Like Gandalf Said: "Aim for the Trolls!...Bring them down!"
It's Not Your Imagination. The Science Behind Trolls, Social Media, and How They Feed Each Other
I. Information Literacy and Conspiracy Theories
We’re in an era where, more and more, everyone is getting all of their information from algorithmically bespoke social media newsfeeds. That’s how parents all over the country are logging in to TikTok and seeing kittens and going, “Hey, this isn’t so bad.” while their kids are getting a very different experience.
Of course—even if kids weren’t getting directly harmed by it—the problem with this splintered information landscape, as nobel-prize winner/journalist/freedom-advocate Maria Ressa recently pointed out in an interview, is quite profound:
“If you have a room full of people and each person is experiencing their own reality, you don’t have a room—you have an insane asylum.”
This is why I really enjoy the subset of Media Literacy called Information Literacy (IL). IL deals with “enabling individuals to recognize needed information, and to locate, evaluate, and effectively use that info.” So, for example, dealing with misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories all fall under this category. Pretty important stuff, I’d say.
Conspiracy Theories are fun, profoundly troubling. So, I wanted to touch on them a bit.
II. Brain Science and How to talk to the Town Kook
In the town where I grew up, I remember there was a guy who refused to wear his seat belt. He said they were a government conspiracy. As a little kid, I asked him about how that worked, and, you know, why the government would want that? I can’t say he ever really gave me an answer. But, he was passionate about it.
The difference today, with social media, is that instead of him just being a lone guy who rants into the void, now the algorithms of social media give him a megaphone—and artificially amplify his opinion, because it causes engagement, so that the fringe elements are now a major part of everyone’s discussions online.
For anyone interested in IL and how conspiracy theories actually work, here is an article from “Nature” that spells out some interesting findings.
The TL:DR is: those who are most susceptible seem to be not, as you might think, the hyper-partisan; but rather those who are “non-partisan/ideological.” The specific traits most closely linked with vulnerability to conspiracy theories were:
√ narcissism (it’s all about me, me, me)
√ machiavellianism (do whatever is needed to get what I want)
√ psychopathy (as in, I am egocentric and anti-social)
√ populist attitudes (I like to team up with other psychopaths, mob mentality)
√ belief in religious dualism (I feel life is a battle between good and evil)
√ okay with political violence (I respond to something like: “Onward, Christian soldiers!”)
So, btw, to answer the eternal question: How do you talk to that crazy uncle? This is from the study:
“...treatments designed to “correct” conspiracy beliefs might not only include high-quality information from epistemic authority figures, which the most conspiratorial individuals are likely to ignore, but also acknowledge that even scientists and other experts occasionally get things wrong and that the process of scientific discovery is dynamic and non-linear. Such a strategy may disarm narcissists and the most distrustful members of society by acknowledging that their beliefs and worldviews have some merit, thereby making them more receptive to authoritative information…”
So, while I consider the anti-vax stuff dangerous (and evil from those who promote it, knowing better), in a discussion with that uncle, I might lead off with what I think about possible inside actors in the JFK assassination. Or maybe we can both opine about how medical science fads come and go…remember the old food pyramid we had as kids? The one that pushed carbs?
See how that works? Find one or two areas where you, yourself don’t buy into the official story. Let them know that you’re not sheeple before you lay some truth on them.
III. What About The Trolls?
Some of you might recognize the first three of the above list as what’s known as “ The Dark Triad” (narcissism, machiavellianism, and psycopathy). While this concept has become a sort of popular shorthand for a range of related psychological profiles, the basic idea here is, when you’re dealing with someone in that Dark Triad range, you’re supposed to watch your back.
But, if you want to observe one way how this dark triad type plays out, go online and look for your basic internet troll. This is because, if you take the dark triad (remember, they’re basically people who have beliefs that are unshakable in the face of contrary facts) and add one more personality trait—√ namely sadism (It makes me feel better to watch other suffer)
…you end up with what’s now called the “Dark Tetrad”. And that, folks, is largely the psychological profile of Internet Trolls.
How does this play into social media? Two ways: From previous studies
Dark Tetrad was shown to be relevant as the people with that were more likely to be on social media in the first place.
Plus, the above study also shows that, once on social media, those who’s Dark Tetrad scores are coming mostly from psychopathy and sadism were the ones most likely to engage in trolling.
IV. True Story
I posted an earlier version of this essay on a different social media site and I guess it hit too close to home—immediately I was beset by trolls. Funny thing, the lead troll was actually a moderator of the site, trying to argue with me about the post’s premise (and science). Sigh. How I long for the days when we got our info from more reliable sources, like comedy movies…
“Well, the world is a twisted place.”
—Glen, Manager of Mikita’s Doughnuts,
Wayne’s World (1992)