic Division’s
performance evaluation process
Bad behaviors of others
Judgments about behaviors of others; a contrast to
antagonisms, which reflect the respondent’s
affective responses to other people’s behavior
Any negative reports about the consumption of alcohol
Reports of being bored, lethargic, or apathetic
Reports of problems with station life and the
cohesiveness of the group (or lack thereof)
Descriptions of conflicts or confrontations between
station members; it is implied in these descriptions
that an actual interaction took place (e.g., “I had an
argument with the station leader”) in contrast to
antagonisms, which reflect only cognitions and
emotions
Alcohol related
Boredom
Community life
Conflicts
Control issues
Reported feeling a lack of autonomy, mutinous,
restricted, and a lack of control of a situation
Reports of people lying to others, being lied to,
feeling deceived
Reports of the respondent’s own mistakes, errors,
or omissions at work (such as forgetting to collect
a sample, causing machinery to malfunction, etc.)
Reports of ethical or unethical behavior, unfair actions
taken by others, unfair consequences
Lies and deception
Errors and mistakes
Fairness or ethics
Family problems
Descriptions of marital or familial friction, illness or
injury in the family, tension due to distance from
family
Fears and worries
Food complaints
Self-explanatory
Criticisms of the quality or diversity of the food, lack
of fresh foods, and so forth
Gossip or rumors
Gender roles
Reports of rumors being spread by some station
members
Descriptions of difficulties due to a person’s gender
(e.g., women being offended by sexual remarks or
jokes, feeling alienated in certain groups or
activities because of gender); although many of
the comments here could belong in other catego-
(continued)
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106 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
APPENDIX Continued
Theme
Gender roles
Description
ries, we felt that the explicit descriptions of gender
as an underlying cause merited a separate theme
Reports of the respondent’s own illness or injury
Descriptions of feelings of homesickness, missing
home, missing friends or family
Health concerns
Homesick
Hurt feelings
Descriptions of being upset because of what someone
said, teasing; developing a thick skin; unkind
remarks that were perceived to be hurtful
Complaints about not being able to go on a field trip,
(usually due to weather), experiencing bad weather
during a field trip, or having a poor companion for
a field trip
Field-trip complaints
Loneliness
Direct descriptions of feelings of loneliness
Management complaints Reports of people in headquarters, usually about their
lack of supportiveness or understanding of what
goes on at the station
Bad moods
Descriptions of general feelings of being in a bad
mood, feeling bad, cranky
Negative attributions
to others
Negative reports of the causality of other people’s
behavior, such as “he is an arrogant fool” (disposi-
tional attributions) or “he just could not get his
numbers straight today” (situational attributions)
Descriptions of people who drink too much, party too
hard, conduct themselves inappropriately in a social
or festive setting
Party animals
Lack of privacy
Feeling restless
Reports of the thin walls at the station, the lack of
privacy in general
Self-explanatory
Feeling sad or depressed Descriptions of sadness, disappointment, depression,
unhappiness, or remorse
Social discomfort
Descriptions of being in socially awkward or embar-
rassing situations, and/or feeling tense as a result
Comments or complaints about having to perform
routine station duties, such as slushy (substituting
for the cook when it is the cook’s night off)
Negative reports of sexual relationships between
station members, or of unwelcome flattery or flirting
Complaints about the station leader’s managerial style
or decision-making ability (or about specific
decisions made by the leader)
Station duties
Sex on station
Station leader problems
Lack of support
from others
Descriptions of others’ lack of contribution to the
station, others’ lack of organizational citizenship
behavior, people not being supportive toward others
during critical times
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 107
APPENDIX Continued
Theme
Description
Negative themes
Technology complaints
Complaints about hardware breaking down or
malfunctioning
Unkindness of others
Reports of others being rude or unkind to the
respondent
Weather complaints
Work issues
Self-explanatory
Any responses related to the work that they are there
to do or about people with whom they are working;
although the people with whom they work and the
people with whom they live are the same, the
respondents made clear distinctions between their
work-related interactions and their social
relationships
Positive themes
Nothing special
Responses such as “nothing to report,” “nil,” “nothing
noteworthy”
Field trips
Work
Responses that talked about trips (or jollies), scenic
places around the stations such as Wilkes Island,
or mentions of “going out in the field”
Any responses related to the work that they are there
to do or about people with whom they are working;
although the people with whom they work and the
people with whom they live are the same, the
respondents made clear distinctions between
their work-related interactions and their social
relationships
Life is good
Comments such as “things are going well” or “life is
good,” which reflect a general positive state of
affairs on the station as perceived by the
respondent
General pleasure
Comments such as “I’m having fun” or “it’s a lot better
than I expected this place to be,” which reflect
feelings of personal enjoyment (as contrasted
with “life is good,” which reflects the general
condition of the station)
Outside communications Reports of faxes, e-mails, phone calls, letters, or care
packages from friends and family
Positive attributions
Positive reports of the causality of other people’s
behavior, such as “she is very competent”
(dispositional attributions) or “he was in the right
place at the right time” (situational attributions)
Reports of pleasant conversations with other
members of the station
Chatting with others
(continued)
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108 ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR / January 2000
APPENDIX Continued
Theme
Support from others
Description
Descriptions of behaviors from others that show
helpfulness at critical times
Recreational activities
(sports, etc. not listed
elsewhere)
Self-explanatory; also activities such as movie night
and so forth
Sense of community
Reports of the occupants of the station as a microso-
ciety or community, comments about the cohesive-
ness of the group
Festivities
Reports of parties (like the St. Patrick’s Day party) and
planned events (such as the midwinter festival)
Awed by the environment Statements about the beauty of the Antarctic, sunsets
and sunrises, nature, and so forth
Photography
Several respondents enjoyed taking photographs of
the landscape as a pastime; reports of such
activities, including descriptions of photographic
subjects and photographic development processes,
were categorized here
Alcohol related
Food and meals
Any positive descriptions of the consumption of
alcohol, including instances of drinking with other
members to relax
Reports of a good meal, enjoyment of certain kinds of
foods, care packages that contained food items,
and so forth
Romance
Descriptions of developing romantic relationships
between station members
Goal attainment
Descriptions of accomplishing all the work that a
respondent had set out to do, or reaching some
personal goal
Feeling included
Specific reports of feelings of belongingness; this is
different from a sense of community in that the
latter refers to the group as a whole, whereas the
former refers to one person’s feelings about his or
her role in the group
Rest and relaxation
Adventures
Reports of sleep, having time off, things that are
relaxing to respondents, and so forth
Events that the respondent reported as especially
exciting or adventuresome, such as driving through
a treacherous terrain during a field trip or the sense
of adventure from being in Antarctica
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Wood et al. / ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCES 109
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