Background. The necessity of youth policy development is caused by negative social tendencies not only in Russia but all over the world. Control of social behavior may be one of the guidelines in its development and determining problem areas.

Objective. The objective of the paper is to study social representations about «the contemporary hero» in students of the psychology and teacher-training specialty. The main issue of the research is the difference of social representations about «the contemporary hero» in students of different specialties and different values.

Design. The methods include the author's questionnaire for revealing social representations that consists of incomplete sentences, open and associated questions, and also the technique for identifying Schwartz’s values. The sample consists of 96 students representing 4 careers (physical training, psychology, defectology, elementary education).

Research Results. The results of the study show that within the given groups insignificant statistical distinctions on values are revealed. However, character and discrepancy of values are different within the 4 groups under consideration. In the groups with inconsistent structure of values social representations are also inconsistent: the students have no example for identity, they cannot identify names of particular persons to the hero image, definition of the hero and the specified persons do not coincide. In contrast, within the group of harmonious structure of values specified persons, exemplary models for imitation coincide with that definition of “the contemporary hero”. The most harmonious structure of values and less inconsistent social representations about «the contemporary hero» are revealed in Physical Training students, whose most inconsistent values and social representations are revealed in the group of Psychology students.

Conclusion. Stereotypical interiorized social representations about “«the contemporary hero” are dominant in the student, which does not allow them to transfer that image to the future subordinates. The major part of the students do not see examples for imitation and for identification among celebrities. Researches on a more vast sample will allow to specify the data to develop recommendations for updating the youth policy in this field.