Science of the Spirit

Internet trolls are narcissists, psychopaths, and sadists

Jennifer Golbeck, Ph.D.
Psychology Today
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:01 UTC

In this month's issue of Personality and Individual Differences, a study was published that confirms what we all suspected: internet trolls are horrible people.

Let's start by getting our definitions straight. An internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.

What kind of person would do this?

Canadian researchers decided to find out. They conducted two internet studies with over 1,200 people. They gave personality tests to each subject along with a survey about their internet commenting behavior. They were looking for evidence that linked trolling with the Dark Tetrad of personality: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadistic personality.

[Edit to add: these are technical terms with formalized surveys to measure them. You can find lots more information about their formal definitions online]

They found that Dark Tetrad scores were highest among people who said trolling was their favorite internet activity. To get an idea of how much more prevalent these traits were among internet trolls, check out this figure from the paper:

Look at how low the scores are for everyone except the internet trolls! Their scores for all four terrible personality traits soar on the chart. The relationship between this Dark Tetrad and trolling is so significant, that the authors write the following in their paper:

"... the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists." [emphasis added]

Trolls truly enjoy making you feel bad. To quote the authors once more (because this is a truly quotable article):

"Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!"

So next time you encounter a troll online, remember a few things. (1) These trolls are some truly messed up people and (2) it is your suffering that brings them pleasure, so the best thing you can do is ignore them.

References

Buckels, Erin E., Paul D. Trapnell, and Delroy L. Paulhus. "Trolls just want to have fun." Personality and Individual Differences67 (2014): 97-102.

Comment: Ever wonder why some debates never end, or end up with character assassination?

The mistake of someone who is not pathological is to fully engage with these pathological people online.

Reader Comments

glardu · 2014-09-23T14:56:05Z

Well, to those I may have offended...you may have needed it to get the grey matter firing.

Cbc is ripe with the type you describe. They seem to work as moderators to dismiss and ridicule any whose opinions differ from those of cbc or the majority of the flock.

Never be afraid to piss people off, but its not a career. Some days pissing off 250 million people simply wears on you.

nedlud · 2014-09-23T17:41:33Z

psychology today

On the other hand, 'Psychology Today' would never do any of these things....they have a perfect liberal, cultural and modern scientific bias. Perfect for today's world, as we work together in spiritual harmony to get rid of the bad people, or control them and make them into good citizens. Yup.

Blah, blah, blah.

Ahem.

Listen people, if you truly wish to advance, you MUST have genuine concern for all those creatures and things (human or other) who are below you in standing, social and biological, technical, and whatever else. This is the only way to get rid of the false person, the false thing, the corrupt and dead thing--albeit very very clever--the ego.

Rulers and controllers (and that includes certain expert study groups with lots of licenses and medals and awards, certifications and nominations, like Psychology Today) exhibit faux concern. These people are not concerned with real concern, which transcends abruptly, the normal or customary political, studied, rehearsed and fashionable boundaries, but only with fake concern; ie., staying within those normal and studied and rehearsed current cultural (imagined) boundaries. And in this screwed up world, of awards and nominations for 'good' behavior, this faux focus maintains faithfully, without a hitch or question mark, the political, technological status quo, which in turn maintains all the pseudo-imaginings of the chief pseudo thing: the ego.

So all this faux concern, which can be made to look very real, fooling nearly everyone, by staying within boundaires (the good ones of course), needless to say, only fortifies the ego, making it a super duper ego; of a sort; and ego, regular or super-sized, is an eternal trap and leads only to misery.

If not now, later.

MISERY.

Get this in your head and throw out Psychology Today and its precipitous medals, medallions and awards and suggestions. Or at least take it with a LARGE grain of salt.

Thank you.

sincerely,
nedlud

Divide By Zero · 2014-09-23T23:26:45Z

I agree that the study is a bit simplistic.
But when you think about it, people DO use their online presence to harass people.

In some cases they do this by messing up the flow of the conversation/debate/truthseeking.

So, if I'm reading you correctly, we should have genuine concern even for trolls that derail truth seeking and knowledge gathering?

In some cases, they may be ignorant, and if they can get the feedback and grow, power to them! But, a lot of times they are machines... full of paramoralisms and other twisted tendencies.

If you were having a conversation about a topic and someone starting blabbing off topic (in order to steer attention to them or an agenda), would you find that fair to the people who are interacting honestly in the first place?

nedlud · 2014-09-23T17:49:45Z

give me a 'V'

We are waiting patiently, for more tests, devised by the experts, so that everyone, utilizing these simple and accurate tests, devised by trustable experts, can identify online trolls, with 100% certainty.

This will mean Victory, Victory, Victory.

Divide By Zero · 2014-09-24T04:03:48Z

No, it's simple to detect... someone messing around and not getting along? A troll....

The article is just a good reminder that some people don't have all their marbles... and it is the weakness of someone to assume that a troll is a person that wants the truth even if they act like it.

Basically, don't feed the trolls, don't feed the narcissists lol.

protozen · 2014-09-24T06:03:43Z

Yup

Through personal experience I can agree. I was in attendance of an FBI meeting this afternoon for cyber security. Apparently narcissistic, psychopaths, and sadists are behind cyber crime and a lot of malicious on-line activities. Surprise, surprise ... tolls just sum up a lot, I've always wondered why seemingly normal people become trolls and a$$ hats the second they're on-online.

Slinger · 2014-09-24T07:00:07Z

Compassion for others

Is very difficult to cultivate when the person is truly obnoxious, Forgivness is even harder,
Compassionate dispassion and practiceing gratitude is a good place to start and will over time lead to forgivness, Nedlud has hit the nail on the head.
We are involved in a spiritual awakening first, and the physical aspects that we see manifested around the world are secondary to this.
Pus must be drained from the wound before the healing can begin.
To work on oneself is the first step to real peace and freedom of service.
It is possibly the hardest thing that any of us will ever attempt, but even a little success is to be lauded.
The amount of work that some trolls will have to get through just to start to be aware that maybe there is something better means lifetimes struggle and toil.
There is a quote on my desk that says that if all the people in the world could throw all their problems in a pile, then you would fight to get yours back!

Divide By Zero · 2014-09-24T14:40:20Z

No, I'm all for compassion when someone is open to it.

A spiritual awakening is not about joy and bliss and acceptance. Sometimes it is described as hell, to see the world as it is and how to not keep being sucked dry by this bass ackwards world...

Sometimes draining the pus is not enough, sometimes we have to find out what we are reacting to. In this case, with trolls, is their game of pretending like they are trying to find the truth, meanwhile STOMPING on sites like SOTT's rules of decency. YES, DECENCY is a rule in human interaction. Why would someone defend pathocratic behavior as some sort of "gold star" on their spirit, when it in self can be a manipulation of the opinion of those readers who are new and trying to find the truth?

Working on the self is a good point, but keep in mind those pathological individuals know that is a weakness, that we who want to find the truth will consider everything. They are the hipocrites, who cannot take FACTS and OBJECTIVITY in order to play fair. That's exactly what this study has shown and has helped me a lot.

What nedlud seems to be alluding to is that we should allow this behavior as some kind of compassion for those ponerized individuals, despite them ignoring our direct questions. Why should we have to answer their paramoralisms when they ignore our simple questions of their declarations?

Nudlud quotes Gurdjieff at times....
I'm not too good at remembering details, but:
Gurdjieff pretty much saw people as dog $hit first, until they proved themselves.
So, when it comes to seeking truth of a situation, why should we bow down to those who assume they know it all, without a proper discussion?

So, when it comes to trolls, like we dealt with Oleg here regarding Ukraine...
You have to "give them what they ask for".
An authoritarian follower wants someone who is sure of themselves and strong in will/opinion. I don't remember the link, but an article explained that a lot of those who are in positions of power are pretty much so incompetent that they cannot even comprehend their own incompetence. Then we have Oleg or whoever, who comes in and spouts the rhetoric,

Honesty with everyone is weakness. Haven't you been duped by someone?

And when it comes to Nedlud, read some of his comments to other articles. He sometimes will steer the conversation off to a tangent that has nothing to do with the problem at hand.
Last night, I wondered why he had such a quick response to this article, quickly demonizing the writer (psychology today- DESPITE BEING A STUDY DONE IN A CANADIAN UNIVERSITY!!).

I pieced the pieces together, as a hypothesis... a tiny, almost non-existant part of him feels guilty for the intellectual/new age spam that he posts on topics and later on starts harping on censorship, without anyone censoring him!

Sorry for the "inconsideration" but I'm not buying his semi-new age crap... he sounds far from enlightened. Remember Gurdjieff said that life starts at the level of the Obvaytel , which pretty much means being able to talk of worldly events too.

I've mentioned Nedlud as a possible vector to the sott.net site. They saw him as harmless... I feel not, seeing your comment ignoring the key dangers of dealing with pathological types. Sometimes, those that act like they are under control only act that way because that is their IMAGE. On the other hand, you might want to contrast with what I do, where I try to find a true balance. Sometimes balance is NOT BLISS.

NugaBurd · 2014-09-24T15:39:12Z

An aspect not mentioned

Israel pays people to troll online forums and social media, by using lies and engaging in ad hominem attacks, to counter comments critical of Israel.

Slinger · 2014-09-25T01:37:23Z

Divide by zero

spiritual development is hard, this game is not for the soft. Intelligence, wisdom, and a huge sense of humor are just some of the expensive tools needed to even have a chance, not to mention a willingness to learn, a sense of duty and a willingness to make mistakes and start again, and still you may have to roll up your sleeves and blood some noses once in a while, compassion is not only for those who are open to it, in fact you could argue that those who are already culivating compassion and forgivness need it less than those who have no experience of it at all, its not a gift that you give with expectation of getting something back, it is a prerequisite for us to move forward, to evolve. You just do it as an exercise of your own development with no expectation of getting a return, it is not for you to keep an accounting of this, the same goes for practiceing forgiveness, releasing your self from the chains that hold us.
Wether or not these are returned to you by the person/object of you attention is irelevent, the universe takes note, and the rules of cause and effect swing into play.
Nedlud may or may not be as you say, but for that minute he was speaking truth, even if his plan was something else, i dont know, i dont know him/her and sometimes his /her comments leave me bemused.
But his intelligence is undeniable, and for that moment he was a messenger.
Nedluds spiritual development is his/hers own concern as is yours, but i will say that if anyone has any kind of spiritual knowledge then there is an obligation to spread it around and practice that which you can, but for anyone who knows the truth and delibrately misdirects others or causes harm with it, they will never get of the wheel until the debt is paid.
Practical spirituality is as hard nosed as any board room executive, or hanging judge when it comes to the rules and expectations of behaviour , just a lot more flexible in its time frames.
But dont take my word for it, go and find examples for yourself, seek the source.

Slinger · 2014-09-25T01:51:41Z

Divide by zero

Dam.. that reads preachy!
Sorry i did not mean to cause you offence if i did.

Divide By Zero · 2014-09-25T04:46:54Z

Just there you have shown your true colors and how much you are stuck in what you believe.
All of what I said was to waste... and I don't even think you are a troll.

Just to say what exactly is wrong.... you can't just say something is truth without verification... even the cassiopaeans said this about their own messages!
Just because it sounds right does not make it true.
Sometimes the truth is something we don't want to hear, myself included. So that is where factual analysis matters.

Oh and speaking of nedlud, every time someone has a comment to what he says, he doesn't seem to address the issue.
He also has played games of trying to put out an image of being censored, despite nobody censoring him here.
So, you really should wonder what is up with an individual who speaks as if he is so holy or high and mighty and resorts to games like this.

Maniculatus · 2014-09-25T03:33:12Z

Sometimes

I wonder if we should avoid calling these people trolls and their actions trolling. Instead just call it what it is. I get the feeling that a person might have a harder time seeing their actions as negative if they think they are "trolling" because they see other people writing it off as a form of entertainment.

Divide By Zero · 2014-09-25T04:50:03Z

Good point....
Instead of labeling them trolls, we can say that they are vectors of disinfo/manipulation/etc.
Great way to look at it, because we see how defensive people get when their image of what is normal or good gets shocked. Who knows, Oleg for example, may have been convinced that the current Ukranian gov't is good for Ukraine?!
But all of the facts that say otherwise were being blocked by him, aka paramoralisms... and he would use these twisted historical facts or hearsay to demonize what Russia is doing.

Slinger · 2014-09-25T05:14:41Z

Divide by zero.

What are my true colours?
Please educate me.
Reading my own words, it did read as preachy and i apoligise for that, but not the message, my fault for not being clear.
I am not qualified by any means to comment on the spirituality of another or their motive for doing what they do or telling someone else what they should do.
But i have learned to to dectect some truth in my life, and i try to understand it no matter the source and can only point out what i know to work for me, to be a sign post to those behind me and to struggle to catch those in front.
Your method of dealing with trolls is different to mine thats all.
Thanks for seeing that i am not one btw.
What do the C's say about trolls and how to deal with them?

Jerry · 2014-09-25T13:04:01Z

Lesson number 1: Always expect attack. Lesson number 2: Know the modes of same. Lesson number 3: Know how to counteract same.

-------------------------------------

Q: (L) And, if you send 'buckets of love and light' to such a one, and that is their path, you are violating their free will?

A: You might as well send "buckets" of vomit as that is how they will react.

Divide By Zero · 2014-09-25T13:39:54Z

I said it the wrong way... sorry, I should have been more kind, sometimes a tiger comes out when not needed or helpful, like you mentioned compassion.

I wanted to say that it seemed like you have beliefs that everyone has a "nice side" that we can appeal to, but after years of reading psychology this is not so, like Jerry quoted the C's below. That's why it is dangerous to assume this, exactly this is what some pathological individuals use to play with us!

This article is basically saying that there are people who are twisted psychologically and pretty much the advice being to stay away from them. What nedlud wrote was pretty much "character assasination" of the original article, despite the study being done by a Canadian university. Even that, he hits and runs... see nothing replied to? Well, what happens when a reader has doubts about an article and sees his "I know everything" tone vs our debate/questioning of what is real? Most people would take the one who sounds like a figure of authority as "more true".

Sigh, this site is about analyzing the data, not throwing out the baby with the bathwater anyway, like nedlud did.

So, that's the danger I see in trolls or other behavior, and pretty much why it is so critical to call them out on their BS and move on to things, like this discussion- where we are trying to figure out what is right. I'm going to use the term now, Trolls (or semi-trolls?) like nedlud are here to discredit any real work of figuring things out.

Alkhemist · 2014-09-25T22:20:21Z

I get concerned that this is simply more "us versus them" thinking.

I tend to welcome certain "trolls" online because they often make me think. If they're particularly good at debating, and some are, I inevitably find new ways to present my evidence that's even more convincing and informative for the next guy. Or sometimes they simply offer me practice in remembering the Law of One and my commitment to service to others.

Walking the talk and all that.

Slinger · 2014-09-26T02:41:51Z

TIGERS AND BEARS OH MY!

You have a tiger and i have a bear, and you feel strongly about what you say, thats good.
Sometimes my bear gets out too, and once or twice i have let it out on purpose.who here has not?
I salute your conviction divide by zero.
My own life experience with psychopaths leads me to believe that the practical steps of protection listed by Jerry are a vital defence in keeping them away.
But i have to disagree with his vomit quote at this time, simply because in my experience given enough light you can drive them off, just as if you focus the suns rays through a magnifying glass you can start a fire,and after a few contacts with thes kinds of people they start to recognize someone who can see them for what they are and leave you alone, no matter, people use methods that work for them, and as i mentioned before, walking the path sometimes means you have to roll up your sleeves and blood some noses.
Alkhemist, i too feel that you can learn things from trolls, even if the least of it is only cultivation of tolerance.
There is no spirital advancement in them vs us, unless you count adding more chains of association with you enemy. It was nedluds comment about concern for others as the way to move forward that rings true.
I am not convinced that they are outside the order of creation, a debate that rages among myself and my friends, they serve a purpose,as do all sts"s and will in time move forward just like everything else.

IncenDiary · 2014-09-26T16:53:45Z

Moving Forward

You can't send them "love and light" as new-agers say since that is not what is asked for, and for "people" of those dispositions (narcissists, psychopaths, etc) it IS vomit you may as well be spewing over them.
For STS, there is a path forward: the best evil-doers get promoted and move forward in the "evil" path same as we move forward too in the "good" path. The paths are in opposite "directions", but they are still both "forward".
Unfortunately those who believe a majority of lies will apparently "disintegrate" upon themselves when the wave comes, because from what I understand so far with there being "no left or right" in 4th density, the seeing of the lies in themselves will cause such pain and the lack of objectivity will cause them to look so much inwards they "implode" ... and will have to start again from 1st density all over again .... OSIT

Slinger · 2014-09-29T00:47:18Z

IncenDiary

Practical spirituality IS is love and light, although not as the "new agers" would have it.
The most powerful force in creation is love, it is why there is a creation at all, but we as humans only have a bare glimpse of the power and potential it contains.
It can be sheild and sword, giver and taker, leveler and raiser. Life and death, it is both hammer and blanket.
But dont take my word for it, petition Laura to ask the C's about it if you must, in fact it is the reason the C's help at all.
Seeking the source would be better.
Positive and negitive are both needed in an electric universe.

Divide By Zero · 2014-09-30T21:55:03Z

The C's also explained that we are in an STS world, we cannot be sure because something "feels good" or "looks good" it is STO.

The C's also mentioned that to give light when not asked for is an STS activity in itself.
If someone wants light or love or knowledge and asks with true intent, ok.

But, think of the original thing that started this debate: Trolling behavior.
A troll, by the study shows psychological pathologies such as narcissism, psycopathy, or sadism. The behavior is pure STS, not just doing it to make a point, but to feed their self-image, false personality. So everything they are asking for, in essence, is to feed their little STS chain. A bunch of them need to put people down in order to feel worthy. That is their game, and the only STO thing is to not feed that addiction, much like not giving alcohol to an alcoholic, etc.

Where does giving light help them? It is not asked for and does not show them your teeth. If you know that there are predators all around us, why act like prey? Why not "show your teeth" much like another animal would do to show "I'm not your lunch"?

In the end, that is STO, because it is acting FOR your destiny, which is to not feed the STS food chain.

The problem with spirituality is that it doesn't take into account science (only picks and chooses what fits it's ideals).
The problem with science is that it doesn't take into account spiritual experiences (and only picks and chooses what fit's it's theorems).

Slinger · 2014-10-10T08:24:07Z

Divide by zero

Your last comment that the C's state that we are in an sts world,may or may not be true.
I have not seen that myself, or they may mean it in another context.
Spirituality has nothing to do with feels good or looks good, it has everything to do with studying the divine laws of God ( not those of man which are temporary,brittle things that change or fade over time) and applying them to your life.
As to us living in a sts world i would indicate to you the duality of nature and the universe, Karma,cause and effect, male and female, hard and soft, off and on this world is neither sto or sts, it is a classroom where lessons can be learned, not all lessons are enjoyable or pain free but they still hold value,we learn that the sun gives life and energy and beauty to us, but it also burns and destroys, does this make it "good" or "bad"?
It is up to us to manage our time in the sun so that we dont get burned, that is the lesson.
To say that the sun is either bad or good makes no sense, it just is. WE can also CHOOSE how we want to act, we can choose to be like the sun and give out love and warmth and light constantly and to the best of our ability, enriching those about us and creating positive feed back with those of a like mind, nature proves this, molecules and atoms have to be in accord, they have to be in the same vibration in order to take form and shape, bands have to be in tune to play beautiful music, dancers must be in sync to move together, you can be in accord with someone or discord, if you don't tune in your radio to the right station you get static and all kinds of noise, but when you hit that sweetspot..ahhh! the world is full of these truths, just as she is full of examples when we are out of phase ie war.
We choose this, we can make or destroy we are victims or victors The C's are a good source of infornation but they are still human, and not in possesion of all the facts.
They are merely us in the future and different dimension, oh i am sure that the veiw up there is very good and the benefits compared to our own position must be too many to count.
But they are far from Divine.
Better to seek the source as best one can by finding ones own path than to rely too much on the experiences of others. we dont get to "phone in" spirituality.
You all may disagree with me and thats fine,God is neither good or evil, but above both, they are the tools that the creator uses for work.
God made trolls for a reason and though they get up my nose as well (struggling human here) i will treat with them when they cross my path in the way that works for me, by applying my small knowledge of "The Rules" to the situation.
After all, we have all been trolls at some point.

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Internet trolls are narcissists, psychopaths, and sadists

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