Stole from JimL Post #4 Below.
I've never been in a gun fight, so I don't know how it would effect me. Other kinds of heavy duty crisis situations have always turned me into mister cool, surveying the situation calmly. The worse the situation the cooler I get. I wonder what your psych schooling said about that... (Please don't send the white coats for me!) It would be interesting to know how many people freak, how many freeze, how many turn cool and variations in between in a gun fight.
I too have never been in a gun fight, but have been in dozens of fist and boot, head butt, baton? Stick and such fights (5 years Bouncer, Liverpool UK)
And I go very controlled, punches, kicks, hits with, whatever was handy, chairs?
Extremely focused. Your speed is increased, you concentrate your power, the power of your strikes. And people who have observed me, say I grin. Nuts? Was then. 1960 to 1965. And a couple of none working fights, after that 5 year period, just was dragged in, same control (Cool as stated by JimL) like you are detatched.
Try at 74 YOA to keep out of those kind of activity's, now a days.
Only really noticeable physical alteration in me, pale as a ghost, as the blood goes where it is needed most (not skin) major muscle groups, brain, heart.
Or so it seems.
Many years ago, at the end of my available strength, close to the end of 1500 mile drive, very early AM major hwy in Ontario, Canada.
The whole of my vision was a gray fuzzy tunnel (about an 8 ft circle) and to see any thing else, I had to swing my whole head, left or right, I pulled past a bridge, backed up to it, slept for two hours or so, fixed.
