Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, participated as a speaker in the “Psychology, Aviation, and Space” symposium organized by the Aviation Research and Applications Directorate, affiliated with Turkish Airlines (THY) Flight Training Presidency. Tarhan, who gave a presentation titled “Aviation Psychology and Its Importance,” made significant insights into flight psychology, stating that situational awareness is a fundamental part of the decision-making process in flight psychology. Emphasizing the importance of stress management in aviation, Tarhan noted that pilots should think about the next stage in every phase of flight…
The symposium, held at the Turkish Airlines Inc. OC Building conference hall, was attended by employees from various airlines, as well as figures from the academic community.
“Pilots Need to Think About the Next Stage in Every Phase of Flight”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, emphasizing the importance of the ability to remain calm under stress, especially during flight, said: “ ‘Being ahead of the flight.’ is a concept. This also applies to traffic. If a driver only looks at the car in front of them, the likelihood of an accident is high. This is related to the ability to remain calm under stress. Increasing awareness of the environment and the present moment is a state of consciousness that enhances coping skills. This is even called Mindfulness. Remaining calm under stress… It is about a person in Zen meditation succeeding in staying calm. A person can focus on a goal while also paying attention to details, using their multi-attention. Pilots need to think about the next stage in every phase of flight. This is expressed as being ahead of the flight.”
“Situational Awareness is a Fundamental Part of the Decision-Making Process”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan, stating that situational awareness is a fundamental part of the decision-making process in flight psychology, said: “There's a saying: ‘Parsley covers the chef's mistake, the iron covers the tailor's mistake, and the soil covers the physician's mistake.’ For a pilot, we can say that the pilot's mistake is covered by however many hundreds of passengers there are. Therefore, if a physician focuses on making zero mistakes (three zeros), a pilot should focus on making six zeros, maybe even nine zeros, of no mistakes. They must pay attention to this. Second lieutenants are the ones who cause the most accidents among pilots because courage comes to them, and this has even entered the literature. One second lieutenant says, ‘If I can't hit the target, I'll be buried in the target.’ He says this as a joke, approaches too close while firing at the target, crashes, and becomes a martyr. His ambition overturns both himself, his family, and all the investments made in him with a tiny mistake. That's why six zeros are more important. Therefore, situational awareness is a fundamental part of the decision-making process for an aviator or a decision-maker in flight psychology.”
“Stop, Think, Act”
Tarhan, evaluating standard learning as one of the learning methods, said: “In standard learning, you make a mistake the first time, learn from it, and don't make it the second time. A person's life is not long enough to learn everything through trial and error. An intelligent person benefits from the mistakes of others, predicts, analyzes, and decides. They perform risk analysis for potential errors and try to avoid them. This is the learning method of intelligent people. There are also some people who make a mistake, then again, and again, and again… In Anatolia, such people are called 'hödük' (a boorish person). They follow their nose. These people make many mistakes. Their awareness is low, they don't know themselves, and they continue to repeat the same mistakes. Therefore, we all must constantly learn the ‘Stop, Think, Act’ paradigm.”
“Learning Continues Until the End of Life”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan also stated that our likelihood of making mistakes may increase if we do not consider emotional and conscientious intelligence: “Learning is lifelong learning and continues until the end of life. This is not actually new. Aristotle spoke of emotional intelligence. Ethos, which corresponds to conscientious intelligence. In communication, ethical and virtuous attitudes, being honest, humble, affectionate, and tolerant increase the speaker's credibility in persuading the audience. He defines this as Ethos. Pathos is the ability to act by considering the feelings of others through empathy, to comprehend, to sense their needs, and to behave positively. Logos is what we call logical intelligence, but we are currently only considering Logos. It is possible for us to make mistakes with an approach that does not give much consideration to emotional and conscientious intelligence. The twenty-first century has brought these to the forefront as well.”
4 Scales in Pilots' Emotional Intelligence Competencies!
Tarhan, noting that the ability of those with high logical intelligence to establish good relationships and cooperation is not among the top success parameters, said: “Someone with a very high IQ who came first in school enters business life, social life, gets married, but can't seem to make things work. These are individuals with high logical intelligence but low emotional intelligence. Managerial leaders with this high intelligence, if they also have extensive experience, possess emotional agility; their EQ is high, not just their IQ. Here, emotional agility emerges. This allows them to adapt quickly to changing conditions, and it is important that they can effectively manage the emotional states and anxieties of those they work with. It is believed that those with high emotional intelligence are benevolent, affectionate, and compassionate, but that is not the case. Hitler also had high emotional intelligence. He mobilized people's emotions so effectively, but his goal was wrong, and his conscientious intelligence was utterly lacking. He achieved tremendous success, but his success was in a negative direction. High EQ is not a guarantee of being good-hearted. For this reason, there are four scales in the emotional intelligence competencies of Turkish pilots: Leadership, self-awareness, social awareness, and internal motivation… There is a study called Harrison Assessments conducted on 274 pilots regarding self-knowledge. Self-knowledge came out at 66%, largely competent… Internal motivation and internal management came out at 34%. Social awareness and service orientation came out at 95%, while leadership in relationships was the lowest at 25%, becoming the area most in need of development. Therefore, we can say it stands out as a weak area for pilots.”
“The Brain Can Achieve Relaxation”
Tarhan, emphasizing that managing our stress has a correlate in the brain, said: “Stress management is important here. There can always be stress during flight, etc. Here is a study showing the brain's response to stress. According to its results, the brain can achieve relaxation. The brain can succeed in not secreting stress hormones. Therefore, our ability to manage stress has a correlate in the brain. So, constantly stressed individuals are those whose pulse rates are always ‘70-80-90’. Since the telomeres in their DNA are depleted early, they die at a young age. Therefore, individuals with pulse rates of ‘50-60’ live longer because their DNA and telomeres divide less. For example, the pulse rates of turtles and elephants are calm, but the pulse rates of cats, dogs, lions, and tigers are ‘140-150’, which is why they do not live long. Therefore, the number of breaths we take closely determines our lifespan. Rapid breathing is also related to the heart. Here, being able to manage our stress is closely related not only to health but also to a person's ability to manage their life and body well, and for this, the frontal lobe of the human brain is important.”
“The First Condition of Reliability is Honesty”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan emphasized that being virtuous in leadership is profitable in the medium and long term. Tarhan said: “There are types of intelligence in leadership. What we call logical intelligence involves being idealistic, being able to dream, generate ideas, create expectations, and think strategically, like two emotional intelligence activists: one being idealistic, and the other being an emotional activist, meaning taking action and being mobilized. Physical intelligence is about work, discipline, being realistic, and focusing on goals, while social intelligence is about being open to cooperation. All of them need to work in harmony. It is about being trustworthy and ultimately, conscientious intelligence. Being able to listen to one's inner voice, internal responsibility, accountability, responsibility towards the creator, possessing ethical values, using moral reasoning, wisdom, humility, and honesty. All intelligences must work in harmony. That is, if only one is very strong, it is not very meaningful, but conscientious intelligence is like the orchestra conductor. Hitler was a leader without conscientious intelligence. A soldier, a painter, very disciplined, and worked day and night. He mobilized the masses. He became the Great German Emperor for all of Germany. He eliminated the opposition. Even in terms of his physical, political, and social intelligence, his conscientious intelligence was utterly lacking. 5.5 million people were killed on the grounds of being an inferior race. Merciless, ruthless. He said, ‘Either I succeed or I die.’ When he failed, he committed suicide. That's why he committed suicide with his wife. This leader, this type of leadership, Napoleon was also like this, for example. Trustworthy leadership is important here. For the orchestra to work in harmony, the leader must not be in a panic. In fact, in a study conducted on 54,000 people, honesty emerged as the number one characteristic employees looked for in a leader. The first is honesty. The first condition of reliability is honesty. Being open, transparent, honest, and accountable... This seems unnecessary in the short term. It seems like we would miss many opportunities, but it pays off in the long term. Being virtuous in leadership is profitable in the medium and long term. Being self-serving is profitable at that moment. Honesty is the greatest ethic, therefore.”
“The Brain of a Person Who Works with Love Does Not Wear Out…”
Tarhan, pointing out that repeating the same things dulls the brain's pathways, said: “Our brain works like a well, by the ‘use it or lose it’ rule. Just as a well opens up as you draw water, the brain develops as you work it. That's why I say, ‘Working hard is good for Alzheimer's,’ but without stress. The brain of a person who works hard with love genuinely does not wear out. It develops even further. For a person who knows how to work, there is a saying by Confucius: ‘I'm not working hard; I'm doing what I love.’ That is truly the case. This is truly brain-friendly. Thinking openly to new experiences… If you keep repeating the same thing, the brain's pathways become dulled because they don't use new routes.”
“If We Create a Pyramid of Importance, We Make Fewer Mistakes”
Tarhan, stating how the pyramid of attention can be used in the decision-making mechanism, said: “It is important for a person to be able to distinguish between the most important, less important, and ordinary situations. A person will allocate more time to the most important things and less time to the less important ones. If we create a pyramid of importance, we make fewer mistakes. A Canadian psychologist who discovered the 5W1H in the decision-making pyramid calls them the ‘6 loyal guardians of memory.’ 5W1H: Who said it? What was said? Where? When? How? Why was it said? When a person retains information by saying these, the brain writes it with 6 networks, so one network's work reaches the information in another network. In other words, the brain is thus an organ that works associatively, and there is also a pyramid of attention. A time pyramid, an attention pyramid. That means we will put the highest priority issue as the goal. There is a saying, ‘The devil is in the details,’ but at the same time, success is also in the details. Both the devil and success are in the details. Why? Because if it's a detail relevant to the goal, success is in that detail, but for example, if someone said something to you while you were on the road and you got stuck on it, you spent an hour on it, that leads you to failure, but a detail relevant to the goal leads to success. That is why it is said, ‘Procedure precedes substance.’ It is a rule of the Ottoman Civil Code. In law, there is a 60-day period for a lawsuit. If you go on the 61st day, the case is procedurally dismissed due to statute of limitations. Being right is not enough. You lose, you cannot file the case, you lose. Therefore, the substance is important first, but the procedure is prioritized. So, we will use the attention pyramid in our decision-making mechanism in this way.”
“One Who Is Not a Leader of Themselves Cannot Be a Leader of Others”
Tarhan, mentioning that benevolence should be present in aspiring leaders, said: “When a mother and father raise their child, we say 'be smart, be hardworking,' but this parameter is not enough. A smart, hardworking chemical engineer, but you see that chemical engineer has produced synthetic cannabis. Doing hacking. Smart, hardworking, true, but then two parameters are not enough. One more parameter is needed: being smart, hardworking, and benevolent. Being benevolent and malevolent in aspiring leaders. Therefore, it is also important in human relationships. ‘Neuro-leadership’ comes to the forefront here. Neuro-leadership essentially means that we cannot be a leader to others without being a leader to ourselves. A mother and father are leaders. A manager at work is a leader. One who cannot be a leader to themselves cannot be a leader to others.”
“Simple Attention Mistakes Can Lead to Serious Consequences…”
Tarhan, emphasizing that individuals need to educate themselves, said: “Important landing cases, for example, have entered the literature. In 1982, F.O., suspecting that he could not set the takeoff speed correctly due to a snowstorm, refrained from informing the captain. The B737 aircraft stalled and crashed into the Potomac River in Washington. 74 people died in 1982. What do these simple errors, attention errors, cause in flight? Here, it is very important to know ourselves and develop ourselves. In other words, why do we need to change ourselves instead of changing others? We need to educate ourselves. This is actually about emotions; Tolstoy summarized these parameters for managing emotions. Recognize basic emotions. Recognize the causes of emotions. Think about how to deal with them. See the options. Identify the best option and act accordingly. The saying ‘A person occupies as much space in the universe as their heart, not their body’ is also a very important saying.”