The role of the self-system in the structure of mental states regulation during the educational activities

The key factor of successful educational activities, the relevance of behavior and mental states of students during the learning process is the conscious self-regulation and its mental mechanisms. The article presents the results of the research of the mental states regulation. According to A. O. Prokhorov model, the regulation process is a structure of relationships between mental states, characteristics of consciousness (representations, reflection, experiences, semantic structures) and external factors (situations, cultural space, lifestyle, social environment). The nodal regulating function in organizing the inclusion of the structures of consciousness in the self-regulation of states is performed by the self-system. During the study, in which first-year students took part, their individual traits were diagnosed that characterize the self-system (self-attitude, self-esteem), reflexive processes, value-semantic sphere, as well as the peculiarities of the respondents' regulatory activity (self-control, self-guidance, self-regulation methods, coping strategies). At the next stage, students described their current mental state, and assessed the effectiveness of own selfregulation in various situations of educational activity (lecture, seminar, exam). Using the factor analysis of the data the structure of the relationship between the characteristics of consciousness (components of the self-system, semantic structures, reflection) in the process of mental states regulation was revealed. The main components of the self-system are identified: cognitive (the sum of individual’s ideas about himself), emotional-value (self-attitude), behavioral (regulatory). The key role of the self-system in the regulatory process is revealed.