When sadists become internet trolls: The mechanism of aggressive humor and self-concept clarity

Prior research has confirmed that the Dark Tetrad's sadism trait is a contributing factor to Internet trolling. However, little is yet known about how and under what circumstances sadism has an effect. From the perspective of expression styles and individual differences of trolls, the purpose of this study is to explore the potential mediating role of aggressive humor in the link between sadism and Internet trolling, as well as the moderating role of self-concept clarity. A total of 530 Chinese online users' data were collected on the Credamo platform and analyzed using PROCESS for SPSS. Sadistic traits were found to be positively correlated with Internet trolling. Moderated mediation analyses showed that aggressive humor played a mediating role between sadism and Internet trolling. Specifically, sadistic individuals were more likely to have aggressive humor, which further triggered Internet trolling. In addition, self-concept clarity moderated the direct relationship between sadism and Internet trolling. Specifically, higher self-concept clarity increased the association between sadism and Internet trolling. This study enriches our understanding of the mediating and moderating mechanisms linking sadistic traits to Internet trolling, allowing us a glimpse into the minds of Internet trolls and the sadistic motivations behind their behavior.