Study Shockingly Suggests Internet Trolls May Not Be Very Nice Or Particularly Mental

JMH · Mar 1, 2014

A new study from the University of Manitoba has shockingly claimed to have found that the Internet trolls we all know or love so well may not be very nice -- or particularly mentally healthy -- individuals in real life. The study tried to explore whether or not Internet trolls fell into the so called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).

Study Shockingly Suggests Internet Trolls May Not Be Very Nice Or Particularly Mentally Healthy In Real Life | Techdirt

Corrine · Mar 1, 2014

I think we've all run into people who seem to think that through anonymity they can say what they want. Fortunately, it doesn't happen often at the sites that I frequent. In fact, it seems that trolls were more common years ago than now.

I found this statistic surprising:

By contrast, 41.3 percent of Internet users were “non-commenters,” meaning they didn’t like engaging online at all.

AoN · Mar 2, 2014

I fall under that particular statistic, Corrine.

As for the overall study, the only question I have is: How many other people have performed a similar study before this one?

I do always find it humorous how often stuff like this shows up. It's pitiful how little the most "intelligent" people in our upper schools know so little about the world we so fondly call the Internet.

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Study Shockingly Suggests Internet Trolls May Not Be Very Nice Or Particularly Mental

JMH

Emeritus, Contributor

Corrine

Administrator,
Microsoft MVP,
Security Analyst

AoN

Internet Programmer

Study Shockingly Suggests Internet Trolls May Not Be Very Nice Or Particularly Mental

JMH

Emeritus, Contributor

Corrine

Administrator, Microsoft MVP, Security Analyst

AoN

Internet Programmer

Administrator,
Microsoft MVP,
Security Analyst