The Influence of Mental Structures on the Efficiency of Self-Regulation of Mental States in Students' Learning Activities

Abstract

The article presents a study of the psychological mechanisms of mental states regulation. Considered the main theoretical approaches, among which the emphasis is on the systemfunctional paradigm of self-regulation of psychological states as a class of mental phenomena. Within the framework of this approach, a hierarchical system of regulation of mental states is implemented, the leading level of which is mental structures. The aim of the research is to study the peculiarities of the mental structures (semantic, reflection, the self-system) influence on the regulation of mental states in everyday (lectures, seminars) and stressful situations of activity (exams). The study involved second-year students of the Institute of Psychology and Education of the Kazan Federal University. At the first stage of the study, we identified the features of the mental structures of the respondents: the characteristics of the components of the self-system, the severity and direction of reflection, as well as the level of meaning-life orientations and its components. At the second stage, students were asked to describe their own mental states and evaluate the effectiveness of their self-regulation during lectures, seminars and exams. Various methods to study semantic structures, reflection, the self-system, and self-regulation were used. It was established that the influence of individual mental structures and their combinations on the self-regulation of students' mental states was differentiated depending on the forms and intensity of educational activity. It was shown that the relations between structures were characterized by linear and non-linear dependencies in the process of self-regulation of states. It was also shown that the greatest efficiency of mental states selfregulation in everyday forms of education was achieved in the case of the interaction of a high level of life meaningfulness, reflection of past experience and self-worth of students. In a stressful exam situation, the most effective regulation of states was facilitated by a combination of a high level of mental states reflection and meaningful life orientations with low internal conflict of students.