Trolls On Social Networks: Social Profile

What drives a person to attack others on the web? What makes a troll on social networks ? Why are there people with this negative and harmful nature, who have found their  perfect habitat on the net? Some people are well aware that their comments are direct assaults, but they write them anyway, just for fun.

A study conducted by the Faculty of Health Sciences and Psychology of the Australian University of Mount Helen has highlighted the characteristic traits of these users defined as  trolls  on social networks .

The scholars analyzed the characteristics and social skills typical of men and women who exhibited this behavior. The results show that the trolls scored much higher than the other participants in two key aspects: psychopathy and cognitive empathy.

Trolls on social networks and psychopathy

Psychopathy is an antisocial personality disorder. The term is no longer used in the clinical setting and is beginning to be replaced by that of “sociopathy”.

The origin of this personality disorder is unclear. It appears to have a genetic component that could manifest itself in an affection-free environment during childhood. In addition, hypotheses are made about certain brain alterations of the frontal lobe, caused by malformations, diseases or brain injuries.

Psychologist Rober Hare conducted a research study on psychopathy that lasted over thirty years. His studies highlighted a number of common characteristics that define people with this disorder.

These are subjects who tend to get bored, who need constant stimulation and who are unable to plan long-term goals. They are manipulative and want to feel powerful and able to control others. They manifest several narcissistic traits.

They have severe impulse control deficits and react in an angry manner. They manifest difficulties in assimilating social and moral norms, although in many cases they display a false social adaptation with a very superficial personal charm.

They have strong self-esteem. Inflicting pain on others causes them pleasure. It is a disorder that occurs in both men and women, although statistically it is more frequent in men. These subjects also appear to be completely devoid of empathy, although this is not quite the case. Now we will see why.

The dark side of empathy

Affective empathy and cognitive empathy are related but different cognitive processes in that they activate different brain areas. There are psychometric tests that measure each specific type of empathy, such as the BES (Basic Empathy Scale), and which are very effective in assessing the type and level of empathy of an individual.

Affective empathy is in turn divided into:

• Parallel : the ability to know how the other person feels and also to experience their own emotions.
• Reactive : in addition to the previous skills, whoever possesses it is also able to react to the result, as if it were the person directly concerned.

Both types involve the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain. Let’s talk about a “warm” empathy. The troll on social networks is totally devoid of this kind of empathy.

But there is also a cold empathy, known as cognitive empathy and not particularly famous. It is the one owned to a large extent by the troll on social networks. Also known as “perspective taking”, it is the ability to know what the other feels without the affective component.

That is to say, the subject feels the suffering of others; indeed, it is thanks to this empathy that the troll on social networks is able to predict and recognize the emotional suffering of its victims and to use it to do as much harm as possible. This disorder affects two areas of the brain: the prefrontal cortex and the posterior parietal cortex, both of which are associated with reasoning and decision making.

A hand grenade

These two traits, united in the same subject, represent a powerful explosive. What is certain is that trolls on social networks are people full of poison. Poison that they feel the need to inject to others, protecting themselves with anonymity so as not to drown in their own poison. And often they succeed.

Other similar studies have found that some topics particularly appeal to these people. In many cases they do not even read what they comment or they do so by interpreting the content in their own way, as it suits them best.

There are still no studies that can tell us how to stop this phenomenon, although not responding to their attacks seems to be the best weapon to discourage their unpleasant behavior.