Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldview

Background. Our understanding of the world is largely based on the image of the native state, i.e. ‘a small homeland’, that shapes the development of a person, and identifies their social identity. The development of the information society provides more and more powerful tools for the media to inf...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: VladimirYu. Litvinov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lomonosov Moscow State University 2020-06-01
Series:Национальный психологический журнал
Subjects:
Online Access:http://npsyj.ru/pdf/npj-no38-2020/npj_no38_2020_158-169.pdf
_version_ 1797368571783806976
author VladimirYu. Litvinov
author_facet VladimirYu. Litvinov
author_sort VladimirYu. Litvinov
collection DOAJ
description Background. Our understanding of the world is largely based on the image of the native state, i.e. ‘a small homeland’, that shapes the development of a person, and identifies their social identity. The development of the information society provides more and more powerful tools for the media to influence the recipient’s view of the world and representations of the human society as a whole. A man has to get all the information about the territory of the rest of their country, except for ‘the small homeland’, via the media content. This content is cropped up with stereotypes and leads to the disintegration of society. Therefore, it is important to study the features of such media influence, their strength and validity. Objective is to study regional images of Russia among young people from different Russian regions, and to identify the media role in shaping of regional images and image of Russia as a whole. Design. This pilot research has a limited sample. 30 recipients (Mage=22.6 years, SD=2.78; 11 males from 15 regions of Russia) took part in this research. The methods included a survey and a series of detailed interviews, psycho-semantic scaling and projective methods. The psycho-semantic research assumed description of the following regional images: the North of Russia, Central Russia, the South of Russia, the Northern Caucasus, the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, the Far East. Results. It is shown statistically that participants of the research tend to evaluate their personal views differently from those that, they believe, are shaped through the media. The images generated by the media are rather positive and point mainly to the advantages of territories, not to mention their possible disadvantages. The majority of respondents have very little personal experience of interacting with Russian regions. Their understanding of regions mainly correspond to the regional images shaped through the media. Moreover, these images are stereotypes and highlight the emotional side. A categorical structure of the perception significantly differs in factor content from the structures shown in the study results of an integral image of Russia and separate states (Matveeva, 2010; Mitina, Petrenko, 2009). It has its own specific features and is not reduced in the aggregate to the overall image of Russia. Conclusion. When building regional images and the overall image of Russia, the respondents focus on the moral evaluation which helps to construct their personal image, and then they go on with the representations shaped through the media. These image of Russian region differ from the overall image of Russia. The paper represents the results of a pilot study, therefore, the results can hardly be extrapolated to a wider sample, but they can be considered in further research.
first_indexed 2024-03-08T17:33:23Z
format Article
id doaj.art-22149cd37e684192930b9de050db226a
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2079-6617
2309-9828
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-08T17:33:23Z
publishDate 2020-06-01
publisher Lomonosov Moscow State University
record_format Article
series Национальный психологический журнал
spelling doaj.art-22149cd37e684192930b9de050db226a2024-01-02T13:23:38ZengLomonosov Moscow State UniversityНациональный психологический журнал2079-66172309-98282020-06-0123815816910.11621/npj.2020.0212Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldviewVladimirYu. Litvinov0Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, RussiaBackground. Our understanding of the world is largely based on the image of the native state, i.e. ‘a small homeland’, that shapes the development of a person, and identifies their social identity. The development of the information society provides more and more powerful tools for the media to influence the recipient’s view of the world and representations of the human society as a whole. A man has to get all the information about the territory of the rest of their country, except for ‘the small homeland’, via the media content. This content is cropped up with stereotypes and leads to the disintegration of society. Therefore, it is important to study the features of such media influence, their strength and validity. Objective is to study regional images of Russia among young people from different Russian regions, and to identify the media role in shaping of regional images and image of Russia as a whole. Design. This pilot research has a limited sample. 30 recipients (Mage=22.6 years, SD=2.78; 11 males from 15 regions of Russia) took part in this research. The methods included a survey and a series of detailed interviews, psycho-semantic scaling and projective methods. The psycho-semantic research assumed description of the following regional images: the North of Russia, Central Russia, the South of Russia, the Northern Caucasus, the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, the Far East. Results. It is shown statistically that participants of the research tend to evaluate their personal views differently from those that, they believe, are shaped through the media. The images generated by the media are rather positive and point mainly to the advantages of territories, not to mention their possible disadvantages. The majority of respondents have very little personal experience of interacting with Russian regions. Their understanding of regions mainly correspond to the regional images shaped through the media. Moreover, these images are stereotypes and highlight the emotional side. A categorical structure of the perception significantly differs in factor content from the structures shown in the study results of an integral image of Russia and separate states (Matveeva, 2010; Mitina, Petrenko, 2009). It has its own specific features and is not reduced in the aggregate to the overall image of Russia. Conclusion. When building regional images and the overall image of Russia, the respondents focus on the moral evaluation which helps to construct their personal image, and then they go on with the representations shaped through the media. These image of Russian region differ from the overall image of Russia. The paper represents the results of a pilot study, therefore, the results can hardly be extrapolated to a wider sample, but they can be considered in further research.http://npsyj.ru/pdf/npj-no38-2020/npj_no38_2020_158-169.pdfworldviewregional identitymedia influencecognitive map of russiayouth from different regions of russiapsycho-semantic scalingimage of russia
spellingShingle VladimirYu. Litvinov
Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldview
Национальный психологический журнал
worldview
regional identity
media influence
cognitive map of russia
youth from different regions of russia
psycho-semantic scaling
image of russia
title Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldview
title_full Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldview
title_fullStr Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldview
title_full_unstemmed Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldview
title_short Impact of mass media in shaping the image of Russian region in the youth’s general worldview
title_sort impact of mass media in shaping the image of russian region in the youth s general worldview
topic worldview
regional identity
media influence
cognitive map of russia
youth from different regions of russia
psycho-semantic scaling
image of russia
url http://npsyj.ru/pdf/npj-no38-2020/npj_no38_2020_158-169.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT vladimiryulitvinov impactofmassmediainshapingtheimageofrussianregionintheyouthsgeneralworldview