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Cyber-Psychopathy: Examining the Relationship Between Dark E- Personality and Online Misconduct

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Cyber-Psychopathy: Examining the Relationship Between Dark E- Personality and Online Misconduct Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 7-6-2015 12:00 AM Cyber-Psychopathy: Examining the Relationship between Dark E- Personality and Online Misconduct Andrew D. Nevin The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Paul-Philippe Paré The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Anabel Quan-Haase The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Sociology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Andrew D. Nevin 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Nevin, Andrew D., "Cyber-Psychopathy: Examining the Relationship between Dark E-Personality and Online Misconduct" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2926. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2926 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CYBER-PSYCHOPATHY: EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DARK E-PERSONALITY AND ONLINE MISCONDUCT (Thesis format: Monograph) by Andrew D. Nevin Graduate Program in Sociology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Andrew D. Nevin 2015 II ABSTRACT Currently, there is a lack of research investigating how the unique structural conditions of cyberspace may influence the expression of ‘dark’ personality and the role of such e-personality in explaining instances of online misconduct. Using a theoretical framework of context- dependent personality, this study seeks to fill a gap in the literature by using self-report survey data to explore whether the internet may decrease, increase, or intensify the expression of psychopathy. Quantitative data analyses show that when controlling for social context, internet users exhibit higher levels of psychopathy online than offline, which is especially pronounced in male subsamples. Further multivariate models examine the role of this ‘cyber-psychopathy’ in understanding misconduct behaviours on the internet, such as cyber-stalking, trolling, flaming, and digital piracy. Results demonstrate that primary cyber-psychopathy is positively correlated with one’s level of acceptability toward online misconduct behaviours, while both primary and secondary cyber-psychopathy are positively associated with one’s tendency toward engaging in such transgressions. This study serves to highlight the potential impacts of heightened psychopathic personality online, while suggesting practical implications that emphasize the need to foster empathy and close psychological distance between internet users in online communities. Keywords: Psychopathy, Internet, Online, Personality, Misconduct, Acceptability, Tendency, Trolling, Cyberbullying III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank and acknowledge many individuals who have helped and supported me during the process of writing my master’s thesis. First of all, I owe a lot of gratitude to my advisors, Dr. Paul-Philippe Paré and Dr. Anabel Quan-Haase, for their expert guidance in terms of the theoretical, methodological, and analytical aspects of this project. They provided much support and encouragement to me over the past year during times when I was stressed or when I reached roadblocks. The quality of this research is truly a reflection of your collective expertise and ability to motivate me toward my potential. Thank you for all the feedback, meetings, and confidence in my abilities—thank you for always being around to talk me through my new ideas and concerns. I also appreciate all the helpful comments and feedback from my examination committee. Thank you to Emily Alexander for your unconditional support during the entire thesis process. You listened to every single idea I had and every problem I came across—your point of view really helped develop the theory and methods behind this project and your input has made this research much better. I would like to thank you for reading the many pages in this thesis and giving me your feedback. Furthermore, I appreciate all the emotional support during the times when it seemed like I would never finish. I would also like to acknowledge Michael Haight and Rob Nonomura who were incredibly valuable resources for this thesis, as well as other friends and graduate students who were excellent sounding boards over the last couple years. I want to give a special thank you to Denise Statham and Amy Jacob, and the faculty members in the sociology department who were also great sources of support for me. Thank you to my family for believing in me to accomplish this goal, as well as the constant support I received throughout graduate school. Thanks for asking me about my thesis whenever you saw me and being genuinely interested in my progress and ideas. IV I would also like to thank the SocioDigital lab at Western University for various feedback and pilot testing the survey. Additionally, thanks to the faculty and instructors who allowed me to advertise my study in their lectures and tutorials. Finally, thank you to all the participants in the study—you all made this possible. V TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... V LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... X LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. XI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Background of the Study ........................................................................................... 1 1.2. Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................. 5 1.3. Contributions of the Study ........................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 13 2.1. What is Psychopathy? ............................................................................................. 13 2.1.1. Definition of Psychopathy .......................................................................... 13 2.1.2. Conceptual Differences: Psychopathy, ASPD, and Sociopathy ................. 18 2.1.3. Prevalence of Psychopathy ......................................................................... 19 2.1.4. Measurement of Psychopathy in Non-Institutionalized Samples ............... 21 2.1.5. Gender Differences in Psychopathy............................................................ 22 2.1.6. Covariates of Psychopathy .......................................................................... 25 2.1.7. Relationship between Psychopathy and Misconduct .................................. 29 2.2. Descriptions of Online Misconduct ........................................................................ 31 2.2.1. Types of Online Misconduct ....................................................................... 31 2.2.2. Internet Characteristics and Online Misconduct ......................................... 38 2.2.3. Covariates of Online Misconduct ............................................................... 46 2.3. Dark Personality and Online Misconduct ............................................................. 51 VI 2.4. Context-Dependent Expression of Personality ...................................................... 53 2.4.1. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................... 53 2.4.2. Personality Expression on the Internet ....................................................... 55 2.5. Is There a Context-Dependent Psychopathy Online?........................................... 58 2.5.1. Theorized Cyber-Psychopathy .................................................................... 58 2.5.2. Current Study .............................................................................................. 61 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS .................................................................................... 63 3.1. Research Design Overview ...................................................................................... 63 3.2. Data and Sample ...................................................................................................... 64 3.2.1. Survey Instrument ....................................................................................... 64 3.2.2. Sampling and Data Collection .................................................................... 65 3.2.3. Missing Data ..............................................................................................
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