The article presents the results of an empirical study conducted in a military and humanitarian higher education institution. The study involved 40 young male cadets and 40 young male students. The projective technique “Image of the World”, a variant of the essay was used. It is shown that the image of the world in young men has different emotional coloring. Among cadets there are no young men with a negative attitude to the world; by the end of the university ambivalent attitude to the world is lost. The attitude to the world of humanities students is complex throughout the entire period of study: about half of them have a positive attitude to the world, the rest have ambivalent and negative attitudes to the world.