Why it works

Trolling and online manipulation succeed because they exploit how people actually think and respond to conflict. This section names the research that explains why.

2 published pages, on why these tactics work at all — the foundation that makes sense of everything above. Each one states how strong its evidence is, and what that evidence does not show.

• How conversations turn toxic

  A discussion going bad is treated as something the conversation does over time, rather than as a property of any single comment in it.

  Evidence: Single study

• Why people troll

  Two very different explanations — stable personality traits, and ordinary people in bad circumstances — and the evidence supports both.

  Evidence: Single study

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