Dear Trish
Back when I was flying I remember a couple of accidents that occurred in the early 70s in the vicinity of St Thomas, Virgin Islands. The accident investigator specifically attributed the cause of these accidents to the "fight or flight" response. He argued that this instinctual response caused the pilots to behave (in your words), "contrary to their training".
You might be interested in reading the accident reports, if you can get hold of them.
Cheers
Pondhopper