Study finds young people who engage in anti-social behaviour online for fun, approval have less empathy for others

Young adults who troll, bully and harass individuals or groups online are likely doing it for the “lulz,” internet speak for fun or laughs and to seek social approval, new research from the Ted Rogers School of Management shows.

The study by Ted Rogers School’s Anatoliy Gruzd, (Professor, School of Information Technology Management and co-director of the Social Media Lab), Jenna Jacobson, (Associate Professor, Retail Management), and co-authors Jaigris Hodson (Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Digital Communication for the Public Interest at Royal Roads University) and Felipe Bonow Soares (Senior Lecturer at the University of the Arts London), examines to what extent young adults perpetrate anti-social behaviour on social media. Their research paper, “To troll or not to troll: Young adults’ anti-social behaviour on social media (external link) ” is published in PLOS ONE.

Using data collected from an online survey of 359 Toronto Metropolitan University undergraduate students, between March 9 - April 18, 2022, the study measures what factors predict anti-social behaviour such as trolling, bullying, and harassment amongst young adults, and sought to understand motivations behind cyber-aggression, low self-esteem and low empathy in this population group. 

It found three factors that closely correlates with young adults carrying out anti-social behaviour online, including recreation, reward and cognitive empathy. Young people who perpetrate trolling, bullying and harassment were motivated to do so for fun, excitement and social approval. The study also found a negative association with cognitive empathy, suggesting that they have a lower ability or capacity to understand how their targets feel.

“Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes’ is important as young perpetrators have less of an understanding of how their victims feel,” Jacobson explained. “Lacking this type of empathy partially explains why they are engaging in this type of anti-social online behaviour.”

“Contrary to previous research, online disinhibition, characterized by reduced inhibitions in the online space, showed no significant associations with cyber-aggression among university students; instead, online anti-social behaviour seems to be motivated by the desire for social approval, group bonding, and enjoyment,” Gruzd said. 

The researchers concluded that small interventions by platforms such as showing basic community guidelines and highlighting community rules and norms could go a long way to help build empathy and mitigate anti-social behaviour among users in this age group.  Another strategy is to introduce friction into online communication by encouraging users to reconsider before posting potentially offensive content; thus, giving a user a chance to reflect on their post prior to sending it.