AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENT OF THE CONCEPT "THE VALUE OF OWN LIFE" (BASED ON THE RESULTS OF A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC EXPERIMENT)

Abstract

Relevance of the research. A sense of the value of one's own life and the peculiarities of its experience not sufficiently studied in domestic psychology. Understanding how this feeling arises and strengthens is necessary for the development of new technologies for psychological counselling and assistance to people facing various life problems. The aim of the study is to analyze the universal and unique features of the verbal behavior of subjects of different ages and sex in relation to the phenomenon of the value of their own life. Research methods. The subjects participated in a free associative experiment - writing five words that come to mind in connection with the phrase "The value of one's own life." Sample - 232 subjects (87 men and 145 women). The group of late adolescence consisted of 65 subjects aged 16 to 21 years. There were 81 subjects in the group of young people (22-30 years old). The mature group (61 people) was in the age range from 31 to 59 years. In the group of late maturity - 25 subjects. Results. Variants of semantic systems were identified, which are verbalizing in associations and involved in determining the direction of experiencing a sense of value of their own life among men and women, early age, young, mature and advanced age. These options broadly correspond to the six main sources of the value of one's own life. Conclusions. The value of one's own life is the willingness to experience the struggle for survival. This is the ability to deploy "techniques of being" when the subject responds to certain challenges of life. The identified male associates in the associative experiment have an external orientation and accentuate the idea of space / time. Women's associates are connected with the inner world, connected with personal and psycho-regulatory qualities. The types of age-related dynamics of associates were identified: “transversal”, “increasing”, “decreasing”, “bulging”.