Values and value orientations, their formation and role in personality development

The essence and general characteristics of values and value orientations of the individual

Definition 1
Value orientations of an individual are one of the fundamental structural formations of a mature mature personality, within which its various psychological characteristics converge.

A person’s value orientations are one of the most important characteristics of his personality. This is due to the fact that it is value orientations that determine a person’s attitude towards the people around him and the establishment of interaction with the surrounding reality. In addition, it is value orientations that have a regulating and determining effect on human behavior, actions and actions.

Note 1

Understanding and being aware of his value orientations, a person searches for his own place in the world, reflects on the purpose and meaning of his life.

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The structure of value orientations of a person’s personality includes three main integrative components:

Cognitive component.
Emotional component.
Behavioral component.

Each of these components takes an active part in the formation of value orientations of a person’s personality, and the totality of the components determines their characteristics, content, degree of manifestation and empirical verification.

Thus, the study of the characteristics of the psychological formation of value orientations is carried out within the framework of a systematic approach, which allows us to consider them as a result of a person’s mastery of the surrounding reality and successful socialization in society.

Definition 2

Values are the separate spiritual, moral and personal interests of a person.

Values are usually studied on the basis of two approaches, each of which considers them as a multi-level human psychological system:

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The normative approach to studying the values of a person’s personality is aimed at describing a model of a value system within the framework of a specific psychological theory.
The descriptive approach to studying the values of a person’s personality is aimed at identifying the hierarchy of an individual’s value system.

Thus, in psychology, values are considered as certain objects or phenomena, their properties and characteristics, which include a number of social ideals that are significant for a particular person and are his standard of what he should do.

Types of directionality

The orientation of a personality can have different aspects of its manifestation.

Psychologists distinguish three main types of orientation: towards people as members of a team, towards work and its results and towards one’s own personality.

The focus on interaction is manifested when the performer of the work is aimed at communication, improving relations with colleagues and superiors. Communication needs dictate certain behavior patterns for the employee: he, as a rule, yields to the opinion of the team and does not want to take leadership. He is primarily interested in the joint activity itself, even if this does not guarantee the success of the work and his personal participation in this process is minimal.
Business orientation manifests itself when an individual has a need to achieve a goal. A person with this orientation wants to take charge and strives to prove his point of view to the rest of the group; but he does this reasonably, with a sincere desire to achieve benefits for all participants in the process. Such an employee strives to achieve maximum productivity from himself and from the team, he is active in acquiring new knowledge and skills.
Personal orientation occurs among people who have a need to ensure their own well-being, achieve primacy and prestige. Such a person is primarily interested in himself, his feelings, views and experiences; he pays little attention to the needs of others. He may ignore employees, subordinates or superiors, and be negligent in doing the work itself if it is not related to achieving his own material or spiritual well-being.

Formation of values and value orientations of the individual

The process of forming values and value orientations of an individual is carried out gradually, including a number of components.

Components of the gradual formation of values and value orientations of an individual:

Worldview - this is a person’s system of views on the world around him, his place in society, his attitude towards himself, the people around him and reality, as well as a look at the basic beliefs, principles, ideals and life positions of people.
A person’s worldview is a general set of views on the surrounding reality, based on a system of beliefs, human existence and philosophy of life.
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Reflection - this is a critical reassessment of personal values, in accordance with the general idea of the meaning of life.
Reflection manifests itself in the form of a pause during a person’s activity or his relationships with other people, during which he psychologically evaluates the situation, his behavior and role.
Focus - this is a set of fairly stable motives that orient the activities of an individual in accordance with the situation occurring around a person.
The direction of personality largely depends on the interests, inclinations, ideals and beliefs of the person. That is why, by its nature, orientation is a multifaceted quality of personality.
Orientation is a process of personal growth and development, which involves the change, formation and integration of all components of personality.
Orientation is a process of gradual development of personality and its gradual growth in mental and moral proportions.

A mature personality plays a special role in the formation of values and value orientations. That is, the process of personality “maturation” has a direct impact on the formation of values and value orientations. That is why they are considered as the most important characteristic of a mature and formed personality.

General characteristics of behavior regulators

To feel like a full member of society, a person must evaluate his activities and behavior from the point of view of compliance with the requirements of the social environment. The conformity of a person’s life and actions with socially accepted norms and rules creates a sense of social significance. This value is a condition for normal social well-being, but on the contrary, a feeling of inconsistency of behavior with the requirements of society plunges a person into a state of discomfort and can also cause difficult feelings. Therefore, a person needs constant monitoring and regulation of his behavior. External control over the degree of social completeness is carried out by the institute of public opinion, legal authorities, etc. Internal control and regulation is carried out by the person himself from the standpoint of the norms and requirements of society, which he learns in the process of socialization.

The social regulator of behavior is a reference point perceived by the individual (rational or attractive), according to which he acts. Therefore, it is necessary to discover behavioral traits that serve as social regulators of behavior. Accordingly, such regulators are found only in typical behavioral traits.

Regulators of human behavior act as internal cognitive processes and external phenomena of the surrounding social environment. Behavioral regulators can be assigned the following concepts:

Customs. Customs in society are formed as a result of repeated repetition of the same actions by members of society, which contribute to the formation of stable social relations. On the basis of these stable social relationships, rules of behavior are formed that become habits and customs. They are generated by the way of life of a particular social class or social group.

Traditions. In terms of the way they regulate social relations, traditions are similar to customs, but, unlike the latter, they do not regulate social relations in detail, but only determine the general line of behavior. Customs and traditions have a number of common features: continuity, stability, protection from violations by public opinion.

Moral standards. Among the regulators of sociotypical behavior, moral norms play an important role, i.e. systems of ideas about right and wrong behavior, requiring the performance of some actions and prohibiting others [11].

Attitude. The concept of attitude first appeared in Herbert Spencer's book First Principles, published in 1862. This term was introduced into Russian psychology by the famous representative of the Georgian (Soviet) psychological school D.N. Uznadze. According to him, attitude is the willingness before any psychological or behavioral action to behave in accordance with the given situation. He argued that a person’s reactions to a situation (evaluative or behavioral) are determined not only by the situation itself, but also by an internal, unconscious tendency to a certain reaction. Thanks to the installation, a person does not need to re-determine each time what needs he is experiencing at the moment and choose the best ways to satisfy them. All this is already determined in the installation based on experience. In addition to one's own social experience, attitudes can be the product of spontaneous or purposeful communication, especially those types of mass communication that involve a high degree of empathy for current events.

Most attitudes are acquired from social experience and culture.

Stereotypes. The term “stereotype” was first introduced into the social sciences in the United States in the 1920s, when there was a need to study and explain the laws of the functioning of mass consciousness. G. Teifel summed up the main results of research in the field of social stereotypes:

People readily demonstrate a willingness to characterize broad human groups (or social categories) in undifferentiated, crude, and biased ways;
This categorization is characterized by high stability over a very long period of time;
social stereotypes can change to a certain extent in response to social, political or economic changes, but this process is very slow
social stereotypes become more obvious (“pronounced”) and hostile when social tensions arise between groups.
they are learned very early and used by children long before they have a clear idea of the groups to which they belong.
Social stereotypes are not a big problem when there is no obvious hostility between groups, but they are extremely difficult to modify and manage when there is significant tension and conflict.

Values. Values are often understood as those attitudes that determine the structure of a person, and by attitudes of a special kind - those that are perceived as “standards”, norms that are the basis for decisions made by a person. At the same time, “choice” is seen as the core of personal organization. The values of a particular culture together constitute the ideal of that culture. In social psychology, values are associated with attitudes, on the one hand, and norms, on the other.

V.B. Olshansky compares values with special beacons that help “to notice in the flow of information what is most important (in a positive or negative sense) for a person’s life; These are guidelines towards which a person has confidence, the internal consistency of his behavior.”

Behavioral regulators are an integral part of normal consciousness. Social regulators are formed relatively easily because our own upbringing and culture create in us a set of expectations about the behavior and characteristics of other people. The source of behavior regulators is personal experience and norms developed by society, which people learn through education, the media and direct contact with significant and authoritative people.

What life values can be

Universal. Otherwise they are called cultural. Based on these ideas, society forms concepts about how one should act and how one should not. In the individual’s worldview, they are formed in the process of upbringing in the family.

These include:

health;
education;
social status;
Love;
family bonds;
children;
development;
self-realization.

Individual. They arise over the course of life. These are not just beliefs that are broadcast by public consciousness, but the personal attitudes of each person.

Key Value Guidelines

I classify them in two directions:

Material. This includes everything related to a comfortable life, housing, and financial solvency.
Spiritual. Something that cannot be felt with the help of the senses, but has great weight at the mental level. Family, friends, career, favorite business, education, health, beauty and so on.

However, it is almost impossible to strictly separate one category from another. One way or another, they are closely intertwined and cannot exist in isolation.

What are the personal values in a person’s life:

Activity.
Serenity.
Impartiality.
Gratitude.
Inspiration.
Cheerfulness.
Flexibility.
Spirituality.
Entertainment.
Daydreaming.
Wisdom.
Reliability.
Independence.
Security.
Certainty.
Organized.
Mindfulness.
Frankness.
Openness.
Devotion.
Attractiveness.
Affiliation.
Proactivity.
Determination.
Modesty.
Stability.
Courage.
Hardness.
Accuracy.
Moderation.
Uniqueness.
Financial independence.
Thrift.
Sensuality.
Generosity.
Brightness.
Altruism.
Heroism.
Optimism.
Pragmatism.
Practicality.
Professionalism.
Realism.
Balance.
Wealth.
Hospitality.
Benevolence.
Curiosity.
Consistency.
Perfection.
Creation.
Perseverance.
Faith.
Power.
Imagination.
Achievement.
Knowledge.
Study.
Pleasure.
Education.
Understanding.
Adventure.
Confidence.
Abundance.
Wit.
Opening.
Justice.
Acceptance.
Development.
Diversity.
Sympathy.
Hard work.
Pleasure.
Coolness.
Hygiene.
Depth.
Discipline.
Self-discipline.
Friendship.
Health.
Comfort.
Beauty.
Logics.
Love.
World.
Hope.
Experience.
Victory.
Support.
Peace.
Benefit.
Is it true.
Simplicity.
Height.
Self-control.
Freedom.
Family.
Glory.
Passion.
Happiness.
Tradition.
Energy.
Synergy.
Success.
Purity.
Humor.

This is not a complete list of value guidelines existing in the world. Based on it, you can create your own hierarchy by adding other concepts.

Pyramid of Values

A. Maslow’s famous scheme, which describes human needs, can also characterize the system according to which life priorities are built. The foundation of human existence as a whole is its biological component. There are motives that physiology dictates to us: in other words, it is difficult to talk about the eternal when you are hungry, cold or in pain.

The next stage in the formation of priorities is the desire for security. This includes the desire to organize

After this, social needs arise, the need for respect and recognition, the thirst for knowledge and creativity, aesthetic and spiritual values.

Components of personality

The formation of value systems is an essential part of the process of socialization and personal development. Under ideal conditions, they should be ordered, structured in the mind, and their owner should clearly understand what is of paramount importance to him at this stage of life. But not everyone knows how to work with their beliefs and prioritize them.

Relationships between people are largely built on the coincidence or divergence of internal guidelines and priorities. The compatibility and similarity of their values strengthens relationships and connections, and divergence becomes the cause of conflict situations. New value attitudes are formed under the condition of the individual’s natural involvement in an unfamiliar environment, where his need for something that he had not previously thought about is discovered.

Professional orientation by personality type

Psychologist J. Holland identified several types of professional orientation of an individual.

They depend on what type of person the person is.

Realistic type
. Such people prefer to work with real objects. They are practical-oriented and want to achieve quick results. They have well-developed practical thinking; however, they prefer professions based on manual work. These are drivers, beekeepers, signalmen, radio installers, etc. As a rule, communication skills are not required here.
Intellectual type
. Such people are observant, intelligent, and at the same time they are independent and have original thinking. People of this type prefer scientific professions.
Social type
. Its representatives are active, sensitive, emotional, and need constant communication with other people. The content of the professions of such people is interaction with people. Preferred professions are teaching, service, information activities.
Conventional type
. Such people have high perseverance, they are disciplined and careful. They can do their job well when they have clear and precise instructions. They are best at performing typical tasks, but difficulties may arise with non-standard ones. The preferred professions for such people are clerical ones: accountant, notary, economist, etc.
Entrepreneurial type
. Its representatives are active, mobile, have unconventional thinking, and are prone to risk. They strive to take initiative and take leadership. People of this type prefer tasks where they need to make quick decisions, and do not like work that requires perseverance and attentiveness. Loves and knows how to interact with other people. The professions of such individuals are politicians, entrepreneurs, journalists, etc.
Artistic type
. Such people have imaginative thinking and creative imagination, they are very sensitive and emotional. They build communication with people on the basis of their intuition and personal feelings. Representatives of this personality type are artists, musicians, designers, actors, translators, etc.

This classification can be used in tests to determine professional suitability, choice of profession, and educational institution.

What else does understanding the mechanisms of personality orientation give us? Through their study, it becomes clear to us that the foundations of all our civilized life are rooted in innate qualities and attitudes formed in the early years of life. In the future, they can be changed and adjusted many times, but they do not appear “out of nowhere.”

Approaches to determining cost

The category of value is used in various sciences, so there are many definitions of it. Widespread use has given rise to a general and very broad meaning of the term, which is even often reduced to one of the phenomena of the motivational process. E. Tolman defined meaning as the attractiveness of the target object. He believed that value, along with need, determines the necessity of a goal.

In the context of more general definitions, the term "value" is given several meanings. Depending on the aspect in question, the meaning may be:

A social ideal developed through social consciousness;
Abstract concept of one's own qualities in various spheres of public life (specific historical and universal values);
Objective form as a product of material and spiritual culture (human actions);
Social value was refracted through the prism of individual life activity and entered into the psychological structure of the individual as a personal value.

Factors influencing the rethinking of life values

As a rule, situations arise in human life that entail a rethinking of life values.

All of them are associated with positive or negative emotional shocks.

The list is endless, but psychologists highlight the most important factors that make you think about reassessing priorities:

Death of a loved one;
Marriage and birth of a child;
Dangerous disease;
Financial difficulties;
Unrequited love;
The onset of old age;
Career collapse.

A striking example of rethinking priorities is the situation when a person who is accustomed to living alone starts a family. He begins a new life, the main thing is not his career, but harmonious family relationships, love for his spouse and children.

Adverse life events can sometimes be beneficial for a person who has trouble prioritizing life. They help you find true values and meaning in life.

Another example is financial difficulties that force a person to look at the world with different eyes and look for options to get out of a critical situation. Psychologists give many examples when an individual completely reconsiders his views on money, material wealth, and his environment.

An illness, especially if it is considered dangerous, also forces you to reconsider your views on the values of life. The main thing for the patient is health, the ability to enjoy every day he lives, everything else is unimportant.

Many examples can be given when those values that were once considered secondary are brought to the fore, and, conversely, the main ones turn out to be not so significant.

Important! Some events, even negative ones, must be treated very carefully, as they can give impetus to rethinking life ideals. Even the sensations that arise from certain events may lead to a desire to reconsider them and set new priorities.

Dissatisfaction with life

There are times when a person experiences dissatisfaction with his activities. It has been noticed that when work becomes a burden, dissatisfaction begins to spread to other areas of life, for example, family.

All this dissatisfaction gives rise to doubts about the correctness of any actions. People around them can convince a person to ignore dissatisfaction and consider it temporary.

If you seek psychological help during this period, any specialist will say that it is best to reconsider your beliefs and principles.

Too much self-criticism

At the moment of reassessing life priorities, which happens to almost everyone at one time or another in life, psychologists warn about excessive self-criticism.

Criticism in some cases is even useful, but it should not go beyond limits, since too much can undermine self-esteem and faith in success.

Excessive self-criticism is a sign of internal contradictions that should be identified and dealt with.

At a certain stage in life, a person needs to reconsider his life values in order to return to a comfortable existence. To a greater extent, this is facilitated by a complex psychological state

Pessimistic attitude towards everything that happens

Often, self-doubt or lack of prospects prevents you from setting priorities correctly. Psychologists identify the main difference between people who lack self-confidence and those around them – indecision.

As a result, a person commits actions that contradict his inner beliefs, but “everyone does this.” Pessimism leads to the fact that at one moment a person concludes: the priorities set under the influence of society do not at all coincide with the true ones that are most important to him.

Such insight can lead to a pessimistic attitude, or it can become an impetus for changing your views on the world.

All-encompassing boredom

Sometimes, oddly enough, a boring existence leads to a revision of life values. A person does not show initiative in relation to his life and begins to go with the flow. According to psychologists, most often this condition appears when priorities are set incorrectly and false values come to the fore.

For example, a person has strived for material well-being all his life and, indeed, has achieved great success in this field: an apartment, a dacha, a car, a position (he achieved everything he wanted). But the realization comes that he missed the most important thing.

Any specialist will tell you that it is necessary to realize the priority values and decide on the goal, then an interest in life will appear.

Solving life problems requires a coordinate system in which these problems will be solved.

Two classes of values

In the course of his scientific study of values, Milton Rokeach decided that it would be more convenient to divide values into two classes. The first class is terminal values. The second class is instrumental values. Let's look at them in more detail.

Terminal values are defined by him as undeniable beliefs that any ultimate goal of personal/individual existence (for example, a calm and measured personal life or world peace) from a personal and social position is worth showing interest in it and trying to achieve some then positive results.

But instrumental values are the belief that a certain course of action (for example, accuracy, intolerance of shortcomings) from a social and personal point of view is preferable in absolutely any, even absurd, situations.

Actually, these divisions of values helped to separate “Goals” and “Means” among themselves.

The role of life values

Each person should clearly understand their internal coordinate system. This understanding will help when solving difficult issues, at the moment when it is necessary to make a choice. Awareness of what is actually primary for you at a given moment in time will allow you to avoid global mistakes and regrets.

The hierarchy of significant attitudes is individual. Based on it, the individual builds his life. Very often you have to choose between two important things; stopping internal torment and doubts is precisely what helps you analyze your own guidelines and priorities. There is no clear, right or wrong answer to the question of what a person's core values should be. It all depends on the attitude of a particular individual.

The essence and general characteristics of values ​​and value orientations of the individual