Social psychology

This article presents the results of a study of sociometric status and its relation to personal characteristics and educational activities conducted on 96 first-year and 52 second-year students at the Moscow Theatre College. The sociometric study included three sets of questions combining the everyday life and communication of a student: educational activities, leadership and interpersonal communication. To determine the diagnostics of personality characteristics, Cattell’s multiple-factor personality questionnaire 16 PF was used.

The comparative analysis of the group unity sociometric index has shown that there is more mutuality in the choices dealing with interpersonal communication than in the choices dealing with professional activities. The grades that teachers give in actor training appear as a steady focus that determines the degree of leadership/reject not only in the professional but also in the social and interpersonal spheres. The high level of motivation (energy and determination) captured by Cattell’s factor test Q4 is one of the most significant qualities that determines the number of choices in various spheres of student activity (mastering the profession, leadership qualities and interpersonal communication).

Currently, in the Russian Federation more and more attention is being paid to the quality of human capital. The innovative future of the country as a whole and its regions in particular depends on having young people with an active lifestyle, a high level of education, and a desire to be included in the development process of their country, region, city, or town. In most regions of the Russian Federation, programs and projects are supported that promote the self-actualization of young people and create conditions to ensure a full and rich life for the younger generation. But, despite these measures, as well as major government funding, the process of active internal migration and the outflow of talented young people from provincial areas into the central regions, as well as from rural to urban settlements, lead to the significant negative skewing of socioeconomic development in the regions of the Russian Federation. Thus, these are the issues: which characteristics of life in a megalopolis are valuable and attractive to young people and are there differences in the images of a big city held by native young people and newcomers.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the characteristics of the value-sense and need-motivational spheres of native and newcomer youth in a megalopolis as well as to reveal the specifics of their images of a contemporary megalopolis. A comprehensive study conducted in Ekaterinburg among young people in the senior classes of secondary schools, colleges, and universities, as well as among young working men and women (N = 1108; ages 17-25), disclosed the base values in the subjective evaluation of the environment of a megalopolis by native and newcomer youth. In accordance with the objectives of the study, the sample was divided into two contrasting groups: native residents of Ekaterinburg (living there since birth) 437; newcomer residents of Ekaterinburg (living there fewer than 3 years) who were actively adapting to life in the megalopolis at the time the of the study 671 people. The study was conducted with the use of age-specific characteristics of a battery of diagnostic instruments. This article describes the specifics of the value orientations and evaluations of the image of the city among native and newcomer young people. Value determinants of the assessment of the environment of the big city by the native respondents for the most part had a social focus, and at the same time this category of young people generally did not seek to dominate and manage the environment of the megalopolis. The newcomer young people had an intense orientation to values. This orientation ensured their adaptation to and formation of a positive image of the city as a potential location for their personal self-realization.