The Role of Value Orientations and Basic Beliefs in Students' Choice of Interaction Positions

The relevance of the problem is connected with the importance of studying the factors that influence people’s choice, in this case students, positions of interaction and behavioral strategies. The purpose of this study was to identify the role of value orientations and basic beliefs in student's choice of interaction positions: coercion, manipulation, nonviolence and noninterference. The study was conducted among students from a number of universities in Moscow, Ivanovo and Cherepovets of the Russian Federation. 425 students took part in the study, 129 of them were male (30.35%), 296 female (69.65%) ages 17 to 25, average age was 19 (SD=1.25). The following diagnostic tools were used: the author's questionnaire to identify the positions of student interaction; the PVQ questionnaire. Schwartz's adaptation by N.M. Lebedeva; questionnaire of basic beliefs of the personality by R. Yanoff-Bulman in the adaptation by M.A. Padun, A.V. Kotelnikova. Based on correlation and regression analysis, it was found that the predictors of students choosing positions of coercion are a high level of the value of power combined with a low level of the values of security, benevolence and universalism. If beliefs in the value of Self, in their luck, and the perception of the world as unfairly arranged are added to this, then students will give priority to the position of manipulation. In the event that students are convinced of the justice in the world and they are dominated by the values of benevolence and universalism, they will choose a position of nonviolence. The fear of change, combined with a high level of the value of conformity and ill-will towards people, regardless of the severity of basic beliefs, will contribute to the choice of a position of non-interference. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it reveals the joint influence of student's value orientations and basic beliefs on the choice of interaction positions. Value orientations influence the choice of all four types of positions, and basic beliefs influence the choice of a position of manipulation and non–interference. As a result, the conclusion about the importance of formation of positive value orientations of students, especially values related to the manifestations of kindness to people and universalism, as well as the belief that the world should be built according to the laws of justice, which will act as a psychological condition for the development of student's ability to nonviolent interaction.