The attitude towards oneself and the surrounding reality in peacetime and in war is completely different. Weapons give strength and power to one. Instills fear in others. In military conditions, a special type of personality is formed.
Psychologists believe that death, guilt, pain and suffering are borderline situations. In them, a person does not behave as usual. The result can be stress, like excessive mental stress. And even a neurotic state. The state of a person in conditions of hostilities is denoted by the term "war mentality" (military mentality). And the peculiarities of human behavior in war are dealt with by psychology and sociology.
Features of the mental state of a person in war
Feelings of a person in a non-standard situation can unexpectedly reveal the peculiarities of the psyche. The main feature of behavior in war is its relative impunity. If in peacetime murder entails criminal punishment, then the “war mentality” is characterized by the opinion that “the war will write off everything”. Moreover, assassination is the ultimate goal of any military action. Human actions are dictated not only by the goal of saving their people. To a greater extent, the instinct of self-preservation begins to operate here.
War reveals the elements of the psyche that were formed in peacetime. The qualities of a person appear unexpectedly. Courage, decisiveness, the ability to quickly react and make decisions - now these qualities from a set of simple words play a decisive role. First of all, they help a person to survive.
Motives of human behavior in military conditions
There are several main motives for behavior:
- hatred of the enemy (the stronger the understanding that the enemy threatens a person and his relatives, the stronger the motive for destroying the enemy);
- emotional stress (aggravation of excitement, ecstasy of attack or panic and apathy);
- the heat of passion;
- feeling of fear.
A combat attack is a real mortal danger situation. The instinct of self-preservation, which awakens at this time, causes a state of strong mental excitement. The state of choice between preserving one's own life and dying for the sake of the lives of others is the cause of the strongest emotional conflicts. The form of reaction to danger is a feeling of fear. It can cause both numbness and intensify efforts, depending on the degree of development of the psyche and characteristics of temperament.
Behavior in war and type of temperament
In difficult situations, sanguine people usually act boldly and quickly. Even if they lose their resolve for a while, they recover emotionally rather quickly.
The state of emotional uplift is very important for people with choleric temperament. In the event of a breakdown, they tend to succumb to panic and fear.
Well prepared for the performance of combat missions, phlegmatic people are active. Stability of the emotional background, persistence in actions - these are the characteristic features for people with this type of temperament.
People of the melancholic type are able to show decisiveness only for a short time, in most cases when the difficulties are insignificant.
Active, optimistic people react faster than others in borderline situations. At the same time, they quickly fall into depression, a state of panic or passion.
