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Peering into the psychology of online trolls
CBS News ^ | July 5, 2017 | Shanika Gunaratna

Posted on 07/21/2017 2:02:05 AM PDT by iowamark

What does looking into the hearts and minds of online trolls tell us?

That's the question Australian researchers tried to answer in a new study that investigates the psychological profile of trolls — that is, computer users who engage in the disturbing 21st century practice of deliberating provoking, demeaning, and threatening others online.

Researchers at Australia's Federation University used an online questionnaire to look closer at a handful of traits — psychopathy, sadism, and empathy — among those who engage in online trolling. The survey included 415 participants, approximately one-third male and two-thirds female, with a median age of 23 years. The researchers controlled the results for gender, a significant factor given that trolls dramatically skew male.

Participants were asked to engage with a range of questions gauging their levels of psychopathy, sadism and empathy. For instance, to what extent do you agree with the statement "People would enjoy hurting others if they gave it a go"?

In terms of empathy, the researchers looked at a number of different forms that trait can take. For instance, cognitive empathy is the capacity to recognize and properly identify another person's emotions. Affective empathy goes farther, referring to the ability to experience, internalize and respond to those observed emotions. Global empathy refers to the reaction one has when directly observing another's life experience.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: internet; provoke; psychology; troll
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To: All

There’s a paid group of leftist trolls called “Correct the Record.” They go on various websites (this one?) and create fake user accounts to argue with the real members.
Brock (Media Matters) runs it.


21 posted on 07/21/2017 3:30:11 AM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: iowamark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngh1c2nPn6U


22 posted on 07/21/2017 3:36:01 AM PDT by TheStickman (And their fear tastes like sunshine puked up by unicorns.)
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To: ReaganGeneration2

Williamsburg Virginia?

Fast becoming a bastion of retired and relocated liberal Yankees and the ideological luggage they pack.


23 posted on 07/21/2017 3:50:24 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (Hot sauce aside, every culture has its pancake, just as every culture has its noodle.)
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To: Robert DeLong

I want to know where the lines are drawn between “trolling” and either “expressing a conservative position” or “questioning ridiculous fake news”...


24 posted on 07/21/2017 4:02:08 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: iowamark

“Shanika Gunaratna “

I think I had one of those surgically removed from my posterior aperture a while back.


25 posted on 07/21/2017 4:02:19 AM PDT by vette6387
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To: iowamark

Old problem, new venue.


26 posted on 07/21/2017 4:12:41 AM PDT by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: Texas Fossil

“The abstract never once mentioned the vast number of trolls who do it for the money.”

I have a relative that was a senior player in the W Bush campaigns. Very surprised how familiar they were with Free Republic back in 1999.

They often start as volunteers writing to local papers, having your letters published moves you up.

They are everywhere and some are more noticeable than others.

And that is just the Conservative side.


27 posted on 07/21/2017 4:24:57 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (GO TRUMP!)
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To: iowamark

What did it say about people who love to tick off trolls?


28 posted on 07/21/2017 4:36:25 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: exnavy

Nope. They may have done it once; just once. The bullies were *taken care of* after school. By your friends, or if you were lucky enough, an older brother.

Boom.


29 posted on 07/21/2017 4:39:40 AM PDT by Daffynition (The New PTSD: PRESIDENT-Trump Stress Disorder” - The LSN didn’t make Trump, so they can’t break T)
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To: SaveFerris
What time slot did they give him on CNN / MSNBC?

Ha! Yup, that troll would have fit right in as an anchor to CNN or MSNBC!

30 posted on 07/21/2017 4:47:50 AM PDT by rochester_veteran (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: Vaquero

Candy is Dandy...!


31 posted on 07/21/2017 4:53:49 AM PDT by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
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To: iowamark

If you think about it, the lame stream media are trolling Donald Trump.


32 posted on 07/21/2017 4:55:26 AM PDT by Slyfox (Where's Reagan when we need him? Look in the mirror - the spirit of The Gipper lives within you.)
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To: iowamark

We have a sociopathic sadistic troll on this site. Nobody pays him; he just likes to cause pain. How many members has he driven away over the years? Or, more pertinently, how many donations has he prevented?


33 posted on 07/21/2017 5:11:15 AM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic wotk using Inernet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: iowamark

I wonder if the author,Shanika Gunaratna, will have to change her email, etc, now?


34 posted on 07/21/2017 5:25:24 AM PDT by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals.")
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To: Fantasywriter

Only one?


35 posted on 07/21/2017 5:26:37 AM PDT by iowamark
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To: Clutch Martin

My son was a little guy in Jr high. There was a 6 ft bully who deliberately picked on smaller boys. He’d just catch them in the hall and beat them up.

Son asked what he should do if the bully started something with him and I told him to “thump” him.

When the time came the bully approached and my son hit him 3 times, gave him a fat lip, a bloody nose and a black eye and made him cry. My son became kind of a celebrity.


36 posted on 07/21/2017 5:34:56 AM PDT by tiki
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To: Daffynition

My older brother was the bully. i don’t speak with him much.


37 posted on 07/21/2017 5:47:35 AM PDT by exnavy (long live the .45 colt, the original handgun cartridge.)
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To: RC one

Have you seen the heavy metal version LOL

https://youtu.be/kg0Qss1ah_Y


38 posted on 07/21/2017 5:50:13 AM PDT by edzo4 (Democrats playbook = promise everything, deliver nothing, blame someone else.)
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To: iowamark

Idk how many trolls there might be total. I’ve only encountered one who is an absolute sadist. I realize the article you posted said that sadism is a common thread. I still don’t see it as *that* common though. I think the average troll has an anti-social personality disorder, enjoys disruption and craves attention. I don’t personally believe the majority of trolls are sadists.


39 posted on 07/21/2017 5:51:29 AM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic wotk using Inernet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: iowamark
the disturbing 21st century practice of deliberating provoking, demeaning, and threatening others online.

They are miserable inside and so they feel better by making others feel miserable

40 posted on 07/21/2017 5:58:54 AM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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