Reference group as a source of moral norms

a social or political group whose system of values ​​and norms serves as a standard for an individual. The term "G.r." introduced into science by the American sociologist G. Hyman, who believed that the choice of G.r. carried out on the basis of certain characteristics: prestige, income level, education, lifestyle, etc. In political science G.r. are divided into comparative ones, which represent the standard by which a person evaluates himself and others; and normative, playing a regulatory role in relation to human behavior. Correlating his way of life with the requirements of the birthplace, a person tries to make adjustments to it in accordance with ideal models. (Dictionary, p. 63)

REFERENCE GROUP

a group whose goals, opinions and values ​​are more or less shared by a given person. A real or conditional social community with which an individual relates himself as a standard and to whose norms, opinions, values ​​and assessments he is guided in behavior and self-esteem. The reference group performs mainly two functions: normative and comparative. The normative function is manifested in motivational processes (-> motivation): the reference group acts as a source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientation of the individual. The comparative function manifests itself in perceptual processes (-> social perception): the reference group here acts as a standard by which an individual can evaluate himself and others. Accordingly, the groups are divided into normative and comparative. Normative and comparative functions may be performed by the same group. “Positive” and “negative” reference groups are also distinguished. “Positive” include those with which the individual identifies himself and of which he wants to be a member. “Negative” groups include reference groups that cause rejection by the individual. Each individual usually has a significant number of reference groups - depending on different types relationships and activities: for example, a family, a club or sports section, a yard company, a musical ensemble, etc. Often the reference group is not aware of its significance for the individual. Then, as a rule, he makes assumptions about the possible opinion of the group about himself (-> reflection) or about what this opinion could be if the standard is a conditional group (for example, heroes of books, writers or scientists of past times, etc.) . Situations are possible when the reference groups for an individual have oppositely directed values; this can lead to the experience of severe intrapersonal conflicts that require tactful external help.

REFERENCE GROUP

lat. referens - reporting) - a group of people who are somehow attractive to an individual, whose values, judgments, norms and rules of behavior he certainly shares and accepts for himself.

Reference group

Word formation. Comes from English. refer - relate.

Specificity. At the same time, he may actually belong to a completely different group. The leading feature of the reference group can be economic, political, cultural or professional attributes.

REFERENCE GROUP

Any group with which a person identifies or has an emotional attachment and which he uses to guide and define his beliefs, values, and goals. This term is also used if the individual does not come running and does not even want to belong to a given group; in fact, his perception of the group's values ​​may be greatly distorted. Also called a positive reference group in contrast to a negative reference group.

Reference group

lat referens - reporting] - a real or conditional social community with which an individual relates himself as a standard and to the norms, opinions, values ​​and assessments of which he is guided in his behavior. G. r. performs mainly two functions: normative and comparative. The normative function is manifested in the motivating influence of gender, which acts as a source of norms of behavior, social attitudes, and value orientations of the individual. Comparative is manifested in perceptual processes: G. r. acts here as a standard by which an individual can evaluate himself and others. Often the normative and comparative functions are performed by the same group. There are also “positive” and “negative” G. r. “Positive” groups include those groups with which an individual identifies himself and of which he would like to become a member. “Negative” include G. r., causing rejection and protest in the individual. Each person usually has a significant number of G. births, which is associated with the variety of his interests, the various types of activities in which he is involved, with his plans, dreams, and desires. Great influence on the choice of G. r. age also has an effect, for example, for teenagers these can be clubs, sport sections, yard companies, musical ensembles; in the negative version - asocial and even criminal groups. For adults, these are sports or business clubs, scientific or religious communities, various professional and creative associations, etc. Often as a G. r. conditional groups or individual representatives of such groups act. For example, book heroes, writers or scientists of past times, etc. Situations are possible when reference groups for the same individual have diametrically opposed norms and values. Such a situation can lead to difficult experiences and, as a result, intrapersonal conflicts, the resolution of which often requires professional psychotherapeutic assistance. N.N. Bogomolova, L.A. Karpenko

REFERENCE GROUP

from lat. referens - reporting) - a real or conditional social community with which an individual relates himself as a standard, and to whose norms, opinions, values ​​and assessments he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem. R. g. performs mainly two functions: normative and comparative. The normative function is manifested in the motivating influence of R. g., acting as a source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual. The comparative function of R. g. is manifested in perceptual processes: R. g. acts here as a standard with the help of which an individual can evaluate himself and others. Often normative and comparative functions are performed by the same group. There are also “positive” and “negative” R. groups. “Positive” include those R. groups with which the individual identifies himself and of which he wants to be a member. “Negative” include R. g., causing rejection in the individual. Each individual usually has a significant number of R. g., which is associated with the diversity of his interests, the types of activities in which he is engaged, his dreams, desires, etc. Situations are possible when the reference groups for the same individual have opposite directions values. Such a situation requires a moral choice and can lead to difficult experiences and, as a result, intrapersonal conflicts that require tactful psychotherapeutic assistance.

G. Hyman discovered the phenomenon of the “reference group”. Hyman's experiments showed that some members of certain small groups (in this case, student groups) share norms of behavior that are not accepted in this group, but in some other group that they are guided by.

Reference groups - groups in which individuals are not really included, but whose norms they accept, Hyman called reference groups. The difference between these groups and real membership groups was even more clearly noted in the works of M. Sherif, where the concept of a reference group was associated with the “frame of reference” that an individual uses to compare his status with the status of other persons.

G. Kelly identified two ref functions. groups: comparative(as a standard for comparing your behavior with her) and normative(for its normative assessment).

Currently, the term “reference group” is used in two ways in the literature: sometimes as group opposed to membership group, sometimes like group arising within a membership group. In this second case, the reference group is defined as a “significant social circle”, i.e. as a circle of people selected from a real group as especially significant for the individual. In this case, a situation may arise when the norms adopted by the group become personally acceptable to the individual only when they are accepted by a “significant circle of friends,” i.e. an intermediate reference point appears, which the individual intends to measure up to. And this interpretation has a certain meaning, but, apparently, in this case we should talk not about “reference groups”, but about “reference” as a special property of relations in a group, when one of its members chooses as a starting point for their behavior and activities of a certain circle of people.

The division into membership groups and reference groups opens up interesting perspective for applied research. Why does a person included in such membership groups as a school class or a sports team suddenly begin to focus not on the norms that are accepted in them, but on the norms of completely different groups in which he was initially not included at all (some dubious elements “ from the street").

The issue of reference groups is still awaiting its further development; there is a statement of which group is the reference group for the individual, but there is no explanation as to why it is.

53. Group dynamics in a small group

The term "group dynamics" can be (and is) used in three different ways.

1. First of all, this term refers to a certain direction of research of small groups in social psychology, i.e. K. Levin's school. Naturally, this means not only the set of problems studied in this school, but also the entire conceptual structure inherent to it, i.e. some form of solution to these problems.

2. The second meaning of the term is associated with the designation of certain techniques that can be used in the study of small groups and which were mainly developed in the Lewin school. However, these techniques are often later used in other theoretical frameworks, so the second meaning of the term is not necessarily tied to Lewin's school, but rather to specific types of laboratory experiment in which different characteristics of groups are revealed. "Group dynamics" in this case - a special type of laboratory experiment specifically designed to study group processes.

3. But there may be a third use of the concept, when the term “group dynamics” denotes in contrast to the statics of the group the totality of those dynamic processes that simultaneously occur in a group in a certain unit of time and which mark the movement of the group from stage to stage, i.e. its development.

The most important of these processes are the following. First of all small group formation process, and this may include not only the direct methods of group formation, but also such psychological mechanisms that make a group a group, for example group pressure phenomenon on the individual (which in traditional social psychology does not belong to “group dynamics”). Further, these are traditionally considered in “group dynamics” processes of group cohesion, leadership and group decision making with the exception that the entire set of processes of managing and directing a group is not limited to just the phenomenon of leadership and group decision-making, but includes many more mechanisms. Another aspect of dynamic processes is presented phenomena of group life that arise during the development of joint activities(the phenomena accompanying it require separate consideration). As a unique result of the development of a group, the formation of such a specific stage as a collective can be considered. The processes of team formation - from a socio-psychological perspective - can therefore also be attributed to the dynamic processes occurring in the group.

The definition of a reference group can sound different:

Reference group- this is a certain group of people that is capable of directly or indirectly influencing the decision of an individual or his attitude towards something.

Reference group- this is the group that is the reference ( best example something) for a person or group of people.

Examples of reference groups: rich people for poor people, smart people for stupid people, owners of branded items for people who want to have this brand, etc. (all examples are special cases)

Each person evaluates himself and chooses a line of behavior according to group standards. But since people belong to several different communities, each of which is a unique subculture or counterculture, the guidelines for our actions and attitudes towards them are different.

Concept and types of reference groups

A reference group is a group used by an individual to analyze his actions and position. A person may belong to the reference group or be very far from it. Such a community can be real (for example, a family) or virtual (bohemia). In our time, the influence of imaginary groups has sharply increased.

As a rule, the interaction between a person and a reference (standard) group is unstable. In different life situations, the same person can take completely different communities as a model. A person is guided by several examples and when purchasing various types products or choices of unrelated lifestyle elements.

Interaction group(member group) are people surrounding a specific person (relatives, friends, employees). It may or may not be referential.

Community groups

Social groups can be divided into several types.

Primary and secondary:

• primary– small communities whose members interact with each other all the time (for example, relatives);
• secondary– groups of varying sizes, whose members communicate with each other from time to time (work colleagues).

Formal and informal:

• formal– communities with a strict and documented structure (political organization); have a significant impact on a person while building his career;
• informal– groups where there is no structure, and the basis is made up common interests(friendly team); seriously affect the personality at an early and late age, when the circle of communication is limited mainly by relatives.

Positive and negative:

• positive– groups with which a person identifies himself, adopting their style of behavior and rules;
• negative– communities with which the consumer rejects connections.

In a society where there are many subcultures, there is no list of positive and negative reference groups that is the same for the majority.

Forms of influence of reference groups on the consumer

The community has power over its members, inclining them to certain behavior, including as consumers. There are several types of such influence:

1. Reward Power. This is an impact on a person through possible rewards for fulfilling requirements, that is, positive sanctions. Examples would be a promotion, an increase in wages, admiration verbally. Conforming to the rules of the community helps a person gain higher status, gain recognition and authority, for which he follows the norms established in the group with great diligence. For example: a girl goes to a disco in a trendy outfit to hear compliments.
2. The power of coercion. Influencing an individual through punishment or withdrawal of rewards, that is, through negative sanctions. In formal communities, such an example would be a remark that could have a negative impact on an employee's career. Let's say that if an office employee shows up for work in beachwear, he will receive a penalty from his superiors. In informal ones, those who break the rules of the group will face contempt or ridicule.
3. Legitimate power. Influencing the activities of group members through their agreement that the community has a legal right to do so. In this situation, reward or punishment will not be required. A person, without hesitation, follows the rules of the community, because considers him to have the right to establish them. Example: students purchase notebooks because... We agree with the opinion of teachers that it is necessary to take notes.
4. The power of self-identification. An influence on a person's lifestyle based on his intention to belong to or be close to a community. A specific style of consumption or its details are considered a sign of compliance with the group, therefore those who wish to belong to it are obliged not to deviate from the framework of this style. The requirement can be either strict or soft, in the form of a wish. Example: every biker needs a powerful motorcycle.

The influence of reference groups on an individual is possible in four forms.

Regulatory form

Requirements to follow group rules to maintain a positive public opinion. This form strongly influences people with high self-discipline and is clearly visible when purchasing products of visible consumption. Relevant for self-identification groups and utilitarian communities.

Reference self-identification group called the community to which a person belongs, being under the pressure of its values ​​and rules. The group directly or indirectly forces him to comply with a certain line of behavior, in particular consumption, which is considered correct, and not to perform actions that look “inappropriate” or “strange”.

Utilitarian form

Utilitarian group is a community that has the ability to apply positive and negative sanctions, that is, the ability to reward and punish its member. TO this species may include various real and virtual groups. The individual must have an incentive to act, which is the desire to receive a reward or avoid punishment.

Value form

Value-based. The influence in which an individual adjusts his lifestyle to the behavior of group members due to agreement with its values. The consumer may be part of a community or only mentally consider himself part of it. This form manifests itself in relation to self-identification or value groups.

Value reference group - a real or imagined community whose members are recognized by the individual as outstanding possessors of values ​​that he himself shares. In such a group they not only sympathize with certain views, but openly express them through their style of behavior. A person who imitates its members copies this style. He is not included in the specified group, and most often he is very far from it both physically and in socially. As a rule, such communities include prominent figures in a particular area that is interesting to the individual.

Information form

Informational. Occurs through an exchange of views different people. The consumer purchases a product, being exposed to the information influence of the reference group, if he needs to find out everything about this product, but there is nowhere to get information from except this source; when there are strong social ties between the recipient and the source of information; if positive feedback is very important to the consumer.

This type of influence is exerted by the information reference group - the community whose data the buyer trusts. This group has two main forms:

• people with experience (those who have tried the products);
• experts - professionals in a specific field, whose opinion actually corresponds to the quality of the product; expert review can significantly affect the cost of acquisition.

Studying and taking into account the impact of reference groups on consumers

When purchasing various items, people are subject to varying degrees of pressure from reference communities. When people go to the store to buy groceries, clothing, and other desperately needed items, they do not look to the opinions of any group. However, they do not even suspect that when purchasing the selected product they are still under influence.

There are products that are considered prestigious: delicacies, expensive alcohol. Some clothing brands correspond to a specific reference group. If you purchase an essential item that will not be shown to others, the degree of influence of standards is minimal, but if it is a luxury attribute, it is maximum.

The degree of influence of reference groups on the purchase of products is considered in three directions:

• dependence of the level of influence on the type of product (everyday or luxury item);
• dependence on the type of use of the product (openly or without the presence of strangers);
• dependence on the category of product or service (for example, driving a car independently or using the services of a driver) and brand (buying a Mercedes or Volkswagen);

According to the three factors described, the impact of reference communities on the buyer is characterized as follows:

• the impact on the purchase of everyday goods is weak, but on the brand of these products – strong;
• the impact on both the type and brand of purchased private products is weak;
• the influence on the type and brand of goods when purchasing luxury attributes is strong (this product is a sign of prestige, and its brand emphasizes the status of the buyer).

When the impact reference groups on the product brand is strong, it can be applied in branding(nonsense is a brand recommended to the consumer by a reference group).

The reference group sets the fashion, thanks to which many products are sold more successfully. Fashion- this is the value in which the norm of external behavior is perceived by a person as a need and desire.

The fashion structure consists of:

• objects: clothes, food products, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, works of art and literature, masterpieces of architecture, lifestyle, sports; depending on purpose various items may be influenced by fashion to varying degrees;
• rules of conduct, corresponding to specific standards (for example, fashionable types of dances) and patterns of behavior using fashionable objects (owning prestigious furniture).

Distinctive features of fashion:

• modernity (the latest fashion objects are of high quality);
• demonstrativeness (a fashion object is necessary for demonstration to the environment).

The following fashion phases are known:

1. Production. It can be ideal and material. The first includes the creation of projects (drawings, descriptions, paintings). The performers are musicians, artists, writers.
2. Offer fashionable objects and behavioral standards to a wide range of people. Produced using open and hidden advertising. The first is a story to the consumer about the appearance of a new item, which, according to one or another criteria, has become fashionable. The second is to demonstrate to the individual members of reference groups who own fashion objects.
3. Consumption fashion items. Buyers demonstrate products to others while they are in use.

From all of the above, we can conclude that a person’s acquisition of products, especially at a high price, to a certain extent depends on the influence of reference groups, which you need to know for competent marketing.

Reference group- a designation accepted in marketing for a group of people who have a direct (through personal contact) or indirect influence on a person’s behavior and attitude towards something. In other words, reference group- these are people whose opinions serve as a basis for a person’s assessment, self-esteem or for the formation of standards of behavior, opinions, etc.

Referent term group came to marketing from social psychology and denotes a group of people who are psychologically significant for a person, those whose opinion is authoritative and can influence his behavior.

Despite a large number of reference groups and, to one degree or another, influencing the buyer (consumer), for the marketer special meaning have only three:

• membership group;
• aspiration group;
• unwanted group.

Membership Group – group that has a direct influence on a person. It is the group to which a person belongs and with which he interacts;
Aspiration Group- a group of which the consumer aspires to become a member and with which he would like to identify himself. This could be, for example, some professional community, a group of other social status.
Undesirable (dissociative) group- this is a group whose value orientations and behavior a person does not accept and therefore strives to stay away from.

A person is simultaneously a member of many social groups:

• primary reference groups - family, friends, work colleagues;
• secondary reference groups - public organizations, religious and professional associations.

Reference groups are also divided into several types:

• information (sources of reliable information);
• self-identification groups;
• value groups;
• utilitarian groups.

Information reference group- this is the group of people whose information we trust. It doesn’t matter whether we fall into error or are close to the truth. home distinguishing feature such a group is that we trust the information coming from it.

Self-identification reference group- this is a group to which an individual belongs and is under the pressure of its norms and values. The group directly or indirectly forces him to adhere to a style of behavior, including consumption, that is considered as “appropriate” for a member of this group.
Value reference group- this is a real or imaginary group of people who are considered by a given individual as bright carriers, exponents of the values ​​that he shares.
Utilitarian reference group- this is a group that has an arsenal of positive and negative sanctions, that is, it is capable of both rewarding and punishing an individual. A variety of real and imaginary social groups can act in this capacity.

The marketer should strive to identify all specific reference groups that influence consumer behavior. When making various purchases, an individual experiences pressure from reference groups of varying strengths. Thus, when buying food, clothing and other essential goods in conditions of dire need, people do not look back at their reference group: Hunger and cold dictate these purchases. However, given the choice of a specific type of essential commodity, the individual is already under the influence of his reference group.

Number of impressions: 39860

from lat. referens - reporting) is one of the types of relationships of interpersonal significance, which determine the specific nature of the interaction of an individual with a “significant other” or a circle of “significant others”. The very concept of “reference” was introduced into social psychology by G. Hyman, who argued that people’s ideas about themselves, their assessment of themselves significantly, and often to a decisive extent, depend on the community with which they relate themselves. Referent subjects can be groups, individuals; real and non-existent people who are in actual interaction with those for whom they are referent, and who are not part of the social environment. The only characteristic that unites them is that it is with their position that the person for whom they are referent correlates his plans, intentions, the fact that their reference exists only in the consciousness of the one for whom they are referents, and is realized only by addressing this personality specifically to their opinion, real or imaginary in connection with a problem situation that is significant for it. Knowledge of the system of reference relations is essential for any social psychologist. Togo source material, only with the help of which can he build a psychol. influence on the group in the logic of indirect and individual-specific, and functional-role influence, ensuring the necessary effectiveness of community members and positive social - psychol. the climate in it. M. Yu. Kondratiev, Yu. M. Kondratiev

REFERENCE

a relationship of significance that connects a subject with another person or group of persons. In social psychology, it was established that a person in his activities and behavior is guided not only by likes and dislikes for individual people, but also by collective goals, opinions and values; correlates his goals, opinions and assessments with group ones. This phenomenon is called referentiality.

This concept was first used by the American psychologist G. Hyman, who argued that people’s judgments about themselves largely depend on which group they associate themselves with. It is widespread, but is interpreted differently. In Russian psychology, the interpretation is based on the moment of significant selectivity when the subject determines his orientation - opinions, positions, assessments. Hence, referentiality is understood as a special quality of a subject’s personality, determined by the measure of its significance for another person or group of people, which also acts as a personalization factor.

Depending on the situation, reference manifests itself in different ways. Thus, the object of reference relations for a subject can be a group of which he is a member, or a group with which he relates himself without being a real participant. The function of a referent object can also be performed by an individual person, even one who does not really exist (a literary hero, a fictional ideal to follow, the subject’s ideal idea of ​​himself, etc.).

It is necessary to distinguish:

1) non-internalized relations of reference, when the referent object really exists as an external object that determines and “dictates” to the individual the norms of his behavior;

2) internalized relationships, when the individual’s behavior is not externally determined by any objects, and all referential relationships are removed and processed by his consciousness and act as his own subjective factors; however, even in such a situation, referential relations are present, although the form is more complex.

Referentiality as a quality of a subject or group always exists only in someone’s perception and reflects the connections and relationships of the subjects; it contains a measure of significance of this subject or groups in the eyes of a certain person. The specificity of reference is that the subject’s focus on a certain object that is significant to him is realized through an address - real or imaginary - to another significant person.

So, reference has the form of subject-subject-object relations - those in which the subject’s relationship to an object that is significant to him is mediated by a connection with another subject.

The fact of the individual's referentiality for other members of the group is established using a special experimental procedure - referentometry (-> referentometric method).

Referentiality

lat. referens - reporting] - a relation of significance connecting the subject with another person or group of persons. The concept of “R.”, which was first used by the American psychologist G. Hyman, who argued that people’s judgments about themselves largely depend on which group they associate themselves with, has become widespread, but this concept has been interpreted differently by different researchers. In Russian psychology, its interpretation was based on the moment of significant selectivity when a subject determines his orientations (opinions, positions, assessments) (E.V. Shchedrina). Hence, R. was understood as a special quality of a subject’s personality, determined by the measure of its significance for another person or group of people, and also acting as a factor of personalization. Depending on the situation, R. manifests itself in different ways. For example, the object of reference relations for a subject can be a group of which he is a member, or a group with which he relates himself without being a real participant. The function of a referent object can also be performed by an individual person, including one who does not really exist (a literary hero, a fictional ideal to follow, the subject’s ideal idea of ​​himself, etc.). It is necessary to distinguish between non-internalized R. relations, when the referent object actually exists as an external object that determines ("dictates") the individual's norms of behavior, and internalized relations, when the individual's behavior is not externally determined by any objects, and all referent relations are removed and "melted" by him consciousness and act as his, the individual’s, subjective factors. Nevertheless, in this situation, referential relations also take place, although they are more complex in form. R. as a quality of a subject or group always exists only in someone’s perception and reflects the connections and relationships of the subjects; it records the measure of significance of a given subject or group in the eyes of a particular person. The specificity of R. lies in the fact that the subject’s focus on some object that is significant to him is realized through an appeal (real or imaginary) to another significant person. Thus, R. has the form of subject-subject-object relations, i.e. those in which the subject’s relationship to an object that is significant to him is mediated by a connection with another subject. The fact of R. of an individual for other members of the group is established using a special experimental procedure - referentometry. E.V. Shchedrin

Referentiality

from lat. referens - reporting] - one of the types of relationships of interpersonal significance that determine the specific nature of the individual’s interaction with a “significant other” or a circle of “significant others.” The very concept of “reference” was introduced into social psychology by G. Hyman, who argued that people’s ideas about themselves, their assessment of themselves significantly, and often to a decisive extent, depend on what community they relate themselves to, what group they consider themselves to be. and, in this regard, the opinion of which community they take into account, using its position as a significant guideline in their life. In domestic social psychology, within the framework of the stratometric concept (A.V. Petrovsky), a unique approach to understanding the phenomenon of reference was theoretically substantiated, methodically supported and experimentally tested, which is based on “the moment of significant selectivity when the subject determines his orientations” (E.V. Shchedrin). If we talk about referent subjects, then they can be both groups and individuals, both real and non-existent people, both those who are in actual interaction with those for whom they are referent, and those who are not part of the social environment. The only characteristic that unites them is that it is with their position that the person for whom they are referent correlates his plans, intentions, the fact that their reference exists only in the consciousness of the one for whom they are referents, and is realized only through the appeal of this person precisely to their opinion, real or imagined in connection with a problem situation that is significant to her. Unlike a person significant as a source of some important information, the focus of the individual’s attention is not only and not so much the information for which he ultimately turned to another, but rather its assessment by this particular person, who thus turns out to be a reference person for him. It is the opinion of the reference person that is recognized as important and acts as a necessary basis for carrying out an action in a situation that is significant for the individual addressing him. Here we can talk about “personal vision”, “personal discrimination” of the subject to whom they turn for information, like necessary condition relationships with a “reference person,” which cannot be said about relationships with an “individual - source of information.” The high level of reference of an individual for another in no way excludes the possibility of a pronounced negative attitude of this other towards him as a person. Despite the fact that the attitude of the reference person to the interpreted facts and circumstances plays the role of a kind of guideline in the life of the individual, the latter does not always listen to this assessment, often does not agree with it, does not accept it as indisputably correct. Moreover, he can sometimes use information about the opinion of a reference person as material to substantiate his position, as they say, “by contradiction.” In any really functioning group, problematic situations constantly arise when a group member, in order to make a particular decision, needs to correlate his views, opinions, and positions. An individual group member usually does not seek to “sort out” the opinions of all his comrades in order to get his bearings in the situation, check the validity of his views and once again confirm the correctness of his chosen tactics. To solve this problem, he usually turns to the opinion of only one or several people who are most significant to him. A referent person, or an object of reference relations, is a person on whose opinion the subject of these relations is oriented, whose views and positions the latter takes into account, with whose norms and values ​​he correlates his behavior. As a rule, the most referent persons in a group are the leader and manager. Sometimes this does not mean at all that the person for whom they are referent treats them positively. This refers to the very fact of their importance for the individual, perhaps not based on their personal merits, but reflecting the importance of the role that each of them plays in the group. Relationships of interpersonal significance of a referent nature in a particular contact community and the nature of the referent intragroup structure of the community are traditionally identified using a technique specially created for this purpose in the late 70s of the 20th century - referentometry.

In domestic social psychology, studies of reference relations in a really functioning group are quite strictly connected with the development of the theory of activity-based mediation of interpersonal relationships, and later with the concept of personalization. At the same time, the basic methodological procedure with the help of which relations of interpersonal significance have traditionally been and are being studied precisely at the level of reference is the referentometry technique proposed, tested and first experimentally implemented by E. V. Shchedrina. The main indicators of referent relations in the group almost completely correlate with the indicators of relations of the “sympathy - antipathy” type, traditionally identified using the classical sociometric procedure. They are correlated precisely by the name of the indicators, but not by their actual psychological content. In other words, a referentometric “star”, a referentometric “outsider”, a referentometric “rejected”, a referentometric “accepted”, etc. are traditionally identified. At the same time whole line research clearly demonstrates a clear discrepancy between the referentometric and sociometric intragroup structures. For example, in the studies of Z.V. Kuzmina and Yu.V. Yanotovskaya1 it was shown that reference relations represent a fundamentally valuable sphere of interindividual connections in a really functioning contact group and characterize mutual vision and mutual influence, which does not always coincide with that which can be described in logic not mediated by the goals, objectives and content of joint activity by emotional connections. Moreover, in groups different levels development indicators of reference relations are qualitatively different. In groups high level socio-psychological development, a clearly expressed reciprocity of referent relations, the adequacy of expectations in this area and a clear “business” motivation for such interpersonal choices are noted. By the way, it should be noted that in groups such as corporations, these indicators are quite pronounced, although the basis of these relationships is not prosocial, but openly antisocial activity. As for diffuse or nominal groups, within their framework quite often the referent relations directly related to the sphere of activity are weakly expressed, and in experimental terms, the sociometric and referentometric intragroup structures, as they say, often “stick together.”

If we talk about reference relationships as a significant socio-psychological phenomenon of interpersonal relationships in a group, we cannot fail to mention one more experimentally verified fact. The significance of reference relationships is also confirmed by the fact that it is not even their objective, but their subjective “picture” that, as a rule, decisively influences the behavior and behavioral activity of interaction partners. For example, in the study of V.V. Trofimova1 an extremely interesting pattern was recorded. In the conditions of dyadic performance of a joint learning task, it turned out that it is not so much the objective picture of referent relations that influences the effectiveness of the decision, but rather the subjective ideas about which of the partners is referent or non-referent for the other. It turned out that if teenagers working in pairs in a problematic learning situation consider each other as referents, their “pair work” is the most successful. Moreover, in this case it does not matter at all whether they are referential to each other in reality. Moreover, truly mutually referent persons, if they do not consider themselves such, turn out to be ineffective within the framework of dyadic interaction. By the way, it makes sense to note here that reference in this case can be associated not only with a positive, but also with a negative emotional attitude. Thus, the most significant factor influencing the effectiveness of interaction is not the “sign” of the emotionality of the relationship, but the very fact of having a personal vision of the partners in joint activities.

For any practical social psychologist, knowledge of the system of reference relations acts as the source material with which only he can build psychological impact on the group in the logic of indirect and individual-specific, and functional-role influence.