Abstract

The presented research gives a theoretical analysis of a ratio of the dream and reality concepts. The research objective is the consideration of dream and reality from the point of view of the arising conflict of achievement of goals. The author concludes that the contradiction between dream and reality is a consequence of absence or not formation of personal and public ideals, as reference points in life. As a result, there is a conflict of achieving goals, which can be followed by various strategies of the choice of behaviour in the conflict. The empirical research on identification of the strategy of modern youth’s behaviour in the conflict using Kenneth Thomas’ method involved both school and university students. It was revealed that aspiration to achieve a dream at any cost leads to emergence of competitive interaction. When the ‘adaptation’ strategy is chosen, the person often loses a dream in the fight against reality due to the lack of vital energy. The choice of the ‘compromise’ strategy reflects prevalence of a rational basis over dreams in the person’s consciousness. The ‘avoiding’ strategy represents the consciousness of a person who goes away from reality into the area of the virtual world of dreams and domination of irrational concepts over real ones. The strategy of ‘cooperation’ reflects an optimal ratio of a dream and reality in the person’s consciousness and leads to the best interaction with the outside world. Special correctional programs based on training practices and containing exercises for understanding the personal dream, ideals and their interaction with reality were used.