Prokhorov, A.O.

Background. Experiencing positive mental states contributes to productive work in various fields of activity, and research into ways to improve work productivity while maintaining the psychological health of the individual is in demand in theoretical and practical psychology.

Objective. The purpose of the study is to study mental structures that actualise positive states in everyday and stressful situations in the dynamics of activity (using education, sports, and work as examples).

Study Participants. The study involved 246 people aged 18–25 years: 106 students from various universities, 70 catering workers, 70 athletes.

Methods. We used the following methods: D.A. Leontiev’s test of life orientations, S.R. Pantileev’s method of studying self-attitude, A.O. Prokhorov and A.V. Chernov’s method “Diagnostics of reflexive processes”, and an adapted questionnaire by A.O. Prokhorov, A.V. Klimanova “Assessment of positive mental states”. The study was conducted in the real conditions of the respondents’ activities.

Results. Patterns in the structure of mental regulation of positive mental states in everyday and stressful situations of activity, as well as the features of experiencing positive mental states depending on the types of activity, were revealed. In the educational process, life-purpose orientations are of the greatest significance; in customer service, both life-purpose orientations and reflection are important; in sports activities, aspects of the self-system are of greatest importance. Differences in the correlation structures between the components of mental regulation and mental states are established.

Conclusions. The dynamics of experiencing positive mental states in different activities at different levels of tension is a change in the dominant relationships between mental regulation and mental states, as well as a change in the characteristics of mental regulation included in the formation of relationship structures. The identified relationship structures show that the regulation of states is associated with the inclusion of consciousness structures in the regulatory process, depends on the nature of activities and changes in situations: from everyday to stressful situations.

Background. This article presents the results of a study examining the structural and level-based organisation of the mental regulation of psychological states in different situations of students’ educational activities. The work identifies integral stable regulatory functional complexes that perform control function during self-regulation of psychological states by a human. The findings are based on the proposed structural and functional model of mental regulation of psychological states, which includes mental experience, reflection, semantic structures, emotional experiences, mental representations, the self-system, and target characteristics.

Objective. During the validation of this concept, the objective was to identify functional mental complexes that perform a control function in the process of psychological states self-regulation.

Study Participants. 63 student-psychologists of both sexes participated in the study. The average age was 19.4 years, 68% were girls and 32% were boys.

Methods. The study was conducted three times in three different learning activities: a lecture, a seminar, and a written exam. The following methods were used: a technique for studying individual mental states, a questionnaire for assessing self-regulation methods, a questionnaire for assessing the subjective effectiveness of self-regulation, and a technique for studying the severity of mental structures (reflection, semantic structures, self-attitude, and experience). The SPSS 23.0 statistical program was used for mathematical calculations.

Results. During lectures, changes in the characteristics of mental states are determined by indicators of mental structures and the overall effectiveness of self-regulation. During seminars, changes are associated with the higher values of the determination coefficients between mental states, regulatory actions, and mental structures. During exams, mental states are determined by the regulatory methods used. the self-attitude indicator, as well as regulation methods associated with social interaction (active communication, discrete communication) demonstrate the greatest involvement in interaction with the indicators of mental states.

Conclusions. The study established that the level characteristics of mental structures determine the degree of interaction between indicators of consciousness structures and self-regulation methods, with the greatest integration between them observed at high levels of mental component expression.