Air University Review, March-April 1968
Dr. Robert H. Stacy
Mrs. Olga S. Federoff,
A new and interesting development in the training methodology for Soviet military pilots is the emphasis being given to psychology. This psychology is by no means an elaborate theoretical psychology but rather one applied to aviation in general and flight in particular; according to the definition of psychology by Soviet practitioners, it is a strict science based on “objective laws.” As we know, the application of psychology in such a field as sociology, for example, has always been viewed by Marxist theoreticians as a “reactionary and subjective-idealistic” or “bourgeois” (i.e., Western) tendency. So, too, the methods of Freudian psychoanalysis are considered “antiscientific reactionary” psychological theory. Such views are quite natural for the Marxist, since his dialectical materialism (or economic determinism) hardly leaves room—theoretically at least—for anything except economic factors in the molding of society, and he is especially quite averse to accepting the Freudian theories of the importance of the libido as a determining factor in the human consciousness. Indeed, even in the case of Soviet psychology, although the scientific basis is considered to have been provided by the studies of the famous I. P. Pavlov (the “conditioned reflex”), the method logical basis is again dialectical materialism, that antiquated and eminently unscientific detritus of nineteenth-century German idealism. Thus Soviet military psychology is always kept distinct from the Western or bourgeois variety. The latter kind is, nevertheless, carefully studied. *
This new interest in psychology as a means of improving the will power,
motivation, memory, speed of reaction, and scope of attention of military
pilots has been noted especially in the pages of the official monthly
publication of the Soviet Air Force. This periodical, founded in 1918, used to
be called The Herald of the Air Fleet; in 1962, in line with the
intensive space activities of the
One thing that has not changed, however, is the continued emphasis on
training, discipline, respect for authority, and the need—especially for the
military pilot—to be in a constant state of combat readiness. (The Soviet
military pilot wears a badge indicating that he is, depending on his
qualifications, a Military Pilot First, Second, or Third Class.) But the
authors of articles on combat training methods, although they stress
uncompromising adherence to the regulations and the need for such things as
practicing cockpit actions “to the point of automatism,” also call attention to
the fact that commanders must always use the individual approach to
subordinates. (This latter term, by the way, is viewed by the Chinese
Communists, who have abolished ranks in their armed forces, as further evidence
of the reactionary tendency in the
It is also interesting, by the way, that within recent months Aviation and Cosmonautics has inaugurated two new departments. One of these is “Your Health,” dealing with such matters as excessive weight, proper rest, and in-flight PT exercises. The title of the other may be translated as “On Ethical Behavior.” Under this rubric a number of instances of immoral behavior on the part of officers have been discussed (one of these involved a bigamous officer who lived it up for quite a while before the Communists, the watchdogs of Soviet morality, caught up with him).
The spate of articles on psychology began in 1966, and such articles now appear regularly under still another new department heading, “Flight and Psychology.” For the most part they are intended for command and instructor personnel; but, since Soviet training doctrine also makes much of what is called “independent study” and since officers are constantly urged to broaden their scope of knowledge (presumably in their leisure time), many of the articles are designed for giving line officers the fundamentals of aviation psychology practice. What is this practice?
As we have mentioned, it is essentially an applied dynamic Pavlovian psychology. A good example would be the so-called technique of “autogenous psychophysiological training.” Since most of us cannot, for instance, salivate at will, we must elicit this response by thinking of, say, sliced lemons. Thus a pilot undergoing ground cockpit training can learn to elicit the appropriate emotional tension when an emergency situation is simulated and then learn to dissipate this tension by autosuggestion. The term “psychophysiological,” which is used very often in the literature, points up the fact that, for the Soviet psychologist, the mind or psyche is no vague self subsisting thing but that our consciousness is a product of the physiological functions of the brain and nervous system as a whole. This point is always stressed, although there is a little more sophistication at present than at an earlier age of “vulgar materialism” when the brain was considered to secrete thought just as the liver secretes bile.
Another aspect of this applied-psychology movement can be seen in the inauguration—also recent—of a series of simple tests designed for readers of Aviation and Cosmonautics. One of these is entitled “Test Your Powers of Observation.” For example, the reader is asked to note how long it takes him to memorize the situation in the accompanying drawing. Then he is to turn the page and note how long it takes him to spot any change in the situation: In the other series, “Test Your IQ,” he is given more and more complex figures to extend in a logical sequence.
True, these are simple tests (we see similar things every day in American newspapers and magazines), and their efficacy in producing any tangible results in the work of a pilot or technician cannot, immediately at least, be very great. But it must be remembered that basic rule in Soviet training methodology and in pedagogy generally is to proceed from the simple to the complex; this is repeated almost ad nauseam. Such tests do at least make the pilot conscious of the fact that he himself possesses various “systems,” the functions of which can be timed, evaluated, and even improved, or that such “systems” may in the course of time, following basic training, deteriorate during routine duties. It must also be remembered that more and more of the pilots reporting for duty in line units are the so-called pilot-engineers, men with a “higher engineering education.” These graduates are very strong in the physical sciences but rather weak in the sciences of man.** Their knowledge of flight psychology will apparently be supplemented through the independent study referred to. Incidentally, articles on training methods have lately been making much of this influx of pilot-engineers, pointing out the added responsibilities of commanders who now have in their units not only pilots but trained engineers, eager to keep abreast of the latest developments in technology and quick to notice any evidence of routine thinking or outmoded ideas.
A good deal of attention is paid to the handling of “negative emotions” (fear, tension, depression, etc.). Here, too, the emphasis is Pavlovian: since often these are, in effect, conditioned reflexes which have become deeply rooted for one reason or another, they must be broken down and replaced by others which are based on positive emotions. The techniques used are various: physical exercises, breathing-control exercises, and the use of “inner dialog”: a pilot in a difficult situation should talk to himself, saying such things as “I must,” “I can do it,” “I must not give in.” Pilots are also urged, in such situations, consciously to evoke thoughts with positive emotional coloring—memories of a successful air engagement, intercept, etc.
In the pages of Aviation and Cosmonautics, pilots can also read about sthenic emotions (those which raise the level of a person’s vital activities and facilitate the achievement of goals) and asthenic emotions (those which act in the opposite way), about methods of training the memory, and about practicing proper distribution of attention in the cockpit.
The articles on training psychology distinguish, for example, between the operative or short-term memory and the long-term memory. Trainees are advised to make frequent use of mnemonic devices and to find, whenever possible, cause-and-effect relationships in improving the long-term memory. It is pointed out, for example, that flight zones are better memorized not by number but by names which involve some kind of association with a pilot’s personal experiences. As for the operative memory, which is maximally loaded during instrument flight, pilots are urged to practice, in accordance with diagrams, the most efficient switching of attention between the various instruments and tables needed for making a decision. Numerous diagrams have been published in the magazine, and there has been an extensive discussion on finding optimal attention-distribution patterns. Of particular concern right now is the development, through the cooperation of instrument designers and psychologists, of instrument panels for aircraft which will facilitate, by proper grouping of dials and controls, efficient and rapid scanning. In this connection it is interesting that a test pilot recently wrote the editors, reminding these instrument designers and psychologists not to ignore the suggestions of the pilots themselves!
Although, as we have mentioned, commanders are required to insist upon strict observance of the flight regulations and safety measures, they are urged to avoid undue severity and, especially the use of excessively harsh language. Here, they are told, is where a knowledge of psychology plays a decisive role. “Thus,” we read in a recent issue, “it once happened that an instructor-pilot was summoned to the commander for an unpleasant talk just before a flight. The conversation with the commander so changed the mental state of the officer that at the preflight checkup the surgeon was forced to raise the question of grounding him that day.”
The name of Anton Makarenko, a schoolmaster and the “father of Soviet pedagogy” who died in 1935, is still highly revered, and his tenets, elementary though they may seem, are still frequently quoted in the pages of Aviation and Cosmonautics. But in a recent article a lieutenant general of the Soviet Air Force put it very well—and thereby suggested a prudent course for those concerned—when he wrote that both line-unit commanders and physicians were now finding it more and more necessary to consult textbooks on psychology.
*See, for example, Sovremennaya burzhuaznaya ooennaya psikhologiya (“Contemporary Bourgeois Military Psychology”) by a collective of authors (Moscow: Military Publishing House. 1964).
**The Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky has supplied us with some evidence that the Soviet emphasis on mathematics, physics, and chemistry in education has, in a way, “backfired.” He has stated that such studies have made students more sensitive to the appeals of abstract ideas and thus of heterodox opinions.
Dr. Robert H. Stacy (Ph.D.,
Mrs. Olga S. Federoff (B.S.,
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document
are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic
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