I thought this study was really interesting because it seems to connect pretty well with something we’ve talked about in my college psychology class the last few weeks: how antisocial behavior can feed on mood, environment, and the behavior of other people.

The researchers found that negative moods and exposure to trolling both made trolling more likely, and when the two were combined, the effect was even stronger. They also found evidence that trolling can spread through an online community as people react to the behavior around them.

The study isn’t specifically about downvoting, but I think it ties in to downvote trolling, where someone repeatedly goes through posts or comments just to downvote them.

My guess is that some of these people are already more antisocial or hostile online, then anger and the negative atmosphere around them reinforce the behavior.

Once downvoting becomes a way to express irritation or get a small sense of retaliation, it could turn into a repetitive habit. That connection between mood, social environment, and antisocial behavior is what made the article especially interesting to me.

Especially if the serial downvoter feels angry over some perceived slight from another user, becomes fixated on that person, and starts downvoting every post and comment they make without even reading them.