Due to the specifics of volunteer activity, an important place in it is occupied by such personality quality as altruism. Altruism (Latin alter - other) is a system of value-semantic orientations of the individual, manifested in acts of gratuitous assistance and self-denial , care and mercy.[4] The motives for this behavior are the interests and needs of another person or social group. The concept of “altruism” was introduced by the French philosopher and founder of sociology O. Comte, as the opposite of the concept of “egoism”. Kont associated the concept of altruism with the formation in a person, in the process of upbringing, of a certain kind of ability to resist one’s own egoistic impulses for the sake of the interests of other people.[8] Manifestations of altruism can have various mechanisms behind them. Basically, acts of altruistic behavior are determined by situational altruistic attitudes, which begin to be actualized in various actions of the subject in specific dangerous situations. According to Antilogova L.N., if altruistic behavior is determined by a semantic attitude, it becomes a conscious value orientation that determines the behavior of an individual in a given situation. Thus, altruism becomes the meaning of a person’s life.[4] It often happens that various kinds of manifestations of altruism are associated with a direct threat to the interests of the individual and even to his life. These circumstances significantly complicate the experimental study of altruistic behavior and force researchers to turn to the analysis of external forms of behavior, such as help, generosity, care, etc. Therefore, some authors, for example Parshina Yu. V., Potapova N.A., prefer to approach the study of altruism from the position of personal values. According to these authors, the significance of altruistic activity is determined by the values ​​that underlie the relationship of the altruist with the people around him. Altruism can act as an important component of the socio-psychological manifestation of humane relations in society.[31] According to some psychological studies devoted to the study of motivation for volunteering, it was found that a feeling of satisfaction and meaningfulness in life correlates with a tendency to caltruism.[29] Thus, altruism in volunteer activities is the principle of a person’s value and life orientations, which are based on the desire to help people and take care of them. Being part of the individual’s value system, altruism takes the place of the main motive in the behavior of a volunteer, and also represents a criterion of moral assessment that determines the entire lifestyle. Thus, the attitude towards people is built on the basis of selfless help. The authors note that the behavior of an individual involved in volunteer activities , is determined by the greater value of the well-being of the people around them than the volunteer’s own personality. [29] According to the domestic psychologist E. V. Subbotinsky, altruism is an important factor determining a person’s compliance with volunteer activities. Another, no less important factor is the humanistic orientation of the individual. This orientation can be defined as a person’s sense of involvement in spiritual life and the existence of other people, as well as through the possibility of empathy and compassion. Thus, altruism represents the normative basis of the humanistic orientation of the individual and is decisive in the choice of volunteer activities. [37] Personal meaning connects objective meaning with real life and the motive of human activity, and this is how partiality and subjectivity of human consciousness appear. Thus, every situation or phenomenon of the surrounding world is reflected by the subject in two ways. In the case when we are talking about a situation that has an unambiguous meaning and the process of goal formation is not complicated, the subject interprets it based on its objective meaning. If the situation has multiple meanings, the interpretation in this caseis based on personal meaning and subjective meaning for the individual. According to A. N. Leontyev, if the process of goal formation is impossible under objective conditions, the tomotive, in this case, remains in the form of an attitude. In a situation of uncertainty, personal meaning encourages a person to act, focusing on his own values ​​and attitudes.[23] Representatives of various psychological schools have different points of view on the question of the nature of altruism and its place in the system of volunteer needs. Representative of social psychology Daniel Bateson considered altruism in connection with empathy. According to the author, a volunteer’s desire to help other people is a consequence of several reasons: concern for one’s own interests and altruistic motives. Thus, the author’s train of thought can be presented as follows: Someone else’s misfortune Mental discomfort (anxiety, Empathy (compassion for a person in trouble, frustration, excitement) desire to help Egoistic motivation: Altruistic motivation: calm oneself. reassure another. Possible actions: Actions: (desire to step away (providing help needy) from the sufferer) Thus, according to Daniel Bateson, the feeling of empathy is a consequence of a person’s altruism and implies a complete absence of reward [25] Within the framework of the theory of social exchange, phenomenaltruism considers the position of “social economy”. That is, the exchange between people occurs not only material, but also material. but also social values, such as empathy, love, information, etc. The strategy that is involved in this process uses the mechanism of minimizing one’s own costs and the desire to achieve greater rewards. The authors who described this theory did not unequivocally state that such a strategy is consciously used by all people, but they believed that such thoughts can influence a person’s behavior in a social environment. Thus, altruism acts as a veiled egoism, and the process of helping another person is stimulated by personal gain, the forms of which can be different.[25] Having studied the motivation of volunteers involved in providing social assistance to adults and children with developmental disabilities, foreign psychologist Jill Clary described some of the reasons that motivate people for free assistance. These reasons included the need to act in accordance with generally accepted values, the desire to acquire new useful skills, the need to become a member of a group and earn the approval of others, the acquisition of new experiences, as well as increasing self-esteem through strengthening self-esteem. The data obtained as a result of the study led the authors to the assumption that the origins of altruistic activity lie in the egoism of the individual [36]. Another view on the nature of altruism belongs to the authors of the theory of social norms. According to the authors, the process of mutual assistance is mediated by obligatory prescriptions. This means that various moral and ethical standards adopted in the social environment determine the rules of behavior of people in society. As an example for this statement, the authors chose to consider the norm of reciprocity, which, according to sociologist Alvin Gouldner, is universal for all humanity and postulates the principle of mutual assistance. The next norm is the norm of social responsibility, which states that those in need of help must be helped without relying on any material reward. [25] Within the framework of psychoanalytic theory, a lot of attention has been paid to the issue of the deep origins of valtruism. Psychoanalysis, in contrast to social and biological theories of altruism, studied altruistic motivation, examining in detail its occurrence at the individual level. The issue of altruism was addressed in their works by such authors as: Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Karen Horney and other psychoanalysts. AccordingAccording to S. Freud, altruism should be considered as compensation in the subject’s desire to achieve the ideal of his own Self. Freud also argued that initially a certain amount of egoism is present in the subject, which can cause a feeling of guilt in some situations, then altruistic behavior appears as a defense against such feelings.[42 ]In the works of Anna Freud, altruism is seen as a defense of the weak Ego. According to the author, this is possible due to the presence of an overly strong Super Ego structure. Thus, a conflict arises between the Ego and the Super Ego, in which the Ego, testing reality, contributes to the satisfaction of the passions of the Id. If the requirements and principles of the Super Ego turn out to be too rigid, each attempt to satisfy the drives of the Id encounters resistance, the drives are suppressed and remain unsatisfied. In order to maintain the balance of psychic forces, the subject finds himself forced to transfer his desire to another. In this case, mechanisms such as projection and identification are used. According to Anna Freud, this is how the human psyche maintains the balance of its structures. Thus, one’s own desire, which was displaced by another person, can now be satisfied without the resistance of the Superego.[41] At the level of behavior, this strategy manifests itself in the form of concern for another person, selfless help to others, self-sacrifice, that is, in the form of altruism. Along with other psychoanalysts, A. Freud believed that not only projection and identification can act as mechanisms that implement altruistic behavior. Other psychological defense mechanisms, such as repression, reactive formation, introjection, regression, rationalization, turning against oneself, omnipotent control can become intermediaries in the formation of unconscious motivation for altruistic behavior. [27] Domestic psychologist V. R. Keiselman, exploring the nature of altruistic activity, gives examples of various protective psychological mechanisms that contribute to the implementation of altruism. Considering introjection as a mechanism of psychological defense, the author believes that this is the most pronounced way of altruistic behavior. The meaning of introjection is the uncritical assimilation of other people's points of view, meanings, positions without presenting one's own values. The mechanism of introjection helps to suppress conflict in relation to older people and the dominant worldview, and also adapts a person to reality. In other words, a person adapts to a certain way of life, perceiving it as a value norm, while suppressing the part of his own personality that contradicts the prosocial Ego.[19] The author also describes such psychological defense as rationalization. That is, a person can rationalize his forced sacrifice as a pre-planned altruistic act. This mechanism can be illustrated by the example of employees who do not dare to apply for a high position due to their own uncertainty and are content with less profitable working conditions, rationalizing their conscious choice. A similar mechanism among some volunteers was described by Shekova E. A. The author writes that due to low self-esteem, such a person does not dare to find a job that will bring him a decent reward. The choice of social volunteer activity for such an individual is mediated not by the desire to help others, but by the desire to find a job for which he will receive payment. At the same time, the volunteer is forced to endure various hardships due to a lack of material resources, rationalizing his choice with a conscious desire to help another.[49] The next manifestation of the rationalization of altruism is that a person explains the gentleness of his character when he helps everyone indiscriminately, with his conscious choice and the hope that that in the future he will be rewarded for his kindness. In this case, we are talking about giving in to one’s own views due to fear of conflict. Thus, a person rationalizes his».