The Formation of Teenager Virtual Self-Image on Instagram Social Media

This research intended to comprehend the virtual self-image formation process by adolescents and the factors that could support self-image formation on Instagram social media. The subjects from this research were late adolescents who used Instagram actively. The research method used was a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. Then, the primary technique used in this research was a semi-structured interview technique.

Higher empathy is associated with stronger social bonding when moving together with music

Empathy—understanding and sharing the feelings and experiences of others—is one of our most important social capacities. Music is a social stimulus in that it involves communication of mental states, imitation of behavior, and synchronization of movements. As empathy and music are so closely linked, we investigated whether higher empathy is associated with stronger social bonding in interpersonal interactions that feature music. In two studies, participants watched videos in which we manipulated interpersonal synchrony between the movements of a virtual self and a virtual other person during walking with instrumental music or a metronome. In both studies, temporally aligned movements increased social bonding with the virtual other and higher empathy was associated with increased social bonding in movement interactions that featured music. Additionally, in Study 1, participants with lower empathy felt more connected when interacting with a metronome compared to music. In Study 2, higher trait empathy was associated with strong increases of social bonding when interacting with a temporally aligned virtual other, but only weak increases of social bonding with a temporally misaligned virtual other. These findings suggest that empathy plays a multifaceted role in how we enjoy, interpret, and use music in social situations.

Capacity building model development to improve the professionalism of vocational school teachers in the field of mechanical engineering expertise

The initial study has found several fundamental problems related to the professionalism of vocational teachers. These problems are in the form of 1) unequal teachers in getting the opportunity to participate in competency improvement programs; 2) lack of awareness in conducting research; 2) lack of desire to write articles and teaching materials, and 3) low level of desire to design instructional media in the field of mechanical engineering expertise. The objectives of this study were to 1) test the efficiency and effectiveness of the capacity building model; 2) find the determinants of success in professional development, and 3) produce a model for professional development of vocational teachers in the field of mechanical engineering expertise through effective and efficient capacity building. This study uses the Research and Development method. The subjects in this study were teachers in the field of mechanical engineering expertise in Bireuen Regency, the principal, two education management experts, and two mechanical engineering vocational education experts. Data collection techniques used in this research are through observation, interviews, FGD, documentation and questionnaires. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that the teacher capacity building model can improve teacher professionalism. These activities are carried out through the formation of learning communities, virtual self-education, writing, critical development groups, peer assistance, teacher exchanges, further studies, congregational action research, conferences and seminars, and ongoing training.

Experience in researching the identity of active internet users

The paper reflects the results of a study aimed at studying the features of the identity of the personality of active users of network mass media of young age. The research is based on the idea of modern authors that identity on the Internet is one of the aspects of real identity that arises due to the projection of stable, significant personal characteristics into the virtual world, the use of the possibilities of information and communication technologies to construct new ones, as well as the transformation of existing aspects of personal identity. To compare the aspects of the identity of the personality of active Internet users (I-virtual, I-ideal and I-real), the criteria of differentiation of existing images, the multiplicity of created Self-images, as well as the degree of fullness and development of specific aspects of identity are used. The degree of differentiation of the types of identity real and virtual-was diagnosed based on the analysis of the results of Osgoods semantic differential; the indicator of the multiplicity of Self-images presented in reality, as well as in virtual space, was measured using the Kuhn-McPartland test Who I am? and its modification Who I am online?; the variability of real personality traits in the aspect of virtual self-presentation was diagnosed by comparing the results of the individual typological questionnaire (ITO) and the method of diagnosing interpersonal relations (DMO) by L. N. Sobchik. As a result of the analysis using theoretical and empirical research methods, as well as data processing methods (descriptive statistics, graphical analysis and calculation of criteria for differences and correlation), it is proved that the identity of the personality of active Internet users is characterized by a greater multiplicity of Self-images, less differentiation of the Self-concept (the image of the virtual Self merges with the image of the real Self), as well as a pronounced tendency to variability of personal characteristics due to an increase in the severity of socially desirable personality traits and a tendency to aggravity of existing ones.

The digital habitus of the unwedded emerging adults: a sociological interpretation of male-female differences in Facebook behavior

Purpose By considering Facebook as a social context of manifesting digital habitus, this paper aims to explore the differences between men and women in the compensatory use of Facebook, their engagement in crafting and exhibiting virtual self-representation, and addictive traits associated with it. It is argued that while Facebook compensates for the negative consequences of real-world experiences by allowing users, particularly women to display an ideal self or a true virtual self and so aid in socializing, users eventually develop an addiction, which results in various social difficulties. Design/methodology/approach The study surveyed 511 male and 413 female undergraduate students who were between 19 to 26 years of age and reported being unmarried. Psycho-Social Aspects of Facebook Use Scale was used to solicit the responses. The factors were quantified by the items selected from the scale, and confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity and reliability of items to check the usability of the scale in cross-cultural contexts. The Independent Samples t-test was used to check whether statistical evidence exists that the related sample means of men and women vary significantly. Findings While there is no difference in virtualizing the self by gender; women perceive Facebook as more compensating than men. Likewise, compared with men, women are found to be more self-presenting, more addictive and highly involved in socializing. The item-wise differences show that Facebook comparatively enhances the self-esteem of the women and women are more adventurous than men in Facebook interaction. Originality/value The study argues that there is a strong connection between the digital habitus and the social world. Social values and conditioning constrain people’s intention of being in the digital world and reflect their intention and decisions. Overall, the study is the most elaborative quantitative examination of how men and women differ in their Facebook behavior.

DISEMBODIMENT AND CHANGES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL BORDERS AS THE EFFECTS OF NORMATIVE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES. MESSAGE 1

В условиях глобального антропологического кризиса, связанного с распространением технологий, которые не соответствуют телесному опыту человека (В. А. Подорога), явно недостаточно психологических исследований, ограничивающихся констатацией феномена, называемого развоплощением (disembodiement), бестелесным статусом, дематериализацией, анонимностью пользователя в киберпространстве. Предлагается основанный на концепции британского экзистенциального психолога Р. Лэйнга авторский конструкт невоплощенности в интернете, представляющий собой последствие его нормативного применения. Формула «я» ↔ (тело–другой), «я» ↔ (тело–мир), которой Р. Лэйнг определяет клинический способ невоплощенного бытия в самом общем виде, соответствует как факту технологического развоплощения, так и технологическому способу невоплощенного бытия (при интернет-зависимости) со свойственным ему структурированием и ненормативной границей в ядре. Невоплощенность в интернете, создающая предпосылки путаницы на границе между Я и не-Я, сопоставляется с системообразующим измерением последствий нормативного применения информационных технологий в модели Е. И. Рассказовой, В. А. Емелина, А. Ш. Тхостова – изменением психологических границ. Делается вывод о том, что в информационную эпоху они устанавливаются в опыте двух Я, реального, подлинно основанного на своем теле, и виртуального, применительно к которому самовыражение «границы тела» теряет смысл. Расширение и размывание психологических границ соотносятся с виртуализацией Я-пользователя. Его субъективные убеждения в доступности и контролируемости других людей, объектов, информации, являющиеся критериями изменения границ, рассматриваются как вполне применимые к невоплощенности. В качестве ее собственных критериев, помимо рефлексии отстраненности от тела, названы чувство безопасности (в связи с анонимностью) и ощущения утраты реальности Я, неполноты, иллюзорности онлайн-бытия. While we live in times of anthropological crisis caused by spread of technologies which do not match to people’s body experience (V. A. Podoroga), only the insufficient number of psychological studies acknowledge the phenomenon of disembodiment. Some researchers refer to it as the bodiless state, dematerialization or anonymity of a user in cyberspace. In this study we suggest a theoretical construct of disembodiment on the Internet as the effect of normative use of information technologies. It is based on the conception by the British existential psychologist R. Laing. His formula of the self: self ↔ (body-other), self ↔ (body-world), which describes a clinical way of unembodied being, broadly corresponds to both the fact of technological disembodiment and a technological way of disembodied being in Internet addiction with its inherent structuring and a non-normative border in the core of the self. We compare the disembodiment on the Internet, which leads to confusion on the boundary between the self and nonself, to the framework consequence of the normative use of information technologies in a model by E. I. Rasskazova, V. A. Emelin and A. Sh. Tkhostov – changes of psychological borders. We come to a conclusion that In the digital age the borders are set in the experience of two selves. The real self is genuinely based on the body and the virtual self isn’t, to the extent when the very expression «boundaries of a body» becomes meaningless. Indefinitely expanded blurry borders correspond to the virtualization of a user’s self. The user’s beliefs that other people and information objects are available and controllable are symptoms of changes of borders and can also describe the disembodiment. The disembodiment is also characterized by feeling of disengagement from the body, sense of security on account of anonymity, deficit of reality of the self and incompleteness and illusiveness of the online existence.

DISEMBODIMENT ON THE INTERNET AS A NEW FORM OF TECHNOLOGICAL SELF-ALIENATION (BASED ON THE STUDY OF STUDENTS OF HUMANITARIAN INSTITUTES OF HIGHER EDUCATION)

Phenomenon of disembodiment of users of information technologies in virtual reality, in particular as a special form of self-alienation, was already noted by the first representatives of cyber culture. However, psychologists have not properly analyzed it yet, perhaps, due to the usual peripheral position of the problem of disembodiment of a physical body in psychology. In the present study we continue to develop our theoretical and empirical construct of the Disembodiment on the Internet (N.V. Kopteva, A.Yu. Kalugin, L.Ya. Dorfman) as a psychological impact of the use of contemporary information technologies in areas related to self-alienation and alienation. The construct is based on the conception of unembodiment of the mental self from the body by a British psychiatrist R. Laing, which is considered to be one of the fundamental psychiatric conceptions of disembodiment of the physical self. R. Laing’s description of the ‘detachment’ of schizoids from their own body helps understand the specifics of existential positions of embodiment - disembodiment determined by sociocultural, technological factors and choices made by individuals themselves. Our study was performed on a sample of active Internet users - students of humanitarian institutes of higher education (aged from 17 to 25 years) - with the use of the Disembodiment on the Internet diagnostic procedure. We revealed groups that differentiated in the severity of disembodiment and created their psychological portraits according to patterns of disembodiment, which include experience of unbodiliness of the virtual self, incompleteness and secondariness of the technological way of being limited by the Internet environment and Internet addiction. We also empirically detected the effects of disembodiment on the alienation of students in different aspects of their life (from who they are, from their families, in interpersonal communication, from their studies and the society) ranging from ‘vegetativeness’ to adventurism.