Summary by Jamie Knowles and Dr. Nicola Gray
Sest, N., & March, E. (2017). Constructing the cyber-troll: Psychopathy, sadism, and empathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 119, 69-72.
Background and aims
The internet is an increasingly popular vehicle for socialising and communicating, and this has given rise to new forms of online, antisocial behavior. One of these forms of antisocial online behavior is known as trolling. Online trolling is the act of deliberately provoking others using deception and harmful behavior online, which often results in conflict, highly emotional reactions, and disruption of communication (Hardaker, 2010). The primary purpose of trolling is usually to advance the “troll’s” own amusement (Sest & March, 2017). Previous research has suggested that the negative impact of trolling on victims is more severe than traditional antisocial behaviors and it can have a longer lasting impact on the victim (Park, Na, & Kim, 2014). Therefore, it is important for research to try and understand the factors that cause people to engage in online trolling behaviors.
This study was interested in looking at factors that predicted involvement in online trolling behaviors. Specifically, they were interested in how psychopathic traits, sadism (the tendency to derive pleasure from inflicting pain or suffering on others), affective empathy (the ability to experience, internalise and respond to the emotions of others) and cognitive empathy (the ability to recognise and understand another’s emotions) could predict engagement with online trolling behaviors. They predicted that higher levels of psychopathic traits and sadism would significantly predict engagement in trolling behaviors. They also predicted that lower levels of affective empathy and cognitive empathy would predict engagement in trolling behaviors.
What they did
They recruited 415 participants aged between 18 and 67 years (63% female, 36% male, 1% other). During the experiment, participants were asked to complete:
- A measure of trolling behaviors called the Global Assessment of Internet Trolling (GAIT; Buckels et al., 2014) that asks people to self-report their levels of online trolling.
- A measure of psychopathic traits called the Short Dark Triad – Psychopathy Subscale (Jones & Paulhus, 2014). This questionnaire contained nine questions that asked people to report their levels of various psychopathic traits.
- A measure of sadism called the Short Sadistic Impulse Scale (O’Meara, Davies, & Hammond, 2011). This questionnaire consists of 10 questions that assess sadistic behaviors and attitudes.
- A measure of empathy called the Empathy Quotient (EQ; Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004) that asks individuals to rate their levels of cognitive empathy, affective empathy and their social skills.
The authors then calculated participants’ scores on each of the questionnaires and looked at whether scores on the measures of psychopathy, sadism and empathy could predict participants’ scores on the measure of trolling.
What they found
They found that participants’ levels of psychopathy and sadism, significantly predicted engagement in online trolling behavior. This means that individuals with higher levels of psychopathic traits and higher levels of sadism were more likely to report that they engaged in online trolling behaviors.
Interestingly, both affective and cognitive empathy also predicted engagement in online trolling behavior, but not in the same way. High levels of affective empathy (being able to feel the emotions of others and respond to them) negatively predicted engagement with online trolling behavior. This means that the more affective empathy someone has, the less likely they are to engage in online trolling behavior. Conversely, high levels of cognitive empathy (being able to recognise and understand another’s emotions) predicted engagement with online trolling behavior. This means that the more cognitive empathy someone has, the more likely they are to engage in online trolling behaviors.
What it means
This study aimed to see how psychopathic traits, sadism, affective empathy and cognitive empathy predicted engagement in online trolling behaviors. As the authors predicted, high levels of psychopathic traits predicted greater involvement with online trolling behaviors. The authors believe that the impulsive, thrill-seeking, and callous nature of psychopathic individuals act as central motivators to engage in online trolling behaviors.
Also in line with the authors’ original predictions was the fact that high levels of sadism predicted trolling behavior online. This finding suggests that online trolling behavior is often motivated by an enjoyment of inflicting pain and suffering on others online (Buckels, Jones, & Paulhus, 2013).
The way in which empathy predicted online trolling behavior was especially interesting. As the authors predicted, affective empathy was a negative predictor of trolling behavior. This negative relationship between affective empathy and trolling suggests that “trolls” do not feel or experience the emotional experience of their victims. This is likely a crucial aspect to trolling because if trolls did empathise with their victim and felt the negative emotions that they were inflicting, they would be less likely to engage in such behavior.
Contrary to what the authors predicted, cognitive empathy positively predicted the perpetration of online trolling behaviors. This finding suggests that “trolls” are often high in cognitive empathy and can easily recognise and understand the emotions their victims are experiencing. Being able to recognise and understand the emotions people are experiencing online is likely to allow trolls to: 1) develop effective methods of angering, embarrassing, or upsetting their victims; and 2) allow them to determine whether they have succeeded in having emotionally manipulated their victim.
Conclusion
This study showed that the prototypical troll is often high in self-reported trait psychopathy and sadism, has high cognitive empathy and low affective empathy. It appears that people who try to provoke and upset others online can cognitively understand the emotional distress they cause through their trolling behavior without empathising with their victim’s emotional suffering.
Summary by Jamie Knowles and Dr. Nicola Gray
