Objective. Search for socio-psychological antecedents for the individual’s belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic. Revealing the dynamics of Internet users’ attitudes to the coronavirus pandemic in March-early June 2020. Background. As part of the study of the psychological mechanisms of the impact of the pandemic on the individual and society, an increasingly urgent task is to clarify the socio-psychological prerequisites of belief in conspiracy theories of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the relationship between attitudes towards the pandemic and the involvement of the individual in the use of social media. Study design. The paper presents the results of two online surveys conducted in March-April and May-June 2020 to study the dynamics of Russians’ belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the COVID-19, taking into account involvement in social media and gender differences. Participants. The first study involved 668 people (78.2% women) aged 17 to 80 years (M=30; SD=12.7); the second survey involved 986 people (56.9% — men) aged 18 to 76 years (M=36.63; SD=10.2). The survey geography covered various regions of Russia. Measurements. The basic tool in both studies was developed by T.A. Nestik questionnaire “Attitude towards the epidemiological threat”. The first study additionally measured the social axioms (SAS), moral foundations (MFQ), belief in the justice of the world and trust in social institutions. The second study additionally measured involvement in social media communications. Results. The 1st study found a connection between conspiracy beliefs and belief in a just world, low self-efficacy, moral foundations of ingroup/loyalty and authority/respect, low institutional trust, and social cynicism. In the 2nd study, it was shown that, compared to March-April, the level of belief of social media users in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic, the severity of distrust in the health care system and skepticism about vaccinations significantly increased; both the fear of infection and the controllability of the threat have become less, but fears of a recurrence of epidemics have increased. It is shown that involvement in social media increases anxiety about the consequences of the coronavirus crisis, which in turn intensifies the search for conspiracy explanations of pandemic. Conclusions. Low social trust and the experience of an uncontrollable threat increase the susceptibility of social media users to belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how students’ entrepreneurial attitudes are related to their economic attitudes regarding business, investments, savings and consumption. The study presents a new research tool to analyze the characteristics of the economic mind – the economic attitudes questionnaire. Design/methodology/approach: The method consists of a multiple-factorial questionnaire, a verification of reliability and internal validity (exploratory and confirmation factor analyses), a quantitative survey and a correlation analysis. Findings: Two main ways of preparing students for a market economy are identified: one is connected to entrepreneurship, and the other to rational investment and financial planning. The complex nature of economic attitudes’ interaction is confirmed: by the direct relationships between entrepreneurial attitudes of students and investment activity, and between risk and satisfaction and consumer opportunities, as well as by the negative relationships between entrepreneurial attitudes and the level of mistrust to banking structures, unwillingness to make savings, unwillingness to share and financial pessimism. The economic attitudes questionnaire was developed and it showed sufficient validity and reliability on samples of student youth. Research limitations/implications: The study was limited to Russian students. Originality/value: Adapting the questionnaire to other cultures will allow conducting cross-cultural research of entrepreneurial attitudes, which may be relevant in the global economy.

The relevance of studying the aggression of children in cyberspace remains extremely high due to the ongoing intensification of digital communication, the development of social media and new formats of interaction, and the features of digital socialization of generation Z. In the course of a theoretical analysis of the works of foreign researchers, mainly of the last five years, devoted to the problem of bullying on the Internet, data from numerous surveys on the prevalence of the phenomenon in various countries are presented, the interpretation of the concept of "cyberbullying" adopted in the scientific community is discussed, its classifications and types are considered, as well as the most popular theoretical models of this destructive phenomenon, the prerequisites and predictors, the roles of communication participants and the peculiarities of their interaction in a virtual environment are highlighted. A review of modern studies made it possible to draw attention to the methods of collecting information used abroad, as well as to the relationship with the characteristics of the "dark triad of personality" and the parameters of the "Big Five" test. Analyzing destructive behavior in cyberspace, scientists associate it with an excessive degree of self-disclosure on social networks and the publication of too explicit, provocative content, increased use of psychoactive substances, low levels of friendly support, negative family environment and sexual violence. It was shown that a high degree of peer friendly support, warm relationships at school, and parental support are a protective factor against virtual bullying. Cyberbullying victimization affects the psychosomatic status of the victim, causing increased anxiety, anger, depression, sleep problems, theft, harm, and violation of social rules.

Болезненная склонность пользователей к листанию негативного контента, усилившаяся на фоне внешних угроз и вызовов, нуждается в психологическом исследовании. Авторами статьи предпринята попытка апробации шкалы думскроллинга и поиска значимых взаимосвязей между его проявлениями и некоторыми чертами личности, а также психологическим благополучием россиян. В исследовании, которое проводилось в октябре 2022 г. в режиме онлайн-опроса с помощью сервиса Yandex.Toloka, приняли участие 804 россиянина (49,4 % женщин и 50,6 % мужчин, средний возраст опрошенных М = 38,92; SD = 11,28). Методический инструментарий состоял из двух блоков. Первый блок методик был направлен на изучение проявлений думскроллинга с учетом зависимости респондентов от социальных сетей и боязни пропустить что-то важное (информационный невроз), второй блок - на анализ психологического благополучия и личностного профиля респондентов. Результаты исследования подтвердили тесные связи уровня думскроллинга и зависимости от социальных сетей. В большей степени подвержены его влиянию оказались мужчины и молодежь, эмоционально нестабильные и слишком доверчивые...