| Abstrakt: | Each year a small group of Polish researchers and technicians goes to Spitsbergen to work in the Polish Polar Scientific Station. The work conditions they face are undoubtedly unique and affect strongly each individual. In the polar psychology literature such work environment is characterised as: Isolated – Confined – Extreme (ICE; Sandal, Leon, Palinkas, 2006). All polar expeditions are exposed to similar environmental conditions, however, their adaptation level can be extremely different. Human behaviour in the Arctic seems to be more determined by the situation rather than by individual features (Palinkas, Suedfeld, 2008). Since the first psychological researches were conducted in the Arctic, the polar explorers living conditions have improved greatly (Mocellin and oth., 1991). However, in spite of this betterment, various difficulties can still be observed in the adaptation to ICE. Most of those difficulties are believed to have psychological origins (Palinkas, Browner, 1995). According to the most recent meta-analysis of the polar psychology research, so far, no sufficient explanation has been provided that would describe the factors determining the well-functioning of a man in the Arctic (Palinkas, Keeton, Shea, & Leveton, 2011). This thesis is an attempt to identify both individual and group characteristics which are crucial to adaptation to the arctic surroundings. The theoretical analyses are supported by findings from the one-year long psychological monitoring of the group working in the Polish Polar Station. The results show that the Polish polar group stands against other polar expeditions. The group perceived themselves as highly productive and well adapted to ICE. They performed their tasks effectively and although during the year the group productivity varied, in the end it was assessed highly. The group was also satisfied with the leadership, and coped with stress effectively. The level of conflict in the group was moderate and not many cliques were created. Beside of this positive characteristic, the group coherency was not very high, and the frequency of contacts among members of the group as well as the level of provided mutual support were moderate. Generally, the natural surroundings provided a lot of positive experiences to the winterers. Although arctic fauna posed a considerate threat to them, Arctic was not perceived as an oppressive territory. Polar people were very satisfied with their living conditions, the polar base satisfied most of explorers needs. On the other hand, although the group dynamics was variable, the thesis about superiority of the influence on the psychological well-being of the group phases over surrounding influence has not been supported. Moreover, indicators applied to measure the group development do not support Tuckmana & Jensen (1977) group dynamic model assumptions. The presented research has two aspects. Not only can they be treated as basic research but they have strong applied dimension too. On the one hand, Arctic is the natural laboratory for the psychological research where current psychological knowledge can be verified in the context of extreme conditions. On the other hand, psychological monitoring of polar expeditions is strongly desirable in order to minimize psychological costs incurred by people facing harsh polar conditions. As far as applied aspects of research are concerned, theoretical considerations and research results show that changes can be introduced in three main fields: seclect in/out procedures for station workers, pre-expedition training and constant yearly psychological monitoring run in the station. |