What is the mental state? Is it what the watcher is doing or is it the object of the watcher’s action? Or is it the combination of what the watcher is doing and the object of its action?
A mental state is a real-time condition of the mind. It is created primarily through the interaction of the material and the immaterial (see Indirect interaction theory per Patterson).
The following are some types of mental states:
Within the performance of an action are tiny mental states at every unit of time. This implies that pursuing a particular end state, which itself includes a mental state, involves a collection of mental states. When pursuing a goal, the most ideal scenario is to pursue a desirable end state through a desirable means. For example, I do yoga to feel good. The end state of doing yoga is feeling good but doing yoga itself already feels good. On the other hand, there are projects that will feel good in the end but will require feel bad states on the way towards the end.
TO DO
- Process highlights from the journal article on the differences of psychological concepts in Western and Eastern philosophy (Conceptions of the Self in Western and Eastern Psychology)