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 ...
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.
Williamsburg Virginia?
Fast becoming a bastion of retired and relocated liberal Yankees and the ideological luggage they pack.
I want to know where the lines are drawn between “trolling” and either “expressing a conservative position” or “questioning ridiculous fake news”...
“Shanika Gunaratna “
I think I had one of those surgically removed from my posterior aperture a while back.
Old problem, new venue.
“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.
What did it say about people who love to tick off trolls?
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.
Ha! Yup, that troll would have fit right in as an anchor to CNN or MSNBC!
Candy is Dandy...!
If you think about it, the lame stream media are trolling Donald Trump.
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?
I wonder if the author,Shanika Gunaratna, will have to change her email, etc, now?
Only one?
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.
My older brother was the bully. i don’t speak with him much.
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.
They are miserable inside and so they feel better by making others feel miserable
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