Predicting individual differences to cyber attacks: Knowledge, arousal, emotional and trust responses

Cyber attacks are increasingly commonplace and cause significant disruption, and therefore, have been a focus of much research. The objective of this research was to understand the factors that might lead users to fail to recognize red flags and succumb to cyber events. We investigated users’ knowledge of cyber attacks, their propensity to trust technology, arousal, emotional valence, and situational trust in response to different types and severity of cyber attacks. Our findings suggest that high-risk attacks elicited more arousal and more negative emotional valence than low-risk attacks. The attack-type manipulation revealed that phishing scenarios yielded distinctive patterns, including weaker affective responses than ransomware and other malware. The authors further examined arousal, emotional valence, and situational trust patterns among the subset of high- knowledge participants who successfully identified all the attacks and compared these responses with those of less knowledgeable peers. Our findings suggest that the more knowledgeable the user, the higher was their general propensity to trust technology, the more sensitive were their emotional responses to the manipulation of risk, and the lower their situational trust when faced with cyber attack scenarios.

Virtual contact hypothesis: Preliminary evidence for intergroup contact hypothesis in interactions with characters in video games

This paper examines intergroup contact hypothesis in interactions in video games to conceptualize how intergroup contact with characters in games may relate to attitudes toward minorities. Intergroup contact hypothesis states that intergroup contact leads to more positive attitudes and stereotype reduction. It also specifies situational factors that promote or hinder such an outcome. In an online survey a sample of 1627 gamers stated games they played the most and filled out a questionnaire measuring their attitudes toward minorities. Independent judges assessed games that were played by most participants (N = 44 games). A multilevel regression analysis revealed that average quality of contact with minorities in a game (measured at game-level, as a characteristic of a game) was associated with higher acceptance of minorities of the players (measured at individual level). Diversity of the game world generated by fictional races had no significant connection to attitudes. Game-level predictors largely increased fit to the data showing that game worlds were significant for the acceptance of minorities. The results supply preliminary evidence for the validity of the intergroup contact hypothesis for the interactions with characters in video games.

Problematic internet use prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic

The health and socio-economic challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have led to greater reliance on the internet to meet basic needs and responsibilities. Greater engagement in online activities may have negative mental and physical health consequences for some vulnerable individuals, particularly under mandatory self-isolation or ‘lockdown’ conditions. The present study investigated whether changes in levels of involvement in online activities during the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., watching TV series, online sexual activities, video games, social networks, gambling, online shopping, and instant messaging) were associated with problematic internet use, as well as whether certain psychological risk factors (positive/negative affect and impulsivity) were significant predictors of these changes. A total of 1,275 participants (66.1% female, aged between 18-55 years) completed an online survey while in lockdown in Spain (April 15th-23rd, 2020). The survey assessed current engagement in seven different online activities and their engagement prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as psychological risk factors (affect and impulsivity). Most participants (between 60.8%-98.6% depending on the activity) reported no changes in participation in online activities, but there was a significant increase in weekly internet use (between 25 and 336 min). However, increased internet use was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in problematic use, except for problematic TV series watching and video gaming. Psychological risk factors considered in the study (affect, impulsivity traits) were largely minor or non-significant predictors. Thus, increased internet use during the lockdown in Spain was not related to a proportional growth in problematic usage, suggesting that these behavioral changes may constitute adaptive coping strategies in the context of the pandemic.

Disinformation in Poland: Thematic classification based on content analysis of fake news from 2019

The paper presents a qualitative study of fake news on Polish-language internet media that seeks to arrive at their thematic classification in order to identify areas particularly vulnerable to disinformation in Poland. Fake news examples from 2019 were selected using popular Polish fact-checking sites (N = 192) and subjected to textual analysis and coding procedure to establish the thematic categories and specific topics most often encountered in this type of disinformation, with the following thematic categories identified in the process: political and economic; social; gossip/rumour; extreme; pseudo-scientific; worldview; historical; and commercial. The study culminates in a critical interpretation of results and discussion of the phenomenon in its Polish and international contexts. Among discussed conclusions is the dominance of content related to the government, Catholic Church, and LGBT issues in the Polish context, as well as the longevity of health-based fake news, especially anti-vaccination content, that points to the global impact of fake news and calls for action to prevent its spread.

Gender differences in videoed accounts of victim blaming for revenge porn for self-taken and stealth-taken sexually explicit images and videos

Using video recounts from revenge porn victims, this study explores whether levels of victim blaming differs for the sharing of self- and stealth-taken sexually explicit images and videos. Building on previous work which has demonstrated victim blame for both self- and stealth generated images in occurrences of revenge porn (Zvi & Schechory-Bitton, 2020), the reported study presents an original and ecologically valid methodological approach whereby 342 (76 male, 266 female) participants (Mage = 39.27, SD = 11.70) from the UK watched videoed accounts of real experiences of falling victim to revenge porn, rather than using text based, often fictional, vignettes to attribute blame which dominate studies in this area. All data was collected in 2019. The results demonstrated that significantly more blame was assigned to victims when participants were indirectly rather than directly asked who was to blame for the occurrence of revenge porn, supporting the notion of an unconscious processing bias in attributing blame. More blame was also assigned to those victims who themselves generated the material compared to when it had been acquired without their awareness by a perpetrator, suggesting the cognitive bias to be in line with a just world hypothesis. Male participants were more likely to blame a victim than were female participants, although sex of victim and mode of shared sexually-explicit material (video or image) did not appear to affect levels of victim-blame. Findings are considered in terms of extant research and the need for future work in the area of victim blame and revenge pornography.

Do the offline and social media Big Five have the same dimensional structure, mean levels, and predictive validity of social media outcomes?

Prior studies found that the Big Five personality traits are significant predictors of social media outcomes, but they did not specify the situational context of the Big Five. The assumption is that people have the same personality on social media as offline. The present research addressed whether the Big Five are the same on social media as offline in terms of dimensional structure, mean levels, and predictive validity of social media outcomes. Across two samples, 943 college students completed measures of social media outcomes and two versions of the Big Five Inventory-2 adapted from Soto and John (2017), specifying offline and social media contexts. Findings revealed that all of the five dimensions emerged in both contexts, except that a few items might not apply well to the social media context. The mean levels of all five traits were significantly different between contexts, suggesting that the dimensional structure of the offline and social media Big Five are similar but peoples’ levels of expression of the Big Five are not the same between these contexts. Conscientiousness and extraversion were the least similar dimensions out of the five between the contexts. There were also differences in predictive validity between the offline and social media Big Five showing that heavier social media users are more open, conscientious, and extraverted on social media, whereas they are lower on these traits offline. Consequently, studying offline and social media contexts separately and jointly is critical for understanding how the Big Five predict social media outcomes.

The relationships among relatedness frustration, affiliation motivation, and WeChat engagement, moderated by relatedness satisfaction

The current study was designed based on the two-process model of the relatedness need to investigate the cyber-psychological mechanisms in the relationship between relatedness frustration and social networking sites (SNSs) behaviors. Chinese college students (N = 494; 190 males; Mage = 18.81 ± .92) were recruited to complete online questionnaires to measure relatedness frustration, relatedness satisfaction, affiliation motivation, and WeChat engagement. Path analyses indicated that relatedness frustration was directly related to defensive WeChat engagement and indirectly related to WeChat involvement and active engagement via affiliation motivation. Affiliation motivation played a significant mediating role, with the relationship between affiliation motivation and WeChat involvement being moderated by relatedness satisfaction. Specifically, this relationship existed only when the level of relatedness satisfaction was high. This study helps to understand motivational coping mechanisms among people with different levels of relatedness satisfaction in relation to SNSs after experiencing relatedness frustration. Potential limitations and future directions of this paper to the cyber-psychology literature are discussed.

The selfie production model: Rethinking selfie taking, editing, and posting practices

With the rise of digital technologies, selfies are a contemporary and popular form of digitally produced self-expression for Saudi women. Informed by Goffman’s (1959) self-presentation theory and Hall’s (1966) proxemics theory, this study explores the process of producing and posting selfies on Instagram and Snapchat platforms, and examines how these practices are shaped by cultural norms and platform affordances. Methodologically, an ethnographic approach was employed to observe selfie practices involving: focus groups, face-to-face interviews, online observation, and photo-elicitation interviews. The sample consisted of 35 Saudi women between 18-57 years old. The results were used to develop a framework for understanding selfie production consisting of six processes: the motivation process, pre-photo process, platform affordances process, audience customization process, assessment of cultural norms process, and the process of reposting selfie. Also, the study identified a number of strategies practiced by Saudi women to present a more desirable self, including: digitally editing the selfie using beautifying filters, arranging the background, retaking the selfie, and adding digital makeup. Cultural norms were found to heavily influence selfie practices, as selfie takers carefully select particular audiences with whom to share the selfie, while blocking others from viewing the selfie using “virtual walls” depending on veiling practices, habitual proximity, and the appropriateness of the content. The model and the identified strategies make an important empirical contribution that provides a new way of thinking about selfie practices outside Euromerica.

Solitary and joint online pornography use during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Portugal: Intrapersonal and interpersonal correlates

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced several people into social isolation and research has shown a paradoxical effect on people’s sexual functioning. Some people experienced decreases in sexual desire and sexual satisfaction, whereas others experienced heightened sexual desire and made new additions to their sexual repertoire, including more online pornography use, during the lockdown. Yet, studies failed to examine its interpersonal and intrapersonal correlates, distinguish between solitary and joint use, or explore differences between partnered and single people. We examined if changes in solitary or joint online pornography use since the lockdown were associated with sexual functioning, sexual satisfaction, perceived health, and sleep quality. We conducted an online cross-sectional study with convenience sampling in Portugal (N = 303 participants; 56.3% men; Mage = 31.32, SD = 10.55; 71.0% in a relationship) during May and July 2020. Partnered participants who reported increases in solitary online pornography use also reported decreases in their sex life quality. For partnered and single participants, increases in joint online pornography use were associated with increases in sex life quality. Single participants who reported increases in solitary online pornography use also perceived better health and sleep quality, and those who reported increases in joint online pornography use also reported more intimacy with casual partner(s) and better sleep quality. These findings suggest that online pornography might have beens used as a sexual pleasure tool to connect with a stable or casual partner(s) in a time when social interactions were restricted.

Social identification and collective action participation in the internet age: A meta-analysis

Since the digitally-mediated large-scale protests took place all over the world, the role of social identities in collective actions has become the center of academic attention. Some scholars have claimed that interpersonal or individual reasons have become more important than collective identifications in participating digitally-mediated collective actions. To answer the question that whether social identification has lost its centrality in collective actions in the Internet age, we conducted a meta-analysis of 46 studies (N = 18,242) which examined digitally-mediated collective actions across the world reported between January 2011 and January 2020. We focused on the relationship between social identification and collective action, and the possible moderator effects of group type to be identified (emergent vs. pre-existing group), participation type (actual behavior vs. intention), and WEIRDness of the sample. The analyses showed a moderate to strong relationship between social identification and participation in digitally-mediated collective actions, while group type was the only significant moderator. Accordingly, the relationship between identification with emergent groups and collective action participation was much stronger compared to the relationship between identification with pre-existing groups and collective action participation. We discussed the theoretical implications of the results emphasized the basic dynamics of collective actions.