Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People

Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic.

By Chris Mooney

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).

It is hard to underplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What’s more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the Internet.

In the study, trolls were identified in a variety of ways. One was by simply asking survey participants what they “enjoyed doing most” when on online comment sites, offering five options: “debating issues that are important to you,” “chatting with others,” “making new friends,” “trolling others,” and “other.” Here’s how different responses about these Internet commenting preferences matched up with responses to questions designed to identify Dark Tetrad traits:

More...

Zitat

---

....It was sadism, however, that had the most robust associations with trolling of any of the personality measures,” said psychologists.......
http://www.thetoc.gr/eng/family-health/a...hologists-claim

---

This study made the news yesterday and this morning .

So trolls = sadists. IMHO ..... And cowards to boot

I wonder if this study applies to their enablers ?

Edit: I found this picture and the devil made me post it:

Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #7

---

Thanks @Rev !

---