The first rule of any kind of combat is that there are no rules. The moment a pilot became predictable, he became a casualty. E.W. Springs likened it to planning football plays. You would seldom repeat a play because of its predictability.
All the same, fright played the leading role in aerial combat. Sudden, stark terror would strike a pilot when he saw danger approaching. The fight or flight effect dumped hormones into his blood stream and he went into another level of hearing, the hyperfocal distance of his eyes changed and he had a target fixation. (With Billy Barker, it was his opponent's spinner). It also kept a pilot from the effects of terror (such as felt by
Wilfrid May when MvR dove on him and began a pursuit.) Read May's account, then compare it with different accounts of pilots like
Cecil Lewis. Fright is not the same as stark terror.
I realize that you were not looking for this kind of reply. The study of pilots obcession with score is a carryover from the playing fields. The desire to make a score to impress the home folks or advance one's career caused the death of many pilots. I know of no account in the popular press.
The one motion picture explaining this attitude is "Aces High". Another that tries, but falls somewhat short of logic is "The Blue Max." The question left in the viewer's mind is why would anyone in his right mind risk life and limb for a small piece of silver and a ribbon? This, I fear, we will never be able to explain.