The Psychology Behind Trolling

Jim2007 · 28-06-2023 4:05pm #1

So I googled: "Why do people troll psychology?" in a effort to try and understand some of the trolling nonsense we have to deal with here everyday and came up with this:

"A psychoanalytic study suggests that people with antisocial, narcissistic behaviour and sadistic personality disorder are more likely to perpetrate trolling behaviour. These people derive pleasure and enjoyment from being intentionally cruel to others." - The International Psychology Clinic

So here is the thing, if a person was outed for trolling, would an employer be justified in terminating them on the basis that as an employer they are required to maintain a safe working environment for all of their employees and continuing to employ that person is not in keeping with that requirement.

z80CPU · 28-06-2023 4:11pm

My 0.02

Design a similar procedure to when a worker is found to be accessing porn on their work computer.

Is there a lot of trolling evidence on the workers computer

Is the worker trolling a child or vulnerable person?

28-06-2023 4:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058302797/the-psychology-behind-trolling

I would say a fair few are just having a laugh ( in their opinion ) and its immaturity as well, I do think social media use should be a factor for some employment, especially anything that indicates issues with women or the type that rave or threaten violence at politicians and other public figures.

I do wonder about anyone working in a multinational, financial institution, or any large organisation having a dating profile saying they are looking for tea or only looking for tea, now posters are going to say that's their private life however they are going to be working with a people, and if a male-only looking for tea, its extremely immature and the fact that they have a public profile saying the same and don't seem to connect all the dots as regards their career says a lot about them.

Musicrules · 28-06-2023 4:29pm

I've read some of the OP's posts, the following line; "These people derive pleasure and enjoyment from being intentionally cruel to others", describes the OP very well from what I've seen. Maybe that's why he was looking into this, self diagnosing.

28-06-2023 4:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120778643#Comment_120778643

If anyone is accessing porn on a work computer it should be a sackable offense but today most work computers would have that blocked along with gambling sites and similar, if they are doing it on a personal tablet or phone again, it is a stackable offense, for two reasons it's a work environment, and the lack of awareness that they should not be doing something like that in a workplace.

Thelonious Monk · 28-06-2023 4:34pm

Irish Twitter is now a complete cesspit when anything to do with the environment, immigration, or climate change comes up. Or LGBTQ+ issues or anything like that. The amount of bile and hatred is unbelievable.

Twitter allows people to air views that they'd never air in public, so are they really trolling or just in an environment where they can express how they really feel? Albeit hidden behind a fake avatar.

28-06-2023 4:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120778787#Comment_120778787

I dont use Twitter but id say ita a mixture of both.

windowcills · 28-06-2023 5:06pm

Yore ma!!!!!!!

(Please dont kill me, this is after hours)

One eyed Jack · 28-06-2023 5:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058302797/the-psychology-behind-trolling

So here is the thing, if a person was outed for trolling, would an employer be justified in terminating them on the basis that as an employer they are required to maintain a safe working environment for all of their employees and continuing to employ that person is not in keeping with that requirement.

Couldn’t that only be decided by an employment tribunal? An employer may feel their actions were justified, the employee may not, and ultimately it would be up to a tribunal to decide the outcome based upon applying the law to the facts in each case.

This lad IMO was trolling, but his employers didn’t cover themselves in glory either -

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/643feb4b6dda69000d11e0b3/Mr_M_Harding_v_Bright_Horizons_Family_Solutions_Limited_3315294.2020_final_Reserved_Judgment.pdf

Daily Mail link:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11994771/amp/Nursery-chef-30-won-unfair-dismissal-sex-discrimination-tribunal-sacked-wh.html

Greyfox · 28-06-2023 6:26pm

Trolls are immature d**kheads but you can't sack someone just for been a d**khead

28-06-2023 6:50pm

For the lols I would imagine.

Jequ0n · 28-06-2023 7:08pm

Possibly one of the most ridiculous OPs I have read in a while. Congratulations.

Arthur Pants · 28-06-2023 7:30pm

A fair few trolls in that scat thread.

suvigirl · 28-06-2023 7:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120778825#Comment_120778825

I don't use it either, but monitor for different reasons & it is a horrendous mix of racist, far right loudmouth and the few people that are still there since the beginning, decent alright souls, getting drowned out by hate.

Arthur Pants · 28-06-2023 7:35pm

Anyone with the '#bekind' in social media or footer or whatever is a blatant troll.

28-06-2023 7:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120779496#Comment_120779496

You have 22 posts and joined in March 2023!!!

Arthur Pants · 28-06-2023 8:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120779527#Comment_120779527

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

RonanG86 · 28-06-2023 8:19pm

The psychology of trolling is this, 95% of the time.

Questions?

Quantum Erasure · 28-06-2023 9:18pm

First, you've got to define what 'trolling' is, OP.

Mrs OBumble · 28-06-2023 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120779961#Comment_120779961

This.

For a good many people, trolling is expressing any opinion that someone doesn't like.

For example, in a previous job I worked with a lot of petrol heads. It would have been inappropriate for me to say at morning tea that I believe motorsport amount to raping the planet. Would it be trolling though? What if I post it on-line, and my colleagues could identify it was me? How is that different to expressing support for Sinn Fein, or an anti-abortion sentiment?

One eyed Jack · 29-06-2023 3:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120780206#Comment_120780206

For a good many people, trolling is expressing any opinion that someone doesn't like.

But you know trolling is more than that because you’re able to give an example when you knew it would be inappropriate to express your genuinely held beliefs about motorsport while the petrolheads were having their morning tea. Trolling isn’t a difficult concept - the idea of expressing an opinion with the intent of provoking a negative reaction, as opposed to attempting to engage in a constructive manner.

One example which demonstrates the difference quite starkly is this interview where the interviewer is genuinely trying to engage in a constructive manner, whereas the Pastor is just knocking it out of the park in terms of trolling behaviour 😂

https://youtu.be/4Q4O5ztz92o

Grayson · 29-06-2023 6:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120780206#Comment_120780206

Trolling is where you don't care about the debate, you just want an emotional response.

I see some of it here but a lot in US politics. You see a lot of people on twitter/facebook who just want to "own the libs". The same is true about the other side too but to a lesser degree. I've heard it described as the politics of humiliation. It's just people who want to score points but not win the argument. Trump is great at it. He just says insulting **** that his fanboys lap up. Because of him it's gone mainstream in the US.

29-06-2023 7:32am

A lot of people take the internet far too seriously and start to think that anyone who doesn’t share their very same views is somehow a troll. They get really worked up and start to display truly unhinged behaviour.

The suggestion that they put down the phone and find something more rewarding to do with their life never lands with them. They start new message boards, fantasise about doxxing, keep re-registering etc.

Not healthy.

riclad · 29-06-2023 2:26pm

A troll is a person who posts negative content ,maybe racist or anti feminist or likes to post comments that insults other people to get a reaction

Just making rude jokes or disagreeing with someone is not trolling

Some people are conservative liberal or somewhere in the middle trolls post extreme content to get a reaction

Trolls also spread misinformation about topics like vaccines or immigrants or election fraud

There's something wrong at work if you can spend hours on message boards or social media arguing about random subjects instead of working

Some Trolls maybe paid by political groups to spread misinformation about politicians or post content that is negative or false about climate change

I'm in the interest of certain company's to say solar power is not necessary or too expensive to maintain versus using oil or gas

BrianD3 · 29-06-2023 3:25pm

Strange thread, is this some sort of bait by the OP hoping that other posters will call HIM a troll so that they can be banned?

There is a spectrum with trolling. The likes of death threats at the extreme end. Whereas on boards it's more lower level stuff - sneering, snarky rubbish from long standing users with many of their "contributions" coming during work hours.

If I was employing someone I would be interested to know if they are w*nkers to other people on the internet and/or spending large amounts of time arguing on the internet. If I thought that this was affecting their focus on their work, I'd have to take action.

30-06-2023 8:31am

Remember when trolls just use to be these things...

I use to collect them. I had a huge one and he was dressed in a suit and had a cigar. When I was a bit older we were doing up my bedroom and I was going to throw my teddies out...I can't remember something like that and the giant suit troll was taken from the back garden. I didn't notice until I was walking home one day and there were travellers who were living at the side of the road for a few months and there he was outside the caravan on the side of the road...my troll!

tesla_newbie · 30-06-2023 8:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120779961#Comment_120779961

An opinion some people don’t like

tesla_newbie · 30-06-2023 8:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782821#Comment_120782821

So opinions you don’t like

vacines ( Covid kind) are proving inconclusive in terms of the desired effect , they certainly weren’t the winning formula they were originally heralded as

not agreeing with feminism is a perfectly legitimate position as feminism is largely just another shade of progressive politics and being progressive isn’t mandatory

immigration is a contentious issue and labelling people who see it as an issue as “ racist “ has long been a silencing tactic which thankfully has become almost completely ineffectual

Tell me how · 30-06-2023 10:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120786043#Comment_120786043

proving inconclusive in terms of the desired effect

This is a flat out lie.

The rest isn't much better but at least you can argue it's just your opinion.

Dohnjoe · 30-06-2023 10:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120778787#Comment_120778787

People are more likely to express an extreme opinion online than a neutral one. Social media, especially those with lower rules, is a conduit for that.

It pushes fringe "conversation" into main discourse and gives it oxygen, which is also why we're seeing a rise of populism politics.

I remember in the 90's, prior to the internet, when scientists discovered the Ozone hole was depleting. Governments asked what to do, scientists told them, they did it, Ozone hole started (gradually) shrinking. If this happened now, there'd be a large denial element poisoning the well, movements against it, conspiracies, debate, etc.

Social media has really weaponized fringe opinions and counterfactual stuff.

30-06-2023 10:35am

He was like this size troll...

...only he had a grey suit and shirt..can't remember if he had a Dickie Bow or Tie and then he had a little cigar in his fingers.

30-06-2023 11:02am

Oh and grey hair also. Pink hair would have clashed with the suit. He was quite serious as far as trolls go.

Grayson · 30-06-2023 12:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120786371#Comment_120786371

I do wonder though, how much is trolling and how much is genuine.

By that I mean traditionally trolls just want to get an emotional response. They don't care about how right or wrong they are. Now it's more that people who care about the topics are adopting the tactics of trolls.

For example, I'm in favor of trans rights. (People, there are plenty of other threads about trans rights, let's not turn this into one). There are times when I'm on twitter and I'll express an opinion that trans rights are ok. Then a pile on happens. One day a load of the replies I got were people who said I'm an abuser because the only way someone can be in favor of trans rights is because they want to be able to get into a woman's bathroom so they can assault someone. And no, I didn't say anything else, just that I supported trans rights.

Now, we can all agree, that's one hell of an escalation. But I think that a few of the people saying things like that, actually believed it. A lot of the people might be genuinely against trans rights, but don't believe what they're saying when they accuse some randomer of being an abuser. And there might be a few who have no interest in the topic at all and just wanted to be nasty. (And before anyone says it, I'm sure that there's examples of it going in the other direction too).

Trolls used to be mainly the last group, the people who didn't care. It's shifted. Trolling has been weaponised for politics.

Strumms · 30-06-2023 1:00pm

Trolls you’ll find once they are uncovered and found out ….

“ ohhh I’m being bullied “

” ohhh my mental health “

their playbook is incredibly predictable.

Dohnjoe · 30-06-2023 1:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120787043#Comment_120787043

Indeed, a portion of people simply enjoy being contrarians out of spite.

Furze99 · 30-06-2023 1:15pm

The classic troll is best thought of as a ‘wind up merchant’, a ‘**** stirrer’. They’ll write or say anything to poke a response.

But trolling on boards seems to be defined as someone posting an opinion that another poster or a mod doesn’t like or agree with. Particularly those who are thin skinned and often looking to take offence.

Strumms · 30-06-2023 1:26pm

Them needing and requiring an emotive response, attention, to be… seen, heard, involved, notorious … to be difficult, challenging…negatively impactful ..

Other people today…might have things to do, plans to formulate….like I dunno

buy a new microwave

meet a friend

look at flights for x trip

work out

The Psychology Behind Trolling

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