When trolls come out from under their bridges, it’s bad news for scientific discourse
Depending on your age, the word troll might evoke a nasty creature who lives under a bridge — or a nasty creature who posts inflammatory comments online. The former, found mostly in Scandinavian folktales, is typically a dim-witted beast, not inclined to help humans. The latter (judgment on wits aside) is also rarely considered helpful. But new research suggests a more nefarious role for these postmodern trolls: Their uncivil, rancorous remarks can influence how readers perceive science.
Social scientists have long studied how and whether argumentative, obnoxious talk may influence peoples’ perceptions. A growing body of research suggests that cantankerous rhetoric pushes some deep primal buttons that may override the more reasonable, conscious parts of our brains. One study demonstrated this phenomenon by experimentally manipulating the tone of an imaginary blogger, “Curt,” who opined about a climate change policy story. Though Curt’s reasoning was consistent, experimenters altered his language to make one post civil and the other rude, denigrating those who didn’t agree. Readers of insulting Curt came away from his blog less open-minded about the policy than readers of polite Curt.