THE IMAGE OF A VOLUNTEER IN THE VIEW OF RUSSIAN YOUTH: ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF AN ASSOCIATIVE EXPERIMENT

Aim. Research and description of the image of a volunteer in the minds of people who are not involved in volunteer activities. Methodology. Data collection was carried out by the method of a group associative experiment. The respondents were given an incentive to evaluate the “volunteer”. The responses (associative reactions) were submitted to a Google-form. The semantic field of the “volunteer” stimulus under study was analyzed by calculating the absolute frequencies of associations and ranks. Semantic universals were identified, which included associations used by the respondents for a reason. During the analysis, 313 associations were identified, which were distributed by frequency of occurrence. Semantic groups of associations were also identified and described. Results. The article presents the results of a study aimed at identifying the image of a volunteer through the analysis of associative reactions of respondents – people who are not involved in volunteer activities. In the opinion of a group of respondents, volunteers are kind and helpful people who selflessly help others. In the semantic field of the studied stimulus, 5 semantic groups were identified – the main semantic categories describing: 1) the direction of the volunteer’s activity, 2) the characteristics of interpersonal relationships, 3) the basis of the volunteer’s activity, 4) active involvement, 5) emotional involvement. The respondents’ presentation reflects the main characteristics of the volunteers’ activities, as well as their personal and emotional characteristics, and the parameters of interpersonal relationships with others. Research implications. The results of the study complement the theoretical material of the currently available works on the study of the personality of a volunteer. The data obtained during the research can be used within the framework of volunteer organizations and movements to solve the problems of involving people in volunteerism, psychological counseling and individual counseling of volunteers in order to form their psychological readiness for volunteering, as well as their psychological support in the process activities.