CYBERSECURITY IN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS: EFFECTS OF BASIC ASPIRATIONS AND EMOTIONS OF YOUTH
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2663-4023.2026.33.1140Keywords:
set-theoretical approach, basic aspirations, basic emotions, online social networks, cybersecurity, cyber hygiene, informational and psychological influencesAbstract
The article presents the results of a comprehensive theoretical and empirical study of the interaction of the triad of basic aspirations (curiosity, search activity, play) with the background of basic emotions (fear, sadness, elation, anger, surprise, disgust) in students and high school students when using online social networks. The relevance of the work is due to the need to take into account psychological factors in cybersecurity systems and counteraction to information and psychological influences. The theoretical foundations of the study are substantiated. The constructed theoretical and multiple model of basic aspirations and emotions of students and high school students confirmed its effectiveness as a tool for formalizing complex psychological phenomena (the results showed the presence of stable patterns in the intersections of the corresponding basic aspirations; in a number of intersections, differences within 3-10% were recorded, which indicates the variability of individual emotional manifestations depending on the position of the mental act and the specificity of the aspiration). The constructed set-theoretic model of the quantitative and percentage ratio of manifested basic aspirations in students and pupils in subsets allowed us to formalize the features of the emotional and motivational behavior of young people when visiting online social networks, as well as: to carry out a comparative analysis of the intensity of the manifestation of the corresponding aspirations in two close age groups; to establish the degree of their similarity or differences in percentage terms. In the drop-down list of elements of the intersection of subsets included in sets A (basic aspirations) and B (basic emotions), the most typical combinations of aspirations and emotions in students and high school students when using online social networks were ranked. The constructed correlation diagrams of the effects of basic aspirations (curiosity, search activity, game) of students and high school students allow us to identify similarities in their motivational structure when using online social networks: the indicators of curiosity in both groups are identical (34%), which indicates the dominance of the cognitive motive regardless of educational status; search activity and game demonstrate minimal differences (1%), which confirms the statistical closeness of the distribution of aspirations (search activity - students (34%), students (33%); game - students (32%), students (33%)). Prospects for further research are primarily related to expanding the empirical base. It is advisable to conduct additional anonymous surveys while maintaining the representativeness of the sample to clarify the statistical parameters of the identified effects, in particular: mathematical expectation, variance and confidence intervals. This will allow us to check the stability of the obtained patterns, to validate them for different age, social and cultural groups of users. The results confirm the feasibility of using a set-theoretic approach to analyze the psychological components of cybersecurity. The identified dependencies create a theoretical basis for predicting behavioral risks, improving cyber hygiene systems and developing innovative technologies for protecting users in cyberspace.
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