Training Effective Performance in Stressful Situations: Three Approaches and Implications for Combat Training

Training effective task performance in stressful situations requires that the following conditions be met: (a) Trainees should be exposed to and familiarized with stressors characteristic of the criterion situation; such stressors should be introduced into the training process in a manner that (b) prevents the build-up of anxiety and (c) minimizes interference with acquisition of skills that the training is designed to promote. These requirements present an incongruence, requiring approaches to training that are specially designed to circumvent it. Research on three such approaches is reviewed in this article: Graduated-intensity training seeks to reconcile the three requirements by exposing trainees to stressors that intensify gradually. Phased training deals with skills acquisition and exposure to stressors in separate phases of the training process. Customized training seeks to heighten trainees' familiarity with criterion stressors while minimizing their deleterious effects by adjusting stressor intensity according to trainees' personality dispositions. Research results, considered in light of the constraints and exigencies of military training, point to phased training as the most promising approach to training effective performance in stressful situations.