OT: Researchers find online trolls are actually sadists

Submitted by iawolve on

Maybe this is not surprising.

I always thought they were just simply douchebags, however, Canadian researchers further classified the behavior finding that admitted online trollers answered questions that scored higher in the "tetrad" of narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychpathy and sadistic personality type in psychologial testing. They got that going for them, which is nice...

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/11/tech/web/online-trolls-sadists/index.html…

 

MGoBoard

B-Nut-GoBlue

February 12th, 2014 at 10:00 PM ^

Informative.

It's weird to think but your "e-psychoanalysis", although techinically amateur, I'm sure you're very much on to something in your observation and experience in dealing with people...and all you're doing is moderating an internet message board.  That's not to downplay said moderating of this blog, by any means, but in the overall scheme of things it's a basic, simple interaction with people, not even face to face, yet one can learn so much about these types of people by doing so.

Joined: 09/30/2011

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justingoblue

February 12th, 2014 at 10:35 PM ^

Unless that high school AP credit and taking my stats course through the psych department give me some real qualifications, which is why I tried to be a bit self deprecating in the first comment. If you think about the trolls that really get under people's skin, they're not stupid, they're doing it for attention and they don't give a shit that it makes everyone else's experience worse. Rarely does the board blow up over what I'd guess is actual stupidity, and that doesn't evoke the same kinds of responses anyway. I'd also argue that trolling is a skill, and hard to pass off as anything else if you're putting in an effort to looking for it. Watch a political attack ad you disagree with; having a visceral, negative reaction on a deep level isn't a case of the writer being stupid, it's "good" trolling. All that said, trolling isn't something to aspire to, it's lame and desperate and a cry for attention.

Joined: 11/16/2010

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LSAClassOf2000

February 12th, 2014 at 5:44 PM ^

This is a pretty interesting article really, and...

"Sadism is a tendency to take pleasure in other people's pain or discomfort."

*puts on sarcasm hat* That NEVER happens on a sports blog....NEVER....

Joined: 01/07/2011

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MGoGrendel

February 12th, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^

that some people are negged and chastised to the point where you think they would just go away. They do, for a minute, and come back with a new screen name and 1 point. (Clever!). Not sure what enjoyment the get out of the negative attention. This helps explain it.

Joined: 01/21/2013

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Jonesy

February 12th, 2014 at 7:50 PM ^

My research shows that trolls don't exist, they're just idiots who say something stupid and then back off of it later 'ah haha i got you, I was just trolling, I don't really believe that.'  Sure thing, buddy.

Joined: 03/14/2012

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markusr2007

February 13th, 2014 at 12:49 AM ^

What the study seems to neglect is that in life there are moments when such sadism may be an "understandable", normal" or even "desirable" human response.  Sometimes I think that Sadism and Schadenfreude is a useful human emotion/behavior to counter what is perceived to be excess narcissism, vanity, egocentricism, entitlement, arrogance.

The less vanity, arrogance, entitlement, egocentricism observed in a system (society), the more this sadistic, schadenfreuliche behavior might seem inappropirate and/or out of place.

Example: A friend of mine recently showed me some NASCAR Inside the Line online game troller videos on Youtube. They videos are truly amazing.  Hilarious. And quite shocking/sad too.   It's weird how a stupid video game and these trollers could resuscitate over 150 years of North-South, Yankee vs. Rebel hatred.  But there you have it.

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