Magic actions in traditional psychological culture of the Mordovian people

Introduction. The article gives the characteristic of the psychological culture of an ethnic group, which is considered as a part of a general culture, containing the psychological experience of the people such as: psychological knowledge, practical skills and skills of communication, relationships with people. In accordance with this, it distinguishes three structural components of psychological culture: cognitive, regulative-practical and value-semantic. Magical actions are an integral part of the psychological culture of any ethnos, including Mordovian one, but they remain poorly studied in psychology. The development of this problem has signifcant theoretical and practical meaning. The purpose of the work is to conduct a psychological analysis of magical actions on the example of the ritual culture of the Mordovian people. Materials and Methods. To realize this goal, the method of psychological analysis of magical actions was used. The object of analysis is the magical rites and actions presented in the texts by G.A. Kornishina and N.F. Mokshin. Results and Discussion. It singled out the structural components of magical actions such as: subject, object, process. It gives the psychological characteristics of situations that create the need for people in magical services. The regulation of people's state of mind is stated as a main function of magical actions. It considers the problem of the origin of magical actions and determines their place in the structure of psychological culture. Conclusion. The need for magical actions arises in situations of impossibility. In the structure of any magic procedure, one can distinguish three components: the subject, the object and the process. Magic is an integral element of the life of traditional society, included in all spheres of life. Magic is characterized by some ethnic characteristics, but they are insignifcant and relate mainly to technical issues. The research of magic is important for psychotherapeutic practice.