Empirical study of the influence of the value-sense sphere of a personality on its virtual image: a component of meaningful orientations

Abstract

The article devoted to the study of the influence of the value-semantic sphere of an individual, namely, life-sense orientations, on its virtual image in the Internet space. The article provides a critical analysis of the literature devoted to the study of the value-semantic sphere of personality and virtual personality in the Internet space. It was determined that the value-semantic sphere as a complex dynamic construct of the personality determines its inner world and sets the vector of its activity. Also, during the analysis of the literature, it was revealed that the system of meanings and values determines the choice of behavioural patterns of the personality, and also acts as a censor to assess the events and phenomena that it encounters. The study analysed the virtual personality of an Internet user as a psychological phenomenon; it describes such properties of a virtual personality as virtuality (the degree of acceptance of virtual reality as an environment in which social life is feasible), involvement (the level of knowledge of information and computer technologies and a sense of belonging to a virtual society) and orientation (the presence or absence of ideas about socially approved behaviour in Internet society). The article also analyses the results of an empirical study of the influence of the component of the meaning-life orientations of the value-semantic sphere of the individual on the properties of his virtual image. It was determined that there is a direct connection between the indicator of the life process and the level of involvement of the virtual personality (people with the perception of their life as filled with meaning and emotionally saturated in the Internet space have developed motivation for life activity) and that there is a direct connection between the indicator of the result of life and the level of orientation of the virtual personality (people with a subjectively assessed high level of self-realisation in the Internet space show a tendency towards normative behaviour).