INTERNET AS A SOURCE OF PRO-SOCIAL ATTITUDES

The article aims at verification of the following thesis: the Internet as a platform of new interpersonal relationships promotes pro-social attitudes. They find their expression in various initiatives undertaken selflessly by individuals in order to actualise the common good (e.g. Linux, Wikipedia, support groups, knowledge-exchange portals, etc). Authoress' own research has been used for exemplification purposes. It has been assumed that human inclination to reciprocity constitutes, among others, a source of pro-social attitudes. This inclination can be more or less efficiently actualized, depending on the structure of human relations. The significance of reciprocity increases when the role of institutionalism, formalism and centralisation decreases. Nowadays, the patterns of social relations are subject to profound transformations primarily as a result of the development of the Internet. New social relations are more reciprocal in character. The Internet creates new communication space in which social or even pro-social nature of people can be fruitfully actualised. .