The purpose of the Ph.D. dissertation is to elaborate on the working mechanisms behind the military thinking about complex conflict environments. The thesis is an interdisciplinary research endeavor that takes the insights from various disciplines, including social psychology (e.g. Self-Determination Theory), cultural (Intercultural Training methods), and strategic studies. Several core segments can be distinguished: first, it is presented how the military mindset is established through socialization and depersonalization toward most common and desired warrior prototype; negative outcomes of this process are discussed, for e.g. ethnocentrism, prejudice, in-group bias, and experience of culture shock during deployments; second part focus on a critical analysis of the military mindset functioning in conflict environments based on case studies of Vietnam War and counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; third, how the negative aspects of the mindset can be mitigated through self-improvements, for instance, changing the socialization process toward higher self-complexity and intercultural training; fourth, the neglected topic of emotions is discussed with particular attention on the role of fear in conflict environments; fifth; what is the role of social scientists and what they can do to reduce the horrors of wars and allow the military mindset to adapt to culturally distant host societies. Conclusion: the dissertation identified several gaps that could be mitigated through quantitative interdisciplinary and holistic research; potential solutions and models are proposed.
