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Published in the Slovak Republic Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Has been issued since 2005 ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 2729-8132 2020, 60(4): 688-701
DOI: 10.13187/me.2020.4.688 www.ejournal53.com
Psychological Media Competence of Advertising Specialists and Educational Psychologists
Ekaterina Kyshtymova a , *
a Irkutsk State University, Russian Federation
Abstract
The results of the study of readiness of future specialists in the domain of media communications to work in the media environment - their psychological media competence, were presented. The choice of the participants of the experimental study was contingent on the differences in their ambitions: the group of future specialists in the domain of advertising (N = 25) was focused on creating media content attractive to consumers, while the group of future psychologists (N = 15) was focused on protecting the psychological health of individuals from destructive media content. The group of experts included Masters of Psychology who took the course of Psychological Safety in Media Environment (N = 9). The reference group included students who had not studied psychology (N = 41). The research was carried out using the semantic differential (SD) method and the examinational survey method, which afforded estimating the ability of a person to determine psychological peculiarities of media texts. The cognitive, value-semantic, reflexive, creative and active components of psychological media competence were evaluated. The Herbaria tea commercial with the advertising slogan 'Drown your Fears' served as the incentive for psychological media competence assessment. The results of its psychological analysis by experts were compared with those of students in the three groups: future advertisers, future psychologists, and students who were not exposed to psychological background during their professional training. The results of the research demonstrated: 1) the level of psychological competence of all students was low; 2) the level of psychological media competence of future advertising professionals was statistically significantly higher than that of future psychologists of education; the lowest level was in the group of students who did not study psychology. That brought the importance of creating and implementing training programs focused on improving competence among students of advertising and educational psychologists into the foreground.
Keywords: psychological, media competence, media text, advertising, experience, students, survey.
1. Introduction
Intermediated media communications plant themselves as dominant in modern society. As reported by the Internetlivestats, 8.844 tweets are being sent in just one second, 1.653 Tumblr messages written, 80.556 Google requests created, 82,632 videos viewed on YouTube, 2.881.272 e-mails sent (67 % whereof are spam) (Internet.., 2020). Looking at those figures, one has to admit that 'the reality transfigured into media reality is a new page of the present... ' (Savchuk, 2014: 4). Jean M. Twenge placed cultural shifts on the record: 'Everything - from music
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: Lread@mail.ru (E.S. Kyshtymova)
and phone calls to all kinds of entertainment - is individualized and consumed in the company of a smartphone, not by your own family, to the fullest extent' (Twenge, 2018: 14). Thus, the developing environment becomes fundamentally different, which requires revision of the criteria that determine readiness of specialists to regulate the processes of personal development in the media environment.
Under current circumstances, the most important task of educational psychologists is to develop methods to reduce the destructive effect of media texts on children and young people and, on the other hand, to develop their skills for productive communication in media environment. In 2011, UNESCO published a Media and Information Literacy teacher training program, which was the result of cooperation of a community of specialists from different domains. The main emphasis was put on student-centered pedagogy, young adult online culture, and psychology of child and junior development. Public and academic interest in the subjects of media effects and media literacy continues to grow. Nevertheless, as noted by S. Tuominen and S. Kotilainen, 'in the case of media education, the flow of learning and teaching is generally spontaneous, informal, unsystematic and unscheduled (Tuominen, Kotilainen, 2012: 5). In that regard, development of methods of diagnostics of psychological media competence becomes an important task (Kyshtymova, Skorova, 2018), creation of programs for its development in the subjects of the educational process.
2. Materials and methods
The total number of participants in the study was 90 persons. The experimental groups included students of Irkutsk State University studying in their specialties: 'Advertising and Public Relations' (25 persons, median age 20 y/o) and 'Educational Psychology' (15 persons, median age 20 y/o). They were in training in a course of media psychology. The reference group (41 persons, of median age of 18) included students who had not been trained in psychological disciplines. The experts were Masters of Psychology (9 persons, of median age of 26), who were trained in Psychological Safety of Personality in Media Environment course. The incentive for comparative assessment of psychological media competence was the Herbaria tea commercial (YouTube, 2013). That advertisement has undergone a professional psychological evaluation (Kyshtymova, 2017), its results taken as standard by us.
At the first stage of the study, a dedicated Semantic Differential (SD) method was used to identify factors that determined the evaluation of a commercial by the test persons.
Students rated the advertising incentive on bipolar scales describing the components of psychological media competence: 1) cognitive - the ability to analyze the meaning of a media text ('successful - unsuccessful', 'pleasant - disgusting', 'charming - unattractive', 'understanding -uncomprehending', 'smart - narrow-minded', 'soulful/emotional - soulless', 'active - passive', 'cheerful - gloomy', 'balanced - unbalanced', 'friendly - hostile'); 2) values and meaning -the ability to correlate the meanings of a media text with one's own position, to shape an opinion based on cultural and personal values ('freedom - dependence', 'fellow/consanguine - alien'), 'honest -deceitful', 'ethical - immoral', 'good - evil', 'credible - untrustworthy', 'meaningful -meaningless', 'wise - stupid', 'harmonious - disharmonious', 'open to the world - reserved'); 3) reflexive - the ability to track internal changes as a result of interaction with a media text ('complex - simple', 'creating - destructive', 'impulsive - reflexive', 'formed - disbanded', 'chaotic - ordered', 'self-developing - undeveloped', 'educated - unqualified'); 4) creative - the ability to analyze non-standard media texts ('creative - routine', 'controversial - logical', 'modest - vain', 'modern -conservative').
At the second stage of the research, psychological media competence of students was rated by means of a questionnaire (Kyshtymova et al., 2018), which had been modified by us according to the content of the advertising incentive used. The questionnaire reflected the main components included in the structure of psychological media competence (Kyshtymova, Skorova, 2018). It included questions that determined 1) the ability to determine a match of a consumer's age category with a media text, 2) to understand the emotional responses provoked by the media, 3) to determine the genre of a media text, 4) its destructive or developing potential, 5) the ability to predict the consumer's behavior after an interaction with a media text, as well as own professional behavior as a result of interaction with a text (Annex 1).
For mathematical processing of data obtained with the help of the SD, factor analysis, non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests, were used. The results of the study, obtained
with the help of the questionnaire, were processed using the x2 statistical criterion to compare the group values presented on the nominative scale.
3. Discussion
Amid global IT penetration and active involvement of young people in the media environment, universities are reconsidering their educational patterns to train future specialists for living and working in the information environment. For those purposes, training programs, formats and methods of media education process are being developed. Highlighted as the main objective of media education is 'to teach the audience not only to analyze media texts of any type, but also to understand the mechanisms of media texts' creation and functioning in society' (Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2017). The final result of the media education process is the formation of specialists' readiness to perform their professional functions in media environment. The concept of 'media competence' is used to indicate such readiness.
At the same time, there is a concept of 'media literacy' defined as 'knowledge, competencies and life skills needed to participate in contemporary society through accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating media messages in a wide variety of forms' in international academic literature (Hobbs, 2015: 419). Other constructions are used, which designate the skills of work in media environment, for example, 'digital literacy', 'web literacy', 'computer literacy', 'visual literacy'. The concepts that invoke those ideas focus on the notion of critical approach to information - 'it is critical thinking rather than mere technical competence that is key to becoming digitally literate' (Alvermann, Sanders, 2019: 2). Criticism also stands out as one of the main characteristics in separating the concepts of literacy and media literacy 'the fundamental differences between traditional literacy and media literacy are critical thinking and creative problem-solving competencies where students learn to evaluate and create texts in all forms' (Redmond, 2015: 11).
Russian academic literature substantiated the opinion that media literacy renders the first necessary step in learning, indicates the basic level of knowledge (Molchanova, 2011: 103), while the term media competence would 'more accurately define the essence of an individual's ability to use, critically analyze, evaluate and communicate media texts of various types, formats and genres, and to analyze the complex processes of media functioning in society' (Fedorov, 2007: 81).
Approaches to the content and structure of the notion of media competence are variegated. G. Tulodziecki and S. Grafe, based on the analysis of papers on media competence, noted ambiguity in the understanding of the concept: on the one hand, the term 'media competence' could be used to designate universal human potential, and on the other - for designation of the level of training of a student in the process of media education. The media education approach, from the perspective of the authors, implied understanding of competence as the 'ability to accept criticism, reflexive attitudes, knowledge for the sake of orientation, the relationship between human beings and the world imparted by media, and self-direction' (Tulodziecki, Grafe, 2019: 5).
S. Pontinen and S. Raty-Záborszky, emphasizing the importance of students' technical skills in digital competency, indicated that mastery of digital devices and applications did not suffice -'students should learn to apply digital technologies in meaningful ways and as appropriate tools for working, studying, and various activities in everyday life' (Pontinen, Raty-Záborszky, 2020: 3). Pérez-Rodríguez and colleagues, taking the experience of media education into account, said that the concept of media competence went beyond the technical approach in Europe: 'Media competence embraces capacities related to coding and decoding, techno-instrumental skills, and skills in interpretation and culture, which involve several literacy forms and abilities' (Pérez-Rodríguez et. al., 2019: 35). From the perspective of the better part of professionals, it is necessary to teach a student not only to use the technological component of modern media, but also to take ethical, cultural, psychological and other problems that arise in the process of life and work in an impregnated media environment, into account. As noted by T.Koltay, 'the study of media literacy is highly interdisciplinary, using the tools and methods of sociology, psychology, political theory, gender and race studies, as well as cultural studies, art, and aesthetics' (Koltay, 2011: 212).
Russian researchers also noted the existing terminological uncertainty in that domain. M.V. Zhizhina stated that media competence was understood, 'on the one hand, as a quality of personality, and on the other, as a system of requirements to a certain type of social behavior in the media environment' (Zhizhina, 2016: 48-49). Therewith, the author made an important observation that media competence was inextricably linked to the psychological culture of an
individual: 'media competence cannot be separated from the formation of the general culture of a personality, and cultural and psychological competence in particular' (Zhizhina, 2016: 51-52).
The importance of the psychological component of media competence was emphasized in the work of O. Mavropulo and E. Muryukina (Mavropulo, Muryukina, 2018). The authors described media competence indicators according to the classification of A. Fedorov, showing their conjunction with such psychological characteristics as thinking, age characteristics, emotional sphere of a personality and creativity. At the same time, A. Fedorov understood media competence as 'individual' abilities to use, critically analyze, evaluate, and communicate media messages of various types, forms, and categories and to analyze complex information processes and media functioning in society (Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2017: 19).
The interdisciplinary nature of research determined inclusion of various media skills into the media competence, which would determine the diversity of media competence components of a modern person. Thus P.Winterhoff-Spurk included 'technical media competence', 'media competence centered on one's own self (reflexive perception of mass media) and 'social' (Winterhoff-Spurk, 2016) into the structure of media competence: 219). A. Fedorov distinguished between motivational, contact, information, perceptual, interpretative/valuating, practical-operative (pragmatist), and creative components of media competence (Fedorov, 2007: 31-32).
S.V. Tarkhov singled out eight key components of media competence as crucial: information and worldview (ideas about the essence and meaning of information in modern society); technological (software and hardware means of information technology implementation); communicative (interaction in media environment); information search (search for documents from various media sources); normative and legal (rights, duties and opportunities of a person as a subject of society in media environment); analytical (structuring, retrieval, systematization and analysis of information from media sources from the point of view of its adequacy, utility, reliability, completeness, novelty, critical analysis of information distributed in mass media, social media and advertising); creative component (creation and use of media content in everyday activities) and presentation component (creation and design of technical, organizational and administrative, scientific and other types of documents) (Tarkhov, 2016: 78).
Other classification bases were used by M.V. Zhizhina by including three components into media competence: media education (knowledge about media, its peculiarities, structure, formats, and multicultural content); media competence (effective behavior in the media world, i.e., mastering new media technologies and patterns of behavior, including communication through media systems; media security (the ability to preserve and defend personal identity in changing media environments, including those while crossing cultural boundaries) (Zhizhina, 2016: 63).
Bringing the problem of formation of media competence of future teachers into the foreground, I. Hazanov saw the motivational worldview, content, technology as the main components of media competence. Describing those components and their formation principles, the author noted that 'formation of media competence of future teachers today is one of the most important tasks of the professional educational institutions' (Hazanov, 2018: 78).
Given the interdisciplinary nature of the subject under investigation, we faced both terminology ambiguity and also the problem of prioritization, as, identifying some or other components of media competence, the authors focused on the components that, in their opinion, were the most significant as part of their selected approach. Speaking of accents, we might refer to the following opinion: 'the indices of the audiences' skills to analyze and evaluate media messages and their role in society should come first, and only then such skills as creation and communication of self media production, and skills to use media gadgets should follow' (Levitskaya, 2015: 25). Indeed, having the skill of working with technical facilities is necessary, yet not enough, as it does not afford to regulate the semantic, substantive component of media communications. The process of transformation of a personality in media environment, where it receives and transmits information, depends on it. Today, almost anyone who uses a gadget could create content in as much as 'the development of new communication technologies has transformed media consumers into media creators and the creation, sharing, and dissemination of original media messages are now defined among the characteristics of qualified media users' (Eristi, Erdem, 2017: 252).
With a variety of approaches to the components of media competence, 'psychological components are necessarily included into its different models' (Kyshtymova, Skorova, 2018: 82). I.M. Kyshtymova and L.V. Skorova developed the concept of 'psychological media competence', compared it with 'psychological competence' and 'media competence', described the component
composition. The following components were laid at the foundation of the structure of psychological media competence: psychological (psychological knowledge about cognitive, values and meaning, reflexive, and other processes), semiotic (the ability to analyze a media text from the point of view of the idea of a text as a sign system) and aesthetic (the ability to analyze the techniques of artistic expression).
Psychological media competence affords to understand the peculiarities of the effect of a media text on its consumer, create media content psychologically safe and attractive to the audience, identify violations of psychological safety and prevent those. This is particularly important for professionals working with children and young people who are exposed to 'attitudinal changes, the formation of a explicit view of things or a shift in value systems' (Rudenko, Litvinova, 2020: 78).
Known is data confirming low level of psychological media competence of media content consumers. R. Hobbs, referring to OFCOM, cited a survey of 500 children aged 8-15 on their critical perception of information that revealed that 23 per cent of children aged 8-11 and 14 per cent of children aged 12-15 believed all information on news and information sites was true (Hobbs, 2017). Similar conclusions were reached by M. Kleemans and S. Daalmans and their colleagues while studying the effect of doctored photos on Instagram. In consequence of the experiment, wherein 144 girls (14-18 years old) took part, it came to light that photos with the use of filters (faces and bodies were edited) were perceived by teenagers as more attractive than those without retouching. Furthermore, it was found that the girls did not know about the possibility of retouching photos on Instagram - they agreed with the statement that photos provided a representative view of reality. Such illusions lead users to negative changes in the perception of their body image (Kleemans et.al., 2018). The non-critical attitude towards information provoked negative consequences: 'Uncritical attitude to social media reality may cause such risks threatening the younger generation as manipulation of racist or nationalist ideology, involving young people in extremist groups, including the negative effects of overcommercialization and premature sexualization of children and youth' (Mikhaleva, 2016: 117). While investigating psychological risks of media, academics noted: 'The internet, and related social trends, may be a major factor in the rise of psychological morbidity in the young' (McCrae, 2017: 316). A systematic review of studies with a total sample of 12,646 persons on the subject of relationship between the use of different media and psychological problems among young people revealed a statistically significant correlation between the use of social media and depressive symptoms in young people (McCrae, 2017). Research results demonstrated that social media produced huge psychological effect on their users, changing their self-esteem, self-appraisal and level of anxiety (Krishen et. al., 2016).
Definitely, the psychological health of a person is affected by child-parent relationships, relationships with peers, age-related particularities and other factors. However, it is important to bear in mind that, without understanding the risks associated with media, without conscious regulation of the media communications process, the negative effect might intensify. Media psychologists and parents agreed with the statement, expressing the opinion that 'media violence can increase aggression in children' (Bushman et. al., 2015). In addition, there was data from longitudinal studies indicating that 'viewing relational aggression in the media can have a long-term effect on aggressive behavior during adolescence' (Coyne, 2016).
In that regard, the issue of ensuring psychological safety of media environment, which had become a medium for the development of modern children, is thrown into sharp relief. Legislative measures, in particular the Federal Law On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development adopted in Russia, also required experts who determine whether content complied with the Law, psychological media competence.
Psychological media competence affords a specialist to comprehensively approach the analysis of the complex nature of various media texts. Psychological media competence is understood as 'psychological knowledge of mass communications, mental processes and ways of their foregrounding in the processes of media communications, about consistent patterns and age peculiarities of personality development inside media environment, methods of manipulations by means of media messaging, criteria to determine degrees of psychological security of media environment, its educational and developing potential, ways to protect consumers of media information, children, in the first place, from destructive effect of messages broadcast via media channels, conditions of psychologically productive communications in media environment' (Kyshtymova, Skorova, 2018: 82).
Formation of psychological media competence is associated with resolution of several tasks. For professionals in the domain of advertising, public relations, journalists, psychological media competence is one of the means to achieve a pragmatic (commercial, political) goal and attract the target audience to the information broadcast by means of advertising or ideological content. For teachers, psychologists, and parents, psychological media competence is a means of creating a positive development environment and protecting children from negative effects. Formation of psychological media competence may become one of the promising strategies to minimize the negative effect of information on the psyche of youth. In that regard, it is necessary to take the importance of the issue of formation of psychological media competence under the conditions of the university into account.
To solve those tasks, it is necessary to develop methods of diagnostics and development of psychological media competence. That, in turn, would determine the relevance of the study, whose job was to analyze the components of psychological media competence of students of advertising and public relations and educational psychologists.
4. Results
We are implementing an experimental program for the formation of psychological media competence (PMC) with two groups of students studying in the specialties: 1) 'advertising and public relations' - 25 persons and 2) 'psychology of education' - 15 persons. The first group of participants was educated to create content, while the other was getting ready to protect psychological health of an individual. The advertisers were focused on pragmatic goals, such as attracting attention, foregrounding of consumer motivation. The issue of the possible destructive effect of the emerging content on the psyche of consumers was insignificant for advertising specialists, while 'advertising as a type of creativity and as a form of mass propaganda may pose a threat to human psychological safety' (Pronina, 2003: 6). On the other hand, the issue of psychological safety of media content was a priority for the educator and psychologist. Each group of specialists, thus, pursued its own goals. Our point of view consisted in that the formation of psychological media competence was a prerequisite for efficient professional activity for both content producers and educational psychologists - all participants in media communication must be aware of psychological risks and be able to prevent those. Both groups of study participants: advertisers and psychologists - were included into the experimental program to develop psychological media competence, which was at the early stages of its implementation. At the same time, students of both groups have already taken a general psychology course.
Graduate students of the second year in the field of 'psychological - pedagogical education' (9 persons), who were trained in media psychology, made their stand as experts. The reference group (41 persons) included first year students of ISU who, at the time of the research, had not been trained in any psychological disciplines.
In the first phase of the study, a Herbaria tea commercial with the 'Drown your Fears' slogan was demonstrated to all groups of test persons (YouTube, 2013). In the course of the research carried out earlier by I.M. Kyshtymova, the judgment on the violation of psychological safety by that advertisement, was substantiated (Kyshtymova, 2017).
We made an attempt to identify the peculiarities of students' perception of the video and compare that with the experts' opinion. To do that, the SD method was used, the classical version of it which, proceeding from the study objectives, was supplemented with the scales reflecting components of psychological media competence.
In order to identify the main assessment markers used by the test persons in their perception of advertising, the procedure of factor analysis (FA) was used, which was carried out using the maximum-likelihood method. Rotation of factors was performed using VARIMAX method. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (KMO) and the Bartlett sphericity test were used to evaluate the reliability of the correlation matrix elements calculation and the possibility of its description by means of factor analysis. The level of significance of differences was determined using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test to compare several samples. Herewith, the value of the KMO test was (0.797) - that is, it could be rated as reliable.
Given the estimates of the value of each factor, we had identified 6 factors that explained 71.013 per cent of the total dispersion of variables.
The first factor was called the 'factor of kindness' by us, with a high load of 'good - evil' (0.804), 'friendly - hostile' (0.779), 'fellow/consanguine - alien' (0.748), 'charming - unattractive'
(0.734), 'pleasant - repulsive' (0.733), 'freedom - dependence' (0.690). The second 'development factor' included the scales of 'self-developing - stagnant' (0.799), 'wise - stupid' (0.779), 'educated - unqualified' (0.746), 'accomplished - defunct' (0.688). The third factor was called the 'honesty factor', which included a scale of 'honest - deceitful' (0.883). The fourth 'modernity factor' combined the scales of: 'modern - conservative' (0.849), 'creative - routine' (0.688). The fifth 'order factor' included the scales of 'chaotic - ordered' (0.798), 'controversial - logical' (0.771). The sixth 'modesty factor' consisted of the 'modest - vain' scale (0.895).
Thus, the semantics of the perceived media text was determined proceeding from its 'kindness', 'development', 'honesty', 'modernity', 'order' and 'modesty'.
While comparing group indicators, which was carried out using the Kruskal-Wallis statistical test, significant group differences in 'goodness factor' and 'modernity factor' (p=0.000) were revealed. The advertisement students, as well as experts, saw the negative potential of the commercial by rating the advertising in question negatively by the factor of 'kindness' (Fi = -0.474 and Fi = -0.594, respectively). At the same time, psychology students and participants of the reference group could not 'count' destructive meanings: F1 = 0.09 and F1 = 0.386, respectively. Students in the reference group who did not have psychological training were the least reliable in rating the video by the first factor.
For the 'modernity factor', both experimental groups gave higher scores (F4(r.) = 0.451; F4(p.) = 0.050) than the expert group (F4 = -0.845), while the level of differences determined by the Mann-Whitney test was statistically reliable (p<0.05). For experts, the video proved to be much more hostile, alien, unattractive and routine.
Such differences could be explained by the fact that advertisement students - by virtue of their creative profession, believed that if the video was ingenious and shocking, it might be called modern and creative. However, that perception raised the issue of boundaries that the author of a media text must observe, since 'it is critical to understand how best to develop creative advertisements and how effective this creative advertising is likely to be' (West, 2019: 1). It is important that future advertising professional understood that a shocking media text, firstly, did not always perform the main pragmatic function of advertising - shaping of consumer motivation, and secondly, due to the potentially affective disposition, could violate psychological safety of a person. That effect from the advertising exposure is called 'the psychoactive ad' - 'any emotion-arousing ad that can cause a meaningful, well-defined group of viewers to feel extremely anxious, to feel hostile toward others, or to feel a loss of self-esteem' (Hyman, Tansey, 1990).
At the second stage of the study, we used a survey method from our previous research (Kyshtymova, Skorova, Medvedeva, 2018) to test the ability of students to read psychological peculiarities of a media text, modified by us according to the content of the advertising media text used.
The questionnaire was designed in such a way that it evaluated each component of psychological media competence: cognitive, value-semantic, reflexive, creative, and active. The cognitive component in our survey corresponded to question 11, it reflected the ability to determine the age of the target audience. The reflexive component identified questions 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8. They determined the ability to formulate an emotional response, to identify the genre of a media text and forecast its productivity; the ability to determine the destructive/developing potential of a media text; and the ability to forecast consumer behavior after interaction with a media text. The value-semantic component (question 4) defined the ability to identify the basic meanings of a media text. The activity component (question 10) reflected the ability to forecast professional behavior as a result of interaction with a text. The semiotic component (questions 5, 9) defined knowledge of formal means of influence on a person.
When comparing the group indicators of rating of stimulating advertising, reliable differences in the answers to 10 questions out of 11, were revealed (Table 1). No statistical differences were found in the value of answers to question 7 only: Did the 'Herbaria Tea' commercial help bring consumer motivation into the foreground? (р>0.05). At the same time, it was important to take that all 100 per cent of experts responded that this video did not contribute to the foregrounding of consumer motivation, into account.
Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie), 2020, 60(4) Table 1. Reliability of group differences in psychological media competence expression (PMC)
Question No. Criterion p-value* -significant differences noted
1 Formulates emotional response 0.000*
2 Defines the genre of media text 0.000*
3 Predicts productivity of a media text genre 0.025*
4 Defines the meaning of a media text 0.000*
5 Identifies means of affecting a recipient 0.000*
6 Determines destructive/constructive potential of a media-text 0.000*
7 Predicts the recipient's motivational behavior resulting from interaction with a media text 0.497
8 Identifies the main motives of a media text 0.000*
9(a) Identifies means of affecting a recipient (color) 0.140*
9(b) Identifies means of affecting a recipient (change of frames) 0.140*
9(c) Identifies means of affecting a recipient (musical accompaniment) 0.000*
10 Predicts professional behavior of a future specialist as a result of interaction with a media text 0.016*
11 Identifies age category of a media-text 0.000*
Note: * - reliability of statistical differences
Frequency of answers distribution with account for group differences following the survey results was identified.
Analysis of the results showed that the value of the cognitive subcomponent of psychological media competence for the experts was much higher than that in other groups (Figure 1). As it was revealed earlier, the Herbaria tea commercial involved destructive potential (Kyshtymova, 2017). The experts, having sufficient level of psychological media competence, identified the destructive potential of the media text, unlike other groups of subjects. 78 per cent of experts noted that the media text did not meet the requirements of psychological safety, so they chose their own answer option: 'that media text is not recommended for viewing in any audience whatsoever'.
Fig. 1. Frequency of answers distribution in groups characterizing ability to identify the age category of a media text in (%)
The value-semantic subcomponent of the PMC revealed question 4. It was difficult for all groups of subjects to determine the meaning of the commercial. The basic meaning became comprehensible when the slogan 'Drown Your Fears' appeared on the screen, and even the
presence of the slogan did not afford the respondents to fully understand the basic meaning of the media text (Figure 2).
Fig. 2. Distribution frequencies of answers in groups characterizing the ability to determine the basic meanings of a media text in (%)
The most representative values of the reflexive component of the PMC were the frequency of distribution of answers to questions 3 and 6, reflecting the ability of test persons to predict the productivity of an advertising text and the ability to determine its destructive or developing potential (Figures 3, 4)
experts
reference group
psychologists (cxp.) advertisers (exp.)
O 20 40 GO so 100
Fig. 3. Distribution frequencies of answers in groups characterizing the ability to forecast productivity of a promotional text in (per cent)
The analysis of the group expressiveness of the reflexive component of the PMC showed that the skills of determining the psychological impact of a media text images in experimental groups have not been formed. Despite the fact that the majority of participants in both groups: 68 % of advertisers and 87 % of psychologists - determined the destructive potential of images used in advertising, students were unable to predict the productivity of the video based on that data. Herewith, the ability to predict productivity at the early stage of development of an advertising product was one of the most important skills of an advertiser while, on the other, determined the ability of an educational psychologist to prevent risks of media communications wherein children were engaged.
All 100 per cent of experts determined that the commercial was unproductive, based on the understanding that its negative perception of the consumer affected the emotional attitude of buyers to the advertised product: 'The talent of the advertising creator is in many ways the ability to create a unique selling proposition against the background of purposefully caused emotion'.
(Vlasov, 2017: 53). In that advertising text, the author shaped negative emotional attitude to the advertised object, as correctly defined by experts, by means of mimics, pantomimes, dark water image, music and other artistic techniques.
Fig. 4. Distribution frequencies of answers in groups characterizing the ability to determine destructive/developing potential of the media text 1
The activity component of the PMC was defined with the help of question 10: 'If you had to decide whether to accept this commercial for massive release on screen, what decision would you make?' In their future profession, advertisers should be able to determine the degree of compliance of media texts with psychological safety requirements while creating and monitoring advertising products. As noted by E.E. Pronina, 'psychological safety of advertising is important not only for mass consumer, but also for preserving creative potential of professional mind' (Pronina, 2003: 3).
The analysis of answers to that question provided an opportunity to check whether students were prepared to make competent decisions in their future professional activity. The results showed that 44 per cent of advertisers believed that the video was suitable for broadcasting on the Internet, while 36 % replied it was good and suitable for prime-time broadcasting. Distribution of answers in the group of psychology students showed that 40 per cent would not release the video on screen, while 33 per cent answered 'the video is good, release in prime-time'. More than half of the students from the reference group - 53 per cent reckoned that 'the video is not suitable for anything, rework'. In turn, the experts showed a high level of psychological media competence and professional preparedness - all 100 per cent of the experts believed that the video was destructive and not suitable for demonstration.
5. Conclusion
The research showed that the level of psychological media competence in the groups of students: a future specialist in advertising and future psychologists of education was not-too-high. Most of the test subjects were able to determine the destructive potential of the commercial, but thought that it essentially complied with the requirements for a media product. Future advertisers have identified teenagers and the older generation as the target audience for the video. At the same time, experts rightly pointed out that the commercial did not perform the main function of advertising - foregrounding of consumer motivation, as it provoked negative emotions in the consumer. Participants in the experimental groups were unable to determine psychological effectiveness of advertising.
The data retrieved in the course of research brought 1) the problem of training future advertising specialists in conscious and responsible attitude towards the process of creating advertising media texts, 2) the problem of training teachers - psychologists, whose work is related to the prevention of psychological risks provoked by the media environment, into the foreground. That determined the importance of forming psychological media competence under the conditions of higher educational institutions.
The conducted research was of a pilot nature to help determine the initial level of psychological media competence of the participants in the experimental groups with whom the program of psychological media competence development would be implemented.
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Annex
GENDER_AGE_
Dear Respondent, please answer the proposed questions and select those answers that correspond to your opinion or the ones you agree with.
1. Did you like the Herbaria Tea commercial?
A. Yes
B. No
C. I do not know
D. Your answer:_
2. What genre would you refer Herbaria advertising?
A. Fantasy
B. Drama
C. Horror
D. Adventures
E. Your own answer choice_
3. The genre of advertising media text selected by the authors is productive, in your opinion:
A. Yes
B. No
C. I'm having trouble answering
4. What is the main meaning of the Herbaria tea commercial:
A. Tea quenches thirst
B. In tea, one may drown own fears
C. Tea helps to forget traumatic memories
D. Tea soothes
E. Tea carries away from reality
F. Your own answer choice_
5. In your opinion, what emotions are caused by the image of dark water used by the authors in the first episode:
A. relaxation, tranquility
B. strong emotional tension, anxiety
C. admiration, delight
D. acceptance, happiness
E. Your own answer choice_
6. Transformation of the image of a clown familiar to perception in the Herbaria tea commercial commands:
A. development potential
B. destructive potential
C. Your own answer choice_
7. Herbaria Tea commercial promotes bringing consumer motivation into the foreground:
A.It does. Explain_
B. It does not.
Explain_
C. I'm having trouble answering
8. What is the main motive broadcast by the Herbaria tea commercial:
A. reason for living
B. ultimate ambition
C. motive for death
D. prestige motivation
E. nuisance abient response
F. Your own answer choice_
9. What techniques, in your opinion, were used in the Herbaria tea advertising video, so as to influence one's emotions as much as possible:
A. Color gamut.
B. Quick change of frames.
C. Musical accompaniment.
D. Unusual appearance of the characters.
E. None of the above.
F. Other (write):_
10. If you had to decide whether to accept the commercial for massive release, what decision would you make?
A. The clip is good, release in prime-time.
B. Video not suitable for anything, rework.
C. Your own answer choice_
11. What age audience the video is suitable for:
A. any
B. for those over 3 years of age
C. for those over 7 years of age
D. for teenagers and older
E. for adults
F. own answer choice_
