Introduction

Speaking about the conflict management studies devoted to professional self-determination, it should be clearly determined that such a research plan in the conflict management studies is not enough to assert with maximum certainty that intrapersonal conflict creates the development of professional consciousness and contributes to the professional development of students. On this basis, the relevance of the chosen research topic was determined.

Turning to the works of conflictologists, one can find in their works the positions reflecting the duality of human nature, which lies at the basis of intrapersonal conflicts.

Durkheim in his work “On the Division of Social Labour. The method of sociology” (DURKHEIM, 1991; BAYET, 1905; DURKHEIM, 1979), pointed to the existence of “two consciousnesses” of man. Simmel spoke of a conflict as “a way to solve any dualism: it is a way to achieve a kind of unity, even if it is achieved at the cost of destroying one of the parties” (SIMMEL, 1996; HOLLOWAY, 1967). The basic internal inconsistency of intrapersonal conflicts in the works by G. Simmel is reflected not only in projection onto culture, but also on the choice of a professional path by trying for themselves the desired roles of their future careers. These roles may be inherently contradictory in nature. So, Merton (1949; 1976) introduced the concept of “a set of roles”, implying a set of role relationships, the possession of which corresponds to the occupied social status. The internal contradictions of a personality and the contradictions of professional self-determination are closely related to intrapersonal conflicts and personality crises (MITINA; KUZMENKOVA, 2019), which allow not only determining the planes where intrapersonal conflicts develop and their conditions, as well as their causes within the framework of professional self-determination in the student community.

Methods

The process of unconscious professional self-determination begins in childhood with the answer to the adult's question “What do you want to become?” A conscious choice of professional path is performed for some aged 15-16 to 20-22 years. Despite the fact, that upon entering a university, students may have experience in fields that do not require education allowing them to practice many professions. After entering a university, most of the freshmen continue to doubt the correctness of their choice of profession and university, too. Durkheim called this state “an anomie: a state in which a person does not have a sense of belonging, reliability and stability in the choice made” (MARGOLIN; MELNIKOV, 2018; BAYET, 1905; DURKHEIM, 1979). For some, these doubts remain until the completion of studies at the university. They form the basis for the emergence of intrapersonal conflicts regarding further work in the specialty, and can also act as barriers to the professional development of a student in the process of studying at a university.

Intrapersonal conflicts in professional self-determination reflect the contradictions between:

Desire for self-development and self-preservation in the profession;

Focus on the process or on the result of labour;

Social and individual norms, labour standards;

Various types of competence - special, social, personal, individual.

The pace of development of the operational and motivational areas of professional activity;

Striving for a narrow specialty and the need for broad competence.

These contradictions fit into the plane of subjective and objective conditions reflected in the integral development trends of the young man in both individual and social aspects.

1. Thus, the contradiction between the favourable opportunity for social choice and the lack of a holistic concept of management and regulation of the process of professional self-determination is closely related to career guidance work, which forms the conscious choice of a future profession;

2. The contradictions between the ideas of applicants about their profession and its real nature reflect broken ideals and dreams of future high salaries and statuses;

3. The contradiction caused by the motives for choosing a profession has been reflected in recent years in the question of the need for higher education, if today most messengers allow obtaining a fairly large income in the absence of a diploma of higher education;

4. The contradiction concerning the discrepancy between the specific capabilities of youth and their social and professional expectations reflects the imbalance in career development in different spheres of society and is partially related to the above point;

5. The contradiction between educational services and the demands of the labour market. The rapid change in technology, the conditions for the functioning of organizations and companies (for example, changes in the sphere of employment, business and the economy in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020) makes new demands on university graduates every day not only in terms of professionalism, but also in the ability to “survive” in the presence of a profession in modern conditions.

Subjective contradictions are primarily associated with negative personal experiences or existing stereotypes and attitudes toward a particular profession. They are based on "personal and family stories" such as the contradiction between choosing the desired profession or “parental choice” to preserve their love and be a good son or daughter; the contradiction between the requirement to realize one’s own talent and the first unsuccessful experience in applying talent in practice; the contradiction between the reluctance to take responsibility for professional choice and the need to make it on the part of society, etc.

Results and discussion

Based on the above theoretical ideas about conflicts in professional self-determination, a study was conducted to confirm the hypothesis that intrapersonal conflict reflects not only the willingness to become a professional in the area chosen by the student upon entering the university, but also reflects the stages of formation of his/her “self-professional" image.

The study was conducted within the framework of a non-state university with first-year and graduate students, from November 2018 to March 2019 on the basis of criteria and indicators that determine the level of professional self-determination of humanitarian students, and specify the parameters of the impact of intrapersonal conflicts on professional self-determination. The total number of respondents was 204 students.

The results of the application of a number of methods made it possible to find out that the choice of a profession upon entering a university is understandable to first-year male students and they can justify it within their worldview. First-year female students have doubts about the choice made and reliance on the opinion of the immediate environment when choosing a profession. There are also few doubts about the correctness of the choice of profession among fourth-year students, which indicates the presence of intrapersonal conflicts in professional development.

Assessment of the professional identity development degree using the "Methodology for the study of the professional identity status" by Azbel and Gretsov points out that the professional status “moratorium” reflecting the state of the search for alternative options concerning possible professional development dominates in the majority of the girls surveyed. At the same time, instability in relations with parents and friends, and also misunderstanding is possible. This stage is called by Azbel and Gretsov as the “crisis of choice.” It can be the starting point for the transition to the stage of “formed” professional identity or vice versa, to the stage of professional identity called “imposed position”. According to the test results, the young men have a “formed” position, which confirms the absence of doubts when choosing a profession, as well as the unwillingness to somehow change the existing working conditions.

The “Test of Intrapersonal Conflicts (by Lauterbach)” showed that for all first and fourth year students “conflict or discrepancy between the level of claims and the level of achievement” is in the first place, and for fourth-year girls, there is “a conflict between norms and aggressive trends.”

“The conflict between norms and aggressive tendencies” is in second place for first-year girls and fourth-year boys. “The conflict between the needs for independence and getting help and guardianship” is also characteristic of fourth-year young men. And for the first-year boys, the second place is “a conflict between the desire to satisfy one’s own needs and the requirements of the environment”.

The third place is given to such conflicts: “the conflict between the desire to satisfy one’s own needs and the requirements of the environment” (for first-year student girls) “The conflict between levels of claims and opportunities” (fourth-year student girls); “The conflict between norms and aggressive tendencies” (for first-year student boys). “The conflict between the expressed need to prove oneself and the lack of positive efforts” is typical for fourth-year student boys).

“Martin Seligman’s test for optimism - pessimism” made it possible to determine how much two-year students are exposed to “learned helplessness” that arises as a result of a long-drawn-out intrapersonal conflict, especially in a latent form for those around them.

The final result showed that students from the first to fourth year, with the exception of the fourth-year student boys, are "very pessimistic." Fourth-year student boys are “moderately pessimistic.” For this study, these are indicators of the presence of “learned helplessness”, unwillingness to defend their positions and the choice made is determined by respondents in terms that are irremovable for a long period of time: the immediate environment, USE (Unified State Examination) scores, etc. At the same time, this indicator is a reflection of the presence of intrapersonal conflicts.

According to the test by Thomas and Kilman "Determining the methods of conflict management", it was possible to determine that first-year and fourth-year student girls are looking for a compromise to solve conflict situations, first-year student boys use cooperation; and fourth year student boys – rivalry.

Thus, we can say that the choice of a profession as a result of professional self-determination made in the format of the further learning process contains intrapersonal conflicts and crises expressed in doubts about the correctness of the choice of profession, in doubts about the continued desire to work in a profession, in conflicts between satisfaction of needs and the real level of wages in the chosen profession, and as a result, the desire to show aggression due to age characteristics (struggle for justice, maximalism), and the social prohibitions.

Summary

Empirically examining professional self-determination as a whole as a process of mastering a profession and going through a number of stages devoted to professional development of students of a non-state university, we can say that each subject experiences emotional stress to a different degree starting from the moment of choosing an education establishment and future profession. With an non-established professional identity, impossibility make a decision on their own, and upon not having an opportunity to defend it in communication with the immediate environment, this leads to intrapersonal conflicts, which are conscious, but often unconscious. Their manifestations among students can be observed through doubts, reluctance to talk about the perfect choice and the feeling that the chosen profession is “not the business” of the whole future life.

Conclusions

Summing up the above, we note that self-determination as a scientific phenomenon is a complex three-component process of finding oneself in society, and in the world of professions.

Each of the components of self-determination carries a certain cognitive, emotional and behavioural load for every subject.

Professional self-determination involves persons in the professional community through the realization of their correct choice of a profession. The dynamics of professional self-determination is not linear, because students must overcome the intrapersonal subjective and objective contradictions for a full consciousness of themselves in a professional environment. Namely, they act as a mechanism of student professional development.

All these contradictions intersect closely with the socio-psychological characteristics of students. Students from other categories of society are distinguished by an increased need for introspection, systematization and generalization of knowledge about themselves, the search for patterns, comparing themselves with selected standards.

Overcoming intrapersonal conflicts leads to the harmonization of the student’s personality as a professional and allows him/her to realize the importance and necessity of training, communication with already established professionals, the need to build his/her own development strategy in the chosen profession.

Acknowledgments

The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University.

REFERENCES

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Notas de autor

Información adicional

How to reference this article: RAVILꞌEVNA, S. V.; ILKHAMOVICH, Z. R. Intrapersonal conflicts as the basis for the professional development of university students (by the example of a non-state university). Revista on line de Política e Gestão Educacional, Araraquara, v. 25, n. esp. 1, p. 482-489, mar. 2021. e-ISSN:1519-9029. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22633/rpge.v25iesp.1.14985