• Modified: Feb 7, 2025 • Read in: 8 mins
— By Dr. Sandip Roy.An internet troll can be the Devil’s henchman.
They have a distorted psychology. They don’t care how carefully you argue your ideas and points. This person is more against you than what you bring to the table — your arguments, ideas, opinions.
Three facts:
- Trolls pick out people who are overly sensitive to criticism.
- Target victims of online trolls are typically in the age range 18 to 29.
- Most trolls are gentle, almost timid people in real lives, unlike their evil online persona.
Trolling is the modern-day equivalent of a “town square flogging.” — Ronson, 2015
Evil Psychology of Internet Trolls: Toxic Nature of Trolling
An internet troll’s real intention is to trigger or intensify conflict for their fun.
Why are the online trolls so evil?
Trolls on the internet are evil because they:
- find humor or satisfaction humiliating vulnerable people in front of an audience.
- target people who may be depressed or lonely, coercing them into lethal self-harm.
- see their victims as online entities, not real-world people, to be dehumanized as they wish.
- are high on sadism and narcissism, and feel a sense of power to provoke emotional reactions.
- may suffer from low self-esteem or loneliness and use trolling to cope with their own insecurities.
How do the internet trolls operate?
Their usual modus operandi is as follows:
- Trolls use deception to bait a victim, writing opposing comments on their pet beliefs or “hot-button” topics. They leave mean comments on their victim’s social media posts to trigger negative reactions.
- They keep at it, choosing harsher words, triggering the person to overreact. They want to show how emotionally unstable and “trigger-prone” their target is.
- Once the victim gets back at the troll, it gives them the limelight they wanted.
- Then they harass the victim with intense insults, abuse, and bullying, trying to draw the audience to join in to attack the victim. Even the silence of the audience is enough to carry on their trolling.
- Success (of having “tasted blood”) makes them troll more often. They realize they can get away with their evil behavior because the internet gives them anonymity.
- A troll may not troll every time they go online for fear of being called out for habitual bullying.
What psychologists find on internet trolls?
- 40% of internet users have directly experienced online harassment, 73% have observed it happen to others, and 24% have witnessed someone being harassed for an extended period of time (Pew’s first survey on internet harassment, 2014)
- Men are higher in antisocial behavior online, including trolling (Zweig, Dank, Yahner, & Lachman, 2013).
- Trolling is an online activity similar to fishing, where instigators hang some bait (say something nasty) and watch as the world bites into this bait online (Klakegg et al., 2016).
- Trolls disrupt conversations by posting “divisive, sexist, racist, and xenophobic content” to hijack social media interaction (Shetty, 2016).
- The troll lures internet users into engaging in conversation to trick, belittle, or embarrass the target (Jay, 2018).
- Trolling behavior is linked to dark personalities — sadism, narcissism, psychopathy (ASPD), and Machiavellianism, with sadists having the strongest links to trolling (Evita March, 2019).
- Four critical characteristics of a troll—aggression, deception, disruption, and success (Hardaker, 2010).
A troller (i.e., troll) is a CMC (computer-mediated communication) user who constructs the identity of sincerely wishing to be part of the group in question …, but whose real intention(s) is/are to cause disruption and/or to trigger or exacerbate conflict for their own amusement. — Claire Hardaker, 2010
Are trolls the dark personalities of society?
Trolls are mostly sadists and psychopaths.
A Canadian study (“Trolls just want to have fun”) found most internet trolls have links with The Dark Tetrad of Personality — narcissists, psychopaths, sadists, and Machiavellians.
Research shows four main factors point to who might become an internet troll:
- High scores in sadism — they find pleasure in others’ pain ( Sest & March, 2017)
- High psychopathy — they are less concerned about others’ feelings (Buckels et al., 2014)
- High “negative social potency” — enjoy being mean to others (Craker & March, 2016)
- Low “affective empathy” — they do not feel what others feel (Sest & March, 2017)
Why Trolls Troll?
Shachaf and Hara (2010) found Wikipedia trolls act from boredom, attention seeking, revenge, pleasure, and a desire to harm communities. Internet trolls attack people rather than ideas.
1. Personality disorders
Most trolls have a deep-seated psychological issue — depression, anger, jealousy, narcissism, or experiences of oppression. Some trolls want to teach people a lesson about the harshness of the online world, while others blame their troubled past lives (NYT interview).
- Trolls have high cognitive empathy — they can sense your pain and understand what you’re going through.
- But they have low emotional empathy — they do not experience or feel the need to share your pain.
Researchers of this study explain, “trolls employ an empathic strategy of predicting and recognizing the emotional suffering of their victims, while abstaining from the experience of these negative emotions.”
2. Anonymity and disinhibition effect
The internet provides a veil of anonymity, which can lead to the “online disinhibition effect.” This explains why people may behave more aggressively or provocatively online than they would in face-to-face interactions.
Moreover, for most trolls, it is not a one-off event. Trolls carry their habit with them everywhere they roam online. Almost all trolls are repeat offenders. You can be pretty sure if they trolled once, they would do it again … and again.
3. Compensation for insecurity
Some trolls troll to make up for feelings of inadequacy, powerlessness, insecurity, or social anxiety in their real lives.
For them, trolling is a coping mechanism, though unhealthy. Being aggressive or offensive lets them feel a sense of control or dominance.
4. Social experimentation
Some trolls see it as a form of social experimentation.
They are curious about how far they can push boundaries or how others will react to their actions. This can be a way to explore different aspects of their personality that they cannot express in their everyday lives.
5. Escapism and role-playing
For some, trolling can be a form of escapism or role-playing. They adopt a troll persona as a way to escape the pressures or monotony of their real lives.
This persona allows them to act out fantasies or behaviors that they would never engage in offline, providing a temporary escape from their usual timid or gentle nature.
What happens to trolling victims?
- Higher levels of depression (Bonanno and team, 2013)
- More anxiety (Campbell and team, 2012), and
- Lower levels of well-being (Heiman and team, 2018).
- More headaches, stomach aches, and bed-wetting among students (Rao & team, 2018).
Further Reading:
- The Cyber Effect: A Pioneering Cyberpsychologist Explains How Human Behaviour Changes (Book) by Mary Aiken, 2016
- Political Cyberbullying: Perpetrators and Targets of a New Digital Aggression (Book) by Sheri Bauman, 2019
- Cyberbullying and psychological well-being in young adolescence (Research paper) by Hellfeldt & López-Romero, 2019.
How did trolling start and evolve?
Internet trolling began in the early 1980s. People called it “flaming” then. It involved heated arguments or personal attacks in online communities like Usenet newsgroups and bulletin board systems (BBS).
The term “trolling” originated in the early 1990s. It was initially used to describe provocative behavior that aimed at triggering strong reactions from others, often for entertainment.
The rise of anonymous platforms (e.g., 4chan, Reddit) in the 2000s enabled trolling by allowing users to act without accountability.
Today, “trolling” is now used interchangeably with cyberbullying. Cyberbullies often know their victims, and their abuse is often targeted and repeated, and could be posted for others to see.
The act has gone from meaning provoking others for light entertainment to abusing and harassing others for sadistic enjoyment. In fact, researchers identify trolling as a form of online sadism (Buckels et al., 2014).
How To Handle Internet Trolls
- Don’t Engage: Trolls need attention. When you don’t give them attention, it removes their incentive to continue.
- Stay Calm: Avoid emotional reactions. Trolls want to provoke you, so staying composed denies them satisfaction.
- Don’t Take It Personally: Remember, trolling is about their issues, not yours. Their behavior reflects their psychology, not your worth.
- Use Humor: Sometimes, a lighthearted or witty response can disarm a troll without escalating the situation.
- Block and Report: Use platform tools to block trolls and report abusive behavior to moderators or administrators.
- Strengthen Privacy Settings: Limit who can interact with you online to reduce exposure to trolls.
- Seek Support: If trolling becomes overwhelming, reach out to friends, community moderators, or mental health professionals.
Read: 8 Ways To Defeat An Internet Troll (Including The Best One)
Final Words
Trolling has become a business today. Celebrities and political parties hire troll farms to insult, shame, and cancel their opponents.
These troll gangs constantly scour the internet for any post or comment against their paymasters. When they find something, they unleash a volley of vile insults.
√ Also Read: Female Narcissist Cheating Patterns: 20 Typical Traits
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