Science confirms that Internet trolls really are horrible people

Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic according to a new psychology paper.

In the past few years, the science of Internet trollology has made some strides. Last year, for instance, we learned that by hurling insults and inciting discord in online comment sections, so-called Internet trolls (who are frequently anonymous) have a polarizing effect on audiences, leading to politicization, rather than deeper understanding of scientific topics.

That’s bad, but it’s nothing compared with what a new psychology paper has to say about the personalities of trolls themselves. The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).

Read more here -www.slate.com...


Unfortunately the link to the actual study leads to a page to pay to read, but an abstract from the study states;

In two online studies (total N = 1215), respondents completed personality inventories and a survey of their Internet commenting styles. Overall, strong positive associations emerged among online commenting frequency, trolling enjoyment, and troll identity, pointing to a common construct underlying the measures. Both studies revealed similar patterns of relations between trolling and the Dark Tetrad of personality: trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores. Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism.

www.sciencedirect.com...

Seems that a few companies are now taking action against "Trolling" such as "Popular Science" did away with its comments sections completely www.popsci.com...

And
"YouTube aims to tame the trolls with changes to its comments section"
www.theguardian.com...

I found the following graph interesting as it seems to show that after trolling, the second highest subject to see an increase in Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic behaviour is "debating"

I like the name of the paper Trolls just want to have fun

The authors must be uber trolls

Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic according to a new psychology paper.

And those are their good points!

Trolls usually look only at evidence that backs their desired interest. They discount anything that they feel does not apply. People like this exist throughout society, maybe if they are on the net all day we won't have to deal with them in the real world. Problem is they spread a lot of narrow minded information that deflects people in to the wrong direction.
One of their tactics is "show me the evidence" when in fact the intent of the thread is to investigate something that is new. Einstein and Tesla would have not made it in a chat room, they would have been slammed by trolls and got frustrated. Scientists trying to make new discoveries would decide to work at McD's if they were forced to face trolls in their workplace.

Let the trolls congregate on the net and get them out of society. Let them argue amongst themselves.

Whenever I read the comments section at Yahoo, I lose hope for humanity. It seriously depresses me... so I have learned to avoid reading comments sections on most websites. I really want to like, and believe in, people.

Thanks for sharing this study, very interesting stuff.

Trollolololololololololol...

reply to post by flammadraco


It doesn't matter. Trolls are a good example as to whether people actually have freedom of speech. Besides that, trolls are a great way for people to learn. Trolls say incorrect things on purpose to get people made, but if a person (like me) actually debates the trolls, then all of the other people looking in who had questions will actually learn something.

reply to post by flammadraco

As horrible as I may be, I certainly DO appreciate your validation of my importance. Thank you!

See ya,
Milt

reply to post by Indigent

Trolls just want to have fun

I can't deny that!

See ya,
Milt

reply to post by ColeYounger

And those are their good points!

You seem to feel that you know quite a bit about us. Kindly tell me more.

See ya,
Milt

arpgme
reply to post by flammadraco

 

It doesn't matter. Trolls are a good example as to whether people actually have freedom of speech. Besides that, trolls are a great way for people to learn. Trolls say incorrect things on purpose to get people made, but if a person (like me) actually debates the trolls, then all of the other people looking in who had questions will actually learn something.

edit on 15-2-2014 by arpgme because: (no reason given)

True trolls refuse to debate. They revert to the kid with their fingers in their ears going "lalalalalalalala".

"There's no crying in trolling... unless you're just trolling." - iunlimited491

Here is the complete journal article, found through Google Scholar:

scottbarrykaufman.com...

Here's and interetsting tidbit:

It was sadism, however, that had the most robust associations with trolling of any of the personality measures, including those of the Big Five. In fact, the associations between sadism and GAIT scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists (Buckels et al., 2013). Note that the Dark Tetrad
associations were specific to trolling. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism.

Personally, i am unsure of the results. While they may portray the general attitudes of the average troll, i think some are just doing it because they have nothing better to do.

Daas.

I think this proves that the majority of society is comprised of, or motivated by, varying degrees of Neanderthal. Now that physical assault is out of the question, they resort to survival of the emotionally strongest. If you cannot harden your heart to the cruel competition of the world, you will be sucked dry and cast aside as a shriveled husk irreparably scarred by the knowledge of what horrors sentience can produce in the right animal.

Well, you know what they say - if ya can't beat 'em, join 'em!

But what if you are trolling a "horrible person"? Would that make you "horrible" too? I personally think sometimes you are a "horrible person" if you don't react and if you don't get angry at certain things/individuals...

BenReclused
reply to post by ColeYounger

 

And those are their good points!

You seem to feel that you know quite a bit about us. Kindly tell me more.

See ya,
Milt

Gladly! Having done my troll research, I will proffer my discovery of what I maintain to be the first "troll face" in modern history.
Note Curly's facial expression between the 12-16 second mark.

Mwuahahahahahahaahahahahahahah!!!!

reply to post by rickymouse

Trolls usually look only at evidence that backs their desired interest.

That's called "confirmation bias", and "conspiracy theorists" tend to be, MUCH, more prone to that, than we "trolls" are.

They discount anything that they feel does not apply.

Discounting information, that isn't pertinent, IS the ONLY way to "weed out" the truth. Why do you feel that is improper?

Problem is they spread a lot of narrow minded information that deflects people in to the wrong direction.

There is no such thing as "narrow minded information". It's a lack of "focus", that tends to lead in the "wrong direction".

One of their tactics is "show me the evidence" when in fact the intent of the thread is to investigate something that is new.

If one isn't searching for evidence, they're NOT performing an investigation. Why do you feel that asking for evidence is so wrong?

Scientists trying to make new discoveries would decide to work at McD's if they were forced to face trolls in their workplace.

Scientists that aren't willing to provide evidence, in support of their "new discoveries", aren't qualified to work anywhere else.

See ya,
Milt

I'm not afraid of getting my virtual paws dirty.