Psychopathy, sadism, empathy, and the motivation to cause harm: New evidence confirms malevolent nature of the Internet Troll

Internet trolling is a disruptive, antisocial online behaviour that can cause significant distress. The current study attempted to, for the first time, include all previous significant predictors of Internet trolling in one model; specifically the utility of gender, primary psychopathy, sadism (direct and vicarious), affective empathy, cognitive empathy, negative social potency in predicting Internet trolling. Further, if the Vulnerable Dark Triad traits (i.e., secondary psychopathy, vulnerable narcissism, and borderline personality traits) could predict additional variance. The sample comprised of 733 participants (70.5% women and 29.5% men) who completed an online questionnaire. Results indicated that primary psychopathy, direct sadism, vicarious sadism, and negative social potency were all significant positive predictors of Internet trolling. Affective empathy was a significant, negative predictor of Internet trolling, and cognitive empathy was positively related to Internet trolling but only if levels of trait psychopathy were high. Of the Vulnerable Dark Triad traits, only vulnerable narcissism was a significant (negative) predictor of Internet trolling. Interestingly, gender did not significantly predict Internet trolling. Results of the current study are discussed in terms of the construction of the psychological profile of the Internet troll, with the hope that such a profile can inform intervention and prevention strategies.