The Attitude of Internet Users to the Economy in a Pandemic: a Cross-Cultural Analysis

Objective. Analysis of the psychological characteristics of the attitude of Russians to economic phenomena in the context of the coronavirus pandemic with an examination of its cross-cultural characteristics in comparison with countries that have a different from Russian ethnocultural history of the formation and development of economies (United States and Japan). Background. Russia is a leader in the international ranking of countries with the richest natural resources, but the standard of living of Russians for many years remains insufficiently high, and ac¬cording to the estimates of Russians themselves, negative dynamics of life is manifested in a noticeable number of socio-economic indicators. At the same time, scientific data obtained in recent years indicate the presence of direct relationships between economic and psychological factors of the development of society, the nature of which has not yet been fully disclosed. The research is exploratory in nature. Methodology. The concept of psychological relations, structural and content analysis of search queries, methods of continuous sampling and comparative analysis, method of grounded theory, expert assessment, predictive methods. Conclusions. User interest in the pandemic has varied according to the course of the pandemic in each of the three countries. At the same time, in the United States and Japan, interest in economic realities significantly exceeded interest in a pandemic, and in Russia, interest in a pandemic turned out to be incomparably higher. The initially high interest of the population in the pandemic began to decline sharply over time, but the popularity of economically oriented inquiries remains at a high level: a decrease in interest in theoretical problems and its strengthening in real economic situations have been revealed. The nature of thematic requests from users from the United States, Japan and Russia allows us to state that in the first two countries, inquiries on business problems have sharply increased, which is not typical of Russians, whose income is mainly determined by the state. At the same time, the benefits of an operational nature, presumably, can become concomitant causes of a possible strategic crisis both in the objective — economic and subjective — psychological terms.

1. Gerasimova A.A., Kholmogorova A.B. Strategii sovladaniya, psikhologicheskoe blagopoluchie i problemnoe ispol’zovanie interneta v period pandemii [Coping strategies, psychological well-being and problematic use of the Internet during a pandemic]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie = Psychological Science and Education, 2020. Vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 31—40. DOI:10.17759/pse.2020250603 (In Russ.).
2. Zhuravlev A.L., Kitova D.A. Analiz interesa naseleniya k informatsii o pandemii koronavirusa (na primere pol’zovatelei poiskovykh sistem interneta) [Analysis of public interest in information about the coronavirus pandemic (using the example of Internet search engine users)]. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal = Psychological journal, 2020. Vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 5—18. DOI:10.31857/S020595920010383-7 (In Russ.).
3. Indeksy i indikatory chelovecheskogo razvitiya [Human Development Indices and Indicators]. URL: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2018_human_development_statistical_update_ ru.pdf (Accessed 20.08.2020). (In Russ.).
4. Kitova D.A. Otechestvennaya psikhologiya v usloviyakh razvitiya global’nykh protsessov [Domestic psychology in the context of the development of global processes]. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal = Psychological journal, 2019. Vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 128—131. (In Russ.).
5. Lukovtseva Z.V. Pandemiya COVID-19 kak sotsial’nyi stressor: faktory psikhologo-psikhiatricheskogo riska (po materialam zarubezhnykh issledovanii) [The COVID-19 pandemic as a social stressor: psychological and psychiatric risk factors (based on foreign studies)]. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo = Social psychology and society, 2020. Vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 13—25. DOI:10.17759/sps.2020110402 (In Russ.).
6. Malyukova O.V. Strukturnye komponenty ekonomicheskogo soznaniya [Structural components of economic consciousness]. Mezhdunarodnyi nauchnyi zhurnal «Simvol nauki» = International scientific journal “Symbol of Science”, 2016, no. 9, pp. 163—164. (In Russ.).
7. Magera T.N. Psikhologiya deneg v usloviyakh sotsial’noi izolyatsii [Psychology of money in conditions of social isolation]. Ekonomika i predprinimatel’stvo = Economics and Entrepreneurship, 2020, no. 4(117), pp. 59—61. (In Russ.).
8. Pol’skaya N.A., Razvalyaeva A.Yu. Mezhlichnostnaya chuvstvitel’nost’ v period samoizolyatsii: rol’ v vybore mer sotsial’nogo distantsirovaniya [Interpersonal sensitivity during the period of self-isolation: the role in the choice of measures of social distancing]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie = Psychological Science and Education, 2020. Vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 63—76. DOI:10.17759/ pse.2020250606 (In Russ.).
9. Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya global’nykh protsessov: predposylki, tendentsii, perspektivy [Psychological research of global processes: preconditions, trends, prospects]. Moscow: Publ. «Institut psikhologii RAN», 2018. 448 p. (In Russ.).
10. Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya v internet-prostranstve: poiskovye sistemy, sotsial’nye seti, elektronnye bazy [Psychological research in the Internet space: search engines, social networks, electronic databases]. Moscow: Publ. «Institut psikhologii RAN», 2020. 503 p. (In Russ.).
11. O nasushchnykh problemakh nashei zhizni i vzaimodeistvii regulyatorov, biznesa i grazhdan / Otchet po itogam massovogo sotsiologicheskogo issledovaniya [On the pressing problems of our life and the interaction of regulators, business and citizens]. Moscow, 2019. URL: https://www. bankdelo.ru/news/100in1/pub/2570 (Accessed 16.10.2019). (In Russ.).
12. Fukuyama F. Doverie: sotsial’nye dobrodeteli i put’ k protsvetaniyu [Trust: Social Virtues and the Path to Prosperity]. Moscow: Publ. «ACT», «Ermak», 2004. 730 p. (In Russ.).
13. Arden M.A., Chilcot J. Health psychology and the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic: a call for research [Health psychology and the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic: a call for research]. British Journal of Health Psychology, 2020. Vol. 25(2), pp. 231—232. DOI:10.1111/bjhp.12414
14. Barros J.M., Melia R., Francis K., Bogue J., O’Sullivan M., Young K., Bernert R.A., RebholzSchuhmann D., Duggan J. The Validity of Google Trends Search Volumes for Behavioral Forecasting of National Suicide Rates in Ireland [The Validity of Google Trends Search Volumes for Behavioral Forecasting of National Suicide Rates in Ireland]. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019. Vol. 16(17), 3201 p. DOI:10.3390/ijerph16173201
15. Forte G., Favieri F., Tambelli R., Casagrande M. The Enemy Which Sealed the World: Effects of COVID-19 Diffusion on the Psychological State of the Italian Population [Elektronnyi resurs]. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2020. Vol. 9, no. 6, p. 1802. DOI:10.3390/jcm9061802
16. Holmes E.A. et al. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry, 2020. Vol. 7(6), pp. 547—560. DOI:10.1016/ S2215-0366(20)30168-1
17. Inglehart R., Welzel S. Cultural Change and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. New York: Publ. Cambridge University Press, 2005. 464 p.
18. Schultze T., Huber J., Kirchler M., Mojzisch A. Replications in Economic Psychology and Behavioral Economics. Journal of Economic Psychology, 2019. Vol. 75(5): 102199. DOI:10.1016/j. joep.2019.102199
19. The World’s Most Resource-Rich Countries [Elektronnyi resurs]. URL: https://247wallst. com/special-report/2012/04/18/the-worlds-most-resource-rich-countries (Accessed 23.08.2020).
20. UN Policy Brief: COVID-19 and the need for action on mental health. 2020 [Elektronnyi resurs]. URL: https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/UN-Policy-Brief-COVID-19- and-mental-health.pdf (Accessed 15.07.2020).