Roman S. Shilko

Objective. The research was aimed at examining the possibilities of applying social network analysis to the study of ethnocultural identity of Russian adolescents.

Design. By creating a code in the language R (R 3.6.1 + R Studio 1.2.1335), the analysis of the relations of a number of communities of the social network «Vkontakte», whose content is relevant to various aspects of ethnocultural (ethnic, cultural, religious, regional, national) identity was performed. In these communities Moscow and St. Petersburg dwellers aged 14 to 18 years were identified and sampled (78,784 Moscow-based users and 210,815 St. Petersburg-based users). Based on the results, social graphs were constructed and the analysis of relations between communities in the two cities of Russia was carried out.

Results. The general tendencies and differences between the links of online communities, the content of which is relevant to various aspects of ethnocultural identity in the cities of Russia under consideration, are revealed. For the target category, Moscow-based and St. Petersburg-based user-adolescents, the online communities were considered to be most relevant between those with ethnic content. The differences relate to connexions between large community called «Russia» and other studied online communities. There is no connexion between all other communities from Moscow with community «Russia» while adolescents-users from St. Petersburg actively participate in the community «Russia», especially those who are in communities whose content is devoted to ethnic and cultural issues.

Conclusion. The results show the existing outlooks for the social networks analysis, which allows to cover a wide range of users of online communities, for the study of ethnocultural identity of adolescents in the digital society. Obtained by analyzing social networking data derived from user activity in Internet communities, reflect the regularities, identified through an earlier social-psychological study involving adolescents who live in the same area. The socio-cultural context mediates online identity and offline identity in a similar way, which is confirmed by the revealed differences in the connections of online communities in different subjects of the Russian Federation. Despite the long-term social network analysis in sociology and other sciences, psychology is using this method as exploratory tool. In relation to the study of ethnocultural identity and related phenomena SNA requires additional development based on the interdisciplinary interaction of various sciences and areas and the necessary comparison of the results with the results obtained by other methods.

Background. According to various sources, about half of the world's population speaks two or more languages on different levels. The steady growth of bilingual and multilingual populations through migration and learning of foreign languages, on the one hand, and the real threat of indigenous languages extinction, on the other hand, put the comprehensive study of bilingualism and multilingualism in a number of important social issues and interdisciplinary scientific problems.

Objective. The paper aims to analyze and summarize the results obtained in the research of the bilingualism impact on cognitive processes and individual characteristics in order to identify the possible advantages of bilingualism and the difficulties associated with them.

Results. The phenomenon of Russian national bilingualism and its specific features in some republics of the Russian Federation is considered. A variety of socio-cultural contexts in which bilingualism and multilingualism are studied justifying the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the research issues is presented. The theoretical and analytical review of the research of bilingualism influence on cognitive processes, personal characteristics and relationships with ethno-cultural identity is carried out. The areas in which bilingualism can provide benefits are considered, and the risks associated with the possession of several languages for the individual and for society are analyzed. The results of the bilingualism influence on cognitive processes and personal characteristics are contradictory and are determined by the attitudes of researchers and some factors and additional variables that are difficult to control due to various methodological problems. The necessity of interdisciplinary interaction in research the impact of multilingualism on various individual and social processes is shown.

Conclusion. Bilingualism and multilingualism are neither an advantage of the cognitive functioning and personal development of the subject, nor for society. There are additional conditions determined both by the individual situation of development and by the socio-cultural context. If taken into account they can help to reduce individual and social risks of bilingualism and multilingualism and stimulate its positive impact on the individual and society.

Changes in the information space are highlighted. Its role in providing psychological security of personality is shown. The modern mass media as a powerful tool both for building tolerance attitudes in society and for inciting xenophobia, discrimination, promotion of inter-group hostility are considered. The mechanism how negative information produces harmful effects on the human psyche is explained. The principles of adequate and effective operation of the media in covering terrorist attacks and other tragic events are performed.