Peering into the psychology of online trolls

[M-Dent]

Peering into the psychology of online trolls

What does looking into the hearts and minds of online trolls tell us?

That’s the question Australian researchers tried to answer in a new study that investigates the psychological profile of trolls — that is, computer users who engage in the disturbing 21st century practice of deliberating provoking, demeaning, and threatening others online.

Researchers at Australia’s Federation University used an online questionnaire to look closer at a handful of traits — psychopathy, sadism, and empathy — among those who engage in online trolling. The survey included 415 participants, approximately one-third male and two-thirds female, with a median age of 23 years. The researchers controlled the results for gender, a significant factor given that trolls dramatically skew male.

The researchers found that trolls tend to show higher levels of trait psychopathy and sadism, as well as lower levels of affective empathy, according to the study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Interestingly, trolls scored higher than average for cognitive empathy, meaning they are aware of other people’s emotions. But the researchers suggested, trolls’ higher levels of psychopathy traits appear to override these tendencies.

Given that psychopaths are thrill seekers, the researchers surmised that the “thrill” of creating mayhem on the internet might provide fuel to trolls.

cbsnews.com/news/psychological-profile-of-online-trolls/

 

[jaimeleglise]

Very interesting. Thank you for posting this.

 

[johnnyc176]

Ya gotta get past Mom first.

 

[joeybaggz]

Look, when science finds a cure for cancer, some people are going to bit*#. It’s human nature. Some people, due to their own self-hatred have to take their venom out on others. It’s been around from the beginning of time. No surprise there.

Shalom

 

[oldgraymare2]

Look, when science finds a cure for cancer, some people are going to bit*#. It’s human nature. Some people, due to their own self-hatred have to take their venom out on others. It’s been around from the beginning of time. No surprise there.

Shalom

Yes.

I agree with your post. Some people seem to be really unhappy when they post.

 

[po18guy]

Want to meet some? Try defending Catholicism on, say, one of John MacArthur’s anti-Catholic YouTube videos. And they all claim to be good Christians.

 

[PluniaZ]

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

 

[Reuben_J]

Probably we can recognise them here by their tendency to provoke our response by posting something they know that will solicit our defense or denial of their obvious inferences.

The best response would be to ignore them but sometimes it is necessary to come in to clarify and thus unwittingly feeding them.

 

[PseuTonym]

“that is, computer users who engage in the disturbing 21st century practice of deliberating provoking, demeaning, and threatening others online.”

Does that mean that somebody is doing all three in order to be a troll, or is somebody who provokes others possibly a troll, even if the person is neither demeaning nor threatening others?

Now, how do we determine – by studying the message itself – whether or not the message provokes some particular audience?

It seems that we need a way to transform the transitive verb “provoke” to an intransitive quality of the message.

The number 7 divides the number 91.
Can I conclude that 7 is a divisive number?

If a message is thought of as causing reactions – as though a message were the trigger of a gun – then where is the free will of the audience? Maybe the audience should be smelling foods, listening to bells, tasting foods, and salivating rather than focusing on written language.

 

[adamhovey1988]

On this very site, someone compared trolls to folks with Aspergers. And then said I was too sensitive. Yep. It happened. The troll is though, ANYONE can be a troll. Especially if they live in Michigan