Research of autopersonal component of psychosocial readiness for future psychologists professional activity

Abstract

Interest in research of psychosocial readiness for professional activity of future psychologists is natural in the conditions of those transformations which happen in the Kazakhstan education system today. In research we consider psychosocial readiness for professional activity of future psychologists - as the trinity of a psychophysiological state, system of professionally important personal qualities and value-semantic readiness. We analyzed 4 components of psychological readiness for professional activity (auto personal, cognitive - operational, emotionally - strong-willed, interactive). The purpose of a research it's studying of an autopersonal component to which we referred such professionally important personal qualities. The method "The psychosocial potential of readiness for professional activity of the expert psychologist" was used. Experimental work was carried out on the basis of psychological office of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, faculty of psychology of the East Kazakhstan state university of S. Amanzholov, faculty of psychology of Turan university.As showed research, such professional and important qualities as autonomy, integration of the valuable and motivational sphere, adequacy of a self-assessment were the most developed at students. The least developed - an internality and a humanistic orientation.The differentiated analysis showed the highest level of autonomy for students of 3 courses of a correspondence department the internality is most developed at students 2 courses of a

Keywords: Readiness, Professional activity, Autopersonal component

1. Introduction

The "Kazakhstan’s strategy of joining the world’s 50 most competitive countries"is one of the

main directions of further development indicated the process of training highly qualified personnel.

Today our society needs professionals who are capable to realize their potential creatively, to think flexibly and to understand the trends of development of the state in general. They have to have a systemic vision of tasks in their professional sphere, an ability to put the goals and to achieve high results of labor.

In this regard, much attention should be given to the process of training future professionals such as psychologists.

Modern psychologists must not be only competent in their professional sphere and but also have expertise, be able to make decisions and take responsibility for them, respond quickly to changes in technology and science, corresponding to the requirements of new technologies that are now routinely implemented into all spheres of human activity. Moreover, they need to have social and psychological competence, axiological aspiration, ideals, values, humane motives, analytical thinking, high level of cultural awareness, knowledge of some basics of interpersonal communication, and necessary skills for self-organization and self-regulation.

Thus, raised interests to the studies of psychosocial readiness for professional work among the future psychologists are quite logical in terms of the changes that are taking place today in Kazakhstan education system. Therefore considering this phenomenon as a special subject of study it is seems to be actual issue.

Conducted theoretical and methodological analysis of the problem of psychological readiness to work in professional sphere led to the conclusion that today the psychological readiness to work in professional sphere is seen as holistic, integrative, mental education, which is an internalized process of professional activity in the minds.

A number of studies (Rubinstein, 2010; Ukhtomsky et al., 1951) consider readiness as mental (psychophysiological) condition; in some other concepts (Derkach, 2010; Druginyn 2010) and others) work readiness is defined as a psychological property of the person or set of specific properties; and thirdly, (Uznadze, 2011; Asmolov, 2013) it is denoted as a task set, considered as a state, but at the same time is a reflection of the essential qualities of the subject's activities. There is also another point of view, in which an attempt to connect these points of view is made. This is called an integrative approach (Sanzhaeva, 2007; Platonov, 2012).

Consequently, psychological readiness for activity manifests itself as a trinity of psycho-physiological state (actualized under certain conditions), system of professionally important personal qualities and attitudes (emotionally colored position that reflects the degree of compliance (agreement) of a conscious person and his needs (biological, social, spiritual) , abilities (physical and psychological) and specifics of the current situation of professional activities or professional development. That is, despite the fact that mental readiness is a holistic notion, it can be divided into three substructures: psycho-physiological (as a state of readiness), psychosocial (readiness as a system of personal qualities) and value-sense (as the ratio of readiness).

As for the definition of future psychologist's readiness to work in the professional sphere, according to the opinion of many researchers, it occurs at the end of the period of training as a result of the gradual formation of its successive manifestations in the form of readiness to the

conscious choice of profession and willingness to do professional work on mastering it in the course of professional self-determination on the pre-university stage, and readiness to perform professional activities in the course of professional education at the undergraduate stage of professionalization.

Consequently, the most important areas of special training of psychologists are: humanistic orientation of the training process; reflexive activation of the personal and professional selfdetermination of future specialist; fulfillment of students' personal potential; development of their ability to work in adequate substantive and social situations in the future.

This provided an opportunity to emphasize the following components in the structure of psychosocial readiness of future psychologists to work in the professional sphere - personal component, cognitive - operational component, emotional - volitional component and interactive component.

2.Problem Statement

Interest in research of psychosocial readiness for professional activity of future psychologists is natural in the conditions of those transformations which happen in the Kazakhstan education system today.

3.Research Questions

In research we consider psychosocial readiness for professional activity of future psychologists - as the trinity of a psychophysiological state, system of professionally important personal qualities and value-semantic readiness.

Personal component of psychosocial readiness to do professional activities in the future by psychologists is revealed through these professionally important personal qualities necessary for them in the future careers. They are autonomy (independence), internality (internal locus of control), self-esteem, integrity values and motivations of (the absence of pronounced internal conflicts), humanistic orientation of the personality that distinguishes the personality from his individualistic side by uniqueness and diversity.

Autonomy indicates the person's ability to separate his own purpose from purposes of other significant people, define his own place clearly, focus on success, ability to relate his deeds with requirements, predict the results of his activities; stability of interests, initiative in the opportunities and obtaining the necessary information; realistic character of the taken decisions, the ability to compromise between wishes and possibilities and self-improvement. Moreover, autonomy is an indicator of students' skills to separate their goals from those of other students, striving to realize their inner potential, self-confidence, focus on success, ability to relate their acts with requirements and to predict the results of their activities; stability of interests.

A man with a high level of internality (subjective control) tends to take responsibilities for any important decision in his life, because he believes that these events are the results of his own actions that he can control, and, therefore, he feels responsible for everything taking place in his life as a whole; he is characterized by social and cognitive activity, consistency in behavior; he makes productive decisions in cases which involve risk; and he is willing to postpone some passing events in order to reach long term results; and is convinced that the most proper way to higher productivity is diligent work which contributes to obtaining rewards.

At a high level of adequateness the person assesses well abilities, treats himself quite critically, tends to estimate his failures and success, tries to set achievable goals; and while assessing his deeds he uses the standards not only suitable for himself, but seeks to anticipate the reaction of others.

The high level of integration of value- motivational spheres is the evidence of the lack of internal conflicts related to unattainability of significant goals or inability to meet the basic necessities of life; such a person puts realistic goals and clearly understands how to reach them, planning activities steadily in accordance with his capabilities, striving for self-development and self-improvement on his way to achieving objectives; low integration (disintegration) of values and motivation spheres is the evidence of the fact that person is not always aware of the involvement of the individual into his own internal conflicts on inner dissatisfaction, blockade of basic necessities of life, which can manifest frustration or "internal vacuum" and may be a consequence of inadequate self-esteem or inability to relate his desires with abilities.

Humanistic orientation of the personality indicates a high level of humanism, in which objectives, interests and needs of other people get highly prioritized; while communicating such person is more tolerant, authentic, empathic; low level of this quality is an evidence of the fact that goals, interests and needs of the individual are basically selfish in their nature and occupy a central place in the hierarchy of values; communication with others has manipulative or consumptive character shown by the absence of wide, genuine interest in others; such a person is centered on his personal experiences and is not able to go beyond his borders.

Future psychologists with high internality (subjective control) tend to take responsibilities for any significant decisions in their lives, because they believe that these events are the results of their own actions, they can lead them, and therefore feel responsible for their life as a whole; they are characterized by social and cognitive activity, consistency in behavior; they make productive decisions.

At a high level of self-estimation students adequately assess their capabilities and skills, they are critical to themselves, tend to evaluate their failure and success realistically, striving to set achievable goals; and while assessing their deeds they use the standards not only suitable for themselves, but seek to anticipate the reaction of others.

The high level of psychologist' development of the autopersonal component of psychosocial readiness is shown by the ability to carry out future professional activities which can be revealed by high level of integration of value-motivational sphere and depicts the lack of the inner conflicts related to non-achievable significant goals or inability to meet the basic needs of life.

Low integration (disintegration) of value-motivational sphere not always indicates awareness of involvement into the internal conflicts or the inner dissatisfaction, blockade of basic necessities of life, which can manifest frustration or "internal vacuum" and can be a consequence of inadequate self-esteem, or the inability to relate their desires with abilities.

Humanistic orientation of personality, which determines personal component of psychosocial readiness for professional work of the student from the department of psychology, is a clear indication of the high level of humanism in which objectives, interests and needs of others are paramount.

4.Purpose of the Study

We analyzed 4 components of psychological readiness for professional activity(auto personal, cognitive - operational, emotionally - strong-willed, interactive). The purpose of a research it's studying of an autopersonal component to which we referred such professionally important personal qualities. The aim of our study is to study personal component which has an important role in the structure of psychosocial readiness of the future psychologists to work in professional sphere.

5.Research Methods

The method "The psychosocial potential of readiness for professional activity of the expert psychologist" was used. Experimental work was carried out on the basis of psychological office of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, faculty of psychology of the East Kazakhstan state university of S. Amanzholov, faculty of psychology of Turan university.

The experimental work was carried out on the basis of the Psychological Department of the Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi, Faculty of Psychology of the East Kazakhstan State University named after S.Amanzholov, Faculty of Psychology of the University "Turan".

For the pilot study the method of "Psychosocial potential readiness to work in professional sphere by psychologist-practician", which is a questionnaire consisting of 200 claims was used. During 2011-2013 the technique was tested on the basis of the mentioned above universities. In the pilot study students of psychological faculties of full and part time tuition were involved. The total number of participants - 2685 people. The reliability of the techniques was checked by repeated testing (re-test reliability) with an interval of 3-4 months.

The internal consistency (reliability) was determined by using methods of correlation analysis (using the formula of Pearson) between the indicators within the methodology, as well as each of them in the overall figures.

Norms have been identified due to the analysis of experimental data by setting the standard deviation of the average. The average was found by determining the arithmetic average between mode and arithmetic index.

6.Findings

As showed the research, such professional and important qualities as autonomy, integration of the valuable and motivational sphere, adequacy of a self-assessment were the most developed at students. The least developed - an internality and a humanistic orientation.

The survey showed, the results of which are presented in Table 1, the most developed qualities of the psychology students were such professionally important qualities as autonomy, integration of value-motivational sphere, adequacy of self-esteem. The least developed were internality and humanistic orientation.

Differential analysis showed that autonomy is more developed among the 3rd course students of the part-time tuition, and less developed among the 4th year students of the part-time tuition; internality is mostly developed among the 2nd course students of the part-time tuition, and

the least developed among the students of 4th course of the full-time tuition; self-esteem is most developed among the students of 3 course of the full-time tuition, and the least developed - among the 2nd year students of full-time tuition.

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Integration of the value-motivational spheres is mostly developed among the 3rd year students of the part-time tuition, and the least developed among 2nd year students of full-time tuition; humanistic orientation of personality is mostly developed among the 2nd year students of the part-time tuition, and the least developed among the 3rd year students of the part-time tuition.

Overall, 2nd year students have relatively large number of low self-esteem indicators (6.4%) and high humanistic orientation (10.6%); 3rd year students - have high indicators of autonomy (52.8%), internality (16.8%) and self-esteem (36.5%) and, at the same time low levels on a scale of internality (21.3%); 4th year students show high indicators of "Integratedness of value- motivational spheres" (31.8%).

The survey showed that full-time students of "psychology" department differ by higher number on the performance of such scales as " integration of value-motivational sphere" (29.7%) and low on the scale of "internality" (15.3%); while part-time students, on the contrary, are characterized by highest rates of internality (20.1%) and self-esteem (25.3%).

The comparison of the percentage representation of low and high levels of psychosocial readiness of autopersonal component by φ-Fisher test made it possible to establish that among the students of 2nd year the levels of autonomy (φ3 / 4 = 2.46 at r≤0,001; φ3 / 5 = 6.56 at r≤0,001); self-esteem (φ3 / 4 = 9.69 at r≤0,001; φ3 / 5 = 4.26 at r≤0,001) are relatively low, and high indicator of humanistic orientation (φ3 / 4 = 3.54 at r≤0,001; φ3 / 5 = 4.48 at r≤0,001); while on the 4th course there are more lower indicators such as internality (φ3 / 4 = 8.1 at r≤0,001; φ4 / 5 = 3.01 at r≤0,001) and humanistic orientation (φ3 / 4 = 6.37 at r≤0,001; φ4 / 5 = 9.86 at r≤0,001), and high indicator of autonomy (φ3 / 4 = 7.47 at r≤0,001; φ4 / 5 = 9.48 at r≤0,001), and self-esteem (φ3

/ 4 = 8.86 when r≤0,001; φ4 / 5 = 4.40 at r≤0,001); and the 5th year students have high level of performance integration of value-motivational sphere (φ3 / 5 = 2.98 at r≤0,001).

Among full-time students more low levels of autonomy (φd / z = 2.98 at r≤0,001); internality (φd / z = 3.53 at r≤0,001) and self-esteem (φd / z = 3.02 at r≤0,001) and the high integration of the values and motivations of (φd / z = 2.53 at r≤0,001 )were identified. A group of students of the part-time tuition has a relatively high rate of internality (φd / h = 8.5 at r≤0,001) and self-esteem (φd / h = 2.5 at r≤0,01).

The analysis showed that in order to improve the quality of vocational training 2nd year students should pay attention to the development of self-esteem and increased integration of valuemotivational sphere; 3rd year students - to the development of humanistic orientation; and 4th year students to such professionally important personal qualities as autonomy and internality.

Thus, the analysis of the results of the study showed that the majority of future psychologists have average autopersonal component of psychosocial readiness. The most developed professional qualities of the respondents were such qualities as autonomy, integration of value-motivational sphere, self-esteem, desire to get knowledge and self-development, learning ability, focus, perseverance, social intelligence and communication skills. However, specially organized purposeful work requires the development of such properties as internality, humanistic orientation.

7.Conclusions

The differentiated analysis showed the highest level of autonomy for students of 3 courses of a

correspondence department the internality is most developed at students 2 courses of a correspondence department and least developed – students of 4 courses of a full-time department students of 2 and 3 courses showed different level of self-assessment adequacy.

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