{"id":336,"date":"2023-11-16T14:56:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T14:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/bpscoretextbooks\/?post_type=content&p=336"},"modified":"2025-03-25T09:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T09:46:45","slug":"chapter-5-the-dark-side-of-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/staging.routledgelearning.com\/bpscoretextbooks\/9780367552299\/chapter-5-the-dark-side-of-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 5 – The dark Side of the Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tHome<\/a>\n<\/span>\u203a<\/span>\n\tChapter 5 \u2013 The dark Side of the Internet<\/a>\n<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Chapter 5 – The dark Side of the Internet<\/h1>\n\n\n

The landscape of negative behaviour online is a rapidly changing one. A recent example of this is when many young people across Europe reported significant increases in exposure to online hate content in recent years (Wachs et al., 2021). There are well-known benefits and opportunities of digital technology such as social support and keeping people connected and entertained. However, the Internet can also facilitate much negative behaviour, causing all sorts of consequences and pain to those who experience them. Negative behaviour online can be so broad a topic that it is important to all areas related to cyberpsychology. This is because certain negative behaviours (e.g. trolling) can occur in almost any digital space where people interact with others. Yet despite some commonalities, negative behaviour online might look different depending on the context it is in. For example, in online dating, negative behaviour could be considered as cyber dating abuse involving harm and coercive control by means of digital technology towards an intimate partner (Branson & March, 2021). This could look very different to the dynamics of interpersonal behaviour that occurs in substantially more risky online environments such as the Dark Web (Kloess & van der Bruggen, 2021). This chapter provides an overview of some of the processes (i.e. the how and why) involved in the more common anti-social behaviours, e.g. trolling, flaming, online sexual harassment, cyberstalking, and digital game-based dark participation, which can occur across various online contexts. It will also examine how the online environment can facilitate prejudice, stereotypes, and ostracism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter Summary<\/summary>\n

Trolling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Occurs when there is a deliberate attempt to provoke a reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anonymity and power are explanations for why people can troll online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some forms of trolling do not involve explicit negative provocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trolls score high in Dark Personality traits: Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Sadism, and Psychopathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three different types of messages that trolls use, each having a different purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proactive group norms that act before trolling happens is a possible prevention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flaming<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Can be seen as a verbal duel but the lack of cues can lead to its intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flaming can be normative behaviour of some groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Sullivan and Flanagin (2013) consider flaming to be hostile and aggressive interactions via Computer-Mediated Communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flaming can look different to trolling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online Prejudice\/ Stereotyping<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Prejudice is a negative attitude towards a social group and its members (Allport, 1954).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An attitude has three parts: conative, cognitive, and affective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biases that we are unaware of or that we do not admit to having are called implicit biases and these can occur online and offline. An example of this is micro-aggressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A test which allegedly measures these biases is the Implicit Association Test but its validity has been recently challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online prejudice has been found using avatars of different ethnic groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Social Categorisation Theory we divide people both offline and online into those like me (in-group) and those not like me (out-group).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a favourable bias towards members of our in-group and a negative bias towards any member of an out-group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effects of this negative bias online (exclusion) are just as painful as it is offline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many strategies to reduce online prejudice \u2013 more contact with members of an out-group and hearing positive things about individual members of an out-group are some of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some personality\/cognitive factors which make it more likely for a person to use stereotyping online. An individual\u2019s need for cognition and personal need for structure are two such factors.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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