09:11 Jan 27 2019
Times Read: 1,163
Apparently there’s such a thing as The Benjamin Franklin effect. It goes like this: Once upon a time, Our Mate Ben was faced with a troll who tried to tear him down. Ben thought quickly: tame him!
The troll was a posh literary type. So Franklin sent him a letter if he could borrow a specific scarce book from said hater’s library. Flattered, the hater sent it right away. Troll cornered! Franklin then returned it a week later with a thank you note. Nice finishing touch! Troll totally tamed!
From then on in, the troll was a fan, forever ready to do another favour for Franklin.
Various people have written about this phenomenon – why and how it works. American psychologist David McRaney writes in You Are Now Less Dumb:
“When you feel anxiety over your actions, you will seek to lower the anxiety by creating a fantasy world in which your anxiety can’t exist, and then you come to believe the fantasy is reality. “
So once compelled to lend a book, a hater needs to justify their actions. They couldn’t possibly lend a book to someone they hated, so they switch to becoming a fan…to avoid anxiety within.
As Ben himself once said: “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
I’m kind of aware of this phenomenon working the other way around. You get what you put out there, and all that CBT jazz. When I do something kind, the more I see the world in a positive light and then the better I feel (just to put it really rudimentarily).
Switching it back onto others, however, is really amping up the psychological dial.
But, then, that’s where I feel the world is at. I think we’re ready to amp things, to stop whinging about others’ behaviours and not just be the change we want to see, but prod it out of others. You don’t have to like the troll, or condone their behaviour, nor do it for your own personal ends.
You just steer the world to better behavior.
I was wondering how difficult the BF effect is to actually implement. It kind of feels contrived. But then I realised I actually manage to implement it quite regularly. Not because I’m particularly wise or advanced psychologically, but because I simply don’t have the patience for haters. I don’t like this patience in myself so I turn on my patient and generous self…which brings on their better behavior and so on and on.
Besides, as Kierkegaard wrote, also on the subject of bullying: “How invaluably interesting to have one’s knowledge of human psychology enriched in this way.”
Trolls are more likely to be male and score highly on the Dark Triad (psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism) personality test.
Trolls have little effective empathy (they can’t feel the suffering of others) but high cognitive empathy (they can understand what makes people suffer).
Trolls are very likely to suffer from poor social skills.
In other words, trolls have a dark side to their personality. They are also good at working out who is most likely to get upset. This is despite them having no empathy for their victims.
Results showed that those people who admitted to enjoying internet trolling also scored highly on the Dark Triad personality tests. Not only that, but they also scored highly on sadism. Sadism is the enjoyment in causing psychological or physical pain to others. Coupled with psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellian, sadism is certainly another one of the dark sides of our behaviors.
“Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior.” Buckels, et al.
What makes internet trolls continue their cruel behavior? There must be some sort of reward for them. For psychopaths and sadists, the reward is obvious – it’s the suffering they cause. But what about those people that do not score highly on these dark triad traits?
Social activity is generally rewarding. Spending time with friends or family makes us feel good. Research shows that social stimuli can also reward us. For instance, simply by looking at smiling faces on the internet increases activity in the brains reward center. Typically, people feel rewarded when they are in, or create a positive social environment.
Typical social rewards
Atypical social rewards
Typical social rewards are the positive feelings of pleasure we get from affirmative behaviours. Behaviours such as kindness and being thoughtful lead to typical social rewards.
By contrast, atypical social rewards come from negative behaviors such as cruelty, causing distress or embarrassment.
Positive social environments are places where people feel supported and loved. They can trust one another. They are free to make mistakes without ridicule. These will contribute to typical social rewards.
Trolls are motivated by these atypical social rewards. They thrive in causing negative environments. In fact, it is this kind of ‘negative social potency’ that is a huge indicator of trolling behavior.
Negative social potency is a measure of how far someone will go to cause distress to others. It is done so that they feel good about themselves. These kinds of internet trolls are motivated because they feel powerful from the chaos and suffering they’ve caused.
How to deal with Internet Trolls
There are several ways to deal with internet trolls. Internet trolls feed on your discomfort and distress. The more upset you are, the more enjoyment they’ll get out of trolling you. Therefore, if you want to know how to deal with trolls, here are some tips:
Ignore them – Trolls want to know they’ve upset you. Or they want to feel as if they have one over you to make themselves feel powerful. Ignore them and they’ll not get that reward.
Use humor or love – Trolls are in the business of upsetting people. If you feel strongly enough to respond, then do so. But do it with humor or love. In other words, kill them with kindness or laughter.
Unmask them – Trolls love the anonymity of the internet. By unmasking them and showing the world who they are, you take their power away.
Use facts to correct them – If someone is posting lies about you, then respond with the facts.
Did Einstein know a few trolls when he said – “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I am not sure about the universe.”
COMMENTS
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vXVampre
19:58 Jan 31 2019
Thank you for spreading the positive influence. See you in the forums!
Dakotah
20:07 Jan 31 2019
Love your feedback already. Let's do this!
LORDMOGY
21:11 Jan 31 2019
My fucking typos....Uggh! smh! Eh! Fuck It! LOL!
LORDMOGY
21:19 Jan 31 2019
Damn my OCD!
_________________
Brother, as I said in my message, every social site, including VR, have Features to utilize.
Each Feature comes with its Pros/Cons.
'The Forum' is cool if you wish to socialize with members outside of those in your own Coven, if that, but the last time I was in there having fun in the Sandbox it was determined that listing everything I enjoyed even though it wasn't the same item was considered spamming. I failed to realize that it was spamming until it was made clear to me (in a very nice way because I truly didn't know) that it didn't have to be the same thing over and over again, but in a thread where others are supposed to play along too, you can't play alone in that manner. 'The Forum' really helps you level, but leveling hasn't really been a focus of mine. I just like to play and laugh and be happy. Social Programming teaches that doing ANYTHING by yourself is in some way a Negative thing.
However, I have my own perception about what I consider Positive or Negative. I, and only I, determines what makes ME happy! If the world said I must be too poor to have steak because they never see me posting pictures of me eating steak, well that is an attempt to project a type of Social Programming onto me. To shame me into eating steak and posting proof or make me feel in some way "less than" because maybe I can't afford to eat steak.
Hell, maybe I just don't post EVERY thing on the internet. LMAO!!!!
Maybe, I find it funny and enjoy shaping the perception others have of me or keeping them guessing.
I live by my own definitions of Happiness and Success.
So since I can play the way I want to play in my own Coven's Forum and in my own Personal Journal, as long as it's within the site owner's TOS, then that's where I hang out and play.
It has always been my personal belief and goal to reduce the number of individuals who can tell me what I can or can not do or what I should or should not believe and I've done quite well at achieving that. No offense to any Social Site's Community Standards and rules, it is what it is and it's not MY site so if I truly want to stay, I better adhere to their rules to be allowed to take advantage of their Products and Services as they take advantage of my being active on their platform contributing to their financial earnings. However, if at any time my desires to do something does not match the desires of a Social Site to allow me to do it, I would NEVER fight to change their minds......I'd just Leave! Ask Facebook and Instagram and SnapChat. LOL! No harm no foul. Too many other Social Sites on the internet to have fun in. Maybe not what others see as fun....But if I'm not physically hurting anyone else or breaking site rules, what other people think or feel about my way of having fun means less than nothing to me.
And right now......I ANSWER TO NO ONE!
So, I may drop in every now and then upon request, but don't look for me there much....I'll be in my Journal and Coven Form!
MordrakusxMortalitas
03:45 Feb 01 2019
Hey Dakotah, the link you sent me didn't work, also I don't know what help I could be since I am retired so to speak if you remember.