In Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore, a troll is an ugly being that hides under bridges or in rocks. They have claws and harm humans whenever they get the chance. An internet troll is a person who posts hateful mean comments online. They hide under pseudonyms to avoid real-life repercussions.
According to a 2014 study by psychologists Erin Buckels, Paul Trapnell and Delroy Paulhus, trolls have what is referred to as the dark triad of personality traits. In their article Trolls Just Want to Have Fun they state, “trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores.” Sadism means enjoying causing harm to others. Psychopathy is an antisocial personality disorder that includes little to no feelings of remorse, guilt or empathy. Machiavellianism means a person is, in general, deceitful and manipulative.
Our image of people who have the dark triad traits is typically based on characters from movies or crime shows. They are portrayed as serial killers or mob bosses. In reality, most are sad, disconnected, bitter people who feel a need for, yet lack, social influence. No surprise there considering they are never well-liked people or strong contributors to society.
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trolls, bullying, cyber-bullying, sadism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism,
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