The role of situational context in shaping students’ mental states in academic settings

Introduction. Mental states are shaped by situational determinants, conceptualized within a triangle model combining external environmental factors, mental state, and internal personal factors. The role of the situation itself within the structure of mental phenomena remains underexplored. This study examines the impact of situational factors on students’ mental states across different educational activities. The aim of this study is to identify the importance of situational factors in the development and manifestation of mental state. Materials and methods. This study was conducted across different academic settings (lectures, seminars, and exams). The sample comprised 110 students (94 female, 16 male; mean age 20 years) from Kazan Federal University. In order to assess the influence of internal and external factors on a person's mental state, “Factors of human mental states” (A.O. Prokhorov, A.V. Makarcheva); the method of “Semantic differential” was used for subjective attitude to the situation. (Ch. Osgood); intensity of manifestation of substructures of mental states –“Relief of the mental state of a person” (A.O. Prokhorov). The evaluation of the interrelationships of the indicators was obtained as a result of Pearson's correlation analysis. The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis performed in SPSS Statistics 22.0. Results. This study demonstrated that mental activity levels varied across different academic settings: low during lectures, moderate (optimal) during seminars, and high during exams. Key influencing factors also differed: in lectures, mental state changes were primarily driven by “Significant circumstances” and “Action and behavior”, whereas seminars and exams were influenced by “Intellectual characteristics” and “Action and behavior”. Conclusion. These findings are of practical importance for designing student training programs and regulation and self-regulation strategies with respect to context-dependent factors that shape mental states in academic settings.