Psychological examination of the signs of extremism in the users’ social network profiles

Belikova Ekaterina Vasilyevna Senior Educator, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 blkvekaterina@rambler.ru Efremov Evgenii Georgievich PhD in Psychology Docent, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 EGEfremov@yandex.ru Efremova Nataliy Alekseevna PhD in Psychology Docent, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 ENA100@yandex.ru Kubarev Vyacheslav Sergeevich ORCID: 0000-0002-2783-8175 PhD in Psychology Docent, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 kubikss@yandex.ru Milcharek Natalia Aleksandrovna ORCID: 0000-0001-6913-0936 PhD in Psychology Docent, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 n_a_milcharek@mail.ru Milcharek Tadeush Petrovich ORCID: 0000-0002-3894-8118 PhD in Philosophy Docent, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 milcharek@mail.ru Senkova Viktoria Ivanovna Senior Educator, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 moroz_razvitie@mail.ru Frenkel Mariya Vladimirovna Senior Educator, the department of Psychology of Labor and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, ul. Prospekt Mira, 11 frenkel_m@mail.ru

Tsvetkova Ol'ga Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0001-5985-3006 Senior Educator, the department of Labor Psychology and Organizational Psychology, Omsk State Technical University 644050, Russia, Omskaya oblast', g. Omsk, pr. Mira, 11, of. 207 zvetol@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Relevance. The life situation of many people today is characterized by extreme dynamism and uncertainty. In general, there is an increase in psychological tension, an increase in anxiety and a decrease in psychological well-being associated with both the pandemic situation and the emergence and spread of threats that previously concerned certain categories of citizens or were unsystematic in nature.

An increase in the number of auto- and destructive manifestations in adolescents and young people, cases of school shooters, high-profile criminal cases and terrorist acts, which, thanks to the mass media, break into the lives of ordinary citizens, force law enforcement agencies and psychologists to turn to the study of the features of personality deviations and those factors that lead to the possibility of committing such crimes. According to research, the Internet is currently one of the main sources of propaganda of extremist and terrorist ideology among schoolchildren, students, and youth [5-6,16-17, 21]. At the same time, the modern "digital generation" often does not have the formed skills of critical analysis of the material, does not have sufficient informative signs that allow detecting "malicious" content at the early stages of involvement. Parents and teachers treat social networks either not seriously enough as entertainment for children, or vice versa too categorically, prohibiting the use and making them a "sweet forbidden fruit".

In this regard, it becomes important to develop operational tools for detecting and analyzing Internet content, which would allow all interested parties (parents, teachers, law enforcement officers) to diagnose signs of extremist orientation in user profile materials with a certain degree of probability and take appropriate restrictive or preventive measures.

To build tools for detecting and analyzing extremist Internet content, a theoretical analysis of the propensity to extremism was carried out and a psychological profile of a person prone to extremism, violent ideology and demonstration of an antisocial position was built. This profile allowed us to develop behavioral criteria and conduct an empirical study. Let's denote the main characteristics of the generalized psychological profile (portrait) schoolshooters and other persons of extremist (terrorist) orientation of the personality.

Who are these people? These are, in general, personally and socially disadvantaged young men, oriented in behavior and activity to break social communication, unilateral refusal of dialogue, that is, pronounced non-communicativeness ^[13].

It is expressed for them that they are prone to violence, causing pain, suppression, subordination of others (authoritarianism). The reasons for this are unrealized culturally conditioned aggression (warrior complex). Authoritarianism and the communication gap are aggravated by a tendency to take unnecessary risks. The weak degree of freedom of such a person is expressed in blaming others for what is happening and refusing to take responsibility. The predominant accentuations (sharpening of traits) of character: predominantly demonstrative (a tendency to theatricality), exalted (a sharp change in reaction types, a large amplitude of extreme forms of behavior) and hyperthymic (difficulty in accepting social norms and high self-esteem) make behavior dramatic and prone to manipulative forms. The position of hidden superiority, veiled demands or blackmail, xenophobia is clearly expressed ^[14,15].

In the psychological profile of the extremist (terrorist) orientation of a person, for example, schoolshooters, dehumanization (devaluation of the human) and destructive (destructive) motivation towards the world dominate in the value sphere ^[10]. The biased attitude, the propensity to possess and use weapons implements the cult of force and power methods of solving problem situations, as well as the glorification of militant forms of behavior. The dominant motivation is avoiding failure. The anomie characteristic of schoolshooters (violation of social norms) and the lack of authority in the immediate environment, as well as the rejection of socially approved samples, is a consequence of the lack of expression of the father's position and manifests itself in negativism (mainly negative characteristics of others). The predominance of missionary work, formal (external) religiosity associated with superficial involvement in some ritual practices (external ritualism), the desire to create super-values (especially valuable for themselves patterns and norms, or behaviors, objects) make the person of extremist (terrorist) orientation dependent ^[9].

Erased or poorly manifested identity of an extremist personality (personal, gender, age, civil, political, national) is manifested in schoolshooters in various forms of intolerance (intolerance) and discriminatory and destructive forms of attitude towards others and their identity ^[12].

The emotional sphere of such a person is represented by feelings of inferiority and a compensating desire for superiority over others ^[11]. Accumulated hatred, anger, resentment and bitterness towards the world makes the psychological stability of schoolshooters low. In combination with a high level of anxiety, the emotional sphere becomes characterized by a high level of conflict (external, or (and) intrapersonal). Intrapersonal conflict is characterized by a repressed sense of guilt associated with the failure of the actions taken. A person feels guilty because it was not possible to realize a destructive plan and strive to replace it with demonstrative theatrical forms of behavior (preparation and implementation of mass murders) ^[7]. Gamified thinking and its rigidity make it possible to realize in behavior the rejection of uncertainty in the form of fixation on achieving the goal.

Gamification of the real behavior of these individuals is a separate phenomenon that is just beginning to be studied. Thus, it has already been established that gaming behavior in online games can be sufficient material for analyzing real mental personality disorders ^[22], that behaviors that are formed in a virtual environment are transferred to real situations faster ^[23].

The portrait presented above is a kind of statement, while the nature of this phenomenon is also important for our analysis. Discussing the genesis of a person with a pronounced extremist orientation, we focused on the frustration of basic needs in the process of socialization of such a person.

In their individual history of development, it is possible to detect a violation of ties at the level of the immediate environment and, significant for the child, persons and relationships, which manifests itself in destructive parenting styles ^{[1, 20]}. These connections and relationships did not allow the child to fully realize the basic needs of the personality for him at different stages of life, which led to distortions and deformations of various personal structures. Since the frustrations of basic needs are long-lasting, the personality develops protective compensatory mechanisms for the realization of these needs, or rather some pseudo-compensations that allow the individual to build such ideas about himself and the world that at least partially compensate for the feeling of his inferiority.

All this manifests itself in the early signs of maladaptation, as soon as the child leaves the narrow circle of the family and finds himself in a broader system of social norms and relationships. There is a certain "vicious circle" when maladaptive mechanisms are used to meet basic needs, so the need is even more frustrated, which leads to even greater traumatization of this person. In turn, psychological defenses increase and become inadequate, and as a result, maladaptation increases, and the personality is further transformed towards deviation and asociality ^[3,4].

Since a person does not have sufficient resources for productive self-realization, she uses the methods of destructive self-realization familiar to her ^[18]. At the same time, different forms of deviant behavior may or may not be destructive self-realization. The difference is that in the case of destructive self-realization, deviant behavior begins to be considered as a conscious choice of the individual through which she manifests and realizes her capabilities and abilities. A whole system of antisocial or antisocial values and meanings is being built, a personal ideology of destructive behavior is being formed, a positive Self-concept is being built in the logic of this ideology, which leads to the experience of searching for and finding the meaning of life and the formation of ideas about one's own options for achieving acme. In this regard, the transmission of their views, a certain looseness in their manifestations, a tendency to risk lead to the fact that the profiles of this person in social networks contain certain (destructive) signs reflecting its extremist orientation. This allows you to identify such users by the content reflected in the virtual avatar.

From the point of view of society, the content of all these elements is extremely antisocial. One example may be the involvement of teenagers in extremist activities via the Internet, when the initial stages look like answers to the "eternal" teenage questions "Who am I?", "What is the world around me?", and the search for justice and the designation of ways to achieve it.

However, since distortions occurred during the formation of personality and the experience of personality at this point contains negative, painful and even traumatic experiences, the answers to the questions become very obvious to teenagers. The contact and trust that "recruiters" evoke make it possible to reduce the already unformed criticality towards information and further positively consider extremist views and ideas as ideas of a "Just and right world" in which everything is clear, including the role of the most involved teenager.

Study

The purpose of the study: to identify signs of a tendency to extremism by profile in a social network.

The object of the study: the semantic content of the account (profile) in the social network.

Subject of the study: signs of a tendency to extremism.

Research methods: expert analysis of the semantic content and materials of the profiles of the VKontakte social network, content analysis of the materials of the profiles of the VKontakte social network, statistical methods of analysis: factor analysis of the selected signs of an extremist personality and cluster analysis of profiles.

Selection: 100 random users of the VKontakte social network, men aged 18-39 years.

The study assumed the following stages:

1) Expert assessment and formation of a set of signs of a tendency to extremism according to the profile in the social network.

2) Content analysis of the frequency of signs and statistical processing (factor analysis) to determine the most pronounced groups of criteria for assessing the extremist orientation of the VKontakte account.

3) Verification of the criteria obtained on the materials of 100 random users of the VKontakte social network.

 The first stage of the study included work with experts, who were specialists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and psychologists of OmSTU. Their task was to isolate pronounced signs of extremist orientation from various VKontakte accounts.

To do this, the key categories of analysis were identified, which included: images on the main page of the profile "My page"; spatial territory (number of friends, contacts, subscribers "Friends"); interests (number and quality of images - images and photos of the user "Photos"; comments, re-posts, status on personal page, posts on the "wall"; subscriptions "Interesting pages"). Additional variables were the quantity and qualitative characteristics of audio and video recordings, as well as the network activity of users. According to the results of the expert assessment, 36 key signs of determining the propensity to extremism were identified by the VKontakte social network account.

The page elements and their attributes are specified.

- Images on the main profile page. "My page". Signs:

1. A photo that is close to the real one, but it is possible that it is someone else's.

2. Humanization of the bear - the image in the form of a mask is a symbol of the terrorist group "Ku Klux Klan")

3. A snake intertwining skeletal bones.

4. A wounded, shot pigeon.

5. The lone wolf

6. Skeletons, skulls, devils

7. Fantastic characters with the image of crosses, fire, blood.

8. Various images of explosions, images of "anime"

9. The image of a terrorist, the shahid belt is depicted in the form of people, children.

10. Items: bats, brass knuckles, weapons (firearms, cold), explosives and substances.

11. Symbols: swastika and SS Life Guards emblems in the form of two runes "zig" (two lightning bolts).

12. Signs: kolovrat and Celtic cross.

13. There is no profile screensaver

14. Privacy settings are set

- "Friends." Signs:

15. The page is closed, only the profile picture is present

16. The profile is only available to friends and subscribers. The number of friends is not more than 20

17. The page is open for viewing by "all users". Number of friends and subscribers from 20 to 150

18. The page is open. More than 150 friends and subscribers.

- "Photos". Signs:

19. Images ridiculing race.

20. Propaganda or public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols

21. The presence of reposts of a picture from a community, public or group on your wall, which is recognized as prohibited.

22. Likes and emoticons of images in fascist clothes (cap).

- Comments. Re-posts. Status on the personal page. Entries on the "wall". Signs:

23. The use of pseudonyms of extremists.

24. "Russian legion"

25. "yarussky"

26. "sat down for extremism"

27. "furnace of enemies of the people"

28. Words and phrases: enemies, foreigners, newcomers, racist, fascism, fill, displace, dominance.Evil spirits, Jews, chocks, donkeys, children of the devil, niggers.

29. Materials of extremist content about religion and blacks (including reposts of memes from humorous public).

30. Gathering an unauthorized rally and clashes with the police.

31. Rehabilitation of Nazism (any approving statement, regardless of the context).

- Subscriptions "Interesting pages". Signs:

32. Subscriptions to the pages of the websites of Ukraine: "Right", "Slavic way", "Yarga".

33. Subscriptions to sites that offend the feelings of believers.

34. Separation of regions (separatism),

35. Wars (including Syria and Ukraine)

36. Approval or loyalty to terrorism: "Russian death".

At the second stage, we conducted a content analysis of the frequency of signs and their statistical processing to determine the most pronounced groups of criteria for assessing the extremist orientation of the VKontakte account.

Factor analysis allowed us to formulate eight distinct groups of factors. Based on the theoretical material, they were named by us and meaningfully defined. Their description, weight indicators and a set of key features are presented below (the features are marked with numbers from Table 1 and their sequence is determined by the correlation value).

Factor 1 (31.667%). "Signs of Animal Wars" is represented by images characterizing the authors of accounts as a person who has the following traits: aggressiveness, cruelty, coolness, vindictiveness, audacity, sadism, prudence, isolation, increased impulsiveness of behavior, exceptional cynicism, selfishness and maximalism, fear, bitterness, unbalance (2, 24, 35, 5, 34, 31, 29, 11, 21, 30, 10)

Factor 2 "Open evil as rejection" (40.819%) is based on the coincidence of a person's own values with the ideological values of the group. In such cases, extremism becomes a kind of "mission" on behalf of this community (33, 28, 6, 18).

Factor 3 "Explosive appearance as a symbol of protest" (48.691%) indicates emotional instability of such persons, increased excitability and aggressiveness. There are symbols of constant defensive readiness, excessive self-absorption and little attention to the feelings of others. The factor indicates the devaluation of one's own life and the lives of others, which leads to extremism and terrorism (9, 10, 11, 21).

Factor 4 "Provocateurs" (56,301%) - provoking behavior and extrapunitive type of reaction of account holders, their propensity to risk, create conflict situations based on the manifestation of a "generic myth" and lack of tolerance towards a "foreign" religion (1, 19, 30, 29).

Factor 5 "Bloody Nation" (56,301%) reflects the need for retribution, revenge, supported by stable patterns of behavior and assessments actively cultivated in society (35, 7, 20, 10).

Factor 6 "Terrible childhood" (76.709%) in the images of cartoon characters may indicate the absence of emotional ties in childhood, in later life, which is compensated by an ideological or religious option. Illusory, unrealistic beliefs become the basis for aggressive motivation of extremist behavior, a "playful" relationship with society full of heroism and self-affirmation (8, 22).

Factor 7 "Identification" (70,761%) - an impersonal type of account makes it possible to shift responsibility for distribution and get some benefit (14,13).

Factor 8 "Open laughter" (82,098%) indicates, on the one hand, a pronounced immaturity of the Ego, and, on the other, an increased need for public opinion (15, 17, 19).

According to the results of the content analysis, the manifestation of signs of a tendency to extremist tendencies on the page of users of the VKontakte social network page can be characterized as follows.

The "humanization" of a bear and the image of a lone wolf combines strength and loneliness, while the power is covered by a mask. Symbols: swastikas and SS Life Guards emblems in the form of two runes "zig" (two lightning bolts), as well as images of objects, bits, brass knuckles, weapons, explosives and substances determine these people's propensity for conflict, extreme situations, acute experiences, risk, bullying, violence, demonstration of their strength, instilling fear on others, physical destruction of "enemies".

The propaganda of wars and the emphasis on one's own nation "yarussky", reaching fanaticism, characterizes extreme intolerance to dissent, foreign culture, beliefs and views. Such individuals are ready for self-sacrifice, because, probably, only in this way they can gain authority and assert themselves. Such individuals blindly believe in the rightness of their extremist ideology. The religious "framing" of ideas of struggle, revenge or retribution determines a specific social and ideological connection between members of a particular national or social group (the presence on the page of extremist materials about someone else's religion (propaganda of one's own religion) is very dangerous in combination with the presence of aggressive tendencies (the presence on the page of images, symbols: swastikas and SS emblems "zig", an image of objects, bits, brass knuckles, weapons, explosives and substances). One of the important and dangerous factors of such an ideological fusion is the idea of death and the afterlife. It should be noted here that if the account page contains such a combination, and death is considered a heroic, noble sacrifice, a feat of martyrdom, and causes approval and support from the owner of the page, then its author has a tendency not only to extremism, but also to terrorism.

"Getting stuck" on certain thoughts and resentments, rigidity, conservatism, "struggle for justice" are the basis for the formation of dominant (super-valuable) ideas concerning emotionally significant experiences. Quite often, these symptoms are latent. It can be assumed that the leading role in the formation of extremist attitudes formed on the prejudices of such persons is played by the formation of irrationality of thinking, in which the victim personified with a "hateful" group (the use of words and phrases, interest in sites that offend the feelings of believers) is viewed one-sidedly, exclusively negatively and acts as an image of a well-defined group. In such cases, extremism becomes not just a means of implementing some idea, but also a kind of "mission" on behalf of this community. This is also determined by devotion to certain ideas that have a special value.

The desire for self-affirmation and attracting attention to your page may manifest itself in the presence of prohibited reposts, although many owners of social network accounts have information about the criminality of such actions. In addition, it can be an indicator of protest. The combination of protest and "explosion" of emotions indicates the emotional instability of such persons, increased excitability and aggressiveness. From this "explosive" protest, such individuals, most likely, experience a feeling of excitement, satisfaction. The symbols of swastikas, lightning bolts, brass knuckles, weapons indicate constant defensive readiness, excessive self-absorption and little attention to the feelings of others. Explosive objects and substances, firearms and edged weapons can be an indicator of a tendency to suicidal behavior and causing physical harm to oneself. The presence of such tendencies may indicate the devaluation of one's own life and the lives of others, which are predictors of the formation of extremist and terrorist orientation ^[2].

The readiness to gather an unauthorized rally and clashes with law enforcement agencies characterizes the provocative behavior of account holders. Such individuals attract other people to harm and maintain their own ideology (here again, the desire for self-affirmation is not excluded), while it should be noted that the authors of such accounts are characterized by a tendency to risk, reckless behavior, often dangerous for the person himself and others. In this case, it should also be noted that the authors on whose pages such entries are published tend to provoke conflict situations with their own aggressive actions, violate social norms, rules and ethical values. Depersonalization of the account (a photo close to the real one, but it is possible that it is someone else's) acts as the implementation of protective behavioral strategies of the individual.

The use of the slogans "Yarussky", propaganda, or public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols indicates a pronounced discriminatory attitude towards representatives of other nationalities, intolerance of other cultures and social norms. The open use of slogans speaks about the search for contacts with representatives of other nationalities, religions, beliefs to incite national discord and conflicts. Fantastic characters depicting crosses, fire, blood, objects: bits, brass knuckles, weapons (firearms, cold), explosive objects and substances in combination with the use of the slogans "Yarussky" testify to stable ideas about the historical trauma of their nation, which is accompanied by powerful typical social feelings: grief, grief, combined with the injured national pride. Often there are special, largely distorted and mythologized, ideas about the "historical offender".

Images of explosions, weapons and other emblems of extremism in combination with cartoon characters, in particular – "anime", as well as "like" marks on those images where extremism and acts of terrorism are depicted in a caricature and humorous form, including images of cartoon characters, may indicate a lack of emotional ties in childhood in the subsequent life, which can be compensated in an ideological or religious way. The specifics of the emergence of extremist motivation is that the beliefs that become the basis of aggressive motivation for extremist behavior, in their content, are inadequately reflecting social reality, illusory, not giving a realistic, constructive program for its positive resolution. People who create such pages, where animated animations have images of wars or similar materials are available in subscriptions and games, differ in the need for risk, life-threatening and freedom-threatening operations, the desire to find themselves in an unusual situation, combined with an infantile rejection of real danger, rejection of death. The game also manifests itself in the fact that he enters into certain relations with society, government and law enforcement agencies, and the media.

The "openness" of the account indicates an increased dependence on the opinions of others. Such individuals have a tendency to assert themselves by displaying images that ridicule race. Here we can talk about pronounced extroversion, a tendency to pose, manipulation, the need for increased public attention, the desire to increase one's authority, including by demonstrating open hatred.

At the third stage, 100 random accounts of user pages were analyzed using the obtained tools for assessing the propensity to extremist orientation. The task of this stage was to determine the class of people who are close in all the set of characteristics to the selected profile of a person prone to extremist activity. As a result of cluster analysis, we have identified 7 cluster groups, which are described below.

The first cluster (typical, ordinary) was formed by most of the pages viewed - 73 accounts are mostly ordinary users. It should be noted that the signs of extremism in these people who made up this cluster are expressed below average. Only to a small extent, the presence of signs of the fourth factor prevails over the rest. We can assume that this happened due to the fact that in some accounts belonging to this cluster, there is a photo on the profile page that is close to the real one, but it is possible that someone else's.

The second cluster was formed by 3 accounts (self-asserting provocateurs). The motive of self-affirmation is often intertwined with the desire to dominate, suppress and control others. Such a need is usually associated with high anxiety, which decreases in the case of dominance in the social environment, and the desire to dominate can be achieved, including through brute force, the destruction of unwanted ^[8]. Demonstrating fearlessness, negative slogans on their pages, thereby asserting themselves, such personalities, first of all, prove to themselves that they have all these qualities.

The third cluster was formed by 8 accounts (friendly). To the greatest extent, the owners of the pages assigned to this cluster have the presence of the "bloody nation" factor. The main motive of this factor is the motive of partnership ^[19]. Creating their pages, such individuals are guided by a variety of emotional attachment options - from the desire to avenge the harm done to fellow fighters, co-religionists, fellow tribesmen, relatives, associates, to the desire to participate in the activities of extremist organizations, when, for example, one of the friends or relatives is a member of the organization.

The fourth cluster (fighters for justice) formed 2 accounts. To the greatest extent, the owners of the pages assigned to this cluster have the presence of the factor "explosive appearance as a symbol of protest". The description of the factor allowed us to note that the main motive for creating such pages and placing extremist ideology on them is the motive of transformation. The motive of transformation, active change of the world is a strong incentive associated with an understanding of the imperfection and injustice of the existing world and a persistent desire to improve, transform it.

The fifth cluster (selfish) formed 7 accounts. To the greatest extent, the owners of pages assigned to this cluster have the presence of the "identification" factor. The description of the factor allowed us to note that the main motive for creating such pages and placing extremist ideology on them is the motive of self-interest. When creating their pages, the people who entered this cluster were most likely guided by a mercantile motive. For the majority of ordinary members of extremist organizations, it is he who is paramount. Most often, people engage in extremism for the sake of money, less often for other benefits. This is explained by the fact that extremism in the form of aggression, like any human activity, is often a kind of "paid work", especially if it is aimed at a specific goal.

The sixth cluster (imaginary heroes) formed 3 accounts. To the greatest extent, the owners of the pages assigned to this cluster expressed the presence of the "open laughter" factor. The description of the factor allowed us to note that the main motive for creating such pages and placing extremist ideology on them is the motive of heroism. Such a motive of extremist behavior as youth romance and heroism, the desire to give their lives and activities a special significance, brightness, unusual is characteristic of the creators of accounts. It is often accompanied by a departure from reality into a fairy tale, a myth, where fearless heroes act, bringing good to people and establishing justice by force, and sometimes with considerable sacrifices.

The seventh cluster (the lords) formed 4 accounts. To the greatest extent, the owners of the pages assigned to this cluster have the presence of the factor "signs of animal war". The description of the factor allowed us to note that the main motive for creating such pages and placing extremist ideology on them is the motive of power. The motive of power over people is one of the most ancient and deepest motives. The need for power is the main driving force of many human actions. This is the desire to take a dominant position in the group, to lead people, to define and regulate their activities. Through extremist actions based on the motive of power over people, the personality is affirmed and self-affirmed. It can be assumed that the motive of power is based on deep anxiety.

Thus, accounts assigned to the third, fourth and seventh clusters are most prone to extremism. The authors of these accounts are guided by the motives of transformation, self-affirmation and heroism when creating pages containing extremist ideology. As we found out, the leading factors of these clusters are: the fifth ("bloody nation"), the third ("explosive appearance as a symbol of protest") and the first factor ("signs of animal war") (Table 1).

{Table 1.}

Determining account clusters by average rank

(numerical indicators reflect the severity of the factor as a percentage)

Conclusions.

To assess the propensity for extremist orientation, special attention should be paid to the following key signs when analyzing a user's profile on a social network.

1. A profile picture or a photo of the page indicates the presence of the following behavioral manifestations and psychological qualities of the owner of such accounts: cold-blooded endurance, secrecy, hostility to dissent, search for ideals, vindictiveness, resentment, denial of anxiety. All these indicators indicate violations in the communicative sphere of an extremist (terrorist) personality.

2. Subscriptions to websites and the presence of information and reposts on the user's own page of an extremist (terrorist) orientation of the personality indicate the presence of the following behavioral manifestations and psychological qualities of the owner of such accounts: idealization of the group (community), group affiliation, propensity for self-affirmation through the group, social activity, self-positioning, desire to be recognized. The presence of such negative traits indicates the distortion and negative formation of the emotional-volitional and motivational-need sphere of the authors of pages with an extremist orientation.

3. Agitation on their own page by persons of extremist (terrorist) orientation testifies to the denial of consequences, phase, mood variability, low self-control, low self-criticism, the desire for thrills, the desire to test themselves, activity, energy without a clear focus, the realization of urgent, momentary needs, risk to fearlessness, self-sacrifice, youth romance and heroism, lack of long-term goal-setting, carelessness. In addition, it is possible to note the consumer attitude to life, to people, selfishness, unscrupulousness, denial of the existence of problems, which in general indicates violations and immorality in the value system and the negative formation of the value-semantic sphere.

The results of the study of criteria for the diagnosis of persons with an extremist orientation are of interest to employees of services responsible for monitoring antisocial behavior in the Internet space. The complex of signs of extremism developed by us allows carrying out preventive work among young people. pointing out the main manifestations of "risky" Internet content for parents and teachers, as well as teenagers themselves.