Troll Psychology: A discussion on ‘internet bullying’
An interesting suggestion was put forward to me on Yahoo answers the other day by ‘Patricia’ who said that I should write an article about internet bullying and more specifically why the internet bullies; or trolls are compelled to purposely to post inflammatory comments on websites in the first place. Please be warned that this article does contain some strong language, if you are easily offended please do not read any further.
What is a troll?
Before we begin we need to define exactly what a troll is. According to Wikipedia a troll is “In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”
The definition in my opinion is spot on but it certainly doesn’t tell us what motivates an internet troll. Not being one myself I can not really tell you with any kind of first person experience. I can offer you the opinions of others though.
Why so aggressive?
In my own opinion I do not think there is any singular reason why people feel like they need to be trying to insult others on the internet but rather a combination of a number of factors. A very nice article about exactly this came from Michael Marshall of the prestigious New Scientist publication back in 2007. You can read the full post here but here are some points that I found interesting:
“Social psychologists have known for decades that, if we reduce our sense of our own identity; a process called deindividuation, we are less likely to stick to social norms. For example, in the 1960s Leon Mann studied a nasty phenomenon called “suicide baiting“, when someone threatening to jump from a high building is encouraged to do so by bystanders. Mann found that people were more likely to do this if they were part of a large crowd, if the jumper was above the 7th floor, and if it was dark. These are all factors that allowed the observers to lose their own individuality.”
“Another obvious factor is that, if you insult someone online, it’s unlikely you’ll face any physical retaliation for it. Epley compares the resulting psychological distance to being isolated inside a car, another situation that seems to make people more prone to abusiveness.”
Anonymity
John Gabriel of Penny Arcade sums up the apparent effects of anonymity on the internet nicely with his 2004 illustration titled “John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory”.
Be glad for anonymity, it's why you still have teeth.
Anonymity on the internet is what makes the internet so great but dangerous at the same time. The internet brings freedom of speech to everyone without fear of any kind of physical consequence. We can say exactly what we are thinking on the internet without any inhibition at all. It is almost comparable to being drunk. After a few drinks most people tend feel a lot less socially inhibited and socialise freely, after a few more drinks some people may start saying things that they wouldn’t normally in a sober state. This quite often leads to violence or social rejection, something that doesn’t have to be considered when dealing with strangers on the internet.
With freedom of speech and anonymity we are able to escape all of societies rules. We are able to disregard what it is to behave in a socially acceptable manner. So absolutely anonymity is the enabling factor in such behaviour as that of an internet troll.
But the question “Why do it?” still remains. It seems that even the trolls themselves are unable to answer the question:
“I’ve been a professional troll and hater for like 10 years. My favorite is on halo microphone, victims can hear the tone of my hate too. I never knew why I was like this. – Posted by anonymous”
So I went troll hunting to see if I could get an answer to my question. So far I have been unsuccessful in finding one that is willing to talk, or atleast offer any kind of valuable insight.
“Looking for a reformed internet troll!?” read the headline on Yahoo! Answers. Here are the responses I received so far.
“Sense of pride and superiority that everyone is looking/reading your question. – Black British”
“Its funny and the @ssholes on here are only here because of the trolls. We make their pathetic lives more interesting. – Ben-A”
“Sorry don’t know any losers. – ILUV@MAK”
“Ask Sydney @ Level 3 – ?Freefr?…”
So far the responses I have had are pretty mediocre so if you are a self-confessed troll let me know your opinion in the comments below or send me and e-mail via the contact page.
eHow.com has provided a bit of a tongue-in-cheek article titled “How to become an internet troll“. With such handy advice as:
Tags: anti-social behaviour, baiting, bully, bullying, discussion, emotional, extraneous, freedom of speech, halo, inflammatory, insight, insult, language, new scientist, offensive, online community, provocative, provoke, psychology, slang, social, society, suicide, suicide baiting, troll, trolling, yahooContribute nothing of value to the discussion forum. As a good troll, your goal is to abuse the members psychologically and provoke negative reactions out of them. Go big or don’t go in at all. Have fun with it, when someone counter-attacks, get playful with them–nothing pisses off someone in a rage than when you joke around with them.
LOL F*ck You
Just kidding because I am a successful troll.
I have recently been called a “Troll” on a (real world) party by a feminist woman. I think it must have been related to her having signs of “borderline personality disorder” and me using techniques from “pickup&seduction” which invokes provoking emotional reactions. I you are interested in this troll issue i encourage you to read about these things because they both go deep into psychology…
Old post but I found this on google and had to put in my 2 cents. Everyone gets annoyed by certain groups of people even if they are harmless. Like jehovas witnesses, have you never thought of the fun that could be derived by messing around with them abit? Or people cold calling your house, even though there just making a living don’t you occasionaly want to shout at them? Trolling is a way to get too a group of people or people in general without a way of them getting you back. Too perfect.
I love psychology. Trolling doesn’t work on me, but it’s an interesting issue because it can bring about a desired response from other people. It can be used in a non-provocative way to make someone do something you want or say something that they’re holding back.
It’s very complicated to get someone to tell you withheld information. You have to go about it in the complete opposite way that you might think you need to go about it.
Thanks for the comment Brian. What you said makes sense, I never really thought about it that way. You have posted what is possibly the most intelligent comment on this site thus far. LOL.
Thanks for reading mate.
- Ben
nice article, trolls rule
I came here via google because I encountered a quite angry abusive and relentless troll on a facebook group just today and decided after being a youtube member for 5 years (where all the trolls go to play!) to finally try and figure out what exactly motivates them to be like this. I don’t get offended by trolls and I don’t get co-erced into lashing out at them in retaliation these days I just find it tiresome and irritating – like a mosquito flying about your head.
I will admit though 7 years ago I used to get into complete fits of anger fighting with trolls but I realised all it did was ruin my internet experience. These days if getting frustrated with an interference to forum discussion from a troll I keep myself calm with the realisation that they can’t possibly be happy people (yes they get kicks off rubbing people up the wrong way on the net) but deep down are they happy. No – they’re spiteful miserable people with either low self esteem/self hate/suffering lack of love or attention etc and that suspicion actually makes me happy. Actually the more they troll the happier I get imagining how sucky their life must be. Makes me sound a bit sick and twisted but it’s an awesome coping mechanism. So these days I’m the one who wins, not the trolls.
Psychology of trolling –
– need for attention – why – lack of parental or early life attention or love
– possibly a result of ostracism – here are some notes I made recently from a talk I heard about OSTRACISM
painful to be ostracised
Stage 1
the sufferer initially is overeager to please
they socially become more sensitive to others
and have more accurate senses
If ostracism continues they can turn nasty – possible Stage 2
– they develop the need to exert influence – even violent – turn angry and aggressive
– if you lack control over your situation you can become more nasty/aggressive
So they initially try to be likeable then later become violent
The cure – Form a few good friendships and build from there
Trolls do what they want to do and say what they say for as many reasons as there are trolls; each and every individual has their own reasons to troll some place, but when you boil it all down, in general it is all for one of four reasons.
What I believe to be the most common reasons is essentially ‘For the Lulz’; trolls troll simply because its fun for them to troll others. Simple as that.
Sometimes a troll might be trying to impress someone else with their ‘prowess’ at manipulating people that they do not know. Others do it because they think it would be fun, ‘playing’ the people they troll like a game. Childish curiosity and experimentation become a factor here too – ‘what happens when I do this?’ or ‘what happens hen I say this?’.
Even if the results of such an action have been established, they crave the confirmation (empirical proof) that such an action would lead to that result – crude scientific methods are used in lieu of actual experimentation.
The feeling that you’re ignored fuels the need for attention, leading to another possible cause for trolling – they do not want to provoke a emotional response, that’s just a ‘bonus’ – ultimately being a vehicle to get the trolls more attention, the knowledge that they are being watched is in itself a reward for them.
In short: Entertainment, self gratification, curiosity and attention are the essences of what I believe to be the motivations of a troll to troll.
fuck doodle = faggot troll. fail troll is fail. dickwad
Amusing but useless. Everyone can identify anti-social behavior when they see it and understand anonymity encourages it. But WHY DO THEY DO IT? Any clue? Any at all?
I’m a very happy person irl but I get on the internet and troll because it’s hilarious. Making a pointless inflammatory comment and witnessing how people take it so seriously is very amusing. It’s just the internet really and half of the people on it are full of garbage, I really don’t know why people get so mad sometimes. It baffles me as to how some people on the internet manage to even walk down the street without bursting into a fit of rage.
Anyway, the best thing to do when you’re being trolled is to ignore it and not take it too seriously. It’s really not worth your time and the person is obviously doing it because they’re bored.
I believe two things about internet trolling. 1) almost everyone with a computer has done it to a greater or lesser degree 2) Trolling gives people a sense of empowerment. How many people truly have power over their own lives in our extremely hierarchal real world? For example, how many of us have any power to control the use of, or price of, basic commodities such as fuel, food, rent/mortgage? Additionally we are forced to pay exorbitant insurance rates on every thing we own (in the United States). Combine this lack of power over our economic lives with the lack of respect most of receive at work and I am am not surprised at all that trolls abound on the internet.
Trolling is excellent revenge on any group that has irritated the troll. In fact the group the troll is trolling may have caused no irritation what so ever. I suspect most trolls could care less what a chat group is about, the group is just a convenient victim the troll can vent his spleen on. A successful trolling brings a sense of empowerment and revenge. I suspect most trolls are not aware of (nor would admit if they knew) their real anger is at a society (or a segment of a society) that has otherwise abused, enfeebled or alienated them.
Trolling is not all bad, it’s a social release valve for the temporary (to a lesser or greater degree) malcontented (albeit some trolls seem to be permanent malcontents) The elites of our world should be thanking God on their knees for the internet. It gives people a pressure valve to vent their frustrations, otherwise, with the economic dislocations since 2008, we’d all be at war with each other.
Hello, my name is Anne Hiro,
and I am an expert on psychology. I have been studying psychology for roughly 3 months (which is more experience than most people on this site have), but I have taken a short break in recent days, as my best friend died from a Marijuana overdose.
It is common knowledge that trolls originated from the website known as Ebaumsworld, where the original ancestors of today’s internet trolls were incredibly rich and accomplished white males in their late fourties.
Malicious they were, but unhappy? They were anything but unhappy. For they had wealth, power, and beautiful wives (we can only assume that they had wild sex every night with their big-breasted wives).
Once or twice a week, these distinguished gentlemen would gather around the hearth, with their expensive laptops and wireless internet connections, and troll until the wee hours of the morning. It was a noble tradition, one that provided thousands of hours of entertainment for the gentlemen and their sons. The noble art of trolling was passed down through the generations, spreading happiness and “lulz” wherever it ended up. And that, dear reader, is the true history of trolling.
Let’s pull a Phoenix Wright and turn the question on its head.
Why do people on the internet react the way that they do to trolling?
Every time I read a comments board I’m blown away by the vitriol that’s thrown out there, even on the most sedate website. It seems that internet comments boards have become a forum for the angry, the ignorant and the extreme. While many of us would like to see the internet as a global dialogue, in fact it seens more like a billion little soapboxes that let people scream out at the world without having to hear anyone else. In fact, I wonder if it’s having a bigger effect on the world. Perhaps this culture of trolling and flaming can be linked to the direction politics seems to be taking; both in the US and here in Australia. It seems that in the past few years politics have become more polarized, but various positions have less base in fact and the public seem more happy than ever to just get behind the rhetoric without thinking about what they’re screaming about.
Or maybe that’s always been the case
I think trolling is like any other crime that hurt people intentionally and should be punished as such, website providers where such person plant himself, should prohibit or otherwise track these people and report to authorities and their internet providers, to pay for example a big fine to the we site where they did that, to be refused by the internet company to provide internet services to such people and in cases when they effect someone badly, should be taken to court and even get a jail time, it’s time everyone take this seriously, internet been around long enough and it’s time for authoroties and everyone to let these people know what will happen to them if they choose to hurt others for fun or because they are bored, there are kids that take that kind of mental abuse seriously and end their lives, it’s time to stop all and everyone who do such things for fun, just like you would stop anyone who hurt others in real life.IMHO, peace.
People who think its funny to screw with others are sad and pathetic. The “lulz” excuse is just lame. If you are such a jerk that you enjoy making other people angry and feel bad then I just feel pity for you. How sad a life must it be to need to do that. To get your only power while hidden behind a keyboard since you have no power or respect in real life. Sad…
I troll every now and then and will explain why. In real life I am a loser. I have no social life so I attempted to socialize on the internet by joining different groups/forums online. If you move around a lot and are not in school and your job sucks, it’s hard to socialize and actually make friends. The internet seems to be the place to do that. You search your interests and find people you have things in common with. But for some reason I still become the outcast. My threads get 0 replies but 20+ views. I ask a question get one or 2 replies while everyone else posts a thread gets 20+ replies. I feel enough rejection in real life for whatever reason so it hurts 20x as much when it happens on the internet. One example is that I had joined a Coonhound(dog) forum after I got one. People were nice and would “Welcome” me but whenever I asked a legit question or posted pics like others were doing, people skipped right over me. I tend to be an awesome pic taker so there was nothing wrong with the pics itself. But of course when a “regular” posted a pic everyone flocked to respond. It was the same thing over and over again. The best was when I posted a pic of my puppy that outgrew herbed but still tried to stuff herself in it. Not one reply although I do reply nicely to other people’s threads. About 2 months later a “regular” posted a similar pic of her pup being too big for her pillow. Everyone responded!
I couldn’t take it anymore. I guess I could’ve humiliated myself by making a post and asking why I had so many views and nobody cares enough to respond but I couldn’t do it. I waited a few weeks. Then posted a fake sob story claiming my dog died and how I am a failure as an owner. My dog isn’t dead but they don’t need to know that. Wow, finally did I actually get some replies to my thread. It was amazing. I never replied to any of them and never went back. I felt great. I guess it’s that troll “empowerment” feeling I felt.
It’s too bad people can’t be nicer online and just welcome and accept eachother as it is. I guess I’m one of the few that do. But the internet is like one big highschool where cliques form even when nobody knows what each other looks like. Now there are other forums I fit in perfectly fine on. It was just some where I had issues and I went into troll mode.
I wank, I troll. I’m so boooooooored.
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“Why so aggressive?” Lolwut a troll doesn’t give out aggression. Aggression = anger = butthurt, aggression is the state of the victim the one that is trolled. And an angry individual flaming is just a butthurt or an asshole, not a troll.
A real troll is a vile psychologist. He knows and examines the target to know its weakness in order to make it mad or under any emotional state the troll wants it to be just for the lulz. A real troll will never show emotion, unless he is acting for the sake of deceiving the target.
It’s all about psychological mind control. If you’re a master you would be pleased of how you managed to make the target do uncomfortable things and maybe commit suicide.
TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO “Arabs were 700% smarter than the avrage american and no where not all Muslim”
I know for a fact trolls feel bad about themselves. One lot of trolls are on a site and managed to get hold of my private number and read my texts etc. They set up fake profiles pretending to be from my home town insulting me. At first I was horrified because i believed it. But i have gained insight into these individuals and they have very low self esteem. They pretend to be other people because they don’t like being themselves. They are jealous of the successs and attractiveness of other people. They gave that away through comments they made. I still don’t like trolls but I feel a bit sorry for them too. They don’t have much of a life beyod their computer. Infact the ones I know don’t seem to leave their house! I sometimes argue with them at there really no point they are cowards who are hiding. Just ignore they pathetic and notworth it.
I understand where you guys are coming from, but you don’t have anymore information about a troll than they have about you. It might be easy to write them off as some lonely, self-hating loser in his mom’s basement, but chances are they just piss you off to get their kicks. You’re just talking shit about trolls so you can feel better about yourself. Which is eerily similar to what you accuse them of doing.
@Shogun1x
Yes but the act of trolling makes them a loser. A human being that gets their kicks of annoying other people isn’t exactly normal, something is wrong upstairs. Not to mention they do it because they know they’re anonymous and would never have the balls to “troll” in real life.
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@xvm “Not to mention they do it because they know they’re anonymous and would never have the balls to “troll” in real life.”
Not true. I do the same thing at work in an office building. I can’t stand the people I work with. All they do is whine and commplain about their kids, husband, health problems, their weight, their lives. It’s sickening.Sure I can ignore them but sometimes I’m just bored out of my mind and start saying all kinds of shit that I know will put them into a fit of rage and put their defenses up just because it’s true. I’m also a Scorpio and speaking my mind is also in my astrological sign. Sometimes I will also get involved in some kind of political debate and defend the less popular answer just to ruffle some feathers.