Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths And Sadists, Says Study
Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.
Dragana Gordic / Shutterstock In an issue of Personality and Individual Differences, a study was published that confirms what we all suspected: Internet trolls are horrible people.
Let's start by getting our definitions straight. They are both similar, but they do have their differences.
An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation.
Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response. They will say and do almost anything to get you as angry as they are. A response is what both are looking for.
What kind of person would do this and is there a method for how to stop internet trolls? Some Canadian researchers decided to find out.
They conducted two online studies with over 1,200 people, giving personality tests to each subject along with a survey about their Internet commenting behavior. They were looking for evidence that linked trolling with the "Dark Tetrad" of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism.
They found that Dark Tetrad scores were highest among people who said trolling was their favorite Internet activity. To get an idea of how much more prevalent these traits were among Internet trolls, see this figure from the paper.
Look at how low the Dark Tetrad scores are for everyone except the trolls! Their scores for all four traits soar on the chart. The relationship between trolling and the Dark Tetrad is so significant that the authors write in their paper: "...the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists."
Trolls truly enjoy making you feel bad. To quote the authors once more (because this is a truly quotable article), "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun... and the Internet is their playground!"
So, if you want to know how to stop Internet trolls, which may seem futile, but sometimes you have to do the hard work for the sake of your mental health, then the next time you encounter one online, remember:
- These trolls are some truly difficult people.
- It is your suffering that brings them pleasure, so the best thing you can do is ignore them.
The only reason that they seem so vile is because a part of themselves is hurting, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you.
Jennifer Golbeck is Director of the Social Intelligence Lab and an Associate Professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on building artificial intelligence that works with social media, privacy, and the psychology of internet use.