Referent personality. Meaning of the term: reference group

Nizhny Novgorod industrial enterprises must ensure “almost 100% participation of workers, members of their families, as well as veterans” in the upcoming presidential elections. This is stated in the methodological recommendations that they received. Kommersant's sources say that the letter allegedly came from the regional Ministry of Industry. They deny their participation in the preparation and distribution of the document. The heads of industrial enterprises differed in their assessment of the methodology for attracting employees to elections: some believe that whether to go to the polls is a personal matter for each employee, others that in this way they will give subordinates the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right.

As stated in the “methodological recommendations” (the document is in Kommersant’s possession), the main principle of working with voters should be “gentleness”; they cannot be forced to participate in elections and administrative resources cannot be used. Top managers must communicate directly with employees and engage leaders public opinion(“CROWBAR”) to talking with them. It is also prohibited to campaign for a specific candidate. Enterprise managers must bring employees to the polls in “five touches.”

“First Touch” involves creating an “internal reference group” of employees and veterans. Each of them must ensure the participation of 25–30 employees, members of their families and veterans in the elections. Information about this “mobilization structure” must be passed on to the responsible person in the ministry (which one is not specified in the document - “Kommersant”). In addition, the manager must create a system for obtaining and controlling information - what exactly and for what purpose is not stated. He should also “build a management vertical” to lead the “mobilization” of employees for the elections.

The “second touch” requires holding “motivating” meetings with the team and veterans, to which the “LOMs” should be invited. The ministry will provide a “speech module” to those responsible for the event, the letter says. In the meantime, “reference persons,” using their personal authority, must hold meetings and conversations with colleagues until February 15, motivating them to come to the polls. In addition, enterprises need to compile lists of employees linked to precinct election commissions. It is recommended to pay special attention to those who do not live according to registration. It is prohibited to add family members working at other enterprises to the list to avoid repetition.

The “third touch” should be direct appeals from top managers to workforces and veterans. Samples of such applications must be sent to the ministry.

“The Fourth Touch” is an invitation to elections. By March 15, personal invitations must be delivered to all employees and veterans indicating the location and opening hours of their polling stations.

In the “fifth touch,” one to three days before the elections, enterprise directors are advised to personally call all employees with the help of heads of structural divisions, trade union committees, “LOMs” and veterans.

A separate paragraph describes the work of the head of the enterprise and reference persons on voting day. By mid-day, they need to monitor turnout at polling stations by calling employees. Based on the data received, the lists of absentees should be clarified and they should be reminded of the need to visit polling stations. Those who refuse may be visited by reference persons or special “mobile teams”, the functionality of which is not disclosed in the manual. At each stage of work, intermediate and final results must be sent to the ministry.

Representatives of several large enterprises Nizhny Novgorod region They told Kommersant that they had received the manual, but refused to officially comment on the contents of the document and their attitude towards it. The head of one plant told Kommersant that he did not want to in any way advise employees to come to the polls, because it was “everyone’s personal matter.” At another enterprise they believe that the letter is of a general advisory nature and does not advocate for anyone, therefore the plant management considers it their duty to give each employee the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right.

The government of the Nizhny Novgorod region denies involvement in the distribution methodological recommendations. They stated that they did not develop or distribute such a document. “At the same time, the government stands for providing citizens with maximum opportunities to exercise their voting rights and for fully informing them about the current provisions of the election legislation. For these purposes, it will interact with enterprises and organizations of the Nizhny Novgorod region in an official manner and within the framework of current legislation,” says the response to the press service of the regional cabinet.

Chairman of the Board of the Center for Political Technologies Boris Makarenko called the methods described in the document “soft administrative mobilization”, in which “there is no coercion, threats or instructions for whom to vote”: “Methods of administrative mobilization give varying effectiveness in different situations and in different audiences. How closer person to the budget, the more likely it is that it will react to these mobilization methods. In my opinion, the turnout of industrial enterprise workers will be lower than that of employees budgetary organizations" The political scientist believes that officials are not faced with the task of ensuring the maximum percentage of votes for one of the candidates by increasing turnout: “Who to vote for is less important in this case, because the priority for the authorities is increasing turnout. The winner's result will be high in any case. A few percentage points don’t matter.”

Andrey Repin, Alexandra Vikulova

Referentiality- this is the ability of a group to indirectly influence the emergence and formation of opinions, ideals, and human behavior. This interaction factor has no relationship with emotional attachments and reactions (judgments emotionally significant person may be perceived with less weight than the opinion of an emotionally neutral person). The values ​​inherent in an individual are not formed from the ideals of a group to which a person’s affiliation is exclusively formal, but are formed by a grouping of people to which the individual aspires or feels an internal involvement.

To provide a referent impact, it is not necessary to be in direct contact, be formally significant, or even realistic. In the process of growing up, standard personality groupings change, and the level of their significance changes, relative to the shift in sympathies. In psychology, a referentometry technique has appeared, the main indicators of which are the values ​​of sympathy and antipathy. A mature personality is considered a person who has mastered the ability to focus less on society, and more on his own worldview and moral principles.

Knowledge of reference relationships as a system and understanding of their functioning facilitates the construction of group sessions of psychological work for the purpose of correction, both within the group space and individual individuals. Referentiality is used, in addition to psychology, in linguistics, biology, sociology, etc.

What is referentiality?

With the advent of the social structure of society, a person, upon being born, already belongs to various groups. A newborn baby already has social groups (parental family, national and spiritual environment), they are all divided according to social, spiritual and financial status. Further, when a person develops, the number of group affiliations grows, and awareness appears, and not the givenness of joining them.

The definition of reference was introduced by G. Hyman, and he understood reference as a type of relationship in which the opinion that a person develops regarding the characteristics of himself and the world, values ​​and goals, the feeling and definition of life principles are related to which group he belongs to, with whom relates itself. The object of reference relationships can be people or an individual, whether really existing or not.

Referentiality itself has the ability to manifest itself during the interaction of the subject with significant objects in group activity. Objects can be understood as participants in the activity, as well as their emotional reactions, character traits, and emerging difficulties. This type of interaction is mediated and occurs through the individual’s appeal in a situation of orientation of his assessments to a significant reference group. According to the mechanism of action, reference relationships are divided into non-internalized (when behavior is dictated from the outside) and internalized (conditioned not by external influences, but by consciously processed factors that have already become internal to the person).

Referentiality displays the measure of significance of an object or grouping, and this significance exists exclusively in the perception of a specific subject in relation to objects. Belonging to certain groups of people changes personality through the norms inherent in these associations.

Intergroup reference occurs when a person strives to achieve, turns to a certain external reference group, which determines core values and socially significant norms that correspond to her worldview. Intergroup reference is determined by the social attitudes of the group, its values, and development vectors.

Referentiality has a broad influence on a person’s reactions and personality, which comes from the demands of society to obey its norms and conform to inherent standards in behavior. A deeper influence is value-oriented, when a person absorbs the moral and ethical rules of a given group; this is an internal process of acceptance that cannot be imposed by demands from the outside. And the last layer of influence is informational, since information emanating from a positively perceived reference group does not undergo the proper level of criticism and is considered a priori by a person as correct, trustworthy and worthy of implementation.

Principle of reference

Of unique importance to the study of personality is the study not only of individual characteristics, but also of intergroup tendencies and relationships that contribute to the development of human reactions and views.

The definition of reference is used in the construction of experimental psychodiagnostic studies, which are based on certain principles. This is the principle of adequacy (correspondence of the research method to the phenomenon being studied), parallelism (registration of indicators parallel to the process being studied), extremeness (creation of such critical situation, when the studied properties are most clearly manifested), gradient registration (registration of parameters in diverse situations), sequential explanation (using only the two closest levels of generalization to explain), psychological expediency (not all processes have psychological nature) and the principle of reference.

The principle of reference is used to simplify and rationalize the research process in situations where the entire system under study is displayed in a single location, as if in focus. In this case, there is no need to carry out a huge number of registration data, which speeds up the research process and increases its accuracy and efficiency. This principle applies to other scientific fields, where similar mapping laws apply.

When studying a person’s attitude to various groups of people, it is possible to draw up his personal portrait, identify his motivational orientation, and professional orientation. The study of the system of these relationships is not only a multifaceted method of psychodiagnostics, but also a method of formation and development of personality, its leading orientations, and motives.

The principle of reference in questions is important pedagogical activity. Identifying the child’s standard groupings, significant ideas and people helps to form the necessary personality qualities. With the correct use of this data and through the use of the principle of reference, it is possible to push a person to certain judgments and actions. What nature or direction they will be depends on the significant grouping, since the child will not particularly critically perceive the information provided by the reference group or its representative.

Group reference

Serves for a person as a reference point and source of behavioral styles, exteriorized or interiorized norms and orders, which are subsequently used by him to directly compare the characteristics of himself, ongoing events, and the behavior of people around him; may be real or conditional.

There are normative (when the source comes as edification) and comparative (when the source is a standard for assessing and comparing oneself and society) reference groups; positive (whose views, foundations and rules are an example and guideline where the individual wants to join) and negative (the opposition of the values ​​of this group to the values ​​of the individual, causing rejection). There are information, value, utilitarian and self-identification groups.

Information – a group where a person trusts the outgoing information, without particularly subjecting it to criticism and checking the parameters of reliability and reliability.

A value group is a group that promotes the values ​​and ideas that a person adheres to (real or imaginary).

Utilitarian – a group that is capable and has the necessary capabilities and tools for rewarding or punishing.

A self-identification group is a real membership group that forces a person to follow the norms and styles of behavior that it approves.

Reference groups are standard groups, belonging to which is considered and internally assessed by the individual as favorable development events. Presence in a reference group means not so much an actual state as a feeling of psychological closeness to one’s ideals. The number of reference groups a person has is not limited to one group (primary - family, friends, colleagues; secondary - public and religious organizations), but the desire to be a member of them is not always possible to realize due to life circumstances, so real and imaginary reference groups are distinguished.

The functions of reference groups in relation to the regulation of human life manifestations are as follows: a source of information and experience, a standard of moral and behavioral norms, a reflection of its manifestations.

A person’s over-orientation towards his chosen group can lead to mental disorders and exhaustion physical strength body. This happens when a person does not have enough abilities, education, resources, etc., to perform the actions and roles accepted in this group.

When a person chooses standard groupings, problems may arise that are caused by the presence of contradictions. The emergence of such conflicts is due to situations in which the norms of the real group in which a person belongs and the ideal reference group do not coincide, or when a person chooses two reference groups with opposing ideas.

According to the dictionary definition [Psychology: Dictionary], reference (from Lat. referens- reporting) is a relationship of significance that connects the subject with another person or group of persons. After G. Hyman introduced the concept of “reference” into scientific use, which was then addressed by T. Newcome, T. Shibutani, R. Merton, M. Sherif, E. Hartley and other researchers, the problem began to be actively developed in our country . Today, Russian social psychology has accumulated a significant amount of empirical data on the patterns of relations between a developing personality and its immediate reference environment. At the same time, the concept of “reference” is interpreted by researchers in different ways. It is usually applied to the group on whose values ​​and norms the individual is oriented (reference group); less commonly used to designate a person (referent person).

The problem of the influence of a personality’s reference relations on its formation is one of the most important in the social psychology of education. It is especially important to study the system of reference relations of children, adolescents and young people - intensively developing individuals who feel an urgent need to become familiar with the values ​​and social experience of other people. Information about real picture students’ reference relationships with peers and adults allows the psychologist and teacher to rely on those who are able to positively influence the student’s personal development.

Active research into reference relations began in the 40s of the 20th century with the development of reference group theories within the framework of an interactionist orientation. The main source of interactionism was the socio-psychological concepts of J. Mead. Conventionally, in symbolic interactionism there are three directions, one of which, along with role theories and symbolic interactionism, is represented by reference group theories.

Reference group theories have gained enormous popularity among foreign (primarily Western) social psychologists and sociologists. The first considered the reference group as a source of formation of social attitudes and self-esteem of individuals oriented towards it. The latter tried to use it as a tool for functional analysis of social structure. According to T. Shibutani, with the help of the concept of a reference group, attempts have been made to explain such phenomena as inconsistency in an individual’s behavior in a new social context, the manifestation of juvenile delinquency, the dilemma of a marginal personality, conflicts associated with a loyal attitude to the group, and differences in reactions in the audience media for the same message, etc. . G. Hyman used the concept of “reference” to designate a group of people with whom the subject of referential relations compares himself when determining his property status. Self-assessment of status here acts as a dependent variable, since it relates to the reference group chosen by the subject as a kind of frame of reference.

Participants in empirical studies of reference were often schoolchildren and students. Thus, in 1943, T. Newcomb conducted a study, based on which he found that the social attitudes of female students at Bennington College were different depending on whether the girls had a positive or negative attitude towards their conservative families and towards the more liberal environment at the college. T. Newcomb concluded that an individual psychologically identifies himself as a member of a reference group, as a result of which he shares its goals and norms and is guided by them in his behavior. At the same time, the formation of attitudes is “a function of the individual’s negative or positive attitude towards a particular group or groups.” In the case of a positive reference group, the individual accepts its norms and value orientations and strives to be accepted by the group. In the case of a negative reference group, the individual does not want to consider himself a member of it and feels the desire to oppose it.

M. Sherif also emphasized that the norms of the reference group become the social attitudes of individuals and represent a psychological “frame of reference” not only for self-esteem, but also for the assessment of phenomena social life, to form your own “picture of the world”. A person can be affected simultaneously different groups, which makes it difficult for him to choose his own standards of behavior.

R. Merton used the concept of a reference group to analyze the results of a study of the social attitudes and behavior of American soldiers. He suggested that the attitudes of soldiers who found themselves in the same conditions (mobilized, but not yet fighting at the front) were different due to their orientation towards different reference groups. Thus, soldiers assessed their situation as worse if they compared it with the situation of those who were not mobilized and stayed at home (the first reference group). The evaluation was more favorable if the soldiers compared their situation with the situation of those in this moment fought at the front (second reference group).

Researchers note that referent groups can be both groups external to an individual and his or her membership groups. Real and ideal, large and small, etc. groups can act as reference groups. Each person has not one, but several reference groups with which he compares himself and other people when solving the problems that arise before him. From the point of view of T. Shibutani, the number of an individual’s reference groups coincides with the number of communication channels available to him, which have different powers of influence on his behavior.

Summarizing the research of G. Hyman, T. Newcomb, M. Sherif and R. Merton, G. Kelly identified the normative and comparative-evaluative functions of the reference group. In the first case we're talking about about motivational processes in the relationship between an individual and a group (the group sets standards (norms) of behavior and forces individuals to follow them), in the second - about perceptual processes (the group acts as a standard, focusing on which the individual evaluates himself and other people) [Kelly] . Subsequently, T. Shibutani identified the third - the incentive function of the reference group, meaning that the group encourages the individual to strive to become its member. However, the latter function has not been widely used in the study of reference groups.

The authors of the mentioned studies and theories of reference groups proceeded exclusively from subjective factors of reference, without taking into account objective conditions and characteristics social relations, needs and values ​​of society. Continuing the traditions of interactionism, when considering this phenomenon, they limited themselves to only the picture of interpersonal relationships. However, this approach does not allow us to fully reveal the nature of the relationships of reference, to identify the criteria for individuals to select reference groups and individuals.

An attempt to go beyond interpersonal relationships in understanding reference was made by R. Merton. He described the conditions under which a person is inclined to prefer his membership group to an external normative reference group [Andreeva, Bogomolova, Petrovskaya, 2002, p. 212-213]:

• 1. If a group does not provide sufficient prestige to its members, the latter will tend to choose as a reference an external, non-member group, which, in their opinion, has greater prestige than their own.
• 2. The more isolated an individual is in his group, the lower his status in it, the more likely it is that he will choose an external group in which he expects to have a higher status as a reference group.
• 3. The greater the social mobility in society and, therefore, more possibilities the individual has to change his social status and group affiliation, the more likely it is that he will choose a group with a higher social status as a reference group.

Thus, R. Merton drew attention to the role of the reference group in motivation social behavior individual. In his work, he also noted that the choice of a reference group depends on the personal characteristics of the individual, but did not specify the essence of this connection. The works of other authors also lack information about the connection between an individual’s personal characteristics and the choice of a reference group.

In R. Merton, as in the studies of his predecessors in the study of the phenomenon of reference, the individual appears as a passive recipient, perceiving the influence of the reference group. Beyond the scope of consideration of the problem remain the personality and activities of this recipient, the nature of social relations and the social structure of society in general, which, in our opinion, can largely determine both the choice of the reference group and the degree of adherence to its norms.

In domestic social psychology, reference is defined as “a relationship of significance that connects a subject with another person or group of persons” [ Social Psychology: dictionary, 2005, p. 141]. The term “referentiality” is based on the concept of significant selectivity when a subject determines his orientations (opinions, positions, assessments). The function of a referent object with which an individual relates himself can be performed by a membership group, some external group, an individual person (real, fictional ideal, literary hero, etc.). In the case of non-internalized reference relations, a really existing referent object from the outside determines (dictates) to the individual the norms of his behavior. Internalized relationships have more complex shape and take shape “when an individual’s behavior is not externally determined by any objects, and all referential relations are removed and “melted 4 * by his consciousness and act as his, the individual’s, subjective factors” [Social psychology: dictionary, 2005, p. 141].

The concept of “reference” is used in domestic social psychology not only in relation to the phenomenon of the reference group, but also more broadly, to describe various aspects interaction between the subject and the object of reference relations, which can be either individuals or groups of people. The meaning of the term “reference” in Russian social psychology is associated with the concept of “significant other,” introduced into social psychology in the 30s of the 20th century thanks to G. Sullivan.

The concept of “significant other” in modern social psychology denotes a person whose reflected subjectivity causes a change in the motivational, semantic and emotional spheres of other people [Krushelnitskaya, Lobanov. On the issue of interconnection...]. According to an earlier definition, a “significant other” is “a person who is an authority for a given subject of communication and activity” [Psychology: dictionary, p. 124]. Among the definitions of personal significance used in scientific use, two main paradigms can be distinguished, according to which the personal significance of a person can be considered either from the point of view of the changes that he has made in the individual (object of influence), or through the correlation and degree of coincidence of the characteristics of a significant person and the value-need spheres of the individual (subject of interaction) [Psychology: dictionary, p. 124-125]. Within the first paradigm, the individual is the object of influence of a “significant other”, and personal significance is presented as reflected subjectivity and is determined by the changes that the “significant other” has made in a specific individual - the object of influence. At the same time, according to V.A. Petrovsky, “a person reveals himself to people as a significant... source of new personal meanings” and contributes to “changing their views, forming new motives...” [Social psychology: dictionary, 2005, p. 89]. The most fully reflected subjectivity is presented within the framework of the concept of personalization (A.V. Petrovsky, V.A. Petrovsky), which considers personality as a special form of a person’s inclusion in the life world of other people. This is the influence of a bright individual on other people, manifested “as in purposeful activity (training, educational activities etc.), as well as in any other cases of interaction between a person and the people around him. Providing intentionally or unintentionally samples of his activity, a person continues himself in other people in a specific way, transforms their personal meanings, behavior, motives” [Psychology of a developing personality, p. 178-179]. Thus, the concept of personalization presents a picture of a wide range of influence, including referent influence, on the individual of a “significant other”. However, the task of describing the dynamic mechanisms of the referent influence of an individual and a group, taking into account the socio-psychological characteristics of the latter, is not directly related to the mentioned concept. The concept of “reference” is also associated with the concept of “reflected subjectivity”.

The ideal representation of a subject in the life activity of other people can be studied using the principle of reflected subjectivity, developed by V.A. Petrovsky [Psychology of the developing personality; and etc.]. According to this principle, personal characteristics the subject of ideal representation is considered through the characteristics of persons for whom he is a “significant other” and in whose motivational, value and emotional spheres changes have occurred due to his influence. In this case, the subject of ideal representation is the one being studied, and the subject is the one in whom the reflected subjectivity of the first is expressed (thus, he is the bearer of the reflected subjectivity). The subject may be outside the experimental situation and not even be aware of it. The subject may also be unaware of the purpose of the study, but measuring his psychological characteristics makes it possible to characterize the personality of the subject.

The concept of “reflected subjectivity” (the ideal representation of an individual in another person) was developed by V.A. Petrovsky within the framework of a multi-subject theory of personality, combining four concepts that describe various systems of the “I” (individual, supra-individual, reflected and transindividual), among which is the concept of personalization, which interprets the reflected “I” of the individual [History of psychology in persons: personalities, with . 356]. Reflecting through its activities in other people, the subject contributes to changing their views, the formation of new personal meanings and motives. In this case, it is possible various manifestations reflected "I".

Firstly, this is the influence current image“significant other” on an individual in the process of real inter-individual interaction. In this case, a distinction is made between directed - for example, when the teacher purposefully strives to achieve the desired result from the student’s activity - and undirected - when the subject, without setting a specific goal in relation to the individual, nevertheless determines the changes occurring in him due to social facilitation or inhibition - influence. The result of such changes may be a modification in the individual’s level of cognitive complexity, creativity, ability to social perception, as well as an increase or decrease in anxiety, aggressiveness, etc.

Secondly, reflected subjectivity can act as an “ideal other” - that is, as “the effectiveness of representations of memory or imagination” [Psychology: dictionary, p. 260]. At the same time, the bearer of reflected subjectivity feels in himself, along with the system of his own meanings, the meanings brought by this ideal “significant other”. A person’s experience of being a “significant other” in his inner world can persist and even intensify after separation from him, including as a result of physical death. And finally, the reflected subjectivity of a “significant other” can be experienced as inseparable from the individual’s “I” and not requiring a dialogical connection with a significant person. In this case they speak of the transformed “I”.

Within the framework of the second paradigm, based on the three-factor model of the “significant other” [Petrovsky, 1991; etc.], the individual is considered as a subject of interaction with a “significant other”. In this case, the researcher focuses “...on the correlation and certain coincidence of the characteristics of a “significant other” and the value-need sphere of the individual” [Psychology: dictionary, pp. 124-125], and personal significance is determined by emotional attractiveness, referentiality (authority, information content) , as well as the institutionalized role of a “significant other" for the individual, who in this case is the subject of interaction. Relationships of significance can be considered from the point of view of the relationship between three forms of meta-individual representation of a significant other in the mind of the individual both in dyadic interaction and in the system interpersonal relationships within a small group.

“Significant others” can be persons who are part of the individual’s immediate environment and do not have direct contact with him (or have lost it), as well as literary heroes And historical figures. The transformative influence of quasi-personality (literary or historical hero) may turn out to be no less significant than the influence of a real contemporary. An individual can, under the influence of one and the same “significant other” (or his image), be guided by his personality and change due to its influence.

For example, if a teacher, from the point of view of his student, is not only a source of important information, but also represents a model, an example that one wants to follow, the teacher influences the development of the student’s personality. Experiments to study psychological mechanism, which explains the formation in the student’s mind of the image of a teacher that determines the student’s behavior in different situations, has not given satisfactory results for a number of years. The reason was that, with all the undoubted value of such studies in general, they boiled down to attempts to find out how certain personal characteristics of a teacher affect the effectiveness of the teaching and educational process (F.N. Gonobolin, A.I. Shcherbakov, etc.) . Among the main personal qualities of a teacher that determine the strength of his influence on students were, in particular, high authority, will, emotional appeal, role compliance, social courage [Psychology of a developing personality, p. 174]. These and other phenomena of different order, studied in relation to style professional activity teachers did not exhaust the problem of his direct personal influence as a “significant other” on the student.

In the works of domestic psychologists, considerable experience has been accumulated in studying the problem of the significance of interpersonal relationships among boarding school students [Shkoporov], adult relatives, friends and colleagues [Khoroshilova], and high school students secondary school[Dubov], students educational institutions different types[Sachkova], etc.

In Russian psychology, the most famous methodological means of establishing an individual’s reference for other group members is the referentometry procedure [Shchedrin]. If we are talking about determining the specifics of reference relationships outside the contact small group of membership, other methodological means are used (for example, the “External Group Referentometry” technique [Workshop on Developmental Psychology, p. 688], the “Reference Matrix” technique [Matveeva, p. 144]; “The procedure for identifying the circle of reference persons” [Krushelnitskaya. The procedure for identifying...].

Both in the dyad and in small group referentiality allows us to determine the significance of one person as a source of important information for another individual. At the same time, the “significant other” is not necessarily personified in the mind of the individual who perceives this information, and in the case of personification of his personality, the individual does not necessarily create positive image reference person. Information can be requested not only for the purpose of directly using it to construct one’s own behavior, but also for acting “by contradiction” - in a manner directly opposite to the opinion of the reference person. Moreover, even useful, constructive information can be rejected if it comes from an anti-referent person (this is exactly what happens if a teenager rejects any information, even obviously useful for him, coming from close adults).

The highest manifestation of positive reference is authority. People around them assume that an authority figure has such important characteristics as competence, honesty, fairness, etc. The behavior of the reference person is used in significant situations as an example to follow, and the information received from him is used as a guide to action.

Exploring psychological characteristics establishing the authority of the teacher’s personality in the eyes of students, M.Yu. Kondratiev came to the conclusion that the relationship between teacher and students, before reaching a level where they can be characterized as a relationship of authority, must go through the necessary stages of its development [Kondratiev, 1988]. Three main stages in the formation of a teacher’s authority, identified by M.Yu. Kondratiev, can be briefly characterized as follows:

• 1. The teacher is a source of information. At this stage, schoolchildren do not necessarily record the personal characteristics of the teacher, since they consider him solely as a carrier of the information they need, especially if they have no other sources of such information.
• 2. The teacher is the reference person. This is the next stage in the formation of authority, when the student is interested not so much in the information that the teacher has, but in his assessment of this information.
• 3. The teacher is an authoritative person. This is the highest stage of the importance of the teacher’s authority for schoolchildren, at which “... the teacher is granted trust, his opinion is recognized as initially correct, is perceived as a guide to action, and success is expected and foreseen” [Kondratiev, 1988, p. 19].

Referential relationships are of great importance for the formation of a developing personality in the case when teachers and educational psychologists are faced with problems of relationships between an extraordinary student and his immediate environment. One of the studies directly addressed this problem [Krushelnitskaya, 1998]. It was shown that the high referential significance of the teacher’s role position for students junior classes significantly influences the system of informal relationships between children and peers and adults. At the same time, the sociometric and referentometric substructures of students’ interpersonal relationships in the classroom practically coincide, and the basis for their possible reference are the norms and values ​​transmitted by the teacher.

In teenage classes, unlike primary school, there is a fundamental discrepancy between the referentometric and sociometric substructures. In addition to high-status students in sociometric terms, low-status students are often also referents here. Another thing is that, as a rule, in these cases we are talking not so much about reference with a “plus” sign, but about anti-referentiality. In addition, the basis of reference for adolescents is most often a significantly larger set of personal and functional characteristics of classmates compared to younger schoolchildren, and referentometric choices are not always associated with academic success.

The referentometric structure of interpersonal choices in groups of high school students also differs from the sociometric structure of these communities. As in the middle classes, in a number of cases the referent students here are not those who were selected during the sociometric survey. In this case, as a rule, the opinion of such a student is requested precisely in connection with an understanding of his position in the emotional intragroup structure of the school class. Thus, this significance belongs to the “anti-referential” type. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the basis of reference for representatives of the youth group is a wide range of prosocial personal and functional characteristics of fellow students.

In the study, the leading grounds for referentometric choices for high school students turned out to be two blocks of qualities, objectively interconnected, but subjectively perceived by boys and girls as valuable in themselves: characteristics describing the actual school (and primarily educational) efforts; qualities and properties, in the opinion of schoolchildren, that determine the “social maturity” of fellow students who are significant to them.

The problem of reference becomes especially important when it comes to the socialization of a developing personality. For example, teenagers strive to communicate with peers who help them understand their inner world, overcome doubts about your own worth, feel like an individual. But for adequate socialization, they also need information that can be obtained from adults through their life experience. However, connecting to these experiences and the values ​​behind them is difficult if adults use inappropriate communication styles with adolescents.

Results of empirical studies [Krushelnitskaya, 2008; and others] showed that there is a relationship between the choice of adolescents’ circle of reference persons and the characteristics of the informal structure of the school class, the style of pedagogical communication and the nature of the parental attitude subjectively perceived by adolescents. Adolescents who show leadership qualities in activities that dominate the group, as well as the ability to build constructive relationships with peers and adults, turn out to be the most referent for classmates. Teachers who use an authoritarian-democratic style of communication are more referential to adolescents than authoritarian teachers. Parents who show positive interest in them and moderate directiveness are the most referential for teenagers. The least referents for adolescents are adults, whose attitude they perceive as directive, hostile and inconsistent. Teenagers who believe that their parents show a high positive interest in them choose them as reference persons almost as often as their peers.

In a study of the relationship between personal self-determination and the system of reference relations of schoolchildren, carried out by M.V. Lobanov [Krushelnitskaya, Lobanov. On the issue of interconnection., p. 381], adult family members and peers turned out to be the most referential for high school students. Teachers have insignificant positions in comparison with peers and adult family members, which may be due to the lack of authority of the role of the school teacher for the student, as well as age characteristics students.

Tenth-graders, compared to students in grades 9 and 11, need to rely on reference persons to the greatest extent, but are least inclined to seek the opinion of teachers when choosing a decision in significant situations. In the 10th grade, the importance of older adult family members increases, but the importance of peers practically does not decrease, which may indicate that tenth graders are searching for new significant guidelines for entering into adult life, as well as about a certain revision of previously established referent relations.

The researchers were able to establish another interesting fact: the more a student focuses on the value of independence, the higher the peer reference for him. We can say that he forms a certain “circle of trust” among his peers, a necessary support for his desire for independence. It was also determined that the more a high school student is focused on meaning and goals in life, the more important adult members of his family are for him in making decisions and the less inclined he is to rely on own opinion. This fact is explained by the awareness of the insufficiency of one’s own personal resources for full socialization at this stage of development. With an increase in orientation towards socio-political values ​​among high school students, the reference of adult family members increases in comparison with the importance of peers and other adults. Apparently, it is the older relatives who at this time turn out to be the most trusted sources of knowledge and experience in the sphere of socio-political life for the student.

The above examples indicate that there is a need for a deep understanding of the mechanism of reference of the individual and the group in the educational process. In order to exert the necessary psychological and pedagogical influence on schoolchildren, a teacher must be a highly referent, authoritative person for them. To do this, it is not enough for him to simply evoke sympathy. The teacher needs the student to correlate his behavior with his personal position and build a line for the development of self-awareness and self-determination. The study of referent relations helps to understand how referential a teacher is for his students, what style of pedagogical communication will allow the teacher to increase his authority in the eyes of schoolchildren or students, on what grounds children choose the people they want to be like, i.e. is a fruitful means of solving the problems of teaching and educating students.