ASSOCIATIVE EXPERIMENT AS A METHOD OF ESTABLISHING THE CHANGES IN THE CONNOTATION OF THE CORE VALUE
He author refers to the results of a free associative experiment in order to establish a change in the connotation of the core value “rabota” (work). With the help of an associative experiment, one can establish the subjective meanings of words and determine the nature of the semantic links of words within an associative field. Studies using associative experiment provide material for associative dictionaries. The article compares the data of the Russian associative dictionary, reflecting the psychologically relevant content of the word “rabota” (work) within the respondents in the 80s. of the XX century with the data that was collected by the author during a free associative experiments in 2013 and in 2018. Value systems are hierarchical, and each core value represented verbally is a semantic structure, the analysis of which involves the isolation of its components and their relations. It requires additional processing of the obtained frequency distribution of the associates by clustering them. The reactions are divided into different types of associations. The author states that in order to determine the connotation of a core value, one should apply not only to emotional and evaluative reactions, but also to the cultural ones, which altogether create an evaluative attitude to historical facts and events. It was established that changes in the hierarchy of associates for the word “rabota” (work) exist, which not only indicates the dynamics of semantic components, but may also indicate a change in attitude towards a core value. A sharp change in the connotation of the word, noted in an associative experiment, indicates the dynamics of the core value itself and the beginning of the process of restructuring the concept. Since core values are, in fact, stereotypes, formed mainly on the emotional component, one may speak about the beginning of the reformation if the stereotypes perception of the core value.