Trolling as a Technology of Self-Presentation

The development of Internet communications and social networks contributes to the emergence of new phenomena. Among modern forms of attracting a target audience and forming a circle of like-minded people, blogs are of particular importance. In a number of cases, a blog turns out to be not only a means of self-presentation for its author, but also a platform for the realization of personal ambitions of commentators. In addition, a blog can serve as a platform for provocative statements, a kind of tough verbal game that contrasts the author’s mistakes with the self-affirmation of the commentator. The purpose of the article is to describe the verbal explication of two forms of aggression (hatering and trolling) in the Internet space. The research material used were comments on the content of Russian-language and English-language blogs about fashion, lifestyle, cooking, and personal care. A total of 150 comments were analyzed, including comments from bloggers. The research was carried out using the method of content analysis, descriptive method, and the method of communicative-psychological commentary. The study established that the analyzed forms of verbal aggression violate not only the norms of etiquette, which does not allow destructive tonality, depreciating language and personal attacks, but also the principles of cooperative communication. Extending the term “ecology of communication,” which has recently become established in psychology, to the theory of communication, it can be argued that the phenomena of hating and trolling are the most eloquent types of non-compliance with the principle of environmental friendliness, causing visible damage to the individual as a component of the environment. As a result of the analysis, it was established that the verbal explication of these forms of online aggression turns out to be of three varieties: 1) splashing out one’s own negative emotions: envy, complexes, the desire to assert oneself at the expense of another; 2) implementation of imitative strategies when the real purpose of the utterance differs from the visible communicative intention; 3) the desire to have fun by taking others out of their comfort zone.