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Psychophysiology of Resilience to Stress 133

Summary and Applications

In this chapter, we have reviewed and considered psychological and
physiological evidence to address the question of how resilient individuals
anticipate and recover from stressful events. This book emphasizes the

need to understand how resilience applies to military life and service and
particularly to service members’ experiences and performance in combat.
Here, we consider how the observations and relationships reviewed in this
chapter might be put to use in the contexts of military training and selection.
The purpose of this section is to provide a general guideline for consideration

of future research.
Based on our current understanding of resilience and how it might best

be applied to performance benefit, it seems clear that members of the armed
services should be trained to appraise the possibility of combat duty as a
positive challenge rather than as a threat. Challenge orientation is associ-

ated with greater perceived sense of control and confidence in coping, both
of which are psychological factors previously shown to buff er war fi ghters
from combat-related mental distress (Florian et al., 1995) and posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (Sharkansky et al., 2000). For the purpose
of research and development of new training programs, service members
could be screened pre- and posttraining to assess challenge orientation,
resilience, sense of control, and confidence in coping. Subsequent psycho-

logical, medical, and performance measures (e.g., before, during, and aft er

combat exposure) could then be considered in specific relationship to these
psychological principles.
Physiologically, challenge is manifested as a SAM response (increased
heart rate, peripheral resistance, and cardiac output) associated with the

body’s preparation for engagement or action. The physiological profile

associated with challenge predicts better performance in competitive situa-
tions (e.g., college sports; Blascovich, Seery, Mugridge, Norris & Weisbuch,
2004). By contrast, threat orientation is associated with a PAC response
(Tomaka et al., 1993), which includes increased blood pressure, cortisol
reactivity, and delayed cortisol recovery (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004).
It may be informative to conduct comprehensive physiological assessments
among service members to identify profile tendencies during anticipation

of combat (e.g., while discussing or otherwise preparing for deployment)

and immediately after exposure to combat training scenarios (resilience
to stress is associated with speedier cardiovascular recovery; Tugade &
Fredrickson, 2004). Likewise, training regimens could be tested for their

effectiveness in producing physiological patterns associated with challenge

and action. Physiological challenge versus threat profiles may also be infor-

mative as additional data to support the identification of personnel who are

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