Science Reveals When You’re Most Likely to Turn Into a Troll

pulse

February 13, 2017 5:51 PM

There are racist trolls, sexist trolls, political trolls, body-shaming trolls, deadlift-shaming trolls, that-video-was-totally-fake trolls, and your regular, run-of-the-mill trolls whose persistent trolldom does not discriminate.

Internet trolls

Study explains every Internet commenter you’ve ever encountered.

The Internet is full of trolls. There are racist trolls, sexist trolls, political trolls, body-shaming trolls, deadlift-shaming trolls, that-video-was-totally-fake trolls, and your regular, run-of-the-mill trolls whose persistent trolldom does not discriminate. You, of course, are not a troll, because you are an upstanding gentleman. But beware: Your odds of transforming into an evil troll increase significantly when you’re in a grumpy mood, according to a new study to be presented at this month’s Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, where there will be nary a troll in the building.

In the study, researchers asked participants to complete tests ranging from very easy to very difficult, gauged their moods with questionnaires, and then instructed them to post comments on news articles. Cranky people, as well as those who had taken the tougher tests, were significantly more likely to post negative comments on the articles—i.e. engage in trolling—than their more chipper counterparts. Lead study author Jure Leskovec, an associate professor of computer science at Stanford, chalks it up to a “spiral of negativity”—a dick domino effect, if you will. “Just one person waking up cranky can create a spark and, because of discussion context and voting, these sparks can spiral out into cascades of bad behavior,” Leskovec told The Verge.

So in order to ensure you don’t turn into a troll, the solution is simple: Just be in a good mood all the time. This should be easy enough, as long as you don’t encounter any trolls.

Enhance Your Pulse News Experience!

Get rewards worth up to $20 when selected to participate in our exclusive focus group. Your input will help us to make informed decisions that align with your needs and preferences.

I've got feedback!

pulse