Can the ‘Dark Triad’ traits be a predictor of cyber hate speech?
Hemamali Tennakoon · Academia Letters · 2021
Antisocial behaviours have escalated to the cyberspace.Yet, the views on identification, mitigation and interventions relevant to minimising such behaviours lack consensus.Also, there are a multitude of antisocial behaviours studied in various online settings but not with clear demarcations between behaviours and their predictors.Hence, there is room for further research on cyber hate speech (a variant of online antisocial behaviour), particularly in Social Networking Sites (SNS).Hence, this article presents a brief review of literature exploring the triggers of antisocial behaviour, broadly identified as 'cyber aggression'.Then, the question is raised whether cyber hate speech, a sub-set of cyber aggression is triggered by personality factors such as the 'Dark Triad' traits.Consequently, this paper contributes to knowledge by proposing to test personality traits as an important predictor of computer-mediated anti-social behaviour in SNS and provide directions for future research.Human aggression can be succinctly defined as "any behaviour directed towards another individual that is carried out with proximate (immediate) intent to cause harm (Anderson & Bushman, 2002).Further, cyber aggression is defined as "…intentional harm delivered by the use of electronic means to a person or a group of people irrespective of their age, who perceive(s) such acts as offensive, derogatory, harmful, or unwanted" (Grigg, 2010).The terms 'intent' and 'causing harm' stands out in both definitions, irrespective of the context in which aggression is defined.Based on the definitions, one can also be argue that cyber hate speech is a sub-set of the broader concept of cyber aggression.Findings of the 'Italian Hate Map' project (Lingiardi et al., 2019) found that most hate speech on Twitter is directed at women, followed by immigrants, gay and lesbian persons, Muslims, Jews and disabled persons.Legislations across the globe have not yet evolved to successfully govern and criminalise offences such as cyber hate speech, dissemination of racist Academia