Self-development
Every person must find his place in this world. But not everyone succeeds in this even throughout their entire life. I consider myself a happy person because I understood my purpose and decided on my main life goals before the age of 28. I learned this intuitively in the process of self-discovery. Only now I understand that this process is called self-determination and how important it is on the path of personal self-development!
What is self-determination?
Throughout their lives, people search for their purpose and place in this world. Self-determination is the process of a person choosing and establishing individual values, capabilities, needs, methods and norms of behavior, as well as the criteria by which he evaluates himself and his achievements.
Finding your purpose takes more than one year. This process is very complex and lasts throughout our lives. What is self-determination from a philosophical point of view? First of all, this is a person’s attempt to find and find the meaning of his existence. People constantly think about how to behave correctly in certain situations, when and who should be helped, what to do in order to bring maximum benefit to society - all this is self-determination.
Personal self-determination
Personal self-determination precedes life and professional self-determination; it is closely related to the question: “Who am I really?”
In society, you often have to wear masks and sometimes live with them all your life, correspondingly. Even when a person believes that he behaves the same at home and in public, he is disingenuous. If no one is looking at us, our true self emerges.
The crisis of 13 years is precisely due to the fact that the child often cannot accept the self that is revealed, so he tries to change it, disguise it, and sometimes even kill it. It is at this age that teenagers are susceptible to anorexia and suicide. This leaves an imprint on a person’s subsequent life.
The child faces a difficult task: to begin to perceive himself as he is, or to change himself to a state in which he begins to perceive himself.
The meaning of self-determination
A person’s self-determination plays the most important role in the formation and development of him as a person. People who could not find their place in the world are deeply unhappy. They do not see the meaning of their existence, and, accordingly, they have nothing to strive for, no goals that they would like to achieve. A person who has lost interest in life falls into deep depression and withdraws into himself.
Self-determination contributes to the socialization of the individual. It helps a person find a way out of difficult situations, resolve conflict situations correctly and with dignity, behave confidently in society, and observe etiquette standards.
Self-determination is an important step towards self-realization. A person who has correctly determined for himself what he wants to do in life achieves success in his career and becomes financially independent. If work brings not only material wealth, but also pleasure, people feel truly happy.
Self-determination as a structural and functional quality of personality
ANNOTATION
The article makes an attempt to show the relationships between the main, basic characteristics of a person. Attention is focused on the structure of personality. The areas in which the life process of a human individual unfolds are shown. The relationship between social position and self-determination of the individual is substantiated.
ABSTRACT
The article presents the endeavor to show the relationship among main and basic characteristics of a personality. The attention is focused on the structure of personality. The spheres of the life process of a human individual are shown. The relationship of social position and self-determination of a personality is substantiated.
Key words: individual, personality, activity, activity, qualities, self-determination, self-realization, responsibility.
Keywords: individual, personality, activity, activeness, qualities, self-determination, self-realization, responsibility.
One of the main functions of the individual is the creative development of social experience and the inclusion of a person in the system of social relations. All aspects of personality are manifested only in activity and in relationships with other people. Personality exists, manifests itself and is formed in activity and communication. Hence the most important characteristic of personality is the social state of a person, which in all its manifestations is connected with the lives of the people around him.
If an individual’s activity is organized in such a way that, by carrying it out, he gets the opportunity to become more fully involved in the system of social relations, to take a “new step” along the path of his movement in this system, then we can count on the formation of certain socially significant properties in him. Effective activity must be organized in such a way that its implementation by an individual reveals for him certain positives of social relations, includes him in these relations, and ensures the development of the individual’s life in the system of social relations and their reflection in his consciousness.
It is important that the realization and development of its potential significantly depends on what connections with other people and how this person is included. In joint activities, factors such as competition and cooperation (as varieties of achieving a better result) come into force. Competition plays the role of a kind of “catalyst” for the development of abilities, and cooperation (since it involves the distribution of functions) has a significant impact on the specialization of the abilities of different participants in joint activities.
V. F. Safin believes that the core characteristic of a personality is its self-determination: “the self-determination of a personality in relation to its social activity and civic maturity acts in relation to them as an independent functional-procedural core, which has the ability to prevent the real behavior of the individual and organize its behavior” [17, p. 23].
An increase in the level of personality organization necessarily leads to a change in the life goal set by a person. Any level of a higher order (quality) finds its manifestation in a person’s self-determination. An important socio-psychological pattern of personality development is that the individual is the bearer and exponent of public and collegial interests. But she can be their conscious subject only at a certain level of social maturity, when the personality has self-determined and, in this regard, improves its activity and increases responsibility.
In many scientific sources on problems related to personality, there is an idea about identifying the concepts of self-determination and the life position of an individual. Life position is a way of attracting an individual to the life of society; a set of views, beliefs, socially significant, primarily professional, skills and corresponding actions of an individual that realize his attitude to the world around him. That is, the life position of an individual is determined not by any of his actions or actions, but by a set of typical behavioral acts, a persistent line of behavior and activity. In particular, O. V. Kirichuk defines an active life position as “a system of a person’s moral attitude, first of all, to nature, of which he is a part; to society as a whole and the communities to which it belongs; to the main types of activities through which the internal connection with nature and society is carried out” [6, p. 15].
Self-determination has a close connection with the life, in particular social position of a person’s personality.
In accordance with the main spheres of life activity in the structure of self-determination, one can distinguish its relatively independent varieties: social, professional, socio-political, family, in the sphere of communication. Central here is social self-determination - the integration of young people into the main components of the social structure of society. Social self-determination is directly related to the choice of profession, the result of which is not only the acquired profession, but also a new work team into which young people join [15, p. 42]. Consequently, social self-determination includes life self-determination.
V.I. Zhuravlyov, analyzing the development of the personality of schoolchildren, uses the following concept of life self-determination: “The process of changes in the social state of education on the verge of the school and after school period, which are regulated by pedagogical and social factors, a process that is characterized by certain characteristics.” [5, p. 185]. As we see, the life self-determination of student youth is characterized primarily by its professional orientation, which is associated with the goal of becoming a qualified worker and getting out of a situation of “inferiority” as a member of society.
Social self-determination characterizes a person as an individual. This determines individuality, value, professional orientation, and the like. A person strives to make the right life choice, and at the same time influence the life processes of society at a certain level of his competence, to feel the influence of society.
Investigating the problem of holistic development of the individual, E. A. Yakuba considers social maturity, which is an expression of social activity as a quality of the individual, his culture, as an indicator of the preparedness and readiness of the individual to carry out social functions” [19, p. 7].
Personal activity is the unity of display, expression and implementation of external and internal tendencies of society. It is a socially mature personality that is able to staunchly demonstrate a value-based method of modeling, the content of socially significant activities, communication and behavior, in which the personality acquires the possibility of independent existence of a system in the interpersonal space. In the process of forming social activity, a person actively seeks, creates and transforms the conditions for satisfying socially significant needs in accordance with the position of the person, his values and the requirements applied to him. Social activity acts as a personal way of comparing oneself with other people, determining one’s position and the same characterizes social self-determination.
A socially mature person realizes his social self-determination, and through it responsibility and activity in the process of interaction with the outside world. The source of such activity is social needs. Social needs manifest a certain state of the individual’s psyche. To renew the achievements and shortcomings recreated by the psyche, it is necessary to renew the expenditure of the corresponding forces by identifying social activity depending on a certain level of social self-determination of a person’s personality. In society, these needs largely depend on the content and level of education received, and on the influence of the surrounding social environment.
Based on the fact that the social maturity of an individual manifests itself in the presence of logical relationships between the social self-determination of a person’s youth, their social activity and social responsibility, we believe that through these relationships, social maturity determines the level of development of the individual depending on the level of development of society. According to some authors, social activity “expresses the level of implementation of the functional characteristics of a social community, the level of general sociality of the individual, his internal need” [12, p. 6].
This state of its elements is determined precisely by the fact that self-determination, activity and responsibility can be realized in practical activity if there are relationships between them in the structure of the individual.
The growth of consciousness, self-awareness, self-determination of a person in our days, on the one hand, the complication of the situation and the expansion of the space for its effective functioning, on the other, stimulates an increase in a person’s need to highlight, define and “affirm” himself in society, to realize his capabilities and creative abilities and recognition.
The process of growing up and maturing of a person is characterized by the development of processes that are heterogeneous in nature and the interaction of all manifestations of a person as a biopsychosocial being. This complex process of holistic development is inextricably linked with his educational activities, with the satisfaction of basic human needs for knowledge necessary for life and its cognition. Such integral structural and functional formations as criteria for holistic human development are formed at the intersection of heterogeneous development processes of a growing person, his ontogenesis and sociogenesis, maturation and education, self-development and education.
Psychologists connect the professional picture of the world with human abilities, which determine the choice of profession and professional development. In scientific developments, the widely known concept of D. E. Super, which boils down to this: people are characterized by different abilities, interests and personality traits; each person corresponds to a number of professions, and a profession to a number of individuals; professional development has several successive stages and phases; the features of this development are determined by the socio-economic level of the parents, the characteristics of the individual, and his professional capabilities [10].
Self-realization is a process of priority change in the depths of a person’s holistic personal and active state, in the process of which one’s spiritual essence is self-revealed, renewed and improved. This is possible only as a result of great purposeful work on oneself, with one’s own personality, that is, understanding the true goals of one’s life, and then highlighting them with the help of qualitative, basic principles of one’s personality and individuality. Consequently, self-realization is creativity and a form of existential revelation of a person.
Many researchers consider self-realization as the result of a person’s self-realization in various fields of activity. That is, we can say that “acme” is the degree of realization itself. At the same time, the main factor in achieving the state of “acme” in the end, as a result of self-realization, is the self-development of the individual.
Based on the acmeological approach, it is advisable to consider “acme” and self-realization not as ideal images, but as a person’s constant movement towards them through the relationship of the real characteristics of human development with the optimal model of self-development. A person does not simply realize himself by making a choice between reproductive methods of development; he qualitatively transforms himself, removes psychological barriers, rethinks life expectations, seeks opportunities for the development of acmeologically significant qualities, and produces his own trajectory of self-development.
In a personality that effectively forms social maturity, such qualities as the ability for self-transcendence, responsibility for self-fulfillment and readiness for self-development and self-restoration, the constant emergence of new forms and ways of satisfying the need for self-fulfillment are formed. These personal qualities, predetermined, on the one hand, by the level of social and professional maturity, and on the other, themselves act as determinants of effectiveness in achieving acme and implementation itself.
At the same time, from an internal position, social maturity is a personal new formation that predetermines the formation of a person as an integrity, the productivity of its self-realization and the optimality of the individual trajectory of achieving “acme” as degrees of self-realization. A high level of social maturity allows a person to comprehend the process of self-development as a life value, to create conditions for self-improvement and self-realization in the process of life, to cognize, analyze, and creatively identify one’s “self.”
B.F. Lomov draws attention to the fact that in psychology, when studying activity, research into its subject, means, and conditions should be carried out only to understand the processes, states and properties of the subject. He is about [9, p. 203]. The assessment of this object (its quality, size, etc.), its social and individual value, usefulness, significance for professionalization, and the like is a criterion of professional ability, the level of professionalism of the subject.
Analyzing the problem of self-determination of the personality of a future specialist as one of the criteria for the formation of her social and professional maturity, we will clarify some aspects of the study of self-determination in the scientific literature. K.K. Platonov respects: “professional self-determination is the degree of self-esteem as a specialist in the relevant profession; the content side of the orientation of a person who acts according to his vocation; an important object of personality formation in the process of professional guidance" [14, p. 125-126].
Scientists consider personal self-determination from the point of view of the influence of various social factors on its development. The combination of such factors forms a conditional space (educational environment), in which individual self-determination has the opportunity to be effectively realized. The criteria for self-determination of a student’s personality are educational and life self-determination.
Life self-determination of students is a complex scientific problem that has multidimensional content. According to G.P. Nikov: “a more complex and responsible period in the life of young generations is when their upbringing under the guidance of adults is completed, and they are directed on an independent path. This means that the guardianship of elders ends, the degree of freedom of young people and their independence in decision-making expands: the time of social maturity comes.” [11, p. 58]. It is advisable to consider self-determination as a specific characteristic of personality.
Psychological studies indicate a correlation between responsibility and self-determination. As V.F. Safin rightly notes, responsibility is a defining and system-forming feature of a person’s self-determination. He is about [17, p. 151].
Independence is a system-forming sign of personal self-determination. “Behind any social standards, adulthood means, on the one hand, social adaptation, overcoming youthful maximalism, and on the other, independence and responsibility,” writes I. S. Kon [7, p. 4].
Demonstration of the social activity of the individual consists of transformation and initiative in all areas of public life. On the basis of this, self-determination, self-expression, self-affirmation, self-government and self-education of the individual are formed.
The nature of activity is determined and mediated by higher life needs. The role of activity, relative to coordination, is to mediate between the elements of the system (activity, communication, etc.), to the necessary extent of social and personal interactions with the help of which they are optimally implemented. If the activity has not yet been formed, if the personality itself and its highest life needs have not been formed, the activity can act not as a coordinator, but as a disintegrator of human life.
Psychological aspects of individual social activity are studied by K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya [1]. She pays special attention to two aspects of social activity: organizing personal time and building a life strategy. In the first case, activity is considered as a practically effective form of realizing time. As a concept, personal time contains a subjective way of realizing the subjective, form, intensity, quality of implementation. Activity is the real organization of life time, that is, the structuring of objective social and natural time, the transformation of their influence, the removal of restrictions, the expansion of opportunities, the change of directions.
If an activity provides for social normative forms, structures, methods and requirements that are used to achieve a result, then the activity is always specific and individual and means the independence of the subject who carries out the activity. It is advisable to consider activity both as a form of manifestation and as a way of carrying out activity.
In the pedagogical analysis of the category “social activity of the individual,” we adhere to the point of view according to which the unity of the environment and its assessment are determined by the practical, transformative activity of the individual as a subject of social processes.
We adhere to the position that the social activity of an individual, on the one hand, is the level of its development, and on the other hand, it is a hierarchy of activities that, at successively variable stages of personality development, become leading for the successful solution of educational and educational tasks.
Social activity discourages the contradiction and unity of social and individual human needs. Activity consists of a focus on serving the interests of society, the professional community, and the formation of mastery of the knowledge that is needed to attract active work.
Activities can contribute to the fullest development of the inner world of the individual. An indicator of a high level of activity is the correspondence of a person’s conscious, purposeful, active and creative attitude to activity. The quality of individual activity in society is manifested through social activity based on transformation and initiative in all spheres of society.
For a teenager, it is important to help in forming a life strategy that is focused on success, on achieving the highest levels of professionalism in work, in the chosen specialty. It is necessary to remove negative attitudes and concerns of the teenager, and analyze with him the connection between his orientations (provided that they exist) and spiritual and moral values.
At the high school level, the pedagogical process and pedagogical support for the development of a teenager are aimed at creating conditions and ensuring the process of realizing the social maturity of a graduate, his readiness for self-determination in life. The defining sociomoral qualities of a person of this period are: independence of action, independence of judgment, responsibility for choices made, intellectual development, the ability to be creative and self-development.
Indicators of social maturity as a school graduate include: systematic knowledge about the world, integrity of the worldview to which knowledge about man belongs; persistent professional choice and high motivation to achieve success in life; abilities for self-regulation of behavior, adaptation in society and self-realization in legitimate activities; readiness to maintain one’s health in intensive conditions of study and work, to create a healthy family, and responsibility for decisions made; stability of sociomoral orientations, civic position, high spiritual and moral potential for personal development.
Subjective experience becomes possible only as a result of relating to oneself as an object. External objects become objects for the subject only when the first, elementary act of self-knowledge appears.
The relationship itself develops not as a property that independently functions in its genesis and development, but as a construct of the process of formation of a new reality of being - the “self” of a person, and therefore provides for its implementation in the system of others, in the only movement of the deployment of the “self”, considering its obligatory moments structuring identification, an appropriate level of self-understanding and self-determination. Self-understanding and self-determination are distinguished from the abilities to relate and be aware of oneself as such. Such abilities are special, they are caused by the need in the process of anthropogenesis by the fact that structural and content characteristics objectively exist, in the process in which a complete integrity was formed, which ensures the production and re-creation of man as a fundamentally new living phenomenon, which realizes a new “type” of social existence , its development, and therefore the development of the “self”.
When the problem of personality, its self-determination, appears, then only by going beyond the psychology of consciousness, into the sphere of spirit, can one recognize the core of personality, capable of self-determining its destiny, its character.
A person can control not only his behavior, but also transform himself.
Self-determination of personality is the implementation of conscious choice. A person is able to influence his character, control his states, mental processes, as well as his motives and meanings, and arbitrarily change the significance of various alternatives.
The subject of perception and self-esteem itself can be certain aspects of personality, certain manifestations of it. Personal development involves its continuous evolution as a whole. In addition, a person can influence the evolution of his personality.
Some authors consider identification as a special social phenomenon, as a person’s special ability to define himself and relate to himself in comparison with others and in relationships with others, and argue that it precedes all forms of definition and self-determination of the individual, expressing the objective need to adapt to society as a real environment its existence and at the same time defining it.
The need for self-understanding, self-knowledge, actualization itself, actualization itself and other “self” phenomena develops along with the expansion of a person’s knowledge about the world and about himself, with the growth of subjective capabilities and the complication of tasks that appear before a person.
Self-realization in scientific research is considered as a structural formation of social self-determination and social activity. “In the scientific literature, in accordance with certain levels of the social essence of the individual, it is legitimate to separate universal, cultural-civilizational, national, social-group, individual and other aspects of self-realization” [14, p. 25].
Self-realization is “that integrating factor that is associated with the solution of problems of life self-determination, the choice of living environments that are most adequate for the very implementation and formation of life strategies” [3, p. 7], and “the desire for creative self-realization is a manifestation of the real human nature, which leaves it no choice” [3, p. 25].
There is a cultural and historical range within which the transition takes place from self-realization as a concomitant phenomenon, as an obligatory component of any interaction of the system with the environment, to self-realization as a conscious way of existence of the individual. Self-realization begins to determine the individual’s lifestyle, and the multidimensional world of a person appears in its value coordinates - as a space for self-realization, self-realization and self-creation” [3, p. 41].
In the most general understanding, self-realization as the process of realizing oneself is the realization of oneself in life and everyday activities, the search and affirmation of one’s special path in this world, one’s values and the meaning of one’s existence at any given time. Self-realization occurs when a person has a strong stimulating motive for personal growth” [8, p. 52].
Self-determination appears as a process of conscious correlation of marked images with the intention of bringing the images into line with the character by adjusting either one image to another, or vice versa [2]. It is the manipulative “I” that carries out self-determination, takes responsibility for the process and the result, brings conservation into the resulting result, and then carries out the construction of behavior that corresponds to the result of self-determination. This “I” provides for the goal-oriented self-organization of a person and submission to the requirements of the norm, as well as the adjustment of behavior to the norm or response to changes in the situation.
Consequently, in order to carry out civilizational self-organization, self-determination, self-attitude, self-correction and the like in educational activities, it is necessary to proactively form the civilizational “self” of the individual.
List of references: 1. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya K. A. Life strategy / Abulkhanova-Slavskaya K. A. - M.: Mysl, 1991. - 299 p. 2. Anisimov O.S. Methodology and spiritual development in the 21st century / O.S. Anisimov. – M., 2008. 3. Galazhinsky E. V. Systemic determination of personal self-realization: dissertation. ... dr. psychol. Sciences / E. V. Galazhinsky. – Tomsk, 2002. 4. Encyclopedia of lighting / Academician. ped. Sciences of Ukraine; chief editor V.G. Flint. – K.: Yurinkom Inter, 2008. – 1040 p. 5. Zhuravlev V.I. Questions of life self-determination of high school graduates / V.I. Zhuravlev. – Rostov-on-Don, 1972. – 206 p. 6. Kirichuk O. V. Formation in a student’s active life position / O. V. Kirichuk. – K.: Radyanska School, 1983. – 136 p. 7. Kon I. S. In search of oneself: personality and self-awareness / I. S. Kon. – M.: Politizdat, 1984. – 335 p. 8. Korostyleva L. A. Psychology of personal self-realization: marriage and family relations / L. A. Korostyleva. – St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Publishing House. Univ., 2000. – 292 p. 9. Lomov B. F. Personality in the system of public relations / Lomov B. F. - M.: Academy, 2005. 10. Mikhailov I. V. The problem of professional activity in the works of D. E. Super / I. V. Mikhailov / / Questions of psychology. – 1977. – No. 5., p. 110–122. 11. Nikov G. P. Life self-determination as a pedagogical problem / G. P. Nikov // Questions of self-determination of personality and its activity. – Ufa, 1985. – pp. 58–64. 12. Novikov B.V. Social activity as a measure of a person’s initiative / B.V. Novikov //. Novikov B.V. Creativity and philosophy. – K., 1989. 13. Platonov K.K. A brief dictionary of the system of psychological concepts: [textbook. educational aid institutions of vocational education] / Platonov K.K. - M.: Higher school, 1984, - 174 p. 14. Platonov K. K. Structure and development of personality / Platonov K. K. - M.: Nauka, 1986. - 256 p. 15. Radul V.V. Social maturity of the teacher’s specialness: factors of formation / V.V. Radul. – K.: Vishcha School, 2008. – 240 p. 16. Saar E. A. The role of the illumination system in the life of self-important youth / E. A. Saar // Philosophical Thought. – 1986. – No. 5. – P. 41–4 17. Safin V.F. Psychology of personality self-determination: [textbook. allowance] / V.F. Safin / Sverdlovsk Pedagogical Institute. – Sverdlovsk, 1986. – 142 p. 18. Sociological and pedagogical dictionary / Ed. V.V. Radula. - Kiev: “ExOb”, 2004. - 304 p. 19. Yakuba E. A. The concept of social activity of the individual / E. A. Yakuba // Social activity of a specialist: origins and mechanism of formation (sociological analysis). – Kharkov, KhSU Publishing House “Vishcha School”, 1983.
Types of self-determination
Conventionally, we can distinguish 3 types of self-determination: personal, professional and life. All of them are closely related to each other and very often intersect.
Personal self-determination is inextricably linked with a person’s values. By forming them, people decide what they should be, what standards of behavior are acceptable to them, how to treat other people, how to evaluate themselves and their actions.
Professional self-determination consists in a person choosing a specialization, deciding who to become and what kind of work he will like. The first step towards this is getting an education.
Life self-determination is a choice of strategy and lifestyle. It is very important for every person to understand the meaning of his existence and act in accordance with it.
All these types of self-determination constantly interact with each other based on cause-and-effect relationships. Some of them either serve as a prerequisite for the formation of others, or exist and develop simultaneously.
Adolescent self-determination
At what age can we talk about self-determination? Even a preschool child can consciously choose patterns of behavior: I will be capricious in order to... But this question becomes relevant in adolescence, when a teenager receives the fullness of choice, or rather “faces” it, because it’s time to choose. The signal that a teenager has “self-determined” is that he himself makes decisions about his choice and is responsible for them
. That is, he does not blame his parents if something goes wrong.
Of all types of self-determination for a teenager
the social and intragroup come to the fore. He is looking for his place among his peers in the classroom, in the sports section or choir, in the yard.
Self-determination is the most important stage of growing up. A self-determined teenager means a socially mature teenager, ready for adulthood. This is the kind of personality parents strive to raise. Stages of adolescent self-determination:
① Recognizes himself as part of a society in which social norms, values and assessments operate. ② Compares himself with others and “takes on” the requirements of reality. ③ Evaluates himself. ④ Learns to choose a social role, civic position, values, profession.
In Western psychology, the process of personal self-determination is called identity formation
. This term emphasizes that in order to grow up, a person needs to learn to separate himself from the world around him, understand his uniqueness and find his place in the outside world.
Professional self-determination
Every person has the right to self-determination - both personal and professional. From early childhood, a child is asked what he wants to become. This question becomes truly acute before graduation, when a young person needs to decide on a future specialty and further educational institution.
In order not to make a mistake with your choice, you need to adequately assess your interests and capabilities, as well as learn as much as possible about the profession you like. The prestige of the specialty and how well it is paid are of considerable importance. As a rule, great attention is paid to career guidance for schoolchildren. Universities and colleges organize open days for applicants, during which they talk in detail about each specialty, its pros and cons. Various tests and trainings to identify aptitude for a particular field of activity can help in professional self-determination.
Choosing a specialty is quite a difficult matter. Many people cannot immediately correctly decide on their profession. Having started training or having already completed it and going to work, very often a person is disappointed in his choice. That's why we have so many people getting a second education.
In psychology, personal and social self-determination are distinguished
Personal self-determination is the search for your place in life, your life strategy and determining the criteria for success in your personal life and professional activities. If you look deeper, it is the search for your true self and your purpose.
Social self-determination is the determination of one’s place in society, belonging to a certain social circle or group of people. This is the formation of social awareness, determination of one’s own views on religion, politics, philosophy of life and morality.
The need for personal, social and professional self-determination arises at the age of 15-17. This is early adolescence, when high school students are preparing to enter universities, choose a future profession and live independently. At this age it is too early to talk about conscious self-determination. It is more correct to talk about the psychological readiness of a young person for self-determination.
Personal and life self-determination of a person
Each person is unique and independently chooses his own path of development. What is personal self-determination? First of all, these are the values that a person places above all else.
Several areas of personality development can be identified. Someone chooses spiritual improvement as a priority. At the same time, a person must go through a difficult path, cleanse himself of bad thoughts, shortcomings, addictions and devote himself to serving God.
Another area of personal development is caring for loved ones. In this case, a person’s main values are children, family, and friendship.
Some people live exclusively for themselves. They try to satisfy all their needs, travel, and do not deny themselves anything. Sometimes the goal of such people is self-realization and achieving maximum success in terms of their career.
Not every person manages to easily find their path in life. For some, the search for oneself drags on and becomes an independent direction of personal development.
The problem of self-determination
In search of his place in the world, a person may face a lot of problems. The main difficulty is choosing a suitable profession. Many schoolchildren do not know at all what they want to become in the future. They are used to living without problems and worries, not thinking about tomorrow and what self-determination is. It is very difficult for them to make such a responsible choice.
Some young people do not decide on their own what to become in the future. The choice is made for them by parents who try to choose the highest paying specialty for their child, without thinking at all about his interests. As a result, schoolchildren do not have the slightest idea of what they will do for the rest of their lives, or, even before starting their studies, they hate their future profession.
There are also many problems with personal self-determination. Very often, people who are confused about themselves and their values turn to psychologists for consultations. Difficult life situations cause seemingly unshakable values to shake, as a result of which a person loses the meaning of his existence. Various trainings, seminars and high-quality psychological support from loved ones and specialists help to cope with this.
Types of personal self-determination
This classification was proposed by one of the psychologists more than twenty years ago:
- harmonious self-determination;
- stagnating self-determination;
- careless self-determination;
- negative self-definition;
- protective self-determination.
What is harmonious self-determination? This is a positive assessment of the present, when a person is satisfied with what is happening to him now, he looks positively into the future and is convinced that all his plans will come true.
Stagnating self-determination is characterized by satisfaction with one’s present, but fear of the future, fear of changes in life. This can trigger the development of self-doubt.
What is careless self-determination? It is characterized by a positive assessment of the present, but irresponsibility towards the future, the hope that everything will be resolved by itself or that someone will help.
Negative self-determination is dissatisfaction with the present; everything that is happening at the moment is considered wrong and dysfunctional. There are no plans for the future, everything is done forcedly and according to the flow.
Defensive self-determination is dissatisfaction with the current situation, which is interpreted by the individual as temporary difficulties. The future is seen as positive and with many prospects for self-realization.
