Psychologists: Internet Trolls Are Narcissistic, Psychopathic, and Sadistic -

[Gavjenks]

So I have to ask how many millions of tax dollars were spent to discover that trolls suck?

Lol

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Actually reading the original paper or even the abstract might be too much trouble when you are in pursuit of a snarky-comment opportunity, but it was done by in the psych department of a Canadian University.

Most university researchers work on tax funded government grants...



However, in defense of psychology in general, I must point out that research that concludes things that are "obvious" doesn't mean the research shouldn't have been done. Because almost as often, when you run a study to check something "obvious" it turns out to in fact be dead wrong. So you often want to check anyway in a controlled fashion, given the (fairly decent) possibility that un-substantiated folksy psychological wisdom doean't actually hold up.

It's not fair or reasonable to sit in the corner and go "lol I knew that" whenever you randomly happen to be right, but then "Oh wow that was a great and insightful research study" when the common knowledge is wrong. They don't know ahead of time. And if you already did it, it's dumb not to publish the results.

 

[unpopular]

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.

I just like the attention.

 

[robbins.photo]

So I have to ask how many millions of tax dollars were spent to discover that trolls suck?

Lol

Sent from my LG-LG730 using Tapatalk

Actually reading the original paper or even the abstract might be too much trouble when you are in pursuit of a snarky-comment opportunity, but it was done by in the psych department of a Canadian University.

Most university researchers work on tax funded government grants...



However, in defense of psychology in general, I must point out that research that concludes things that are "obvious" doesn't mean the research shouldn't have been done. Because almost as often, when you run a study to check something "obvious" it turns out to in fact be dead wrong. So you often want to check anyway in a controlled fashion, given the (fairly decent) possibility that un-substantiated folksy psychological wisdom doean't actually hold up.

It's not fair or reasonable to sit in the corner and go "lol I knew that" whenever you randomly happen to be right, but then "Oh wow that was a great and insightful research study" when the common knowledge is wrong. They don't know ahead of time. And if you already did it, it's dumb not to publish the results.

Ok see now I'm really confused. I mean this is the internet - not at all clear were this "being reasonable" or "fair" thing is supposed to fit in at all. Good lord man, think about the ramifications for a moment.

Where would it end for goodness sake? You get something like that started and the next thing you know you'd have people actually expecting other people to be able to take a joke or something!

My God - the insanity of it all!

Lol

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[TreeofLifeStairs]

Stop trolling man.

 

[unpopular]

Trolling in general is more complex than any specific explanation. While certainly there are people are use the internet to play our sadism, there are many other reasons why people troll. Recall a few years ago the autistic boy in England who trolled a girl's memorial webpage and was charged with obscenity. While certainly possible that he was narcissistic (an autistic can be narcissistic after all), many autistic children will do these sorts of things to try to better understand social boundaries.

There is also "soft" trolling, like what I do on Youtube - just making a general pest of myself at other's expense. It's more about just getting under people's skin than just being abusive, but at the same time when I pick on homophobes and eugenicists I'll be the first to admit it's because they're pretty easy targets and not as part of some greater social agenda.

There are certainly people who just go out of their way to harm people (and I think 99% of these online homophobes fall under this category), and they're pretty loud and obnoxious, and we all see it on the news when their bullying leads to the unfortunate suicide of their victims. I have a hard time really thinking of these people as "trolls". Trolls to me are just annoying and unsolicited, sometimes abusive, sometimes not. Cyberbullies who seek out and target specific people or groups of people with the intent to hurt them, who take their online abuse offline, or encourage others to attack their victims I don't think really fit under that wide umbrella of "trolls".

But just like real-world harassment, abuse and assault happens it's for a wide variety of reasons, including sadism and narcissism, but also depression and social isolation.

 

[usayit]

For me trolling is playing devil's advocate to perpetuate an argument without actually announcing your true intentions of playing such a role. Most people who call out trolls usually do so because they are not confident of defending their established foundation in a debate or unwilling. Its an attempt at an easy way out of the discussion without loosing face.

btw... kinda on topic..... but very interesting.

 

[runnah]

Honestly I think trolling is fun if done with good intentions. People take things and themselves way too serious these days. If you were to take a giant step back and look at most of what is done and discussed on the Internet you'd fine it extremely hilarious and without merit.

 

[bribrius]

Trolling in general is more complex than any specific explanation. While certainly there are people are use the internet to play our sadism, there are many other reasons why people troll. Recall a few years ago the autistic boy in England who trolled a girl's memorial webpage and was charged with obscenity. While certainly possible that he was narcissistic (an autistic can be narcissistic after all), many autistic children will do these sorts of things to try to better understand social boundaries.

There is also "soft" trolling, like what I do on Youtube - just making a general pest of myself at other's expense. It's more about just getting under people's skin than just being abusive, but at the same time when I pick on homophobes and eugenicists I'll be the first to admit it's because they're pretty easy targets and not as part of some greater social agenda.

There are certainly people who just go out of their way to harm people (and I think 99% of these online homophobes fall under this category), and they're pretty loud and obnoxious, and we all see it on the news when their bullying leads to the unfortunate suicide of their victims. I have a hard time really thinking of these people as "trolls". Trolls to me are just annoying and unsolicited, sometimes abusive, sometimes not. Cyberbullies who seek out and target specific people or groups of people with the intent to hurt them, who take their online abuse offline, or encourage others to attack their victims I don't think really fit under that wide umbrella of "trolls".

But just like real-world harassment, abuse and assault happens it's for a wide variety of reasons, including sadism and narcissism, but also depression and social isolation.

umm. why would you even want to do this?

 

[runnah]

umm. why would you even want to do this?

See my post.

 

[ratssass]

HEY,UNPOPULAR.............BLOW ME!!!

 

[usayit]

HEY,UNPOPULAR.............BLOW ME!!!

OH man!! you just asked a donkey in a pink hair and glasses to blow you. lol

 

[ratssass]

HEY,UNPOPULAR.............BLOW ME!!!

OH man!! you just asked a donkey in a pink hair and glasses to blow you. lol

hmm...upon further review..

 

[AlanKlein81 21]

So I have to ask how many millions of tax dollars were spent to discover that trolls suck?

Lol

Sent from my LG-LG730 using Tapatalk

Actually reading the original paper or even the abstract might be too much trouble when you are in pursuit of a snarky-comment opportunity, but it was done by in the psych department of a Canadian University.

What do you expect? They're Canadian!

 

[robbins.photo]

HEY,UNPOPULAR.............BLOW ME!!!

Can I nominate this for best Mel Gibson impression of the month?

 

[skieur]

BTW: I thought the term "troll" referred to someone who holds a position contrary to the predominant position of the majority on any particular forum website.

IOW: on a political forum I used to haunt, most of the regulars were drinking the R Kool-Aide. Therefore; any poster who seemed to favor the D's was considered a troll.

Yup, basically what is often the case is using the term "TROLL" to insult someone who disagrees with you.