The article considers a number of features of the mentality that make up its essence. The behavior and life activity of each individual, social groups, and society as a whole are determined by economic and political motivation and expediency, but are not limited to them, but are built on a certain spiritual and psychological basis, which includes, among other things, all previous experience, and this or that perception of reality, and value judgments, etc. This circumstance encourages philosophers to turn to such a phenomenon as mentality when evaluating certain social phenomena and processes, since mentality, forming the core of the individual and group and reflecting the main contradictions of society, determines the specific cultural level, nature and direction, and program of individual and collective actions.