Students' Self-esteem and Self-attitude as Factors Influencing the Experience of Cognitive States during an Exam

The study is devoted to self-regulation of various individual psychological parameters in the context of secondary and higher education. The role of the “self” system in the process of formation and stabilization of personal psychological comfort remains undeniable. One of the psychological and pedagogical problems in assessing students' knowledge within the framework of a current educational process and, especially during an examination period, is high stress due to information and psychological overload. In particular, exam stress affects cognitive performance of students, and this, in turn, can significantly influence the outcome during examinations. This article describes a study of the impact of self-esteem of psychological characteristics (directly related to perception, understanding, memorizing of new information in the context of the educational process) and factors of self-attitude (as structures of human Self-system) on students' memories of cognitive and emotional states experienced during the examination process. During the study, testing and questioning methods were used. The results of the study indicate the existence of certain general psychological mechanisms of the impact of the Self-system structures on the regulation of cognitive and emotional states of students in a situation of knowledge assessment. The results can be useful in developing more effective ways to test the quality of knowledge among high school and university students, without the threat of experiencing stress that harms both psychological and physical health. The results of the study can be used as an addition to already existing theoretical data in the field of self-regulation of cognitive and emotional states. They can also serve as the basis for the development of practical recommendations for students to more successfully pass the examination tests, taking into account individual psychological characteristics.