Youth Terminal Values In Modern Society's Communicative Field

Abstract

The paper studies the role of an individual value system in interrelation with the mechanisms of psychic self-regulation of behavior in the context of the communicative environment expansion within the modern information society. The relevance of the analysis of internal value behavioral regulators is connected with the declaration of freedom of thought and action as a priority guideline for self-assertion of youth in the modern society. However, the implementation of thought and action freedom in social life causes an internal psychoemotional tension, as a young person evidently or non-evidently is forced to correlate her objectives with the boundaries and the traditions of one or another field of activity. The purpose of this study is to compare youth terminal values and to assess their role in a life position shaping during social adaptation to professional, educational, family fields of activity. The methodology of the study is based on the activity theory of personality. The empirical research used the method of standardized self-reports and psychological testings. The results of the comparative research between different age groups of young people showed that value orientations, which determine the objectives, play a key role in constructing life strategies. Values priorities in different age groups of young people revealed the importance of terminal values for planning adaptive behaviour in difference social and communicative environments.

Keywords: Personalitylifeworldgoal setterminal valuesself-regulationsocial and communicative fields

Introduction

The human lifeworld in the digital age is changing dynamically and radically. Global, regional and local levels of transformation in economics, politics, and social relations affect different sides of interaction between subjects, directly or indirectly connected with conscious and subconscious systems of social orientation and behavior regulation. Social influence acquires an implicit character and is exercised through internal mental mechanisms that determine the specificity of behavior and activity of people in different social situations and at different levels of social reality.

Today's young generation has many priorities to address in various areas of life. The country's development, as well as preservation and transfer of basic values to the next generation depend on these decisions. In forming a personality, value orientations belong to the system of motivation and self-regulation of behavior. It is values that underlie a person's comprehension and evaluation of social objects and situations and, consequently, serve as the basis for cognition and construction of a holistic image of the social world. The system of values, which is formed at the subconscious level of everyone's mentality, has a significant impact on direction and content of any form of social activity, on formation of a person's civic position, on a person's actions and behavior in everyday and critical situations, on general perception of the world and attitude towards it.

Value systems are the basis for the life strategies construction. In psychology, a value system is regarded as one of the central personal entities that form and express a person's conscious attitude to social reality and in this capacity defines a broad motivation for their behavior, having a significant impact on all aspects of their activities. These are ideal, symbolically mediated entities that go beyond the limits of a person's consciousness; they are implemented into practical life activities as guidelines and priorities within the social adaptation.

Traditionally, there has been a distinction between systems of terminal values and instrumental values. The established belief in the priority of a certain final goal (meaning) of an individual existence from personal or public point of view is connected with the system of terminal values that motivate the direction of life orientations at the level of subconscious mental mechanisms. The established belief about the preferred way of thinking and acting is connected with instrumental values (Rokeach, 1973). To understand how the modern youth's value orientations are formed and to identify value priorities in different age groups is an urgent task of social adaptation and communication. We correlate the level of personal terminal values expression with the communicative potential that provides natural self-regulation of behavior in the lifeworld's social sphere.

Problem Statement

The communicative problem of preservation, transmission and assertion of basic values correlates with ethical and psychological problems of life-affirming mindset formation among young generation, based on corresponding conceptual understanding of value priorities.

The value system offered to young people by their culture often leads to social tension and frustration manifested in various forms of marginal behaviour. Various forms of autonomy and isolationism in the social and spiritual spheres and in various youth subcultures are emerging in society.

The question of forming a system of values among youth has been raised in sociology (Ritzer, 2002), psychology (Rokeach, 1973; Sheldon & Gunz, 2009), philosophy (Ilyin, 2005; Matveev, 2017). At present, this issue is being discussed by scientists in various fields of knowledge: from management and business ethics to religious studies and happiness studies (Lee, 2019; Wruk, Oberg, & Klutt, 2019; Bergmann & Todd, 2019; Bucher, Neubauer, Voss, & Oetzbach, 2019; Stavrova & Haarmann, 2019). The "scanning" of value systems using proven psychological techniques continues to play an important role in these studies (Kern, Waters, Adler, & White, 2015; Liu, Tov, Kosinski, Stillwell, & Qiu, 2015; Neubauer & Voss, 2018; Hodges & Gore, 2019).

Research Questions

Our study aims to identify the content of a youth value system. This attitude implies the characterization of terminal values and their expression in different age groups and in the application to different communicative spheres of the lifeworld.

The research questions related to the definition of the terminal values communicative potential imply the identification of personal positions with regard to the target values priority and clarification of the terminal values representation in specific social areas, such as: professional field, educational processes, family life. From this perspective, we consider terminal values to be the target values represented by the following personal positions:

own prestige;

high financial standing;

creativity;

active social contacts;

self-development;

achievements;

moral satisfaction;

personal identity preservation.

Purpose of the Study

Purpose of the study is to assess the priorities of terminal values in different age groups of young people, to identify the importance of terminal values in social adaptation by comparing value priorities and targets for entering different fields of activity (professional, educational, family, public).

Research Methods

Theoretical basis of the study is the activity theory of personality. Comparative and systematic methods of analysis are used in this work. Empirical research is based on the method of standardized self-reports and psychological testing.

To study the special aspects of the hierarchy within a personal values system the questionnaire "Terminal values (TQ)" (Senin, 1991) was used. It allows to estimate the expression of eight terminal values (life goals): own prestige, high financial standing, creativity, active social contacts, self-development, achievements, moral satisfaction, personal identity preservation, as well as their representation in different spheres of life (professional activity, training and education, family life, social life, hobbies). The test results are expressed in the form of an individual profile, separately for terminal value scales and life spheres.

The selected methods are aimed at identifying priority targets among youth and correlating them with adaptation to the basic social fields of human activity.

An empirical study to clarify the special aspects of the terminal values hierarchy involved 64 respondents aged 15-17 years.

Findings

The research of terminal values expression by means of psychological testing allowed to reveal a vivid picture for average indicators of the survey participants' value priorities concerning specific communicative area of social adaptation (Figure 01 ).

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Young people named family life as the most important social and communication sphere (42%). It is in this sphere (in comparison with other ones) that they consider to be the most important such values as: self-development - knowledge of one's own individual features; achievements - setting and solving certain life tasks as the main life factors; moral satisfaction - being guided by moral principles, prevalence of spiritual needs over material ones; own prestige - gaining recognition in society by following certain social requirements.

The professional sphere was named the main one by 20% of young people. Along with family life, this sphere is most often associated with such values as: achievements, moral satisfaction, active social contacts - the establishment of favorable relations in various areas of social interaction, the expansion of one's interpersonal connections, the implementation of one's social role. The hobbies sphere is important for 20% of respondents. The value of creativity - implementation of one's creative abilities, desire to change the surrounding reality - and the active social contacts value are associated with it first of all.

The education sphere was identified as important by 17% of young people. It is associated with such values as high financial standing, i.e. the factors of material well-being are seen as the main meaning of existence in this sphere, and achievements. The public life sphere is significant for 17% of respondents. Such values as moral satisfaction, personal identity preservation - i.e., predominance of one's own opinions, views, convictions over the common ones, protection of one's uniqueness and independence, - and active social contacts are highlighted first of all in this sphere.

Communicative potential of respondents' terminal values in the family life sphere

Youth views on the value structure in the family life system are presented in Figure 02 .

33% of people in the survey consider self-development and the seek to change one's character for the better to be the most important value in the family sphere.

30% of young people believe that moral satisfaction is very important. It is expressed in the desire for deep understanding with all family members, spiritual closeness to them. What young people value most is true love, which they consider to be the main condition for family well-being.

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All of these values are reinforced with age, as evidenced by the significant differences in age groups among young people (Table 01 ).

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In addition, older boys see such values as creativity and personal identity preservation as more important. Such orientation implies an urge to build their family life according to their own views, desires and beliefs. They hope they'd be able to make their family life more diverse and interesting than their parents have.

Table 02 shows a comparative analysis of boys' and girls' value priorities in family life. Young men see active social contacts as a more important value in the family sphere (Table 2 ). For them, the family structure, position and role of each family member is more important than for girls. Girls, in turn, attach more importance to achievements. For them, the status of the family in society and the achievements of family members (spouse, children) constitute a special value and an important part of family life.

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Communicative potential of the respondents' terminal values for adaptation to professional activity

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Young people consider achievements to be the most important in the field of professional activity (28% of respondents have a high indicator on this scale and only 5% - low). This means that professional performance is more important to them than process. Following this target, young people tend to plan their education carefully and set specific goals at each stage in order to achieve them. A large number of achievements provide these young people with a basis for high self-esteem. (Figure 03 ). Most respondents consider it important to preserve personal identity (33% have a high score on this scale, 47% - average) and to aim for moral satisfaction (32% have a high score on this scale, 47% - average). Profession for young people is a way to stand out, to show their abilities and individuality. At the same time, in their future profession they want to keep their independence from other people and are not ready to be simple performers, trying to be influenced by mass trends as little as possible. For them, profession should be interesting, meaningful and satisfying.

Communicative potential of the respondents' terminal values for hobbies

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20% of respondents consider values in this sphere very important for themselves. Creativity is chosen by 23% of young people. They want to get involved in an activity that provides ample opportunity for creativity and diversity into the sphere of their hobbies. 22% consider their own prestige important. Young people choose activities that can be highly valued by others. They try to spend their free time doing something meaningful from the point of view of those whose opinion is credible to them. Active social contacts are important for 22% of young people, for those who are trying to embody their social focus through their hobby (Figure 04 ).

Communicative potential of the respondents' terminal values for educational sphere

The values of young people are more evenly distributed in educational sphere (Figure 5 ). 87% consider the goal of high financial standing to be an important value, but do not consider it to be the most important. This means that they are ready to receive an education that guarantees them high wages and other types of material benefits, but think that other values are more important for education.

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Achievements were esteemed in a similar way (10% of the surveyed put this value among the most important, while for 18% it is not important at all). The majority (72%) are willing to achieve specific learning outcomes, but within the limits set by government requirements.

The biggest diversity of youth opinions is seen the active social contacts sphere. 28% of respondents believe that it is necessary to get education that corresponds to a certain social group in order to get into close social contact with people of quite high intellectual level, while 23% do not believe that a high level of education is necessary for useful contacts. The distribution of value is similar to that of preserving personal identity . 25% of respondents see the need to learn how to develop their abilities and implement the possibilities of one's personality based on their life principles. 28% of respondents believe that learning helps to equalise the personalities of different people.

Conclusion

With the expansion of the modern society's information and communication environment, an individual's internal motivation and their life success are essentially determined by the priority of terminal values. The study showed that in different age groups of young people, the communicative potential of goal sets for planning adaptive behaviour in different fields of activity was revealed.

Young people identified family life as the most important social and communicative sphere. Comparative analysis has shown that terminal values - self-development, achievements, moral satisfaction and own prestige - are the most important in this sphere; they tend to gain foothold as young people grow older. Young men see active social contacts as a more important value in the family sphere, while girls attach more importance to achievements .

In the professional sphere, such values as achievements , moral satisfaction and active social contacts are highlighted. Comparison of the results of young men from different age groups shows that for those who are going to get higher education, the importance of such values in the professional sphere as personal identity preservation , achievements , moral satisfaction and creativity increases.

Creativity and active social contacts have been identified as priorities in the field of hobbies. All the values emphasized by respondents in the sphere of hobbies - creativity, own prestige, active social contacts, - acquire higher importance with age.

Such values as high financial standing and achievements are associated with the sphere of education. 87%of people surveyed consider the goal of high financial standing to be an important value, but not the most important one. Achievements were rated roughly the same. Comparison of the results of young men aged 15-16 and 17 shows that those who are going to get higher education value the most such opportunities as: get a prestigious profession as a result of learning, assert themselves, gain recognition. The importance of the self-development value increases; in addition, young men choose a certain circle of people with whom they are going to communicate, as evidenced by the greater importance they attach to active social contacts . Girls, on the other hand, see the revealing of their own identity as an important part of learning.

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