Radicalized Pod Episode 35: Troll Psychology with Dr. Evita March

Please watch and share this episode

We’ve had a lot of incredible guests — thanks to Heidi Cuda — but Dr. Evita March really helped me understand the dark psychology of the people who are either addicted to online trolling or employed to do it. She and her research partners have brilliantly explored the relationships between non-clinical psychopathy, sadism and lack of (affective) empathy in trolls.

I recently posted one of her studies and noted how it perfectly explains the behavior of the psychological terrorists that have been coming after me, my co-hosts, friends and projects. These are psychopathic sadists who are able to simulate empathy for their targets in order to attack them most effectively, but feel no consequences at all for their actions.

I also had some words for the Flynn brothers in Hellscape. Please watch and subscribe! Very proud of this one. 💙🙏

Guest socials: Twitter @evitamarch

Qualifications:

PhD Postgrad Dip Psychology BA (Extended major Psychology)

Teaching areas:

Abnormal Psychology

Personality

Professional associations:

Member, Australian Conference on Personality and Individual Differences (ACPID), Member, International Society for the Study of Individual Differences Review editor, Frontiers in Psychology Australasian Society for Human Behaviour and Evolution

Research interests:

Dr. March’s research interests include interpersonal relationships, cyberpsychology and personality. In particular, Dr March is interested in how people behave online, and she has explored a range of online behaviours including cyberbullying, cyberstalking, online dating, trolling, and self-presentation. Dr March’s work on the psychological profile of Internet ‘trolls’ was an Australian first study, and she has received both national and international recognition for her research on Cyber Abuse. Dr March is also currently involved in projects exploring individual differences and the propensity for online intimate partner violence, such as intimate partner cyberstalking and cyber dating abuse. Dr March believes that understanding individual differences that predict engaging in online antisocial behaviours is imperative for development of effective interventions and prevention of cyber abuse.