Culture produces concrete rules and ways of communication adequate to conditions of the life activity of people. Journalistic activity is directed its attention to communicative, cognitive, informational and other functions of culture. The need for these functions follows from aspiration of any culture to create its own picture of the world. The process of cognition is characterized by reflection and reproduction of reality in the person’s thinking. The informational function of the culture provides the process of cultural succession and it is shown in fixing the results of sociocultural activity, accumulation, storage and systematization of information. Modern society is characterized by two dominants – mass character and consumer character.
Mass media as means of mass information (communication) – press, radio, cinema, TV, audio- and video cassettes, computer technologies, the Internet and other electronic technical means – is technologies and institutions, through which information and other forms of symbolic communication extends centralized to at most broad segments of population.
In the process of information translation manipulation of consciousness of the mass consumer in interests of «producer» of this information occurs [1, 2]. Standardization of cultural texts (presentations, images, standards, technologies) is carried out. Any product of mass culture (whether it be work of art or advertising reel) is calculated on the average person, who is ready to make ready decisions and not to create his/her own ones. Mass culture gives the person simple answers to difficult questions. There is deindividualization, dehumanization as a result of which the person becomes not the purpose but means in a general mass of consumers of cultural texts for it being made to him being given. To keep identity and uniqueness of consumers of mass culture journalists have to be authentic and self-actualized persons, capable to create congruent, coordinated information.
Journalistic education, besides development of competences of students has to pay a close attention to personal maturity of future specialists, sensibleness and intelligence of their life, competently planned career, the created personal and psychological culture which in their professional activity will be projected on mass consciousness [3, 4, 5]. In it considerable support is given by psychological maintenance of process of training at journalism faculty.
Development of the sense sphere, the reflexive relation to the behaviour and internal mental acts allows the person to realize in relation to life valuable-sense self-determination [3, 4, 5]. At psychology lessons with students of faculty of journalism at initial and finishing grade levels education at the university (the first and fourth courses, as a whole 127 people aged 16–21) besides educational tasks we carried out the program on self-cognition of students of themselves as future specialists: level of SA, formation of life-sense orientations, reflexivity, responsibility and control locus, necessary for them for realization of educational and ideological functions of journalistic activity. In completion of training students wrote the essay on the results of the executed tests and tasks on the subject «Influence of Psychological Knowledge on Development of My Personality» or «Influence of Psychological Knowledge on Development of My Professional Abilities».
In 2006 the author of this article for the first time carried out studying of features of SA of students of economic and technical specialties of South Ural State University and it was established that need of SA was more peculiar for students of economic specialties than for students of technical specialties and need of SA is stronger expressed at female students than at male ones [5]. On the basis of this research the conclusion was drawn that, first, features of SA are connected with professional training and specifics of training and, secondly, that educational process (first of all, the humanitarian component of education) has positive impact on SA development, especially at students of nontechnical specialties. According to 2006 year research humanitarian and economic specialties of education attracted socially mature graduates of schools with actual life characteristics while entrants with a low level of development of SA chose technical specialties as the more concrete and exact.
The purpose of the research was:
a) to define dynamics of personal development and subjective wellbeing of students in the course of their training at journalism faculty;
b) to define interrelations of indicators of subjective wellbeing with SA and personal qualities at students of the first and fourth courses of faculty of journalism;
c) to reveal distinctions between indicators of the studied characteristics at students of the first and fourth courses.
After carrying out the cluster analysis (on the scale A of test SAT, more and less of 50 points) and after the correlation analysis by means of Spirmen and Pearson’s criterion on definition of interrelations the following results were received.
Selection of first-year students was divided into 3 sub selections: students with high level of SA – 27,9 per cent of initial selection, with medium level of SA – 37,7 per cent and with low level of SA – 34,43 per cent. It has been revealed 7 negative on a sign of interrelations of an indicator of a scale of subjective wellbeing (M = 4) with research variables (from all set of 26 variables), namely: with an indicator of internal support В-SAT (r = –0,382, p ≤ 0,05); valuable orientations С-SAT (r = –0,418, p ≤ 0,05); acceptance of yourself Н-SAT (r = –0,369, p ≤ 0,05); openness to experience PQP-О (Personal Questionnaire of the Professional) (r = –0,713, p ≤ 0,01); process of life according to SZhO (r = –0,483, p ≤ 0,05); locus kontrolya-Ya according to SZhO (r = –0,495, p ≤ 0,01) and general intelligence of life according to SZhO (r = –0,446, p ≤ 0,05). The described results allow drawing a conclusion that first-year students of faculty of journalism are characterized generally by low and moderate expressiveness of indicators of subjective wellbeing, serious problems are absent at them, but also there is no emotional comfort. They don’t consider that they are responsible for their own emotional wellbeing which, in their opinion, isn’t connected neither with universal values (with valuable orientations of self-actualized people), nor with acceptance of the merits and demerits out of estimates of people around, nor with openness to new ideas and values, aspiration to improve something in the work, search of new variants of performance of work, nor with ability to enjoy life and live it emotionally rich. The surveyed first-year students don’t consider themselves as the strong personalities, capable to create for themselves emotional wellbeing and to include it in the sense of their life.
By results of inspection by a technique of SAT the selection of students of the fourth course was divided into 3 sub selections: students with high level of SA – 36,1 per cent of initial selection, with medium level of SA – 27,7 per cent and with low level of SA – 36,13 per cent. 4 significant interrelations of an indicator of a scale of subjective wellbeing (M = 4,22) with other variables of research are allocated: with results on scales of sociability L-SAT (r = +0,468, p ≤ 0,05); conscientiousness PQP-C (r = –0,445, p ≤ 0,05); purposes in life according to SZhO (r = –0,635, p ≤ 0,01) and locus kontrolya-Ya according to SZhO (r = –0,504, p ≤ 0,05).
The described results testify that for students of the fourth course of faculty of journalism an emotional component of subjective wellbeing (level and qualitative characteristics of which are almost the same as of first-year students) is connected with ability deeply to understand other people deeply and not to be mistaken in definition of motives of their behaviour (that for journalists can be considered as professionally significant quality). However students of the fourth year have no feeling of subjective wellbeing in need of manifestation of the conscientious and responsible attitude to work, control over the impulsive behaviour. Comprehension of the purposes for the future causes emotional discomfort in them, they as well as first-year students, don’t consider themselves as strong personalities in respect of «arrangement» of their subjective wellbeing and happiness.
Determination of distinctions between indicators of psychodiagnostic techniques of the surveyed students of the first and fourth courses was carried out by means of Mann-Whitney’s criterion and the one-factorial dispersive analysis of ANOVA and showed that there were no significant distinctions between expressiveness of indicators on the scale of subjective wellbeing and life-sense orientations. At the same time, distinctions in their SA and personal characteristics have been revealed. Students of the first and fourth courses significantly differ on indicators of flexibility of behaviour and sensitivity to themselves, and flexibility of behaviour is inherent more in students of the fourth year, and sensitivity to themselves – in first-year students (by results of ANOVA at p ≤ 0,05). Flexibility of behaviour characterizes students at the final stage of their training at the university as capable to show in real life the values inherent in self-actualized people. Sensitivity to their needs and feelings remains a prerogative of first-year students. In respect of training prospects at the university it is necessary to consider that professional education has to put one of the tasks preservation of their sensitivity to their needs, but also development of other SA qualities. Distinctions in expressiveness of personal characteristics at students of the first and fourth courses are revealed on three scales: extraversion PQP-E (p ≤ 0,05), openness to new experience PQP-О (p ≤ 0,01) and conscientiousness PQP-C (p ≤ 0,05). First-year students are more than their senior companions, sociable, forceful and active, open for new experience in respect of professional training and are more conscientious. At first-year students in the selections created on a sexual sign (the number of selection of male students is 4,25 times less than the number of selection of female students), gender distinctions in expressiveness of arithmetic-mean indicators on scales of cooperation PQP-Сoop. (Мmale = 3,58; Мfemale = 1,24 at p ≤ 0,01) were also revealed. Young men wish to cooperate with other people more than girls who are more ready to rivalry and competition.
Psychological support of journalistic education was the factor of formation of psychological and social culture of future journalists, it allowed to reveal actual problems of formation of the personality of future specialists of Mass media in due time and to correct development of their life-sense orientations, process of SA and subjective wellbeing. Psychological support was given in the development of personal and social maturity of future workers of Mass media, the purpose of whose professional activity will be influence on outlook and culture of the population.