Values expressed in the form of normative ideas (attitudes, imperatives, prohibitions, goals, projects) act as guidelines for human activity. And yet the values, objective and enduring for the culture of the entire society, for specific person acquire subjective meaning only after contact with them. Personal values are conscious and accepted by man common components the meaning of his life. Personal values must be supported by a meaningful, emotionally experienced, personally affecting attitude to life. A value can be called something that is of particular importance to a person, something that he is ready to protect and protect from encroachment and destruction by other people. Every person has personal values. These values include both unique ones, characteristic only of a given individual, and values that unite him with a certain category of people.
Parents, friends, teachers, social groups can influence the formation of a person’s individual values. Hierarchical system Personal values are formed in the process of learning and acquiring life experience under the influence of prevailing cultural conditions. Since everyone has their own process of learning and gaining experience, differences in the composition and hierarchy of the value system are inevitable.
Psychologist M. Rokeach defined values as deep beliefs that determine actions and judgments in different situations. He also developed the now most common method for studying value orientations, based on direct ranking of a list of values. He divides values into two large groups: terminal values(values-goals) - beliefs that some final goal individual existence is worth striving for, and instrumental values (values-means), which reflect the conviction that some course of action or personality trait is preferable in any situation. TO core values include those that are significant for a person in themselves. Examples include success, peace and harmony, security and freedom, common sense and salvation of the soul. Instrumental values include everything that matters as a means or way of achieving goals, for example, courage and generosity, ability and outlook, help and independence.
Another classification of values was developed in the 1930s. and divides values into six types:
- - theoretical interest in discovering the truth through argumentation and systematic reflection;
- - economic interest in utility and practicality, including the accumulation of wealth;
- - aesthetic interest in beauty, form and harmony;
- - social interest to people and love as relationships between people;
- - political interest in having power and influencing people;
- - religious interest in unity and understanding of the cosmos.
Influence personal values on human behavior depends on the degree of their clarity and consistency. The blurring of values causes inconsistency in actions, since it is easier to influence such a person than a person with a clear and obvious value system. The strength of personality directly depends on the degree of crystallization of personal values. Clear and consistent values are manifested in active life position, a person’s responsibility for himself and the situation around him, willingness to take risks to achieve goals, initiative and creativity.
The criteria for clarity of personal values are:
- - regular reflections on what is important and unimportant, good and bad;
- - understanding the meaning of life;
- - the ability to question established own values;
- - openness of consciousness to new experiences;
- - the desire to understand the views and positions of other people;
- - open expression of one's views and willingness to discuss;
- - consistency of behavior, correspondence between words and deeds;
- - serious attitude to issues of values;
- - manifestation of firmness and resilience on fundamental issues;
- - responsibility and activity.
The discrepancy between value systems is sometimes caused by the fact that people grow and develop as individuals in different periods time and in different socio-economic conditions. Cultural backgrounds can also be a source of mismatched value systems. Value priorities are what distinguishes one national culture from another. When existing cultural differences Problems can be expected to arise if people from different ethnic backgrounds work together.
Some of the ways people try to influence other people's values include:
- - moralizing;
- - personal example;
- - non-interference;
- - assistance in clarifying specific values.
So, the value system is individual property personality, depending on cultural roots.
The most important role not only in everyone’s life individual person, but also of the entire society as a whole play values and value orientations, which perform primarily an integrative function. It is on the basis of values (while focusing on their approval in society) that each person makes his own choice in life. Values, occupying a central position in the personality structure, have a significant impact on a person’s orientation and content. social activity, behavior and actions, his social position and on general attitude him to the world, to himself and other people. Therefore, a person’s loss of the meaning of life is always the result of destruction and rethinking of the old value system, and in order to find this meaning again, he needs to create new system, based on universal human experience and using socially accepted forms of behavior and activity.
Values are a kind of internal integrator of a person, concentrating around themselves all his needs, interests, ideals, attitudes and beliefs. Thus, the value system in a person’s life takes the form inner rod his entire personality, and the same system in society is the core of its culture. Value systems, functioning both at the level of the individual and at the level of society, create a kind of unity. This happens due to the fact that personality system values are always formed based on the values that are dominant in a particular society, and they, in turn, influence the choice of the individual goal of each individual and the determination of ways to achieve it.
Values in a person’s life are the basis for choosing goals, methods and conditions of activity, and also help him answer the question, why does he perform this or that activity? In addition, values represent the system-forming core of a person’s plan (or program), human activity and his inner spiritual life, because spiritual principles, intentions and humanity are no longer related to activity, but to values and value orientations.
The role of values in human life: theoretical approaches to the problem
Modern human values – most current problem both theoretical and applied psychology, since they influence the formation and are the integrative basis of activity not only of an individual, but also of a social group (large or small), collective, ethnic group, nation and all humanity. It is difficult to overestimate the role of values in a person’s life, because they illuminate his life, while filling it with harmony and simplicity, which determines a person’s desire for free will, for the will of creative possibilities.
The problem of human values in life is studied by the science of axiology ( in the lane from Greek axia/axio – value, logos/logos – wise word, teaching, study), more precisely separate industry scientific knowledge philosophy, sociology, psychology and pedagogy. In psychology, values are usually understood as something significant for a person himself, something that gives an answer to his actual, personal meanings. Values are also seen as a concept that denotes objects, phenomena, their properties and abstract ideas that reflect social ideals and therefore are the standard of what is proper.
It should be noted that the special importance and significance of values in human life arises only in comparison with the opposite (this is how people strive for good, because evil exists on earth). Values cover the entire life of both a person and all of humanity, while they affect absolutely all spheres (cognitive, behavioral and emotional-sensory).
The problem of values was of interest to many famous philosophers, sociologists, psychologists and teachers, but the beginning of the study this issue was laid down in distant antiquity. So, for example, Socrates was one of the first who tried to understand what goodness, virtue and beauty are, and these concepts were separated from things or actions. He believed that the knowledge achieved through understanding these concepts is the basis moral behavior person. Here it is also worth turning to the ideas of Protagoras, who believed that each person is already a value as a measure of what exists and what does not exist.
When analyzing the category of “value,” one cannot ignore Aristotle, because it was he who coined the term “thymia” (or valued). He believed that values in human life are both the source of things and phenomena and the reason for their diversity. Aristotle identified the following benefits:
- valued (or divine, to which the philosopher attributed the soul and mind);
- praised (bold praise);
- opportunities (here the philosopher included strength, wealth, beauty, power, etc.).
Modern philosophers made a significant contribution to the development of questions about the nature of values. Among the most significant figures of that era, it is worth highlighting I. Kant, who called will the central category that could help in solving problems of the value sphere of man. And the most detailed explanation of the process of value formation belongs to G. Hegel, who described changes in values, their connections and structure in three stages of the existence of activity (they are described in more detail below in the table).
Features of changes in values in the process of activity (according to G. Hegel)
| Stages of activity | Features of value formation |
| first | the emergence of subjective value (its definition occurs even before the start of action), a decision is made, that is, the value-goal must be specified and correlated with external changing conditions |
| second | Value is the focus of the activity itself; there is an active, but at the same time, contradictory interaction between value and possible ways its achievement, here value becomes a way to form new values |
| third | values are woven directly into activity, where they manifest themselves as an objectified process |
The problem of human values in life has been deeply studied foreign psychologists, among which it is worth noting the works of V. Frankl. He said that the meaning of a person’s life is manifested in the value system as his basic education. By the values themselves, he understood the meanings (he called them “universals of meanings”) that are characteristic of more representatives not only of a particular society, but also of humanity as a whole throughout the entire path of its development (historical). Viktor Frankl focused on the subjective significance of values, which is accompanied, first of all, by a person taking responsibility for its implementation.
In the second half of the last century, values were often considered by scientists through the prism of the concepts of “value orientations” and “personal values.” Most attention was devoted to the study of the value orientations of the individual, which were understood both as an ideological, political, moral and ethical basis for a person’s assessment of the surrounding reality, and as a way of differentiating objects according to their significance for the individual. The main thing that almost all scientists paid attention to is that value orientations are formed only through a person’s assimilation social experience, and they find their manifestation in goals, ideals, and other manifestations of personality. In turn, the system of values in a person’s life is the basis of the substantive side of the personality’s orientation and reflects it internal attitude in the surrounding reality.
Thus, value orientations in psychology were considered as a complex socio-psychological phenomenon that characterized the orientation of the individual and the substantive side of his activity, which determined a person’s general approach to himself, other people and the world as a whole, and also gave meaning and direction to his behavior and activities.
Forms of existence of values, their signs and features
Throughout its history of development, humanity has developed universal or universal values, which over the course of many generations have not changed their meaning or diminished their significance. These are values such as truth, beauty, goodness, freedom, justice and many others. These and many other values in a person’s life are associated with the motivational-need sphere and are an important regulating factor in his life.
Values in psychological understanding can be represented in two meanings:
- in the form of objectively existing ideas, objects, phenomena, actions, properties of products (both material and spiritual);
- as their significance for a person (value system).
Among the forms of existence of values there are: social, objective and personal (they are presented in more detail in the table).
Forms of existence of values according to O.V. Sukhomlinskaya
The studies of M. Rokeach were of particular importance in the study of values and value orientations. He understood values as positive or negative ideas (and abstract ones), which are in no way connected with any specific object or a situation, but are merely an expression of human beliefs about types of behavior and prevailing goals. According to the researcher, all values have the following characteristics:
- the total number of values (meaningful and motivating) is small;
- all people’s values are similar (only the levels of their significance are different);
- all values are organized into systems;
- the sources of values are culture, society and social institutions;
- values influence a large number of phenomena that are studied by a variety of sciences.
In addition, M. Rokeach established a direct dependence of a person’s value orientations on many factors, such as his level of income, gender, age, race, nationality, level of education and upbringing, religious orientation, political beliefs etc.
Some signs of values were also proposed by S. Schwartz and W. Biliski, namely:
- values mean either a concept or a belief;
- they relate to the individual's desired end states or behavior;
- they have a supra-situational character;
- guided by choice, as well as assessment of human behavior and actions;
- they are ordered by importance.
Classification of values
Today in psychology there are a huge number of the most various classifications values and value orientations. This diversity has arisen due to the fact that values are classified according to a variety of criteria. So they can unite into certain groups and classes depending on what types of needs these values satisfy, what role they play in human life and in what area they are applied. The table below presents the most general classification of values.
Classification of values
| Criteria | There may be values |
| object of assimilation | material and moral-spiritual |
| subject and content of the object | socio-political, economic and moral |
| subject of assimilation | social, class and values of social groups |
| learning goal | selfish and altruistic |
| level of generality | concrete and abstract |
| way of manifestation | persistent and situational |
| the role of human activity | terminal and instrumental |
| content of human activity | cognitive and subject-transforming (creative, aesthetic, scientific, religious, etc.) |
| belonging | individual (or personal), group, collective, public, national, universal |
| relationship between group and society | positive and negative |
From point of view psychological characteristics The classification proposed by K. Khabibulin is interesting. The values were shared between them in the following way:
- depending on the subject of activity, values can be individual or act as values of a group, class, society;
- according to the object of activity, the scientist distinguished material values in human life (or vital) and sociogenic (or spiritual);
- depending on the type human activity values can be cognitive, labor, educational and socio-political;
- the last group consists of values based on the way the activity is performed.
There is also a classification based on the identification of vital (a person’s ideas about good, evil, happiness and grief) and universal values. This classification was proposed at the end of the last century by T.V. Butkovskaya. Universal values, according to the scientist, are:
- vital (life, family, health);
- social recognition (values such as social status and ability to work);
- interpersonal recognition (exhibition and honesty);
- democratic (freedom of expression or freedom of speech);
- particular (belonging to a family);
- transcendental (manifestation of faith in God).
It is also worth dwelling separately on the classification of values according to M. Rokeach, the author of the most famous method in the world, the main objective which is to determine the hierarchy of value orientations of the individual. M. Rokeach divided all human values into two large categories:
- terminal (or value-goals) - a person’s conviction that the final goal is worth all the effort to achieve it;
- instrumental (or value-ways) – a person’s conviction that a certain way behavior and actions are most successful in achieving the goal.
There are still a huge number of different classifications of values, summary which are given in the table below.
Classifications of values
| Scientist | Values | |
| V.P. Tugarinov | spiritual | education, arts and science |
| socio-political | justice, will, equality and brotherhood | |
| material | various types of material goods, technology | |
| V.F. Sergeants | material | tools and methods of execution |
| spiritual | political, moral, ethical, religious, legal and philosophical | |
| A. Maslow | being (B-values) | higher, characteristic of a personality that self-actualizes (values of beauty, goodness, truth, simplicity, uniqueness, justice, etc.) |
| scarce (D-values) | lower ones, aimed at satisfying a need that has been frustrated (values such as sleep, safety, dependence, peace of mind, etc.) | |
Analyzing the classification presented, the question arises, what are the main values in a person’s life? In fact, such values huge variety, but the most important are the general (or universal) values, which, according to V. Frankl, are based on the three main human existentials - spirituality, freedom and responsibility. The psychologist identified the following groups values (“eternal values”):
- creativity that allows people to understand what they can give to a given society;
- experiences through which a person realizes what he receives from society and society;
- relationships that enable people to understand their place (position) in relation to those factors that in some way limit their lives.
It should also be noted that the most important place is occupied by moral values in a person’s life, because they play a leading role when people make decisions related to morality and moral standards, and this in turn speaks about the level of development of their personality and humanistic orientation.
System of values in human life
The problem of human values in life occupies a leading position in psychological research, because they are the core of personality and determine its direction. In solving this problem, a significant role belongs to the study of the value system, and here the research of S. Bubnova had a serious influence, who, based on the works of M. Rokeach, created her own model of a system of value orientations (it is hierarchical and consists of three levels). The system of values in a person’s life, in her opinion, consists of:
- values-ideals, which are the most general and abstract (this includes spiritual and social values);
- values-properties that are fixed in the process of human life;
- values-ways of activity and behavior.
Any value system will always combine two categories of values: goal (or terminal) values and method (or instrumental) values. Terminal ones include the ideals and goals of a person, group and society, and instrumental ones include ways of achieving goals that are accepted and approved in a given society. Goal values are more stable than method values, therefore they act as a system-forming factor in various social and cultural systems.
Each person has his own attitude towards the specific value system existing in society. In psychology, there are five types of human relationships in the value system (according to J. Gudecek):
- active, which is expressed in high degree internalization of this system;
- comfortable, that is, externally accepted, but the person does not identify himself with this value system;
- indifferent, which consists in the manifestation of indifference and complete absence interest in this system;
- disagreement or rejection, manifested in a critical attitude and condemnation of the value system, with the intention of changing it;
- opposition, which manifests itself in both internal and external contradiction with a given system.
It should be noted that the value system in human life is essential component in the structure of the personality, while it occupies a border position - on the one hand, it is a person’s system of personal meanings, on the other, his motivational-need sphere. A person’s values and value orientations act as the leading quality of a person, emphasizing his uniqueness and individuality.
Values are the most powerful regulator of human life. They guide a person along the path of his development and determine his behavior and activities. In addition, a person’s focus on certain values and value orientations will certainly have an impact on the process of formation of society as a whole.
Initially, values as criteria, a measure of beauty or ugliness, good and evil, truth and non-truth, permissible and forbidden, fair and unfair, are fixed in the public consciousness and culture.
Values expressed in the form of normative ideas (attitudes, imperatives, prohibitions, goals, projects) act as guidelines for human activity.
And yet, values that are objective and enduring for the culture of the entire society, for a specific person acquire subjective meaning only after coming into contact with them.
Exactly when we're talking about It is appropriate to talk about personal values about awareness and reflection of the most general semantic formations that become significant and important for a person. So,
Personal values are the general components of the meaning of his life, realized and accepted by a person.
Personal values dmust be provided with a semantic, emotionally experienced, personally affecting attitude to life. A value can be called something that is of particular importance to a person, something that he is ready to protect and protect from encroachment and destruction by other people.
Every person has personal values. These values include both unique ones, characteristic only of a given individual, and values that unite him with a certain category of people.
For example, freedom of creativity, innovative ideas, respect intellectual property characteristic of creative people.
There are values that are important to all people and have universal significance - for example, peace, freedom, well-being of loved ones, respect and love.
Having common values helps people understand each other, cooperate, provide help and support.
Lack of shared values(objective or subjective) or contradiction of values divides people into camps, turns them into opponents, rivals and adversaries. The study of values has an important place in software because values are individual characteristics that influence people's attitudes, attitudes, perceptions, needs and aspirations.
Parents, friends, teachers, social groups can influence the formation of a person’s individual values. The hierarchical value system of an individual is formed in the process of learning and acquiring life experience under the influence of prevailing cultural conditions. Since everyone has their own process of learning and gaining experience, differences in the composition and hierarchy of the value system are inevitable.
Psychologist M. Rokeach defined values as deep beliefs that determine actions and judgments in various situations. He also developed the now most common method for studying value orientations, based on direct ranking of a list of values.
He divides values into two large groups: terminal values(values-goals) - beliefs that some ultimate goal of individual existence is worth striving for, and instrumental values(means-values), which reflect the belief that a certain course of action or personality trait is preferable in any situation. TO core values include those that are significant for a person in themselves.
Examples include success, peace and harmony, safety and freedom, common sense and salvation of the soul.
Instrumental values include everything that matters as a means or way of achieving goals, for example, courage and generosity, ability and outlook, help and independence.
Of particular interest is the system life values A. Adler, given in table.
Human value system (according to Alfred Adler)
Another classification of values was developed in the 1930s. psychologist Gordon Allport and his colleagues. They divided values into six types:
- theoretical interest in discovering truth through argumentation and systematic reflection;
- economic interest in utility and practicality, including the accumulation of wealth;
- aesthetic interest in beauty, form and harmony;
- social interest in people and love as relationships between people;
- political interest in having power and influencing people;
- religious interest in unity and understanding of the cosmos.
- accomplishment (perseverance) – finishing what you start and working hard to overcome life’s difficulties;
- help and care - care and help other people;
- honesty - telling the truth and doing what you think is right;
- justice is to be an impartial judge.
The famous sociologist Professor S. S. Frolov includes the following values: well-being (includes health and safety),
- wealth (possession of various material goods and services),
- mastery (professionalism in certain types of activities),
- education (knowledge, information potential and cultural connections),
- respect (includes status, prestige, fame and reputation).
Such value as power is considered one of the most universal and significant, since it allows you to purchase any other valuables.
The influence of personal values on human behavior depends on the degree of their clarity and consistency. The blurring of values causes inconsistency in actions, since it is easier to influence such a person than a person with a clear and obvious value system. The strength of personality directly depends on the degree of crystallization of personal values. Clear and consistent values are manifested in an active life position, a person’s responsibility for himself and the situation around him, willingness to take risks to achieve goals, initiative and creativity.
The criteria for clarity of personal values are:
- Regular reflection on what is important and unimportant, good and bad
- understanding the meaning of life
- the ability to question established personal values
- openness of mind to new experiences
- the desire to understand the views and positions of other people
- open expression of one's views and willingness to discuss
- consistency of behavior, correspondence between words and deeds
- taking values seriously
- demonstration of firmness and resilience on fundamental issues
- responsibility and activity
This occurs either through a direct impact on the worker’s sensations, feelings and actions, or through value congruence - a coincidence of ideas about values, when a person experiences and expresses the same emotions when faced with other people who have a similar value system.
For example, studies conducted in real production conditions, showed that if there is congruence of values (performance, help, honesty and fairness) between the boss and subordinates, then the subordinates receive greater satisfaction from working with this boss. However, when values do not align, conflicts arise over what goals should be set and how they can be achieved.
The discrepancy between value systems is sometimes caused by the fact that people grow and develop as individuals in different periods of time and in different socio-economic conditions. Cultural backgrounds can also be a source of mismatched value systems.
Value priorities are what distinguishes one national culture from another.
Given the existence of cultural differences, problems can be expected to arise when people from different ethnic backgrounds work together. Modern managers must understand in time what interests and desires prevail among workers, since higher labor productivity is precisely where young workers are engaged in work that maximally satisfies their interests, and at the same time managers have similar aspirations to them.
Changing values is challenging task for managers, especially when labor and production values conflict with others (for example, the problem of discrepancy between the interests of work and family). The ways in which people try to influence the values of other people include the following: moralizing, leading by example, non-interference, helping to clarify specific values, for example, when a corresponding change is needed. So, a value system is an individual property of a person, depending on cultural roots. But there are also organizational interests that are part of organizational culture.
Value is the significance, importance, usefulness and benefit of something. Outwardly, it appears as one of the properties of objects or phenomena. But their usefulness and significance are not due to their internal structure, that is, they are not given by nature, they are nothing more than subjective assessments of specific properties involved in the area of public interest in them and feel the need for them. In the Constitution Russian Federation it is written that highest value is the person himself, his freedom and rights.
Use of the concept of value in various sciences
Depending on what kind of science is studying this phenomenon in society, there are several approaches to its use. So, for example, philosophy considers the concept of value as follows: it is the socio-cultural, personal significance of specific objects. In psychology, value is understood as all those objects of the society surrounding an individual that are valuable to him. This term in in this case is closely related to motivation. But in sociology, values are understood as those concepts that name sets of goals, states, and phenomena that are worthy of people striving for. As you can see, in this case there is a connection with motivation. Moreover, from the point of view of these social sciences, exist the following types and spiritual. The latter are also called eternal values. They are not tangible, but sometimes they have much higher value for society than all material objects combined. Of course, they have nothing to do with economics. In this science, the concept of value is considered as the cost of objects. At the same time, two types of it are distinguished: consumer and The former represent one or another value for consumers, depending on the degree of usefulness of the product or its ability to satisfy human needs, and the latter are valuable because they are suitable for exchange, and the degree of their significance is determined by the ratio that is obtained in an equivalent exchange. That is, the more a person is aware of his dependence on a given object, the higher its value. People living in cities are entirely dependent on Money, since they need them to purchase the most necessary goods, namely food. For rural residents financial dependence is not as great as in the first case, since they can obtain the products necessary for life regardless of the availability of money, for example, from their own garden.
Different definitions of values
The most simple definition this concept is the statement that values are all those objects and phenomena that are capable of satisfying human needs. They can be material, that is, tangible, or they can be abstract, like love, happiness, etc. By the way, the set of values that are inherent in a particular person or group is called. Without it, any culture would be meaningless. But here is another definition of value: it is the objective significance of the variety of components (properties and attributes of a particular object or phenomenon) of reality, which are determined by the interests and needs of people. The main thing is that they are necessary for a person. However, value and significance are not always equivalent. After all, the first can be not only positive, but also negative, but value is always positive. What satisfies cannot be negative, although here everything is relative...
Representatives of the Austrian school believe that basic values are a specific amount of goods or benefits that are necessary to satisfy the more human As soon as its dependence on the presence of a given object is realized, the higher its value. In short, the relationship between quantity and need is important here. According to this theory, goods that exist in unlimited quantities, for example, water, air, etc., do not have special significance because they are non-economic. But goods, the quantity of which does not satisfy needs, that is, there are fewer of them than needed, represent real value. This view has both many supporters and opponents who fundamentally disagree with this opinion.
Changeability of values
This philosophical category has social nature, since it is formed in the process of practice. In this regard, values tend to change over time. What was significant for this society may not be so for the next generation. And we see this on own experience. If you look back into the past, you will notice that the values of the generations of our parents and ours differ in many ways from each other.
Main types of values
As noted above, the main types of values are material (life-enhancing) and spiritual. The latter give a person moral satisfaction. Main types material assets- these are the simplest goods (housing, food, household items, clothing, etc.) and more benefits high order(means of production). However, both contribute to the functioning of society, as well as to improving the quality of life of its members. And people need spiritual values for the formation and further development their worldviews, as well as their worldview. They contribute to the spiritual enrichment of the individual.
The role of values in the life of society
This category, in addition to representing some significance for society, also plays a certain role. For example, human development different values contributes to the acquisition of social experience, as a result of which he joins the culture, and this, in turn, affects the formation of his personality. Another vital role values in society is that a person strives to create new goods, while preserving old, already existing ones. In addition, the value of thoughts, actions, and various things is expressed in how important they are for the process social development, that is, the progress of society. And on a personal level - human development and self-improvement.
Classification
There are several classifications. For example, according to it, material and spiritual values are distinguished. But according to their significance, the latter are false and true. Classification is also carried out according to areas of activity, depending on their carrier, and according to the time of action. According to the first, they distinguish between economic, religious and aesthetic, the second - universal, group and personal values, and the third - eternal, long-term, short-term and momentary. In principle, there are other classifications, but they are too narrow.
Material and spiritual values
We have already talked about the first ones above; everything is clear with them. This is all material goods who surround us, who make our life possible. As for the spiritual, they are components of the inner world of people. And the initial categories here are good and evil. The former contribute to happiness, and the latter - everything that leads to destruction and is the cause of discontent and misfortune. Spiritual - that's what it is true values. However, to be such, they must coincide with significance.
Religious and aesthetic values
Religion is based on unconditional faith in God, and it does not require any proof. Values in this area are guidelines in the lives of believers, which are determined by the norms and motives of their actions and behavior in general. And aesthetic values are everything that gives a person pleasure. They are directly related to the concept of “beauty”. They are associated with creativity, with art. Beauty is the main category of aesthetic value. Creative people They devote their lives to creating beauty, not only for themselves, but also for others, wishing by this to bring true joy, delight, and admiration to others.
Personal values
Each person has his own personal orientation. And they have different people may be fundamentally different. What is significant in the eyes of one may not be valuable to another. For example, classical music, which brings fans of this genre into a state of ecstasy, may seem boring and uninteresting to some. Personal values are greatly influenced by such factors as upbringing, education, social circle, environment etc. Of course, most strong impact family influences personality. This is the environment in which a person begins his primary development. He receives his first idea of values in his family (group values), but with age he may accept some of them and reject others.
The following types of values are considered personal:
- those that are components of the meaning of human life;
- most common semantic formations which are based on reflexes;
- beliefs that relate to desirable behavior or the completion of something;
- objects and phenomena to which the individual has a weakness or is simply not indifferent;
- what is important to every person and what he considers his property.
These are the types of personal values.
A new approach to defining values
Values are opinions (beliefs). Some scientists think so. According to them, these are biased and cold ideas. But when they begin to activate, they mix with feelings, and at the same time receive a certain color. Others believe that the main values are the goals that people strive for - equality, freedom, welfare. It is also a way of behavior that contributes to the achievement of these goals: mercy, empathy, honesty, etc. According to the same theory, true values should act as certain standards guiding the assessment or choice of people, actions and events.
If social norms are a purely formal regulator of people’s behavior, which they receive from the outside: from traditions, moral precepts, legal codes, religious attitudes, etc., then personal values are an internal, emotionally mastered guideline for the subject’s activity. Value as an emotive attitude, due to its mental nature, is easily acquired by the individual. Ethics notes this fact in this way: “refracted through the prism of a person’s individual interests... a value that objectively expresses general social needs turns into the object of his own aspirations.” We can say that the motivation for purposeful human activity does not come from abstract external values: only by taking the form of personal value, individual significance, does a social ideal find a path to objective embodiment.
“Any universally valid value becomes truly significant only in an individual context,” wrote
MM. Bakhtin. And one cannot but agree with this. What is significant for society may be an empty phrase for an individual. “But I alone must take a definite volitional attitude towards historical humanity, I must affirm it as truly valuable to me, and by this everything that is valuable to it will become for me.”
Personal values are inner world a person, being an exponent of the stable, absolute, unchangeable, in contrast to the needs that are constantly changing depending on the current state of the subject’s life relations. Personal values, however, reflect not so much the dynamic aspects of the individual experience, how many invariant aspects of social and universal experience assimilated by the individual. Personal values also exist in the form of ideals, i.e. models of what should be. At the same time, in contrast to public values, which are recognized by the subject as external ideals and may not have an impact on his activities, personal values are norms that set guidelines individual activities this particular person.
“The person himself may not be aware at all whether he is implementing a value relationship to reality, and if so, what kind. The real power value attitude“You won’t get lost from this,” believes A. Dontsov.
We can say that personal values are the guiding force that performs its orientation functions in controlling human behavior. A value attitude expresses the position of a subject in the system of social relations and in culture, the nature of his needs, interests, and ideals. Reveals what he strives for, what he rejects, what he is partial to or indifferent to. The diversity of the very forms of value experience of reality is explained by the fact that qualitatively different objects of the value relationship also evoke qualitatively different emotions. From simple relationship, positive and negative, a whole range of experiences arises regarding all components of activity. The moment of value, the moment of experience and empathy is present in any act of human existence.
By mastering and transforming the natural world, man understands and interprets this world in a special way. Considering a thing, phenomenon or process as a value, the subject strives to identify their significance. At the same time, we are not talking about stating certain qualitative or quantitative characteristics as such: the object is posited by consciousness from an angle of view that is different from the cognitive one.
“Practically, the spiritual, value-worldview development of the world, formed by the individual, precedes the social-cognitive, scientific one. The latter occurs in the “force field” of the value-based worldview,” writes M. Bakhtin.
If cognition is a reflection of the relationship between objects, the result of which is new knowledge about the object, then this relationship can be defined as the meaning of one object for another. The specificity of the value relationship is that we are faced with a different kind of meaning, the meaning of an object for the subject. “...The subject is aware not only of the things themselves, their properties, but also of their significance for themselves, for society.” We can therefore say that there is a certain kind of distinction between the value attitude and the cognitive one. The world of values has a certain autonomy and self-sufficiency, presenting seemingly known things from a new angle.
The fact that consciousness is not reduced to abstract logical, rational forms, but includes experience and volitional orientation, has been specially studied by psychologists. Thus, S. L. Rubinstein wrote that “... human consciousness includes not only knowledge, but also the experience of what is significant in the world for a person due to its relationship to his needs and interests
It is clear that the value orientations of each individual person are purely individual. Various objects, falling into the field of axiological attraction of the subject, cause qualitatively different emotional and sensory reactions. In this sense, a value attitude can be considered as a socio-psychological phenomenon, as an element public consciousness with emotional and sensual overtones. The latter learns how the object really relates to the subject in only one way - emotional reaction to its practical connection with the object. Therefore, emotion is a direct assessment by the subject of an object that in one way or another affects his interests and does not leave him indifferent.
It is the emotional nature of the value relationship that makes human activity truly subjective and biased. Experience, a passionate attitude not only towards one’s own own condition, but also to the surrounding reality, to social environment and to himself as a person - these are the specific characteristics of a person as a subject of activity and thereby the creator of his own being and the transformer of every being with which he comes into contact. It is man who brings a personal, sensual element into the reality around him and thereby humanizes and spiritualizes it.