Abstract
We asked some 1090 students to tell us who had most impressed them in life and for what reasons so as to evaluate a few of their reference values through their partial identification to the proposed persons. Persons belonging to their family circle got the highest score (24.3%), then' persons endowed with many religious and moral qualities (15%). Next come political or historic characters (14.4%), men gifted with many intellectual and artistic qualities (11.8%), friends (10.2%), sports-stars (8.4%), and finally the persons doing a special job (teacher, etc., 9.3%). The main reasons for their choices are competence, know how and intelligence of the chosen person (16%), his role as an adviser (11%), a dynamic worker (9%), and (for a religious figure) his miraculous powers (6%). The mother figure (chosen by 8.2% of our subjects) and the father figure (6.3%) were chosen mainly for the advice they provided (50%). The influence of sex, housing, socio-economic status of fathers and age was also discussed.
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