A recent study has explored the intriguing relationship between dark humor, online trolling, and certain dark personality traits. The findings reveal that individuals who enjoy dark humor often possess traits such as sadism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Furthermore, these traits are linked to a greater propensity for online trolling. Online trolls enjoyed trolling others, but did not like being trolled themselves. The research was published in Behavioral Sciences.
The rise of social media has provided individuals with new ways to express humor but also to engage in antisocial behaviors online. A survey in the UK found that 75% of individuals between 13 and 36 years of age shared memes online, while over 25% reported being victims of online trolling.
Memes are pieces of media that are “passed very quickly from one internet user to another, often with slight changes that make them humorous.” One reason for their popularity is their ability to communicate about controversial and taboo topics humorously, typically by individuals who are not affected by the topic.
Online trolling is another behavior that has caught the attention of researchers. Trolling involves behaving in a deceptive or disruptive manner on the internet with no apparent instrumental purpose. Trolls typically do not gain any material benefit from their behaviors but engage in trolling for personal enjoyment or to provoke reactions from others.
Study authors Sophie Voisey and Sonja Heintz hypothesized that enjoying dark humor online might be associated with Dark Tetrad personality traits. They also sought to explore the relationship between the enjoyment of dark humor, Dark Tetrad traits, and online trolling abilities, behavior, and enjoyment. They believed that individuals with heightened Dark Tetrad personality traits would be better at online trolling and that dark humor enjoyment and ability would be associated with enjoyment of trolling and the ability to troll.
The Dark Tetrad traits encompass four personality traits associated with malevolent behaviors and attitudes: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism. Narcissism is characterized by an excessive preoccupation with oneself, including a need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. Machiavellianism is defined by manipulative and deceitful behavior, often driven by a focus on personal gain and strategic advantage. Psychopathy is marked by impulsivity, a lack of remorse or guilt, and a propensity for antisocial and violent behavior. Sadism involves deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others.
The study involved 165 students from the University of Plymouth in the UK. They received course credit for their participation. These students completed assessments of the Dark Tetrad traits (using the Short Dark Tetrad), online trolling trait (measured by the Global Assessment of Internet Trolling-Revised), online trolling enjoyment (rating how much they enjoy being trolled in an online game), and online trolling ability (writing down ways they could troll players in an online game). Additionally, they were assessed on the dark humor trait (using the Dark Humor Scale), dark humor enjoyment (rating memes), dark humor ability (producing punchlines for blank meme templates), and humorous temperament (using the State-Trait Cheerfulness Inventory Trait Version).
The results revealed that individuals with a higher tendency towards dark humor also exhibited higher levels of all four Dark Tetrad traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism. Those who found dark humor particularly enjoyable showed more pronounced traits of Machiavellianism and sadism. Additionally, the ability to create dark humor was more pronounced in individuals with higher levels of narcissism and sadism.
Participants with a strong interest in dark humor were also more likely to engage in online trolling. They enjoyed trolling others more, but their dark humor traits, enjoyment, or abilities were weakly associated, if at all, with how much they enjoyed being trolled themselves. Among the Dark Tetrad traits, only sadism was strongly associated with online trolling, indicating that online trolls tend to have more pronounced sadistic traits. However, all four Dark Tetrad traits were linked to how much participants enjoyed trolling others in return.
“Findings indicated that the Dark Tetrad traits, particularly sadism and Machiavellianism, were related to certain elements of dark humor. 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.
“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.”
The study sheds light on the personality underpinnings of dark humor and online trolling. However, the study was conducted on a relatively small and homogeneous group of university students. It is possible that findings might differ in other age and demographic groups.
The study, “Do Dark Humour Users Have Dark Tendencies? Relationships between Dark Humour, the Dark Tetrad, and Online Trolling,” was authored by Sophie Voisey and Sonja Heintz.
