The Control of Astronaut's Personal Psychological State at Transition to Conditions of Long Duration Space Flight
- Paper number
IAC-05-A1.P.14
- Author
Mrs. Olena Padashulya, International Academy of Management by Personnel, Ukraine
- Coauthor
Prof. Vladimir Prisniakov, Institute of Geotechnical Mechanics, National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine
- Coauthor
Prof. Ludmila Prisniakova, Dnipropetrovsk Humanitarian University, Ukraine
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The transition from usual living conditions to those modified as a result of the participation in space flight, or, on the contrary, the transition from long-term flight to the life on another planet, is the intermediary state when the personality goes through drastic changes both on biological and psychological levels. The changes take place in the respect towards not only the world, social surroundings, but to the \"Self\" as well. I. Prigozhin writes that this process is characterized by the stage of ultrafast increase of system’s condition while the indeterminacy of its further development direction makes the process difficult to control. The interest for the ways of astronaut’s person transformation process control under conditions of long duration space flight or extraterrestrial activity has formed the main task of the present report, namely, the investigation of person’s psychological state changes in the course of living conditions modification. System approach to the investigation has allowed to focus upon personality\'s structural component – \"Self Concept\" that includes interactive and complementary components: Self Image, Self Esteem, Self Determination, Self Actualization. It is shown that the process of person\'s psychological parameters modification may go in two directions: cognitive (ascending) and emotional (descending). The hypothesis has been made that during the modification of living conditions the Self Images reflect the trends of person\'s psychological state development. This hypothesis has been empirically supported by investigations of persons aged between 20…60, of different vocational and status position, that were protractedly separated under conditions of transformational process of relations within the system of higher order. Long group isolation makes the process special as far as group insularity supposes the ability of each participant to change the usual way of task performance, thus raising or reducing his vocational and status level. The products of manifested internal transformation - the level of adaptation, personal and situational uneasiness, anxiety, subdepression, health, activity, mood and attitude to own Self Image – have been the parameters of psychological state of Self Concept system. Mathematical treatment of findings has revealed the groups of dependences of psychological state parameters modification in the process of relations\' transformation in locked-in society taking into account the influence of gravitational fields differing from those of the Earth. The first group of parameters (the adaptation level, attitude to social surrounding and to own Self Image) demonstrates the direct relation between the state of Self Concept System and descending change of vocational and status level: the ratio goes down from 1,15 to 1,02, however, the most significant changes have been fixed at the mean level already (0,80); The second group of parameters (the level of personal and situational uneasiness, subdepression, anxiety) shows the inverse relation: the ratio goes up from 0,86 to 1,05 and again the changes take place at the mean level while further status decline has no influence on the ratio; In the third group (level of activity, mood and health) the ratio goes down from 1,09 to 0,95 and at the mean level the changes of dominant in the ratio is fixed (1,1). Specific character of the manifestations is the evidence of emotional trend in Self Concept development and notifies about the instability of psychological state of the people. This fact can constitute a source of inward intension in isolated group as far as the emotionality is connected with the lowest psychic levels – the closest to the instincts. The resume of the results of conducted investigation is that the process of changes in the ideas of himself of a person in transition period can be controlled with the help of specially developed methods that correct the direction of psychological state development.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-A1.P.14.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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