Values and motives of personality in the initial period of professional development

Abstract

The study examines conflict within the value–motivational sphere of college students during the initial stage of professional development (the first year of study) from the perspectives of existential and subject–activity methodological approaches. The hypothesis tested was that a change in leading activity and in the social situation of development may serve as objective conditions for experiencing a psychological crisis manifested as a conflict between normative and instrumental values, thereby affecting the structure of academic motivation. Consistent with other psychological crises, this phenomenon is existential in nature, and its resolution involves transformation of the individual value system and the motivational–need sphere as the core of personality. The total sample comprised 104 first-year college students, including 66 females (67.9%) and 38 males (32.1%). The instruments employed were the Personal Values Questionnaire (S. Schwartz) and the Academic Motivation Scales (T. Gordeeva et al.). The findings indicate that the priority normative values (ranks 1-3) among first-year students are self-direction, hedonism, and conformity. Analysis of the academic motivation profile for the sample as a whole revealed that participation in secondary vocational education is primarily driven by intrinsic motivation and self-respect motives. However, these motivational factors do not correlate with the priority components of the value sphere, which may be interpreted as a projection of an internal conflict within the “values–motives” system. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified four clusters reflecting psychological and gender-­specific characteristics of students’ value–motivational structures. The identified phenomenological configurations of personal values and academic motives provide a basis for targeted psychological and pedagogical support of first-year students.