Open access
ASSESSMENT OF THE REALNESS OF CONCEPT’S REFERENTS AS A METHOD OF EXPLORING IMPLICIT VALUES. COMPARISON OF THE RESULTS OF YOUNG ADULTS AND "YOUNG SENIORS"
Krzysztof MUDYŃ1
New Philosophical and Ethical Perspective
Publication language: English
Journal article
Transformations No. 3 (110) 2021, Publication date: 23 September 2021
Keywords: realness of referents, implicit values, students vs "young seniors", age effect, professional activity
Abstract The research used the original method of "Words and Things" (WaT) to explore implicit values. The method is based on the assumption that if something is important to an individual, he/she considers it to be real. The results of two age groups were compared, i.e. students, representing young adults (M =19,9) and "young seniors" (M = 65.3). The respondents assessed the degree of realness of the referents of 40 concepts, having at their disposal a scale from 0-100%. Significant intergroup differences were noted in the case of 11 concepts. Seniors assessed higher the degree of reality of the referents of such concepts as Beauty and Freedom (p<0.001) as well as Science, Health, Truth, Conscience, Love and Joy (p <0.01). Moreover, two subgroups were distinguished among seniors: professionally active (n=43) vs. unemployed (n=32). Professionally active people rated the realness of referents of concepts with concrete-natural connotations higher, such as Kangaroo (p<0.01), Neptune (p=0.02), Virus (p <0.05) and the Universe (p= 0.05), while non-working people rated higher the Truth (p= 0.03), Conscience (p <0.06), and Health (p=0.08). The results provide new arguments that age is a better predictor of changes in preferred values than gender, cultural context and generation affiliation. In turn, the higher degree of realness attributed to Freedom by seniors suggests that this value is determined more by generation factors than by the age variable.
Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow
ORCID: 0000-0001-6177-7241
E-mail: krzysztof.mudyn@ignatianum.edu.pl