CDZ The Psychology of... Insults

[ChrisL]

Imagine thinking that you would stop mass shooters with LAWS aimed at the law abiding population of citizens only? Ridiculous. That is almost like trying to convince me that a person who is a biological man is really a woman trapped inside a man's body or that animals are gay. Really?

 

[ChrisL]

Good grief, the world has totally gone insane.

 

[candycorn]

Aint that the truth:

 

[frigidweirdo]

While reading through one of our many personal insult-laden threads, I began wondering (again) about the actual goals & agendas of those who tend to regularly engage in that behavior (both here and in "real life"). Certainly everyone does it to some degree and frequency, but clearly there are those who appear to have a stronger need.

In today's hyper-partisan environment, what do you suppose is served by this? What is accomplished?

Anyway, I sniffed around a bit and found this:

The Psychology of Insults

=====================

An insult can thus be interpreted as an attempt to reduce the social status of the recipient and raise the relative status of the insulter.

If that logic is correct, we can assume that insults are often motivated by anger surrounding issues of status insecurity. Many insults are reactive: They are responses to real or imagined slights from others, such as a person accidentally cutting in front of someone else in a line.

We live in a period of extreme concern about how we are perceived by others; social psychologists are charting a steady increase in narcissism among college students.1 There is little consensus about why this is happening, but some scholars believe that the more children are measured on evaluative scales—aptitude tests, IQ scores, and GPA—the more sensitive they are to threats to their social rank.

Of course, this narcissism trend is only accentuated by social media, where participants are subject to unrelenting evaluation by other network members who encourage participants to inflate their egos, often at the expense of others.1 Concern with how one is perceived creates social insecurity that may be relieved by lashing out at other chickens (or people) in the area. Social networks are replete with individuals who deliver stinging rebukes because they enjoy doing so, and because they are mostly exempt from the reprisals that one might expect for real-world put-downs.

Content: Status, Competence, Sex, and Hygiene

The purpose of a put down is to reduce someone else in the imaginary status hierarchy. So it is hardly surprising that insults will often refer to a person's social status in terms of ancestry, lack of prestige, or membership in a despised out group; for example, Nazis or vagrants. Otherwise, the content of insults across the ages is monotonously predictable: Many insults feature a sexual component, refer to sexual organs, or bring up shameful or ineffectual sexual behavior. In addition to status and sexuality, insults inflict shame by mentioning unappealing traits—fatness, shortness, baldness, spottiness, and contagious diseases.

Another way of taking a person down is by questioning their intelligence or general mental competence; for insult purposes, recipients are invariably "stupid" or "crazy."

The pecking-order logic of insults means that if the recipient is shamed, then the insulter rises in status relative to the victim: The insulter is the one doing the pecking rather than getting pecked. Not all insults are equal, of course: Some pecks miss their mark and have no impact upon relative status.
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Part of it just seems to be that people feel no fear on the internet. No one can hit them. No one can attack them physically, so they say whatever they want.

The other part seems to be that for the most people, people insult because they're lacking in argument.

 

[Mac1958]

When you call someone a stupid moron, what is your goal?

To get them to see how stupid they are.

Do you think it's more likely that (a) being insulted will cause them to pause and reflect on their opinions and see the error of their ways, or (b) being insulted will make them defensive and only stiffen their spin more in their opinion?
.

 

[BlackSand]

Well, I haven't exactly done any calculations on this, but my impression is that those here and in real life who insult others more often, are more often insulted by others. So folks generally tend to bring that stuff on themselves.

This is one of those things I would think we'd learn when we're young.
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Insults can often be offered as a point of redirection.
Especially as you pointed out in what the author described as a social hierarchy ... But not necessarily for the purpose described.

Often people who have a lofty perception of their own ideas receive a certain comfort in expressing them if they are shielded from conflict.
They think their ideas are of substantial merit with little regard for their opposition.
In some cases that opposition is a matter of subjective opinion ... An opinion that in no way grants the person the authority to enforce it by their reasoning.

Example ... Hypothetical and not suggesting these are actual circumstance nor that this could or would ever happen.

We could be sitting at lunch with friends and someone could decide I should pay the bill.
They could make a very substantial case I may be more prepared to pay everyone's bill.

We could discuss the merits of the fact that the others at the table have large families that require a larger capital burden.
We could discuss it is only reasonable since I have more money in my pocket.
We could discuss Jim was hungry and cannot afford his meal.
We could discuss Paul has cancer and his medical costs are higher.

Or ... Instead of discussing all the reasons it may be a good idea for me to pick up the tab ...
No matter how beneficial the gesture may be to others ...
I could redirect the conversation and help them better understand their position by telling them to go **** themselves.

I wouldn't have to be angry with them ... They would simply be demonstrating they have no respect for my position or their lack of authority.
If they continue to attempt to convince me that I should pay the bill ...
It would not be beyond the scope of reason they lack the wherewithal to understand something as simple as the core elements.

It would not be unreasonable for me to point out that lack of understanding ...
Regardless their perceived merit in the request or desire for further discussion.

.​

 

[ChrisL]

Truth!!! No need to sugar coat it.

 

[ChrisL]

When you call someone a stupid moron, what is your goal?

To get them to see how stupid they are.

Do you think it's more likely that (a) being insulted will cause them to pause and reflect on their opinions and see the error of their ways, or (b) being insulted will make them defensive and only stiffen their spin more in their opinion?
.

Well, if you are talking about stupid people, then there isn't much you can do with them. They are going to continue to spout their spoonfed views that don't even make sense and completely contradict one another.

 

[martybegan]

While reading through one of our many personal insult-laden threads, I began wondering (again) about the actual goals & agendas of those who tend to regularly engage in that behavior (both here and in "real life"). So I sniffed around a bit and found this:

The Psychology of Insults

=====================

An insult can thus be interpreted as an attempt to reduce the social status of the recipient and raise the relative status of the insulter.

If that logic is correct, we can assume that insults are often motivated by anger surrounding issues of status insecurity. Many insults are reactive: They are responses to real or imagined slights from others, such as a person accidentally cutting in front of someone else in a line.

We live in a period of extreme concern about how we are perceived by others; social psychologists are charting a steady increase in narcissism among college students.1 There is little consensus about why this is happening, but some scholars believe that the more children are measured on evaluative scales—aptitude tests, IQ scores, and GPA—the more sensitive they are to threats to their social rank.

Of course, this narcissism trend is only accentuated by social media, where participants are subject to unrelenting evaluation by other network members who encourage participants to inflate their egos, often at the expense of others.1 Concern with how one is perceived creates social insecurity that may be relieved by lashing out at other chickens (or people) in the area. Social networks are replete with individuals who deliver stinging rebukes because they enjoy doing so, and because they are mostly exempt from the reprisals that one might expect for real-world put-downs.

Content: Status, Competence, Sex, and Hygiene

The purpose of a put down is to reduce someone else in the imaginary status hierarchy. So it is hardly surprising that insults will often refer to a person's social status in terms of ancestry, lack of prestige, or membership in a despised out group; for example, Nazis or vagrants. Otherwise, the content of insults across the ages is monotonously predictable: Many insults feature a sexual component, refer to sexual organs, or bring up shameful or ineffectual sexual behavior. In addition to status and sexuality, insults inflict shame by mentioning unappealing traits—fatness, shortness, baldness, spottiness, and contagious diseases.

Another way of taking a person down is by questioning their intelligence or general mental competence; for insult purposes, recipients are invariably "stupid" or "crazy."

The pecking-order logic of insults means that if the recipient is shamed, then the insulter rises in status relative to the victim: The insulter is the one doing the pecking rather than getting pecked. Not all insults are equal, of course: Some pecks miss their mark and have no impact upon relative status.
.

I know that this is totally besides the point you are trying to make but how on earth would you "accidentally" cut in front of someone in line. That isn't an accident. Lol.

And one more thing, what is "spottiness"?

In regards to the topic, I think a lot of people here insult because they get frustrated, and it's as simple as that. I've received every kind of insult there is here. Lol. I was debating a person the other day about homelessness in San Francisco and pointed out that the person I was debating was posting postcard images of San Francisco, as I was posting statistics, facts, and first hand accounts from people who are affected by it, and the person told me my "image is ugly."

So, there you go, if they are frustrated and have nothing left to argue, they will just start calling you names or calling you ugly, or whatever.

Of course, there is another whole type of "people" known as trolls who, for some odd reason, get their kicks out of insulting people and just getting a negative reaction. I have a theory that these people were ignored by their parents as children, so they act out for attention.

Well, I haven't exactly done any calculations on this, but my impression is that those here and in real life who insult others more often, are more often insulted by others. So folks generally tend to bring that stuff on themselves.

This is one of those things I would think we'd learn when we're young.
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I only go to ad hominem attacks when two conditions are met.

1) The other side does it as well, and for people like that I have zero reservations about slogging in the trenches with them

2) their posts are either so troll like or so idiotic I can't help myself.

 

[ChrisL]

Would any kind of logic ever sink in for a person with the type of mentality as this poster has displayed? Hmm. Highly doubtful.

 

[ChrisL]

I remember one time, I was sitting there at an intersection waiting for the light to change, when some old man pulled out of a store parking lot (there were two lanes going in the same direction). He was trying to pull into the lane closest to him but he scraped up against the side of my car, probably because he was old and couldn't see very well. Anyways, he proceeded to start yelling at me and flipped me the bird before he just drove away. I was in such shock and awe that I didn't even bother to take down his plate number. I just couldn't even believe it. My friend who was in the car with me at the time was like, "he hit YOU though! He hit YOU!" and she couldn't believe it either. THESE are the kinds of people that we have to deal with in this world. Lol. That is just one example among MANY others.

 

[candycorn]

This is an interesting conversation. One thing I've noticed is people in general want to elevate their own position or status as is indicated in the article. There are two ways to do this, either via your own effort (if you have the capacity) or by lowering the status of someone else resulting in your status now being above theirs.

My observation is that most people do not have the ability to elevate themselves so their only option is to take out some one else. Why do you think there are imposters online? Why do so many people impersonate military veterans in cat fishing scams? They can't make their own lives better through their own effort so they have to either engage in destructive behavior, steal what they want or do without whatever it is that they desire.

Neutralize the opposition right?

Great stuff, thanks.

What concerns me, on a macro scale, is something I read a while back about where we are as a culture. The piece said - and I agree with this - that it has been so long since we've communicated like adults that we have literally lost that skill. Like a muscle, the ability to flex your communication skills can deteriorate due to lack of use.

I wonder if that affects our intellectual elasticity, as well.

That has really stuck with me. So, as our communication skills continue to atrophy, we're becoming more and more likely to just bang on things, and each other, like cavemen.
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I don't know, maybe a political messageboard is not the place for you. For me, it is a place where I fight for what I believe in, especially when it comes to my rights. If you are a person who wants to take rights from a person who has not committed any crimes, in the name of your own security, which you feel will be provided by the same government that you refer to as "racist", maybe even "evil," then you are just stupid or evil yourself. There is no way around that. That is not a difference of opinions. That is just a fact of life that you need to accept. Not everyone is thoughtful. Not everyone has your or the country's best interests at heart, and that is especially true of government officials and politicians, as we have seen over the years.

I think this place is absolutely fascinating. Not in a terribly positive way, but fascinating nonetheless.

My concern is that I'm seeing the behaviors here showing up more and more in real life.

I don't know how someone could be proud of some of the behaviors I see here, but that's just me.
.

Gee, wonder why.

Oh yeah, we have a President who works in insults like some artists work in oils or clay (line from A Christmas Story); a true master.

 

[ChrisL]

Mac1958, you should go visit the flamer zone where they do this, not out of any kind of frustration but because they think it is FUN. Lol.

 

[Mac1958]

Mac1958, you should go visit the flamer zone where they do this, not out of any kind of frustration but because they think it is FUN. Lol.

Sure, when it's done in fun it's one thing. THAT can be GREAT fun.

We just don't appear to know when to turn it off.
.

 

[Mac1958]

When we convince ourselves that our behaviors are someone else's fault, maybe it's time to look inward.

 

[ChrisL]

Mac1958, you should go visit the flamer zone where they do this, not out of any kind of frustration but because they think it is FUN. Lol.

Sure, when it's done in fun it's one thing. THAT can be GREAT fun.

We just don't appear to know when to turn it off.
.

You think that is fun? Ganging up on a person in the flamer zone and making all kinds of derogatory remarks about them?

 

[ChrisL]

When we convince ourselves that our behaviors are someone else's fault, maybe it's time to look inward.

You sound like a corny, self righteous douche, sorry to say. You see? I don't mean to insult you. This is just me being honest with you.

 

[Mac1958]

Mac1958, you should go visit the flamer zone where they do this, not out of any kind of frustration but because they think it is FUN. Lol.

Sure, when it's done in fun it's one thing. THAT can be GREAT fun.

We just don't appear to know when to turn it off.
.

You think that is fun? Ganging up on a person in the flamer zone and making all kinds of derogatory remarks about them?

No, I mean when it's done between friends, in good faith. What happens there is just as ugly as anywhere else on this board.

There's good-natured fooling around, and then there is just plain nastiness.
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[ChrisL]

Yes, now I see the light, we should all STRIVE to be as noble and as perfect a specimen of human being as Mac.

 

[Mac1958]

When we convince ourselves that our behaviors are someone else's fault, maybe it's time to look inward.

You sound like a corny, self righteous douche, sorry to say. You see? I don't mean to insult you. This is just me being honest with you.

No problem. I've been called worse here!
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