The Psychology of an Internet Troll

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Research studies show these traits are the most common in internet trolls:

1) The need to be in the spotlight: narcissism: wants to be center of attention, don't care about other people, need other people to look at you.
2) Antisocial; Psychopothy: lack of empathy.
3) Machiavellianism: manipulating people for personal gain.
4) Sadism, getting off on harming others.

These are known as the dark tetrad.

Why do trolls troll:

1) Seeking conflict/attention factor: they want attention and negative attention is better than none at all.
2) Viciousness/nastiness factor: Malicious; pure sadism.
3) Low self confidence factor: trolling to get status.
4) Amusement factor: trolling just for the LULZ.

Solutions for dealing with trolls:

1) Band together and self police.
2) Learn to ignore obvious trolling posts: don't feed the trolls.
3) See it for what it is. Don't get sucked into the trolls behavior.
4) You have to ignore trolls. If the troll doesn't get the attention he is seeking the troll can lose interest.

Well, some trolls have proved quite persistent over years and years. :)

==

I posted that in another thread. I got the information from this podcast:


This video sums up the same points quite concisely:


This next one is quite short and very helpful.

 
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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To me one of the things that is most interesting about internet trolls is how the studies show that the anonymity of the internet seem to embolden them to express their sadistic traits and explore gratifying this kind of antisocial behavior.

How most internet trolls have these underlying tendencies to begin with. But the idea of nobody being able to figure out who they are in real life gave rise to them acting in ways they would not have felt comfortable acting towards people in person.

Since the rewards for the trolling behavior

1) Possibility of attention (narcissistic tendencies).
2) The pleasure of causing other people's emotional distress (sadistic tendencies).
3) The enjoyment of manipulating people (Machiavellian tendencies).

The tendency that enables the troll to engage in trolling behavior is:

LACK OF EMPATHY. This is also called ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR or

PSYCHOPATHY. This one I will say again: Psychopathy.

So the annoying jerks that troll the forums have psychopathic tendencies!

I wonder what the frequency of these guys getting a taste of their DARK personality traits causes them to lose their inhibitions and explore means of achieving those rewards in the real world.

Do some internet trolls graduate to become real life PSYCHOPATHS?


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says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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It is also interesting that one of the most effective tools for handling these trolls is not ignoring them; it's also not arguing with them; It seems to be that REVEALING THEIR TRUE IDENTITY is one of the most effective ways of dealing with them.

When their true identity is revealed, they are less comfortable revealing their desire to harm others, to enjoy their pain and to manipulate them.


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says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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"narcissism: wants to be center of attention, don't care about other people, need other people to look at you"

Do trolls also like to use twitter?

Most definitely. They are everywhere on the internet.

But with the more troublesome versions of trolls, it is not just narcissism. It is all four traits in the "Dark Tetrad" which all come into play:

1) Narcissism: wanting to be the center of attention.
2) Psychopathy: Antisocial behavior: lack of empathy for others.
3) Machiavellianism: manipulating people for personal gain.
&
4) Sadism: enjoying the emotional distress of others.

The four combined makes it clear that the people who are consistently drawn to trolling behaviors over and over are actually more emotionally disturbed than one may otherwise have realized.

Which is why I decided to make this thread.


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says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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The fact that the anonymity of the internet allows them to exercise the traits listed in the Dark Tetrad without normal social repercussions is equally as interesting.

The guy who posted this video does a good job of exposing that for what it is/


I did post that same video above.


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Like poisonous mushrooms, trolls seem to go mostly after stupid people.

Are poisonous mushrooms sadist per se?
 
says Spin and more spin.
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The problem for me is.... im a troll . On another forum though. How do i change :(

To me, the most interesting part of this post is that it is worded in troll form. It is worded to elicit a response. It is not harmful trolling though. But some habits are hard to change.

Perhaps you would have to really want to change and then you would have to look at how you worded things and even whether you want to press that send button.

It is worth knowing that, originally the term trolling came from the phrase:

"Trolling for newbies."

And it was just activity meant to get a response from newer members to a forum. It served to get more people active on a forum. So, from this perspective, Dan's giveaway contest threads serve a similar purpose.

So, not all trolling is bad.

But I guess if you are making comments that are going to get someone upset, it is worth asking yourself why you want to make someone you probably don't know upset.


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