Test Your Knowledge on Online Aggression and Evolutionary Social Skills

• Aggression on social media is common, with 4 out of 10 people experiencing harassment online.
• Anonymity on the internet provides cover for nasty and harassing behavior.
• Hate crimes are on the rise and political divisions appear to be growing.
• The level of public bitterness, especially online, is substantial.
• Social media has not unlocked our cruel human nature.
• As an evolutionary anthropologist, the author believes we have evolved to collaborate and solve problems together.
• The rise in online aggression is a product of our evolutionary social skills, the social media boom, and the specific political and economic context.
• Our brains have gotten bigger and our capacity for cooperation has exploded.
• We have evolved from groups of apelike beings armed with sticks and stones to creators of cars, rockets, great works of art, nations, and global economic systems.
• The explosive combination of social media, evolutionary social skills, and political and economic context has opened up a space for more people to fan the flames of aggression and insult online.

Are you curious about the rise in online aggression and what factors contribute to it? Take this quiz to test your knowledge on the intersection of social media, evolutionary social skills, and the current political and economic context that have created a space for more people to engage in insulting and harassing behavior online. Learn about the evolution of our social skills, the impact of anonymity on the internet, and the current state of hate crimes and political divisions. See if you can separate fact from fiction when it comes to the relationship