Decoding trolling behaviour

Psychologists labelling trolling as a deviant behaviour has only helped in institutionalising it as a problem and done little to help in solving it.

March 05, 2015 07:10 pm | Updated March 06, 2015 11:43 am IST

The rules or the codes of virtual social networking will always be a work-in-progress.

The rules or the codes of virtual social networking will always be a work-in-progress.

This is a blog post from

The idea of Internet is special. Unlike other institutions, it is disruptive; which is to say that it is independent of existing institutions. It provides a world that reminds us of the limitations of our own. The value systems we’ve adopted have very little impact in the virtual world as it brings together a community that has diverse backgrounds on a common platform. Social institutions, which dictate our actions and our thought process, have no place in a disruptive medium like the internet and trolls represent the highest form of ‘disruption’.

Internet as a medium will always be ‘disruptive’. It will always seem to be chaotic or wiggly however we try to try to straighten it out or ‘templatise’ it with our existing institutions. Therefore, the rules or the codes of virtual social networking will always be a work-in-progress.

Troll psyche

A study by the department of psychology of the University of Manitoba, revealed patterns of relations between trolling and the “Dark Tetrad” of personality traits: narcissism, sadism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism.

Buckels, E. E., et al. Trolls just want to have fun. Personality and Individual Differences (2014)

Two studies were conducted during the course of the research. One focused on predicting enjoyment of trolling, as opposed to other online social activities, such as debating and chatting and the other assessed enjoyment of each commenting activity, including trolling. The study found clear evidence that sadists tend to troll because they enjoy it and antisocial persons use technology more than others because it facilitates their nefarious goals.

Psychologists labelling trolling as a deviant behaviour only helps in institutionalising it as a problem and does little to solve it. These concepts only serve to identify the manifestations of a problem that is far more complex and entrenched.

To delve even deeper into the psyche of a troll, we need to understand two concepts and how, in the larger context, it helps him/her in the online space.

Deindividuation plays a key role in computer-mediated communications. An individual losing his/her sense of identity in a world that seems to have no institutions is prone to act in manner that is disjointed from social standards of conduct.

The second concept is confirmation bias – a cognitive bias that lets people to view, interpret the information in a manner that only supports their existing value system. Trolling serves as a therapy, an outlet to reinforce an individual’s position.

Political parties and their PR machineries on social media take advantage of this very inherent bias to leverage their campaigns. The majority of trolls do not care for the political party or what it stands for, but only for their idea of the party or for what they believe it stands for. It is a win-win situation for both: the parties get their share of advertisement; the troll gets his/her therapy.

A reflection we wish wasn’t true

Much of our problems involving trolling and its roots lie outside the domain of internet. It is a reflection of our own deepest insecurities in the form of abuses, trolling, and other passive aggressive behaviour. A mirror that is free from traditions, conditioning.

Regulation of internet, therefore, seems an exercise that only serves to treat the symptoms and not the cause. Any institution that aims at ‘templatising’ human experience and behaviour will always seem inadequate for this very reason: our actions or responses are a function of many variables that cannot be possibly symbolised in the form of language or symbols.

The proliferation of internet access has, in a way, reminded us of our insecurities as well. In secure and tolerant societies, the institution of the jester was always welcomed. He/she was to remind the society of its finitude and if necessary, even criticise the functioning of monarch or the government without being censured. It represented what we call a ‘leveller’ in the truest sense of the word. The institution of trolls can be placed at the other extreme of this spectrum. A troll is a by-product of an insecure society and internet, as a disruptive medium, provides space for them to flourish.

As >history suggests , institutions will be hijacked or used as vehicle by people who wield considerable power and internet, which represents true inclusiveness, is fast turning into a platform where people are discovering ways to actualise themselves and use it as a therapy - a reaction to and a reflection of the effect of the institutions that dictate our actions in the ‘real world’.

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