A lélek a web világában: Kapcsolatok és tanulás az új IKT közegében

The paper starts from considering relations between machines and human thought. How do the machine deterministic, the metaphoric and instrumental visions emerge in intellectual history. This issue is part of the general topic of how do man made technical tools influence the general frameworks of human relations and cognition, i.e. the general architecture of the mind. Three visions did emerge about the role of the WEB in human affairs. According to the techno-optimist vision the advent of the Internet fundamentally changed our human relations and our learning methods in a positive manner. According to the techno-pessimists this change is indeed real but it goes in the wrong direction. It makes us cognitively superficial and patchwork like, and emotionally less engaged in our connections. According to the bio-optimist vision the changes appear through the use of our already existing biological architectures. The world of the new information technology has an innovative effect on humans, but does not radically change them. Regarding of our own studies, first the results concerning Ego-centered networks are presented. Using the theoretical framework proposed by Robin Dunbar about networks with layers of varying strength, our studies had shown that the new ICT tools mainly widen our relations in the superficial layers. Regarding the personality determinants of network size, we mainly find that even in the context of new media we still practice strong ties mainly with people with whom we have secure attachment relations. Changes in the world of learning and memory in the context of the computer and internet access is a much studied aspect in contemporary psychology. The presence of the new distant accessible knowledge systems and the changes in the world of search did change our attitudes regarding personal storage of knowledge. Regarding the much debated issue of the efficiency of hypertext reading, our own studies - beside the trivially that well organized hypertext is easier to remember - showed the importance of individual differences here as well. Individual differences in working memory, especially visual working memory, have a basic role in determining our recognition of the underlying structure of hypertexts. On the whole, we find that in our relationships networks we tend to be relatively conservative, technology mainly serves as a tool to maintain relations. Regarding reading, however, the situation is different. Easily accessible and downloadable texts may make our reading more superficial. Thus we have to rethink relations between man and text in the new world of easy texts, and we have to design research that would study not merely occasional, episodic effects, but long term structural effects of the new media and new access as well.