Relevance. The problem of change in cognitive performance under more complicated activity conditions is of interest to psychologists and scholars in neuro- and informational sciences. Without its solution it’s impossible to model cognitive activity and predict its efficiency in different situations. Tasks that access attention and working memory resources are of particular interest. The level of emotional tension is often considered a factor hampering the task solution. Previously, authors showed that emotional tension leads to change in spatial distribution of attention and in cognitive strategies that provide solutions to more complex tasks.

Objective. To determine how test anxiety influences the mental rotation task performance. 

Methods and sampling. Two groups of subjects were asked to solve the mental rotation task either under emotionally neutral conditions or under the conditions when task performance was significant to the subject. The emotional state of subjects was controlled with questionnaires. In addition, the individual level of stress resistance was measured.

Results. We obtained a linear effect of test-stimulus orientation on reaction time (that was Shepard and Metzler’s discovery). In the situation of emotional tension the average solving time slightly increased and the number of correct answers slightly decreased. Any significant change in task solving strategies was related to the level of stress resistance in subjects.

Conclusion. The cognitive strategies are transformed under impact of emotional tension and whether the subject would choose a constructive strategy or a non-constructive one depends on the subject’s stress resistance. Subjects with lower stress resistance have difficulty distributing cognitive resources, rotating figures in the mental space. 

Relevance. To satisfy with the needs of practice work psychology studies the states of reduced productivity such as fatigue, monotony, and satiation. The chronic forms of these states may exert professional deformation in the personality andpsychosomatic diseases. In modern societies work became less difficult physically but the accelerating pace of technological progress means a person needs to learn new technologies, work methods and even new professions permanently. As a result, the problem of chronic fatigue is even more acute than before. Therefore, studies in the development of chronic fatigue, conducted by A.B. Leonova and her disciples 30 years ago, preserve their relevance.

Objective. To study changes in emotional-personal and motivational characteristics of microelectronic industry female workers associated with the formation of chronic fatigue.

Method. Longitudinal study of two groups of subjects with the different levels of chronic fatigue was based on the following inventories: Еysenk Personality Inventory, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, short multifactorial personality inventory Mini-mult (SMOL), Leonova’s acute and chronic exhaustion questionnaire.

Results. It was found that the work of microelectronic industry female workers results in the formation of chronic fatigue. The following personality distortions associated with increase in chronic fatigue were found: reduced self-esteem, the prevalence of failure avoidance motivation, increased anxiety, ineffective ways of compensating anxiety, a conflict way of interacting with people. The further adaptation to professional duties may lead to the weakening of these negative states such as the normalization of anxiety, the reduction of rigidity, the normalization of communication with other people.

Conclusions. Increase in chronic fatigue can lead to the formation of negative personality states with special emotional and motivational features. As an individual adapts to her working conditions, these traits can be compensated.

The article analyzes the psychological and socio-demographic factors that affect the understanding and experience of the terrorist threat. In empirical studies, held at the 698 residents of Saransk and Smolensk, shows: 1) women and young subjects, the indexes of experience a terrorist threat is higher than men and adults, and 2) predictors of the overall index are experiencing personal anxiety, machiavellianism and the ability to control the situation and 3) understanding the terrorist threat, disturbing the subjects focused on the emotional and irrational aspects of the attacks, and 4) Machiavellian people understand the attacks as universal manipulative ways to solve problems, achieve goals, 5) subjects with high ability to control behavior stress of planning the attacks and targeted actions of people involved in them.

The article studies the relationships of interpersonal cognition strategies with personality identity statuses, implicit theories of self-perception, intelligence, some kinds of anxiety and sociometric status of teenagers.