What is it with people’s behavior online? Why the readiness to
attack, the snarky tone, the lack of courtesy inherent to so many
comments? The internet can bring out the worst in people, which when
taken to extremes turns into trolling—that bizarre impulsive habit of
hurting others online, without consequence.
Researchers in Australia set out to discover what traits in “normal”
people (social media users above age 18 who did not appear to be trolls)
that might make them susceptible to trolling behavior. Using an online
questionnaire, the researchers at the School of Health Science and
Psychology at Federation University in Mount Helen tested 415 men and
women for a range of personality traits, as well as for online behavior
that indicated a propensity to troll—such as agreeing with the
statement, “Although some people think my posts/comments are offensive, I
think they are funny.”
The researchers were looking for particular traits including social
skills, psychopathy, sadism, and two types of empathy: affective and
cognitive. Having high cognitive empathy simply means they can
understand others’ emotions. Having high affective empathy means a
person can experience, internalize, and respond to those emotions. The
“trolls” in the study scored higher than average on two traits:
psychopathy and cognitive empathy.
So
even though “trolls” exhibit one kind of empathy, coupling it with
psychopathy ultimately makes them nasty, the researchers suggested.
Psychopathy, which includes a lack of care for others’ feelings, was
measured using a scale where participants were asked to agree or
disagree with a set of statements such as, “payback needs to be quick
and nasty.”
High levels of cognitive empathy make these people adept at
recognizing what will upset someone, and knowing when they’ve pushed the
right buttons. The lack of affective empathy allows trolls not to
experience or internalize the emotional experience of their victims.
“Results indicate that when high on trait psychopathy,
trolls employ an empathic strategy of predicting and recognizing the
emotional suffering of their victims, while abstaining from the
experience of these negative emotions,” the researchers wrote. They
added that because psychopathy is associated with thrill-seeking and
impulsivity, it’s possible that “creating mayhem online is a central
motivator to troll.” They also found that trolls were likely to be high
in sadism—the will to hurt others—and were more likely to be male.
The study
is forthcoming in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
It doesn’t offer advice on how to stop trolling behavior, but adds a
wrinkle to our knowledge of why people act out online. In previous
research, people who display psychopathic traits have shown a similar
empathy imbalance: a lack affective empathy but normal levels of
cognitive empathy. This study linked those psychopathic traits and
higher cognitive empathy levels to people who are likely to troll.
Exploring the link between psychopathy, high cognitive empathy, and
trolling could help deepen our understanding of the personality types
that gravitate towards that behavior, and potentially help to stop them.
What is it with people’s behavior online? Why the readiness to
attack, the snarky tone, the lack of courtesy inherent to so many
comments? The internet can bring out the worst in people, which when
taken to extremes turns into trolling—that bizarre impulsive habit of
hurting others online, without consequence.
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You
may be familiar with the story of Hachiko, the loyal Akita that
returned for years hopping to greet his deceased owner at the train
station (if not, go grab a hankie). But there are details of the story
that you probably don't know. Evan Hadfield tells us the story with some
extra background and more insight into how Hachiko became a national
hero in Japan.
