Trolls can dish it but they can’t take it.
People with dark humor and other cruel personality traits are more likely to engage in online trolling, according to a new study — yet they don’t appreciate their antagonism turned back on them.
Published in the journal Behavioral Sciences, the findings indicate that people who possess a dark sense of humor are also more likely to demonstrate sadism and Machiavellianism.
Online trolling is a social behavior characterized by deception and disruption. A troll aims to incite controversy where there may be none for no other reason than to enjoy watching others turn against each other.
Researchers Sophie Voisey and Sonja Heintz of the University of Plymouth suspected that those who seek to engage with dark humor and trolling online may also exhibit other malevolent traits, together dubbed the Dark Tetrad — narcissism, sadism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.
After completing several personality assessments, the results from 165 UK university students proved that individuals who veer toward dark humor exhibited higher levels of all four Dark Tetrad traits, with an emphasis on Machiavellianism and sadism. Moreover, those with pronounced sadism were particularly good at creating dark humor, i.e. trolling.
Nevertheless, while such individuals relished in the psychological torture of others, they took little enjoyment in being the target of another’s trolling, the results showed.
“This illustrates the potential dark psychological motivations behind the appreciation and use of dark humor. Moreover, online trolling appeared to be underpinned by certain aspects of dark humor,” the study authors concluded in their report.
“This research also allowed for deeper insights into online trolls. Interestingly, online trolls did not appear to enjoy being trolled, but they enjoy trolling, highlighting a disconnect between the two experiences. Overall, these results indicate that dark humor may be fueled by dark motivations (e.g., sadistic/Machiavellian ones) and that online trolling is related to darker forms of humor.”
