Students' social representations of risks in interacting with the Internet: cross-cultural aspect (Russia, Brazil, Romania)

Abstract

Problem and purpose. Along with the obvious benefits, the digitalization of society carries its own risks. At the same time, in modern psychology there is not enough information about the differences in representations of such risks in different cultures. The purpose of the article is to empirically verify the assumption about the dependence of risk perceptions on the socio-cultural context. Methodology. The empirical part of the study was carried out through questionnaires, collected in different universities in three countries during academic and scientific visits (Russia: n = 112, Romania: n = 94, Brazil: n = 98) and drafting the evaluation reports of social risks perceptions (Abric coefficient). During the translation of the questionnaires, we used the focus group method and the method of translation of psychodiagnostic tools and questionnaires (S.V. Kudrya). Results. The data obtained showed that perceptions of risks depend on general perceptions of risks in the culture of a given country, legislation in the field of Internet security, as well as the duration and experience of interaction in social networks of the Internet. Thus, the" core " of the social representation of Russian and Romanian students about the results of risky behavior on the Internet are unproductive behavior in the information environment (TCP-92); demonstration of indifference (TCP-78) or aggressiveness (TCP-75), and for the Brazilian sample, the demonstration of psychological affliction is more typical (TCP-65). In addition, the lexical-semantic analysis of terms and concepts in the field of riskology used for empirical survey of students showed the presence of semantic cross-cultural differences in their understanding. Discussion and conclusion. The data obtained allow us to say that social perceptions of risks are influenced by socio-cultural and legislative peculiarities: the empirical part of the study showed a clear difference between the “core” and “periphery” both in the cross-cultural dimension and within the country samples. The lexico-semantic analysis of risk-generating behavioral patterns and ideas about risks showed cultural (linguistic) differences in this area and the need not only for adaptation and verification of diagnostic tools, but also for clarifying the meaning of various risk factors in the verbal plan.