Ambitions. What it is?

Usually by ambition we mean purposefulness, phenomenal knowledge of one's own and other's advantages and disadvantages, ability to play on someone else's interests. In this respect, an ambitious person can carry in himself both a positive charge, achieving his goals, and a negative, connected with the neglect of the feelings and aspirations of other people.

In principle, answering the question: "Ambitions - what is this?" - we can say with confidence that we are dealing with a hypertrophied perception of our own "I". If a person is confident in his own abilities and his actions are rational, then ambitiousness can become his moral and ethical decoration. Conversely, if full of arrogance and excessive pettiness, he gradually turns into a cynic for whom someone else's opinion and the interests of others are nothing compared to his personal perception of the world where he lives.

On the other hand, each culture responds in its own way to the question: "Ambitions - what is this?" For some people, it is about rationalizing their actions, as in the Anglo-Saxon system of values. For others - the ability to form your position in such a way as to achieve maximum results in a particular field of activity, mainly in the economy. This approach is more typical for North American countries.

It is interesting that Europe practically does not use the word "values", that this is of no fundamental importance for it. Yes, the continent recognizes its ambitions as a moral quality, but it all boils down to respecting personal rights and the rights of "others." In case of violation of those, the attitude towards an "ambitious" person can be quite tough and even antisocial. According to this logic, ambitions should help, and not hamper the achievement of the common good.

For Russians, the answer to the question of "ambition - what is this" is also ambiguous. On the one hand, an ambitious person is respected, especially if he has managed to achieve certain goals with his own work. In other words, professional ambition is valued. This has nothing to do with business qualities. Large ambitions in the economy, politics, business are clearly not welcomed, and therefore are perceived only in negative terms, down to contempt.

However, ambitions, the importance of which can not be determined purely from the scientific point of view, can also be considered as a criterion of psychological health. It is clear that in Western society, where all the basic conditions for an individual start are created, a high self-esteem and a thirst for a concrete result is welcomed and encouraged. In Russian, and in general post-Soviet conditions, the situation is somewhat different. A successful person is always a matter of envy, if not hatred. The rich do not like in our country. It does not matter if there are ambitions, what it is. But the magnitude of personal claims with their own growth is measured. And more often it happens that the set goals are unattainable simply because others do not want someone to stand out from the general mass. Then healthy ambitions simply transform into loneliness and social apathy.