2014 US RAND RR750 Enhancing performance under stress - stress innocuation training in battlefield airmen
First Phase of Stress Inoculation Training Th e goals of the first phase of SIT are to increase awareness of likely stressors, psychological and physical responses to stress, and the effects of the stress response on performance. For example, trainers might discuss a specific type of equipment failure how this failure may affect anxiety, heart rate, and breathing and how these physical and psychological reactions may impair the ability to tie a knot or react to enemy fire. To fully engage trainees during this first phase, Driskell and Johnston (1998) recommend starting the indoctrination by emphasizing the importance of stress training, possibly through military or civilian case studies of performance failures or accidents that have resulted from increased levels of stress. Instructors can supplement these lectures with field experiments in which trainees have to perform a well-learned task under varying levels of stress. For example, 1 Although the terms SET and SIT can be used interchangeably, we use the original term SIT throughout the remainder of this report.
