Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans?
The main objective of the article is to attempt to provide a more sociological explanation of why some people attack and insult others online, i.e., considering not only their personality structure but also social and situational factors. The main theoretical dichotomy we built on is between powerfu...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Politics and Governance |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/5790 |
| _version_ | 1797974613645328384 |
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| author | Monika Verbalyte Christoph Keitel Christa Howard |
| author_facet | Monika Verbalyte Christoph Keitel Christa Howard |
| author_sort | Monika Verbalyte |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The main objective of the article is to attempt to provide a more sociological explanation of why some people attack and insult others online, i.e., considering not only their personality structure but also social and situational factors. The main theoretical dichotomy we built on is between powerful high‐status and low‐on‐empathy “bullies” trolling others for their own entertainment, and people who are socially isolated, disempowered, or politically involved, therefore feel attacked by others’ beliefs and opinions expressed online, and troll defensively or reactively instead of primarily maliciously. With an MTurk sample of over 1,000 adult respondents from the US, we tested these assumptions. We could confirm that there are two categories and motivations for trolling: for fun and more defensive/reactive. Further, we checked how strongly precarious working conditions, low social status, social isolation, and political as well as religious affiliation of the person increase or decrease the probability of trolling as well as enjoyment levels from this activity. We controlled for personality traits, social media use and patterns, as well as sociodemographic factors. We could confirm that political identities and religiosity increase the likelihood of, but not the enjoyment of trolling; however, socio‐economic factors do not have the same differentiating effect. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:22:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-46fab37172294cb380327e902bc05ca6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2463 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:22:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Politics and Governance |
| spelling | doaj.art-46fab37172294cb380327e902bc05ca62022-12-30T11:33:51ZengCogitatioPolitics and Governance2183-24632022-12-0110439641010.17645/pag.v10i4.57902848Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans?Monika Verbalyte0Christoph Keitel1Christa Howard2Interdisciplinary Center for European Studies, GermanyInterdisciplinary Center for European Studies, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Texas State University, USAThe main objective of the article is to attempt to provide a more sociological explanation of why some people attack and insult others online, i.e., considering not only their personality structure but also social and situational factors. The main theoretical dichotomy we built on is between powerful high‐status and low‐on‐empathy “bullies” trolling others for their own entertainment, and people who are socially isolated, disempowered, or politically involved, therefore feel attacked by others’ beliefs and opinions expressed online, and troll defensively or reactively instead of primarily maliciously. With an MTurk sample of over 1,000 adult respondents from the US, we tested these assumptions. We could confirm that there are two categories and motivations for trolling: for fun and more defensive/reactive. Further, we checked how strongly precarious working conditions, low social status, social isolation, and political as well as religious affiliation of the person increase or decrease the probability of trolling as well as enjoyment levels from this activity. We controlled for personality traits, social media use and patterns, as well as sociodemographic factors. We could confirm that political identities and religiosity increase the likelihood of, but not the enjoyment of trolling; however, socio‐economic factors do not have the same differentiating effect.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/5790negative politicsonline deviancepolitical affiliationpowerlessnesssocial mediatrollingusa |
| spellingShingle | Monika Verbalyte Christoph Keitel Christa Howard Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans? Politics and Governance negative politics online deviance political affiliation powerlessness social media trolling usa |
| title | Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans? |
| title_full | Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans? |
| title_fullStr | Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans? |
| title_short | Online Trolls: Unaffectionate Psychopaths or Just Lonely Outcasts and Angry Partisans? |
| title_sort | online trolls unaffectionate psychopaths or just lonely outcasts and angry partisans |
| topic | negative politics online deviance political affiliation powerlessness social media trolling usa |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/5790 |
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