Theoretical framework. Social media (SM) is an integral part of our lives, affecting us as individuals, changing and influencing our behaviour and actions. The internet is full of different interpretations of past and present events, propaganda and deceptive information. The spread of fake news is particularly favourable under uncertainty. Due to the high pace of our life, constant change we do not know how to choose, to distinguish unbiased facts from opinions and emotions. Social media has affected people’s behaviour by making them more broad-minded and by developing mutual respect. However, this also led to negative changes in the personality: people became more self-obsessed, lazy and violent; their behaviour was determined by low self-esteem, mental health problems, and trust issues (Xanidis & Brignell, 2016; Primack and etc., 2017; Hussain & Griffiths, 2021; Bowden-Green, Hinds, & Joinson, 2021; Kotsonis, 2022). Only reflecting on ourselves as personalities and knowing our ways of thinking in social media we can better evaluate both ourselves and the information presented in it. It is important to understand how people interact on social networks and what influences their decisions to share content or follow different accounts. Research shows that knowing one’s personality helps predict such aspects of life as academic success, work performance, health, success in relationships, and behaviour in social media (Koçak & Kabadayı, 2016; Lampropoulos and etc., 2022). It has been proven that there is a direct connection between behaviour in SM and the personality’s individual traits, especially our critical thinking.

Some researches show that many people do not have any experience or willingness to critically evaluate information or look for reasons, or do not have any demand to reflect on possible consequences (Wineburg and etc., 2016). Critical thinking in this context is defined as the ability to critically analyze, purposefully choose, reflectively evaluate and to make a responsible decision who/what to trust and how to act. Our thinking depends on the characteristics of our personality and can be inflexible, inert, so it requires constant human effort to know and change it. As already mentioned, critical thinking can be understood as thinking about one's own thinking in order to improve it. Only by getting to know one's personality traits and peculiarities of thinking will it be possible to purposefully educate and guide the representatives of the younger generation in the future. It will be possible to educate purposefully and guide the representatives of the youth by recognizing personality traits and peculiarities of thinking.  According to trait theorists, personality traits and critical thinking are key determinants of people’s behaviour in a given situation and also in social media (Nakayama, Kikuchi, & Yamamoto, 2021; Acevedo & Hess, 2022; Cheng and etc., 2022; Steinert and etc., 2022; Cheng and etc., 2022). They are important in predicting various behavioural outcomes, including the way of using social media and the type of behaviour in social media as well as the impact of media itself on the personality.

Research questions: What critical thinking skills are identified as essential by initial teachers in evaluating information on social media? Are there significant differences between initial teachers‘ involved on the project activities of critical thinking and media literacy and other initial teachers, who didn‘t participated in the project? What is the relationship between initial teachers' personality and critical thinking traits?

The purpose of the study is to reveal the relationship between the initial teachers' personality dimensions and the characteristics of application of critical thinking skills on social media.

Quantitative research methodology was applied by using online questionnaire with closed type questions. Purposive sampling was used to form the research sample. 218 initial teachers of one teacher training center completed an online questionnaire. The research is conducted together with the partners from Poland, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania in the context of Erasmus+ KA220-HED Cooperation partnerships in higher education project „Critical Thinking in the Information Society“(CTIS) (https://ctis-erasmus.info/). 41 out of 218 initial teachers participated in developing critical thinking and media literacy skills in higher education via flipped classrooms. Methods of data collection. The Big Five personality dimensions scale (Goldberg, 1999) was applied to identify personality traits. The scale consists of 25 pairs of adjectives in 5 subscales: extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to innovation. For each pair of adjectives, the respondent must circle the number that suits them best on a scale from "1" to "7" (eg Honest 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Careless). The scale was translated into Lithuanian and validated using the double translation standard, giving scientists the opportunity to use it for free in scientific research work (Bunevičius, 2005). Critical Thinking Skills Assessment scale has been designed to help to assess their performance as critical thinkers on social media as well and the importance of these skills. The scale presents 13 key critical thinking skills. Each of the skill was assessed on two scales: the first one assesses the importance of critically thinking skills performed on social media and the second scale helps to identify how initial teachers assess their performance as critical thinkers. Data analysis methods. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, factor and correlation analyses, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α) was used to assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire scale, which is based on the correlation of the individual questions that make up the questionnaire and evaluates whether all the questions of the scale sufficiently reflect the researched size and enables specifying the number of required questions on the scale. The empirical study was conducted in order not to violate the principles of research ethics and respondents’ rights. The objectives of the research were clearly explained to the research participants, emphasizing the principles of voluntary participation, anonymity, and the respondents' free decision to participate in the research.

The results of the study revealed the predominant personality dimensions of initial teachers and the manifestation of subjective self-evaluation and importance of application of critical thinking skills on social media. The personal critical thinking abilities to identify the inconsistency of other persons' thinking, to ask important questions that help to raise doubts about certain assumptions and to assess whether other persons have correctly understood the information (facts) had the lowest scores. It can be stated that in order to improve these abilities, it is important to pay attention to the Evaluating Ideas and Arguments group of skills, in order for initial teachers to learn as critically as possible in social media to evaluate the information and arguments presented by other persons. The initial teachers who are characterized by extroversion and neuroticism may tend to more spontaneously accept and evaluate information presented in social media, i.e., they have less abilities of critical evaluation and acceptance of information. Individuals with a higher awareness score can be characterized as more capable for effective problem-solving and informed decision-making, also to draw conclusions based on evidence, evaluating the limitations and mistakes of their own reasoning. The presented assumptions should be verified by conducting further research, choosing different research methodological approaches and expanding the boundaries of the research sample.

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