Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists

[Zanick]

Psychology Today just posted the findings of some Canadian Scientists seeking to investigate the problems of internet trolls, and maybe even provide some ways of coping for those of us who find themselves being trolled. Here's the working definition of troll used in this publication:

Let's start by getting our definitions straight. An internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, 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.

And then we have their mission statement:

What kind of person would do this?

Canadian researchers decided to find out.

If you're convinced that this could still be legitimate, let's go on to read their method for collecting the data.

They conducted two internet studies with over 1,200 people. They gave 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: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadistic personality.

Somebody get Splooge in here, this shit is verbatim. It must suck to be plagiarized by Canadians.

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, check out this figure from the paper:



Look at how low the scores are for everyone except the internet trolls! Their scores for all four terrible personality traits soar on the chart.

And, the inevitable conclusion--which I'm sure surprises none of you here--is that functional, socialized humans find our lifestyles unacceptable.

The relationship between this Dark Tetrad and trolling is so significant, that the authors write the following 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." [emphasis added]

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!"

Nothing we haven't been aware of for some time now. Here's their solution for dealing:

So next time you encounter a troll online, remember a few things. (1) These trolls are some truly messed up people and (2) it is your suffering that brings them pleasure, so the best thing you can do is ignore them.

We're not exactly juveniles. I'd like to think the Totse/Zoklet brand has refined its art beyond the sticks-and-stones adage.

What are your thoughts?

[-SpectraL]

The majority of trolls on the Internet don't even come from the public sphere. They come from various federal troll farms. They are trained and conditioned to enter into communities, play a role, and then disrupt and "cattle-shute" discussion that their superiors deem troublesome. These federal troll farms are actually looking for new hires desperately right now. You can even do the job from home. All you need is a clean criminal record, not have any adverse political views, and are easily manipulated. The effectiveness of federal trolls farms is the feds can then concentrate their trained trolls into various areas of the Internet and insert dozens and dozens, possibly even hundreds, of professional trolls into various platforms, infiltrating the staff in the process, ganging up on "opponents" their superiors feel are a threat to the various shadow governments, and basically overrunning any online community through sheer persistence and sheer numbers. This is the new wave of Internet warfare - a trick the Russians taught them all very early in the game.

[Umbrella Corp]

The majority of trolls on the Internet don't even come from the public sphere. They come from various federal troll farms. They are trained and conditioned to enter into communities, play a role, and then disrupt and "cattle-shute" discussion that their superiors deem troublesome. These federal troll farms are actually looking for new hires desperately right now. You can even do the job from home. All you need is a clean criminal record, not have any adverse political views, and are easily manipulated. The effectiveness of federal trolls farms is the feds can then concentrate their trained trolls into various areas of the Internet and insert dozens and dozens, possibly even hundreds, of professional trolls into various platforms, infiltrating the staff in the process, ganging up on "opponents" their superiors feel are a threat to the various shadow governments, and basically overrunning any online community through sheer persistence and sheer numbers. This is the new wave of Internet warfare - a trick the Russians taught them all very early in the game.

I remember reading about how Russia had payed a bunch of people to post comments on certain communities to advance an agenda.  Makes sense.. I'm sure half the reviews on Angies list, ebau, amazon and etc are people payed to give positive reviews.  The downside of internet anonymity.

But yeah I'm not surprised at the test results.  Trolls have ruined the internet IMO.  It's a reality we have to deal with.. like the invention of guns and nukes.  They're already here si we just have to cope.

[bling bling]

i troll youtube every day and noone gives a fuck expecpt butt hurt noobs youtube is an epic trollin platform acks dee

[-SpectraL]

What's even more insidious is that these trolls from the federal troll farms are trained to come in uber-stupid, so as not to set off any alarms in the community they are sent to infiltrate. I call these "fail-trolls", but they're not really. They are highly trained and covert government agents. They come in stupid, then they work their way in, then they get everyone to admire how "cute" they are, and the whole while they are using the victim's own PM system to communicate intelligently with their co-agents who are also playing the "dumb" routine. In stages, they escalate and manipulate community opinion using their new-found "cute" status as leverage. Eventually, and once they are firmly entrenched over a number of years, they come right out of the closet and start making huge changes to community policies, opinion and mentality.

[Umbrella Corp]

i troll youtube every day and noone gives a fuck expecpt butt hurt noobs youtube is an epic trollin platform acks dee

Yep that place is a cesspool.  N the only ones worse than trolls are the simpletons that get trolled.  Don't acknowledge them, its that simple.  Take solace in knowing they are a wastes of life. 

Opinions are like assholes, everyone got one and they all stink. < i love this quote because it is so true.  This is why I refuse to debate politics and religion.  Everybody thinks they are right and won't stop until they convert you to their point of view.  Yet nobody converts.. ppl will defend their retarded positions to the death.

I see it IRL all the time.   The people who spew lies and then even when you prove with facts that they are wrong, they still say "No you're wrong, I know what I'm talking about"

[kroz]

my mom and my gf always said I was a psychopath lololool I guess they are right

[Proots]

I wouldn't go that far. I think that it's all just a lark to most people involved. The majority of them don't take it very seriously, since it's their idea of "fun". The vast majority of troll are only doing it for the kicks. I'm sure there are some that are sadists, some that are psychopaths and what have you - but, the number of internet trolls that meet these particular traits is probably proportional to the number of normal people vs. those who have them in real life.

[xbcnfujv]

lol i'm a sadist

[kroz]

im a sadist and a masochist

[splooge gook]

i'm a train choo choo

[mashleshmash]

NO tacho is the train

[splooge gook]

do they even have subwats in whatever reservation u live on

[FON]

I wouldn't go that far. I think that it's all just a lark to most people involved. The majority of them don't take it very seriously, since it's their idea of "fun". The vast majority of troll are only doing it for the kicks. I'm sure there are some that are sadists, some that are psychopaths and what have you - but, the number of internet trolls that meet these particular traits is probably proportional to the number of normal people vs. those who have them in real life.

I agree, although it's possible that maybe the majority of people that troll on the internet don't list it as their favourite activity?

Like, I'll troll occasionally, but I doubt I'd rate highly on that dark tetrad thing. I also wouldn't list trolling as my favourite online activity.

[splooge gook]

trolling the internet is my 4th favorite activity