MECHANISMS OF EMOTIONAL STABILITY IN MILITARY PILOTS DURING COMBAT MISSION EXECUTION

Abstract

The article presents a theoretical examination of the emotional stability of a military pilot through the lens of psychological mechanisms that ensure the maintenance of organized and effective professional performance under the extreme conditions of a combat flight. Particular emphasis is placed on the dynamic nature of emotional stability and its dependence on the nature, intensity, and combined effects of stressors inherent in military aviation activities.

The purpose of the study is to theoretically substantiate the psychological mechanisms underlying the emotional stability of a military pilot during a combat mission and to reveal their functional significance in maintaining effective professional performance under extreme conditions.

Methods. The study employed analysis and synthesis of scientific literature, systematization and generalization of theoretical findings, and structural-functional analysis.

Results. The concept of a military pilot’s emotional stability was specified as a dynamic outcome of psychological regulation under the combined influence of psychological and psychophysiological stressors. The factors inherent in combat flight that may disrupt the pilot’s psycho-emotional state and the organization of professional actions were systematized. Seven psychological mechanisms of emotional stability were identified: cognitive reappraisal of threat; automation of psychomotor skills; attentional control and reorientation of attention; cyclic psychological mobilization and recovery; socio-psychological regulation through team interaction; meaning-based and motivational regulation; and emotional and psychophysiological self-regulation.

Conclusions. It was substantiated that maintaining a military pilot’s emotional stability is determined not by the isolated functioning of individual psychological mechanisms, but by their timely activation, functional coordination, and flexible adjustment in accordance with the dynamics of the combat situation.