Personality is a complex, multi-layered formation that has its own hierarchy. In Russian psychology, the highest level of personality structure is called orientation. This is a system of values, beliefs and attitudes that are formed during life. They largely guide a person’s activities and determine his attitude towards the world, himself and other people.
The concept of value and its general characteristics. Values and ratings
Let us briefly consider the issues of the general theory of value and its main categories. Let's first look at what the term "values" means. The etymological meaning is very simple and corresponds to the concept: value is what people value. Values can be objects, things, natural and social phenomena, human actions, cultural phenomena, etc. Global problems and universal values. M., 1990. However, the content of the concept of value, its essence, is not as simple as it might seem from the position of ordinary consciousness.
What is the philosophical meaning of the concept “value”?
- value is social in nature and has an objective-subjective nature.
It is known that where there is no society, there is no reason to talk about the existence of values. Because things, events without their connection with a person, with the life of society, have nothing to do with values. Thus, values are always human values and have a social character. This applies not only to humanized nature, that is, to the entire civilization in the diversity of its manifestations, but even to numerous natural objects. For example, an oxygen-rich atmosphere on Earth existed long before the advent of humanity, but only with the advent of human society could we talk about the great value of the atmosphere for human life.
- value arises in the process of human practical activity.
All human activity begins with a goal, the achievement of which is the main direction of activity. The goal is a person’s idea of the final result of an activity, the achievement of which would allow the person to satisfy some of his needs. Thus, from the very beginning, a person considers the intended result of his activity as a value. Therefore, a person already perceives the process of activity aimed at achieving a result as significant and valuable for him.
Of course, not all results and not all human activity become values, but only those that are socially significant and meet the social needs and interests of people. And this includes not only things, but also ideas, relationships, methods of activity. We value material wealth, the kindness of human actions, the justice of state laws, the beauty of the world, the greatness of the spirit, the fullness of feelings, and much more.
- The concept of “value” should be distinguished from the concept of “meaning”.
Meaning is related to the concept of “significance,” but is not identical to it. Value characterizes the degree of intensity, the intensity of the value relationship. Something affects us more, something less, something leaves us indifferent. Moreover, significance can have not only meaning, but also “countervalue,” that is, harm. Evil, social injustice, war, crime and disease are of great importance to society and individuals, but these phenomena are not usually called values.
Therefore, “value” is a broader term than “cost.” Values are positive. For a phenomenon that is negative, we can interpret it as negative values. This means that value is not everything that matters, but only what plays a positive role in the life of a person, his associations or society as a whole.
- Each meaning is characterized by two properties: functional meaning and personal meaning.
What are these properties? Functional value is a set of socially significant properties and functions of an object or idea that make it valuable in a particular society. For example, an idea has a certain information content and degree of reliability.
A personal sense of value is an attitude toward human needs. On the one hand, a person’s sense of value is determined by an object that performs the function of value; on the other hand, it depends on the individual. When an individual gives meaning to a thing, he does not proceed from his own purely natural need for it, but from a need cultivated by the society to which he belongs, i.e. from a general social need. He looks at it through the eyes of other people, society, and sees in it what is important for his life within this society. Man, as a common being, seeks the common essence of things, the idea of a thing that functions as meaning for him.
It should be noted that the meaning of values for people is ambiguous; it depends on their position in society and the tasks that they solve. For example, a personal car can be a means of transportation and an object of prestige, important in this case as a possession that gives its owner a certain prestige in the eyes of other people, or as a means of generating additional income, etc. In all these cases, the same object is associated with different needs.
- values are inherently objective.
This position may be objectionable. After all, it has already been said that it is pointless to talk about value if there is no subject. Value depends on a person, his feelings, desires, emotions, so he is considered as something subjective. Moreover, a thing loses its value for a person as soon as it ceases to interest him and satisfy his needs. In other words, there can be no value outside the subject, outside the connection between a thing and his needs, desires, interests.
And yet the subjectivization of value, its transformation into something one-sidedly dependent on human consciousness, is not justified. Value, like meaning in general, is objective, and this property is rooted in the subjective and practical activity of the subject. In the process of such activity, people develop a certain value attitude towards their environment. In other words, object-practical activity is the basis for things, objects of the surrounding world, people themselves, and their relationships to acquire a certain objective meaning, that is, value, for a person and society.
Thus, value is the objective value of various components of reality, the content of which is determined by the needs and interests of social subjects. A benevolent attitude is a benevolent attitude.
Values and their social imprint
In the surrounding reality there are few phenomena to which a person is indifferent, phenomena to which he does not express a value attitude. Thus, there are as many values as there are phenomena of nature, society, human actions and feelings. However, this is only true if we mean not an individual person, but all of humanity as a whole. The range of values, that is, phenomena of interest to one person, can be very narrow and limited. A person’s limitations are expressed in the limited number and nature of his life values and life interests.
The diversity of values existing in society dictates the need for their unambiguous classification.
It should be noted that in modern axiology there is no single approach to solving this problem. Therefore, if we generalize approaches to this problem in different concepts, then we can classify values according to the following criteria: by spheres of public life; by subjects or carriers of values; on the role of values in the life of society.
Based on the main areas of public life, we usually distinguish three groups of values:
- Material,
- socio-political site
- spiritual.
Material value is valuable natural objects and objects, i.e. means of labor and things of direct consumption. Natural values are the natural wealth contained in natural resources. Object values are material objects of the world created by human labor and the cultural heritage of the past.
Socio-political values represent the value of socio-political phenomena, events, political acts and actions. Socio-political values usually include the public good contained in political and social movements, as well as the progressive significance of historical events that contribute to the prosperity of society, the strengthening of peace and cooperation between peoples, etc.
Spiritual values are the normative and evaluative side of the phenomenon of social consciousness, expressed in appropriate forms. Spiritual values are the values of science, morality, art, philosophy, law, etc.
With all their differences, material, socio-political and spiritual values are closely interrelated, and each of them has its own aspect of a different type of value. In addition, there are values that can be associated with both material and socio-political and spiritual values. These are values that have basic human value. These include life, health, freedom, etc.
The essence and general characteristics of values and value orientations of an individual
A person’s value orientations are one of the main structural formations of a mature personality, in which various psychological characteristics converge.
A person’s value orientations are one of the most important personality traits. This is due to the fact that value guidelines there determine a person’s attitude towards other people and the establishment of interaction with the surrounding reality. In addition, value orientations have a regulating and determining influence on human behavior, actions and actions.
Understanding and realizing his value guidelines, a person searches for his place in the world, reflects on the purpose and meaning of his life.
The structure of human value orientations includes three main integrative components:
- Cognitive component.
- Emotional component.
- Behavioral component.
Each of these components actively participates in the formation of a person’s value orientations, 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 human development of reality and successful socialization in society.
Values are the isolated spiritual, moral and personal interests of a person.
Values are usually studied based on two approaches, each of which views them as a multi-level human psychological system:
- The normative approach to the study of a person’s personal values is aimed at describing a model of a value system within the framework of a specific psychological theory.
- The descriptive approach to the study of the values of the human personality is aimed at identifying the hierarchy of the individual’s value system. Thus, in psychology, values are considered as certain objects or phenomena, their properties and characteristics, which constitute a set of social ideals that are significant for a particular person and represent his standard of what is right.
Christ as the initiator of a spiritual revolution
Why was Christ a revolutionary? He did a lot of things to deserve such an honorable title, but the main thing in the context of our article is that he said: “The last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Thus, he turned over the entire structure, which is called the “system of human values.” Before him (as now) it was believed that wealth, fame and other delights of a soulless life are precisely the highest goals of human existence. And the Messiah came and said to wealthy people: “It is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” And they thought that they had already bought everything for themselves, but no.
Jesus saddened them, and the poor, unfortunate and disadvantaged began to have some hope. Some readers who don’t really believe in heaven will say: “But can the goodness promised after death atone for the existing suffering in a person’s earthly existence?” Dear reader, we completely agree. Future happiness is little consolation, but Christ gave hope to the losers of this world and charged them with strength to fight against their unenviable fate. In other words, human values, personal values have become different and have acquired variability.
Formation of values and value orientations of the individual
The process of forming values and value orientations of an individual is gradual and includes a number of components.
Components of the gradual formation of values and value orientations of an individual:
- Worldview is a person’s system of views on the world around him, his place in society, his attitude towards himself, towards the people around him and towards reality, as well as a look at the basic beliefs, principles, ideals and life positions of people. A person's worldview is a set of views on the reality around him, based on a belief system, human existence and philosophy of life.
- Reflection is a critical re-evaluation of personal values in accordance with a common vision of the meaning of life. Reflexivity manifests itself as a pause in the process of a person’s activity or relationships with other people, in which he psychologically evaluates the situation, his behavior and role.
- Orientation is a set of fairly stable motives that structure a person’s activities in accordance with the situation around him. A person's orientation largely depends on his interests, inclinations, ideals and beliefs. Therefore, orientation is inherently a multifaceted characteristic of a person.
Orientation is a process of personal growth and development that emphasizes the change, formation and integration of all components of personality. Orientation is a process of gradual development of personality and its gradual growth in spiritual and moral relations. Personal maturity plays a special role in the formation of values and value orientations. That is, the process of personal “maturation” has a direct impact on the formation of values and value orientations. Therefore, they are considered the most important feature of a mature and formed personality.
Algorithm for generating a human value system
A person’s personality begins its development from birth. Gradually, she forms her own value system, which becomes stable in conscious adulthood. Although later the values in a person’s life may change. Scientists have derived a certain formula according to which principles are formed.
The whole process can be schematically represented as follows:
- Aspiration > Ideal.
- Aspiration > Goal > Ideal.
- Aspiration > Values > Goal > Ideal.
- Aspiration > Means > Values > Goal > Ideal.
Later, another point is added in the series of concepts - ethics. The scheme takes on a completed form:
Striving > Ethics > Means > Ethics > Values > Ethics > Goal > Ethics > Ideal.
First, an ideal and a desire to achieve it arise in a person’s thoughts. Aspiration speaks of the individual’s serious attitude towards the chosen ideal. If there is no such desire, then the chosen image is not a real ideal.
First of all, a sensory mental image simply appears in a person’s head, which is not yet clearly expressed. It makes you want to move towards your dreams. A person does not yet think about whether his ideal corresponds to the norms and rules accepted in society.
After some time, the ideal becomes not just a dream, but turns into a goal and acquires significance in the eyes of the individual. In order to take concrete steps in the right direction, you must understand certain conditions and rules that lead to achieving what you want. A person accepts values and norms from the external environment, having previously passed them through the internal filter of his consciousness. The final stage will be checking your own abilities and strengths, that is, the availability of means to achieve your goals.
A person is not completely free from the moral norms and principles accepted in the society of which he is a part. The choice of ideals, goals and means of achieving them is constantly monitored, taking into account ethical criteria.
Moral norms and rules are often the result of experienced knowledge of the world and reality. They are fixed in the consciousness of society and are perceived as immutable truths. Some ethical guidelines are being formatted and replaced with more modern ones that correspond to new ideals.
Internal values, which are formed from childhood according to a given algorithm, are of great importance for a person’s life. They determine preferences and choice of goals, personal relationships, professional activities and much more. Having your own ideals helps a person develop and stick to his path in this world.
