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 ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1074278/posts
Punk the prez? - Moby’s anti-Bush tricks
New York Daily News ^ | 2/09/04 | Rush & Molloy
One of Sen. John Kerry’s celebrity supporters is ready to pull out all the stops to get him elected. Republicans are shrieking over a suggestion by rocker Moby that Democrats spread gossip about President Bush on the Internet. “No one’s talking about how to keep the other side home on Election Day,” Moby tells us. “It’s a lot easier than you think and it doesn’t cost that much. This election can be won by 200,000 votes.”
Moby suggests that it’s possible to seed doubt among Bush’s far-right supporters on the Web.
“You target his natural constituencies,” says the Grammy-nominated techno-wizard. “For example, you can go on all the pro-life chat rooms and say you’re an outraged right-wing voter and that you know that George Bush drove an ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic and paid for her to get an abortion.
“Then you go to an anti-immigration Web site chat room and ask, ‘What’s all this about George Bush proposing amnesty for illegal aliens?’”
Moby didn’t claim that he believed the abortion story.
Last month, Bush did propose reforms to immigration policy. But he insisted, “I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship [because it] perpetuates illegal immigration.”
Republican National Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson likened Moby’s proposal to “dirty campaign tactics we’re already seeing from John Kerry.”
“His campaign was willing to use these kinds of voter suppression tactics against members of his own party in Iowa and New Hampshire,” Iverson says. “John Kerry is a hypocrite. He pledged to run a clean campaign. Then he uses the lowest form of gutter politics to impugn his opponents, Democratic and Republican. It’s unfortunate but this is probably just the beginning of the kind of tactics we’re going to be seeing from John Kerry in the months to come...”
Can’t believe it too 7 posts to get to a prime source of trolling.
The average nutcase might get into a heated online argument, but probably doesn’t have the time or inclination to create dozens of fake accounts and bombard the internet with his raving.
The paid troll does. He blankets the internet with the memes he is being paid to push.
candy is dandy but sex wont rot your teeth
See: the Federalist papers. 😀
Anyone else been around long enough to remember the Ash Alerts? Ash was a big-time troll.
If you think someone is trolling FR, report it to the mods, you may just get results.
If nothing else, the proprietor’s should realize it’s in their best interests to keep the forum civil and a decent place for discussion, and not drive people away.
(not sarcastic, actually, kind of Pollyanna-ish, but I’d hope that TPTB are smart enough to figure that out.)
I only vaguely remember that. I only got in at the tail end of Deep in the Heart of the Hurtgen Forest, too. I knew it was a scandal, but I never really understood it.
Agree. The worst cases of trollery should always be reported.
Sorry ‘bout that.
My brother was my *hero* of sorts; being older than me....he seemed so skilled at everything; learned a lot from him. He saved my butt many-a-time, coz he could.
Through our teen years, we fought like cats & dogs [my poor, patient parents]; wasn’t until he went off to college, did we become friends again.
LMAO!
There’s a bunch of leftist trolls at Yahoo. I suspect many of them are paid.
No matter what the subject, they jump into blaming Trump.
They are complete liars and kooks.
[Stay off social media. I can’t say that enough. Don’t plaster one’s personal information on the web.]
Yes, plus you give all that info for free to UNKNOWN people.
It’s crazy.
I’d say “NWO folks” but that would just be a nut-job conspiracy.
Yeah
I vaguely remember those. I never paid much attention to him. That list has grown, lol.
Or just criminals out to pick one's pocket
Yes, on Twitter too.
Same rude insulting methods.
One more benefit of totally destroying the democrat party - all their paid shills would be out of a job and the internet would become soooo much more fun.
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