Media and cyber psychology

The success of cross-cultural online communication in an academic environment is defined by the degree of student involvement in such an interaction. The authors’ experience testifies that a number of objective, language, and psychological factors may decrease the activeness of these interactions, and as a result learning may not be effective for students in these types of cross-cultural interactions. Among such factors the current article investigates the influence of a communicator’s speech peculiarities on a recipient’s willingness to maintain interaction in native-to-nonnative, written online communication in the English language. The study was aimed at verifying a hypothesis about the influence of Russian communicants’ speech characteristics on American communicants’ willingness to maintain conversations. The research method chosen was content analysis. Thematic chats involving Russian and American students participating in the Global Understanding course were analyzed. The results of the content analysis allowed us to distinguish certain Russian communicants’ written speech characteristics, such as the prevalence of language and grammar mistakes, the degree of vocabulary richness, and the use of complex sentences. Significant correlations were discovered between the American communicants’ willingness to maintain conversations and the number of mistakes, indicators of lexical richness and scarcity in Russian communicants’ utterances. Language and speech mistakes as well as the quantity of words in the utterances of micro themes had the highest number of significant correlations with indicators of the willingness to maintain conversations. The first factor, language and speech mistakes, decreased the willingness to maintain conversations, whereas the second factor, the number of words in Russian students’ utterances, increased such willingness.

The postnonclassical paradigm has increasingly become a conceptual basis for social research in various fields in an attempt to overcome the limitations of the classical and non-classical approaches. Subjects of social research activities require changes in the paradigm at all levels of research: from the statement of the problem to the elaboration of the appropriate methods and the analysis of the research data. The search for new research methods, technologies and techniques plays a crucial role in this process. One of the most promising methods that has rapidly developed in recent years is the technology of virtual reality (VR). This technology is being widely applied to both natural science and social science research. In this article, we examine the possibilities of using VR technology for the resolution of current tasks in social research from the perspective of the postnonclassical approach.

Today computer games occupy a significant place in children’s lives and fundamentally affect the process of the formation and development of their personalities. A number of present-day researchers assert that computer games have a developmental effect on players. Others share the point of view that computer games have negative effects on the cognitive and emotional spheres of a child and claim that children with low self-esteem who neglect their schoolwork and have difficulties in communication are particularly passionate about computer games. This article reviews theoretical and experimental pedagogical and psychological studies of the nature of the correlation between a passion for computer games and the school performance of younger schoolchildren. Our analysis of foreign and Russian psychology studies regarding the problem of playing activities mediated by information and computer technologies allowed us to single out the main criteria for children’s passion for computer games and school performance. This article presents the results of a pilot study of the nature of the correlation between a passion for computer games and the school performance of younger schoolchildren. The research involved 32 pupils (12 girls and 20 boys) aged 10-11 years in the 4th grade. The general hypothesis was that there are divergent correlations between the passion of younger schoolchildren for computer games and their school performance. A questionnaire survey administered to the pupils allowed us to obtain information about the amount of time they devoted to computer games, their preferences for computer-game genres, and the extent of their passion for games. To determine the level of school performance we analyzed class registers. To establish the correlation between a passion for computer games and the school performance of younger schoolchildren, as well as to determine the effect of a passion for computer games on the personal qualities of the children, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r-Pearson) was used. Analysis of the results of the study indicates that there is a correlation between computer-game genres and the school performance of younger schoolchildren, that a passion for role-playing computer games adversely affects the school performance of younger schoolchildren and that the time period for a single game determines the extent to which younger schoolchildren have the personality traits necessary to maintain educational motivation and interest in an academic subject.

Childhood obesity is one of the most dangerous pathologies; it can lead to serious illness in the absence of medical support. In this article we give an overview of the use of videogames for reducing and normalizing the weight of overweight and obese children. We discuss the categorization of the existing games and their limits, and we outline the perspectives of psychopedagogical research in the domain of game design for treating obese and overweight children. The role of long-term motivation in the treatment of obesity is one of the crucial questions we discuss. We try to understand how videogames can help children and parents maintain motivation during weight-loss treatment. The role of parents is undeniable in ensuring the success of weight-loss programs for overweight or obese children. Perhaps videogames can be the instrument for families’ lifestyle changes.

In this paper, we developed a psychological model of digital competence including four components (knowledge, skills, motivation and responsibility) and four spheres (work with online content, communication, technical activity and consumption). The Digital Competence Index (DCI) is a 52-item instrument assessing an index and an entire profile of digital competence. In the Russian population study (1203 adolescents 12-17 years old and 1209 parents), acceptable reliability (.72-.90 for all of the scales, except motivation) of DCI was demonstrated. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the superiority of the four-component structure with the second-order index. Mean DCI was 34% of the maximally possible level in adolescents and 31% in parents, indicating the necessity for the educational programs in Russia. The motivation component was both the lowest and the least homogeneous factor, indicating that important special efforts to improve motivation to learn in Russian adolescents are needed.

The development of modern information technologies is causing changes in the structure of the human psyche, bringing about a new psychotype. The transition to a new level of evolution is accompanied by the growing manifestation of the psyche’s ontological features — nonlocality and self-determination. From a sample of more than 300 people, it was demonstrated that active Internet users are significantly different in a number of parameters from those who mostly use traditional media. This article examines the resources of media psychology as a new paradigm in the study of mass communication phenomena and the laws of the development of psyche.

The author of the article argues that multimedia content can be used not only for entertainment purposes, but also may help achieve various psychological effects on the audience. The paper provides a brief overview of the psychological research performed in the field of multimedia perception and describes the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The article analyses two phenomena that may be regarded as prerequisites for the emergence of multimedia as a new technology: multimodality of human perception and so-called polyphony of reality. Multimedia content affects various sensory systems and thus imitates the real world, which is full of stimuli from various modalities. The author also highlights a range of psychological effects that may accompany the usage of multimedia content in the mass media.

The 21st century has been characterized by tremendous changes in mass-media systems. The rapid growth of the Internet, inspired by the progress of communication technologies and digitalization, has resulted in the rise of new interactive media. Developments contributing to the scope and speed of media production and distribution have drawn particular attention to the information security of audiences – in particular, to protecting children from content that might be harmful and not appropriate for their age. Unlike adults, who are accustomed to living in an information-rich society, children cannot understand and filter content. Digital media, with their profound effects on a young audience, definitely affect children’s psychology and emotions.

Recognizing this development, the most economically advanced countries have elaborated specific media policies to ensure that children receive the advantages of new media and simultaneously are kept safe from harmful content. These policies, aimed at traditional media (press and analogue broadcasting), have been based on legal approaches, but in digital reality laws do not always produce the same desired effects because the law-making process often does not keep up with technological change. Governments, therefore, have to share their responsibilities with the nongovernmental – private business and civil– sectors. Even countries with strong government influence over public life, such as Singapore, are working toward a co-regulated and self-regulated mass-media industry. Many foreign countries, including those in Western Europe, North America, and Asia, already have experience with these policies.

The article reviews practices in the field of media aimed at guaranteeing children’s information security and at opposing harmful content. It points to key aspects of the regulation of market-driven media content in different countries.

This study aims to fill a gap in the current research on the personality organization of frequent videogame users. The scientific literature in this area refers only to the existence of risk factors that increase the likelihood of abusing videogames and their negative consequences on the mental health of users (Gentile et al., 2011; Lemmens, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2011; Rehbein & Baier, 2013). In this study, a sample of patients who reported spending an excessive amount of their time playing videogames were recruited from Instituto Quintino Aires–Lisbon/Oporto and took the Rorschach Personality Test (Exner, 1993, 1995). Two other samples—one consisting of patients who reported not playing videogames, and the other of patients who were discharged from the institution after psychotherapy—also took part in the study. The patients in the first sample revealed less exposure to the relational sources of stress that are necessary for socioemotional development and less interest in others than did patients in the other samples. Other results regarding the personality structure of the subjects in the three samples are compared and discussed in light of cultural-historical psychology.

Statistical data about Internet users indicates that Russia ranks first in Europe in terms of its number of Internet users. Young people prevail among Russia’s Internet users. Internet dependence behaviour is given a definition. The behavioural peculiarities of Internet addicts are considered. Time perception is a background for psychical processes. The time focus of the human psyche reveals itself in the speed and duration of perception, impression, memory, thought and emotions peculiar to people with a certain temperament and of a certain age, sex and group. Time perception is an integral part of our mental processes. A human being is inclined to consider all events and processes taking place around him as a process which takes time. The time perception of every person is always specific, and it is reflected in his or her thought and behaviour. The results of studying higher mental functions and time perception in internet-addicted teenagers are given. The obtained results have revealed distraction at the end of the study due to the high exhaustiveness of the neuro-dynamic component of mental activity, as well as the poorer ability of Internet addicts to be conscious of themselves in time. Given the absence of a clear pattern of their roles in real life, Internet addicts may often find that their addiction results in mental conflicts and self-aggression. In turn, it may result in impulsion, confusion, certain problems with explaining personal actions, wishes and motives. Internetaddicted teenagers have a more pessimistic attitude towards their time and life activity. When running into hardship, their behavioural performance and incentives to overcome barriers may be limited.

The need for the psychology of computerization as a separate psychological discipline was suggested by Prof. Oleg K. Tikhomirov in mid-1980s. First he tried to initiate this discipline as a by-product of his experiments in the psychology of thinking, which formed the basis of the Personal Meanings Theory of Thinking, to be formulated later; soon Tikhomirov enlarged the field of the psychology of computerization. The aims of the new discipline were to study (1) the differences between human mental activity and the operations performed by computers that constitute the key elements of artificial intelligence systems, and (2) the impact of information technology on the human psyche. With the passage of several decades, the first aim partly lost its importance, while the second acquired a high degree of significance. In the paper it is argued that Tikhomirov’s suggestion that the psychological consequences of computerization be studied happened to germinate into the development of cyberpsychology (the psychology of the Internet) in Russia.

Tikhomirov’s primary works are considered groundbreaking in the activity theory community. In particular, his efforts in understanding the positive effects of computers on the development of creative activity provide valuable instruction to activity theorists, especially with respect to their influence on new goal formation. Tikhomirov’s quests to better understand “how computers affect the development of intellectual activity” are explicitly revealed in the clinical environment. As the intensive care unit is a preeminent environment to observe creative activity in real time, the primary problems of clinical team communication and collaboration, both aspects being related to joint activity, are identified. As one way to approach such a problem, Tikhomirov’s theory on creative activity is explained in the context of information technology. Then, distributed cognition theory and creative activity theory are joined together and extended into distributedcreative activity theory, as an augmentation of complex interpersonal cognition through the use of health information technology.

This article looks at the content strategies of the Russian media and discusses whether they conform to humanitarian values. The content strategies that prevailed in different eras and the social and psychological effects that they engendered are compared. Special attention is paid to conflicts of values and other negative consequences of the communicative incompetence of the media in Russia; this lack of competence poses a threat to the information security of society.

The blogs as the platform for a virtual personality construction are considered in the article on the assumption of the positions of Lev S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical approach. Internet journalism practices are considered as the example for the processes of virtual “I” formation. The authors affirm that the appearance of consecutive and stable “I-representation” in Internet is the necessary condition for a change in dynamics of social nets development from motives which are out of Internet in physical space towards situation when a virtual personality is enough full-fledged to be a motive for new social interactions creation not leaving Internet. As a result a virtual personality turns into a net-creating factor and Internet loses its unoriginality in relation to physical space. Using Lev Vygotsky’s “internal speech” concept, the article suggests to consider this interaction as a dairy discourse – “A dialog of internal voices”, which turns a virtual personality from the product of self representation into the product of social interaction. The authors affirm that the ability to construct a virtual personality is the integral part for personality formation in the new information society and propose to regard journalism practices as one of the methods of effective self representation in Internet.

Recently mass media play crucial role in social counterterrorism activity. The article is devoted to analysis of possibilities of mass media in prevention of the development of terrorism. Socio-psychological factors of development of terrorism, including concept of “contributing events” as well as hypothesis “frustration-aggression” are studied. The psychological component of terrorism in three major attitudes is considered in the article: psychology of terrorism, psychology of counteraction to terrorism, and using mass media for prevention the development of terrorism. Specific features and the external factors promoting involving into terrorism are analysed. Role of mass media in covering the information about terrorism events is analysed from point of view related to prevention of development of terrorism. Some key recommendations on counterterrorism activity using mass media means are formulated.

The paper introduces virtual reality systems as a new methodolology of carrying out both traditional and originally designed experimental studies in psychology and in a broader context - in neuroscience. This methodology, often differing from classical approaches toward planning and performing a study in cognitive, social, educational, organizational and numerous other disciplines within psychology, is placed in the context of genuine Russian and at the same time of world-wide psychological theories, conceptions and traditions. Advantages, currently available results, challenges and perspectives of the virtual paradigm in experimental psychology, psychotherapy and psychological rehabilitation are thoroughly described and analyzed. The ideas of immersive virtuality are also shown to play a profound role at diverse levels of innovative learning and teaching, including special, extracurricular, and college education. Besides, applied virtual reality sys­tems are presented as being of serious importance for the university students' training: it is expected that new generations of professional psychologists will use these systems extensively. The multifaceted theoretical activities and applied work of the staff and students affiliated with the Psychology Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, aimed at development and usage of immersive virtual reality systems are fully presented in the paper.

The present paper reveals basic trends of psychological studies in media com­munications conducted in Russia, in particular, at Lomonosov MSU.The principal researchers, engaged in the field, are introduced: A.A. Leontiev, N.N. Bogomolova, O.T. Melnikova, L.V. Matveeva.The model of human interaction with media space, suggested by LV. Matveeva, is considered in detail. The paper presents principal results of investigation, undertaken on the basis of the present model, and focused on personality self-expression within telecommunication, as well as characteris­tic features of telecommunicator and image regulation of mediated intercourse. There also presented some trends in development of media psychology in pres­ent day research: a study of reception and recognition of emotions in media com­munication; the problem of informational-psychological security of spectator; the image of Russia offered by mass media.

Optimal, or flow experience is a psychological construct introduced by M. Csik-szentmihalyi; it refers to intrinsic motivation when an activity is worth doing for its own sake and denotes productive work with high concentration on the task, distinct objectives and high level of satisfaction, positive feelings such as enjoyment, balance between the available skills and the task challenges, immediate feedback, as well as temporary loss of self-consciousness and distorted sense of time. This construct is being intensely used in numerous environments connected with the use of information technologies, including specific ones such as Internet addiction. The latter context is argued to be incorrect, since addiction means a negative feeling while flow is positive. Numerous examples follow distinguishing online gamers' repetitive behaviors referring to flow experience from those which refer to addictive behavior.

The article is devoted to the problem of using a new experimental technology of “virtual reality” (VR) in psychological research. Methods of virtual reality actively become embedded in tooling of up-to-date experimental psychology. Next in turn there is a task of embedding of VR technologies in various areas of applied psychology like sport psychology. Application of modern computer methods discovers new perspectives for sport psychology.

The article deals with a study of both short-term and long-term influence of massmedia upon a concept of danger (CD). Subjective concepts of danger (CD) were revealed by means of the authors “Assessment of Dangerous Situations” Questionnaire and a new classification of such concepts was developed. Demonstrated are differences in CD of men and women, as well as specific traits of CD transformations induced by news programs. The authors give advice on how to compile TV news programs in view of psychological mechanisms of perception.