A new study reveals a psychological pathway that connects narcissistic personality traits with the tendency to engage in social media trolling. The research suggests this link is partially explained by a person’s feelings of malicious envy and their exposure to antisocial media content. The findings were published in the journal Behaviour & Information Technology.

To understand the study, it helps to first understand the concepts involved. Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by a grandiose sense of self-importance, a need for admiration, and a sense of entitlement. Trolling, in the context of social media, refers to the act of posting inflammatory or provocative messages to intentionally upset others and disrupt online conversations. The researchers, Mars A. Brown and Masahiro Toyama from the Department of Psychology at Marshall University, sought to explore the mechanisms behind the known association between these two phenomena.

Previous research has shown mixed results on the connection between narcissism and trolling, but recent studies have more consistently found a link. The Marshall University team wanted to build on this work by examining potential intermediary factors. They focused on two distinct types of envy.

The first, benign envy, is a feeling that motivates a person to improve themselves to match someone they admire. The second, malicious envy, involves hostility and a desire to see a more successful person brought down. The researchers hypothesized that malicious envy, not benign envy, might serve as a bridge between narcissism and trolling. They also investigated whether exposure to antisocial media content, such as media depicting fighting or rule-breaking, played a role in this dynamic.

To test their ideas, the researchers recruited 326 adults from the United States using an online platform called Prolific. The participants completed a detailed online questionnaire designed to measure several psychological characteristics. They answered questions that assessed their level of narcissism, their tendencies toward both malicious and benign envy, and their self-reported trolling behaviors on social media.

The survey also gauged their frequency of exposure to antisocial media content. The questionnaire included standard psychological scales for these measures, as well as questions about personality traits like agreeableness and openness to experience, and demographic information like age and gender.

The analysis of the survey data produced a clearer picture of the relationship between these factors. The first major finding confirmed a direct association: individuals with higher narcissism scores were more likely to report engaging in social media trolling. This held true even when other personality traits and demographic factors were taken into account.

The researchers then looked at the role of envy. Their analysis showed that people with higher narcissism scores also reported higher levels of malicious envy. In turn, higher levels of malicious envy were associated with more frequent trolling. This suggests that for some people with narcissistic traits, seeing others succeed online can trigger a hostile envy that leads them to lash out through trolling. Benign envy, on the other hand, was not significantly connected to either narcissism or trolling in this study.

The study also identified a more complex, multi-step pathway. Narcissism was linked to higher malicious envy, which was then linked to a greater frequency of consuming antisocial media content. This increased exposure to antisocial media was, in turn, associated with a higher likelihood of trolling. In this model, narcissistic tendencies can foster a malicious envy that makes content depicting aggression and social defiance more appealing, and consuming this content may normalize or encourage trolling behavior.

Interestingly, even when these indirect pathways through malicious envy and media consumption were accounted for, a direct link between narcissism and trolling remained. This indicates that these intermediary factors are part of the story, but not the whole explanation. Other aspects of narcissism, such as a need for attention or a desire to feel superior by provoking others, may also directly contribute to trolling. The study also noted that individuals with lower levels of the personality trait agreeableness showed patterns similar to those with high narcissism.

The researchers acknowledge several limitations to their work. The study’s design is correlational, which means it shows associations between different factors but cannot prove that one causes another. The data was collected at a single point in time, and future studies that follow participants over time could provide more insight into how these behaviors develop.

Additionally, the study’s participants were recruited from the United States and were, on average, more highly educated than the general population. This means the findings may not be applicable to people in other countries or from different backgrounds. The study also treated narcissism as a single concept, while other research suggests it is a complex trait with multiple dimensions, such as grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, which could have different relationships with trolling.

Future research could explore these different facets of narcissism and investigate other potential factors, like a lack of empathy or the pleasure derived from others’ misfortune, known as schadenfreude.

The study, “Inside the link between narcissism and social media trolling: the involvement of malicious envy and exposure to antisocial media content,” was authored by Mars A. Brown and Masahiro Toyama.

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