No. Mindest is not viññāna.
Viññāna is an expectation generated based on thinking about something. If the expectation is bad, then it is a “bad viññāna” and it generates kammic energy (a kamma seed) that can bring vipaka in the future.
– For example, if someone comes and hits you, you may form a viññāna to “get back at him”. You may even hit back right there. Either way, you generated a “bad viññāna” and that can bring “bad vipaka” in the future.
Mindset is really what is called bhavanga, which means “part of existence” or “state of mind”: “bhava” + “anga”, where “anga” means a “part”.
– Bhavanga usually means a “state of mind” for the whole “human bhava” for a human.
– But that can be temporarily changed for a time period if a significant event can change the “state of mind”. For example, in the above example, when someone comes and hits you, you get into an “angry state of mind”. Even after that person leaves, you may be in that “angry state” for a while. So, if another person comes and says something to aggravate you, you may generate another “bad viññāna” and hit him too.
So, viññāna and bhavanga (state of mind) are not the same, but related.
– See, “Viññāna – Consciousness Together With Future Expectations” and “State of Mind in the Absence of Citta Vithi – Bhavanga“, and posts referred therein.