Are cyber-bullies Psychopaths?

A short thread

We've seen some of the worst cyber-bullying in SA at times. We've seen people being teased by their names, for their backgrounds, HIV statuses, education, body features, mental illness, you name it.

Some of the perpetrators would do a once off thing,while others will make it their daily bread to wake up and ruin people's days by saying mean things to them via social media.

Most of the victim's sympathizers fruitlessly fight back with blocks and reporting of the perpetrator account, but that instead of deterring him/her, actually spurs him on.

Then the question arises. Could this person be gaining pleasure from seeing other people in agony? Does he/she consider other people's feelings in his/her dark deeds? Does he/she even have the ability to feel sad when other people are hurt?

Well the answer lies in the personalities. According to recent studies, cyber-bullies are highly likely to have narcissistic, sadistic and psychopathic behavior patterns.

It was found that cyber-bullies have low levels of emotional(affective) empathy but they have high cognitive empathy.

Emotional empathy is the ability to feel the pain of the emotions that the next person is going through. Cognitive empathy is the ability to notice that the next person is going through some emotions but not being affected by them at all.

Basically, they know when a person is upset cause of their actions, but they could not be bothered about it. In fact they could bully you to the point of depression or even suicide if they had a chance.

According to the DSM5, Lack of emotional empathy is a cardinal trait of Antisocial Personality Disorder(APD) (Psychopathy).

Thus, the higher a cyber bully scored in the APD tests, the more easier he/she would be able to provoke you and know whether their insults are striking a nerve or not all while being unaffected by your emotions.

They were also found to be highly manipulative and highly impulsive in their online engagements meaning they don't hesitate to get into an online fight and they go for the jugular in trying to subdue their victim.

Some participants of these studies were individuals who had failed to assert themselves as admirable people in their real lives and faced a lot of personal rejection, this resorting to social media where they can gain prominence through emotional aggression without punishment.

In summary, cyber-bullies could be psychopaths who know exactly what to say to provoke you. They have the ability to see if their words bother you and their egos feed off that energy.

So then how do can you deal with a bully you might wonder?

Find out in my next thread which I will post in the early AMs of Wednesday