THE SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 359 ADULT MALES WHO APPLIED DURING 1969-1971 TO BECOME CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS AT THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTION FOR MEN, CHINO. PRIOR TO HIS APPEARANCE BEFORE A SELECTION BOARD, EACH APPLICANT WAS TESTED WITH THE MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY (MMPI). THE PROFILES WERE SUBJECTED TO A CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF INTERPROFILE DISTANCE VALUES. THE SAMPLE WAS FIRST DIVIDED INTO THIRDS, AND SEPARATE CLUSTER ANALYSES WERE PERFORMED ON EACH. THE TYPES OBTAINED FROM THESE ANALYSES WERE THEN SUBJECTED TO A SINGLE, HIGHER-ORDER, CLUSTER ANALYSIS, FOLLOWED BY A RECLASSIFICATION OF EACH SUBJECT ACCORDING TO HIS SIMILARITY TO ONE OF THE FIVE TYPES OBTAINED. THE STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIFFERENCES AMONG THE FINAL TYPES WAS ASSESSED BY SCALE-BY-SCALE ONE-WAY ANALYSES OF VARIANCE. WHILE MMPI PERFORMANCE WAS NOT RELATED TO LATER EVENTS IN THE CORRECTIONAL CAREERS OF THE SUBJECTS, CERTAIN SIMILARITIES WERE NOTED BETWEEN THE OFFICER GROUP AND TWO SAMPLES OF INMATES PREVIOUSLY STUDIED IN A COMPARABLE FASHION. ALTHOUGH THE OFFICERS MANIFESTED GENERALLY LOWER PROFILE ELEVATIONS THAN INMATES, CONFIGURAL SIMILARITIES WERE NOTED BETWEEN THE AVERAGE INMATE AND OFFICER PROFILES, AND PARTIAL OVERLAP WAS SEEN BETWEEN THE PROFILE TYPES IDENTIFIED IN THE TWO GROUPS. THESE SIMILARITIES ARE VIEWED AS OCCUPATIONALLY ADAPTIVE IN THE AREA OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH INMATES, BUT POTENTIALLY MALADAPTIVE IN PREDISPOSING OFFICERS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OR CREATE OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLOIT INMATES AND PRISON RESOURCES. A TABLE INDICATING TEST RESULTS IS INCLUDED. (RCB) TEST RESULTS IS INCLUDED. (RCB)