The objectives of the study were to verify the “Attitudes Toward Cryptocurrencies Questionnaire” and to identify predictors of attitudes toward Bitcoin. Sample: 262 participants aged 17 to 30, of which 45% were male. Methods: Associations, “Value Scale”, “The Moral Foundations Questionnaire”, “Money Beliefs and Behaviors Scale” by A. Furnham, and “The Baseline Confidence Scale” by L. Haff. Confirmatory factor analysis proved the three-factor structure of the questionnaire. A linear regression analysis showed that beliefs in the potential of cryptocurrency as a payment instrument are directly related to people-centered care and value of freedom, and are inversely related to sanctity; they are associated positively with confidence in the financial system and negatively with confidence in the government. Age and gender also matter. Worries about the introduction of cryptocurrency are directly related to a negative attitude to money, the value of self-confidence, age, and confidence in the financial system and government, and are inversely related to trust in people and money anxiety. Willingness to use cryptocurrency in perspective directly depends on trust in the power of money, orientation towards independence in actions, age, and gender, and is inversely dependent on confidence in the government. The data state that the intention to use cryptocurrency is directly related to the desire for financial autonomy and distrust of social institutions.

Today we can talk about a sufficient formation of both negative and positive attitudes towards the introduction of new technologies. This is the technophobia that continued to be fueled by such objective factors as job slashing caused by events and new inventions. Technophobia includes cognitive, emotional and behavioral components. Along with individual factors (self-efficacy, open-mindedness, anxiety level, user’s experience, emotional state, etc.), the formation of technophobia is influenced by interpersonal factors (communication with colleagues, friends and relatives on the subject of technologies), group and intergroup factors (clash of interests of different relevant groups in connection with the appearance of new technologies, group stereotypes – representations of typical users of the given technology, its developers, etc.), as well as societal factors (mass culture and mass media, the level of technological and economic development of a country, cross-cultural features). In this way, this is an increasingly important phenomenon, since the speed of innovation is very high. Thus, the purpose of this study is to present a theoretical analysis on this subject and to highlight the importance of conducting other research on this subject.

Objective. Search for socio-psychological antecedents for the individual’s belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic. Revealing the dynamics of Internet users’ attitudes to the coronavirus pandemic in March-early June 2020. Background. As part of the study of the psychological mechanisms of the impact of the pandemic on the individual and society, an increasingly urgent task is to clarify the socio-psychological prerequisites of belief in conspiracy theories of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the relationship between attitudes towards the pandemic and the involvement of the individual in the use of social media. Study design. The paper presents the results of two online surveys conducted in March-April and May-June 2020 to study the dynamics of Russians’ belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the COVID-19, taking into account involvement in social media and gender differences. Participants. The first study involved 668 people (78.2% women) aged 17 to 80 years (M=30; SD=12.7); the second survey involved 986 people (56.9% — men) aged 18 to 76 years (M=36.63; SD=10.2). The survey geography covered various regions of Russia. Measurements. The basic tool in both studies was developed by T.A. Nestik questionnaire “Attitude towards the epidemiological threat”. The first study additionally measured the social axioms (SAS), moral foundations (MFQ), belief in the justice of the world and trust in social institutions. The second study additionally measured involvement in social media communications. Results. The 1st study found a connection between conspiracy beliefs and belief in a just world, low self-efficacy, moral foundations of ingroup/loyalty and authority/respect, low institutional trust, and social cynicism. In the 2nd study, it was shown that, compared to March-April, the level of belief of social media users in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic, the severity of distrust in the health care system and skepticism about vaccinations significantly increased; both the fear of infection and the controllability of the threat have become less, but fears of a recurrence of epidemics have increased. It is shown that involvement in social media increases anxiety about the consequences of the coronavirus crisis, which in turn intensifies the search for conspiracy explanations of pandemic. Conclusions. Low social trust and the experience of an uncontrollable threat increase the susceptibility of social media users to belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic.

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