Success, Professionalism and Happiness: Analysis of Social Representations as Elements of Cognition

The article considers the features of the content of social ideas about success, happiness and professionalism. The study defines these concepts and emphasizes the current state of research on this topic. The empirical part presents the results of the study of ideas of such a social group as youth, through the analysis of the features inherent in a happy, successful person and a professional. The sample consisted of 168 respondents aged 20 to 40 years. During the study, the sample was divided into comparison groups: 20–28 and 29–40 years. The data collection method was the personality differential developed by the Bekhterev Research Institute. The analysis of the results was carried out using the nonparametric Mann – Whitney criterion, exploratory factor analysis. As a result of the study, it was established that in the considered ideas there is no intersection of con-tent fields; these ideas are stable and do not differ between representatives of the older and younger sub-groups. The most formalized and consistent is the idea of a professional.