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The Psychological Theory of Bullying
The Psychological Theory of Bullying
The Psychological Theory of Bullying
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In the past few years, bullying has gotten so bad that people decided to take their own lives to escape the pain. Bullies use violent behaviors to harm their victims verbally and physically. Usually, the victim is too frightened to fight back and too embarrassed to inform adults. People choose to bully others for a broad range of reasons (media or the want for power), but not getting love and attention from dysfunctional families is the main reason ("Why do people bully?" n.d.). In the end, however, everyone experiences consequences. The bullies become lonely and violent while the victims suffer from depression. Family and societal issues have led many people to become aggressive and think that it is permissible to deliberately humiliate others; they will then gain an overwhelming power and a sense of autonomy from watching their victims' pain, which causes them to not realize the negative outcomes that they might encounter like loneliness, depression, and possibly even death.
Most people believe that bullying is using verbal abuse purposefully to control other people ("Bullying info and facts" n.d.). It can occur anywhere; there are many diverse explanations to why people choose to practice this violent behavior. Some of the reasons could be because of the culture, family, or society ("Why do people bully?" n.d.). Usually, children look up to their parents as role models and follow in their footsteps. In certain home environments, parents can be over-demanding by using power, and cannot provide attention or warmth to their children. These kids lose their freedom, and so they think that they can gain it back by dominating over other individuals. In certain cultures, such as where boxing or other violent sports are promoted, viole...
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...12). Bullying Among U.S. Adolescents. Prevention
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Neal, M. (9 June 2012). One in twelve teenagers have committed suicide: report. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/1- 12-teens-attempted-suicide-report-article-1.1092622.
O’Brennan, L. M., Waasdorp, T. E., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2014). Strengthening Bullying
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Squires, M., Sprangler, C., Deconde Johnson, C. & English, K. (2013). BULLYING IS A SAFETY AND HEALTH ISSUE. Audiology Today, 25(5), 18-25.
Who is likely to become a bully, victim, or both? (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/07/bully-victim.aspx.
Why do people bully? (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/why-do-people-bully.html.
Suicide due to bullying has been given the name of bullycide. One example of bullycide would be Jon Carmichael from Texas who was bullied so harshly that “one day they stripped him naked, tied him up, and stuck him in a trash can, and they taped it with their cell phones and put it all on You Tube” per his mother’s account (Texas Monthly, Hollandsworth). A few days later Jon was found hanging by a rafter from their barn after committing suicide. The perpetrators of this abuse were his fellow classmates and it is reported that “60% of boys who bullied others in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24; 40% had three or more convictions” (van der Valk, 41). Bullying behavior not only negatively affects the victims that are singled out and tormented, but from a legal perspective can lead to long term criminal
The psychoanalytic perspective (Erikson’s psychosocial stages), Sigmund Freud Ego or psychological defense mechanism, and behaviorism and social learning theory, are important to understanding adolescent bullying. In the psychoanalytic approach, development is discontinuous and as such occurs in stages where “people move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations, and how these conflicts are resolved depends on the person’s ability to learn, to cope with others and cope with stress” (Berk 2010, p.15). According to Sigmund Freud from this theory, individuals use a mechanism called psychological defense mechanisms which when they feel an overpowering anxiety, the ego employs to protect themselves against unwanted, scary feelings or weaknesses within their psyche or consciousness. The use of these defense mechanisms can be useful sometimes and also hurtful at other times to us and others, which emanates as aggressive behavior e.g. bullying [2]. Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development are important for understanding bully behavior. According to Erikson, a “basic psychological conflict which is resolved along a scale from positive to negative determines a healthy or maladaptive outcomes of each stage” [Berk 2010, p.16], in other words as the child grows and goes through each of the psychosocial stages, he or she negotiates new cognitive and emotional experiences which enables him or her to pass through the stage with either a positive or negative outcome. The effects and results of a negative outcome from the stages can be used to describe aggressive behavior such as bullying [Berk 2010, p.16]. According to the behaviorism and learning theory, they believed that b...
Bullying has evolved into a monster with many heads. There are many different types of bullying “traditional bullying is any type of bullying that is carried out through non-electronic means” (Differences between Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying). Examples of non-electronic bullying are verbal, physical, and social bullying. Traditional bullying is what most parents think of when bullying is proposed. The one question that is usually asked is why? There are many reason why bullying may occur. “Bullies may have underlying psychological factors that contribute to their aggressive behavior or impair their ability to interpret social interactions” (Bullying at School). Bullying can cause another person long or short term problems throughout their whole life. Bullies are also likely to have problems throughout life, such as drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and spouse abuse. Bullying is not only wrong, but inhumane.
The three important components to bullying are as followed; bullying is aggressive behavior that involves unwanted, negative actions, bullying involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time, and bullying involves an imbalance of power and strength (Olweus1). At one point in time, bullying had meant a push on the playground, or a mean slur, however bullying has progressed from then. Bullying can be described as the systematic abuse of power (Smith3). Kids take it upon themselves to hurt, and bring down others, which is not justification whatsoever. It is hurtful, and spiteful. Regardless of your personal feelings about someone, ...
Too many adults seem to think that bullying is just part of being a kid, but it isn’t, and it has a negative and sometimes long lasting effect on others. Bullying Statistics show that “Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.” What some people do not realize is that there are many different types of bullying that include physical bullying, emotional bullying, sexting, and cyberbullying. There are many warning signs of suicide. Depression, interest in death or dying, engaging in harmful activities (e.g. substance abuse, reckless behavior, and self-injury), giving away personal possessions, saying goodbye to people, and making comments about how life would be better off without them. If you are hearing or seeing any of these warning signs, take action! According to Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection about Bullying, there can also be negative mental health issues, anxiety and
Everyone has been bullied or encountered someone being bullied at some point of their life. Whether it would be physically or verbally both can be exceedingly traumatizing and can have a long-term psychological influence on children’s development. Majority people may define bullying in a more physical term; nevertheless that’s not always the case. The act of bullying can occur in several ways and in reality affect the individual in the same way. Bullying is generally defined as repeated, negative, and harmful actions focused at target throughout a course of time, exhibiting a sense of power difference between the bully and the victim (Olweus, 1993; Limber & Mihalic, 1999 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). A survey was conducted in the United States estimating that over six million children, about 30% in grade six through ten have experienced frequent bullying in a school environment (Nansel, 2001 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). Many people might debate that bullying is something that every child goes through and is simply a part of growing up, although there are several damaging consequences that happens to the child’s brain. Bullying causes the child to feel upset, isolated, frightened, anxious, and depressed. They feel like they reason they are being picked on is because there is something wrong with them and may even lose their confidence feel unsafe going to school (Frenette, 2013 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005) Anthropologically, sociologically, or psychologically, bullying can be analyzed through different perspectives and several questions can be asked based on the topic:
Bullying by definition is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Bullying can take the form of physical contact, words or more subtle actions. [Why] Bullying has grown new outlets over the last decade. With social media outlets and text messaging added to the game, bullying is not just about getting tormented face to face anymore. Cyber bullying can include sending out mean or threatening emails and instant messages about a person, spreading rumors about someone and also include photos that a person would consider to be humiliating. [Chamberlin] Bullying can have many outlets. The most common form of bullying is still face to face confrontation. But the other outlets, such as cyber bullying are definitely not something to take lightly or consider low on a scale of importance. Sexual harassment, racial differences, not being “cool enough”, or just simply being viewed as a weaker individual may attribute to many of the reasons a person is preyed on.
Educators attempt to provide safe, nurturing environments where students can thrive. Any disturbance to this climate can have negative affects on students’ educational performances. Bullying is one such disruption. Unfortunately, physical and verbal abuse are nothing new in the school setting, however, the rise of technology in our country has created a new setting for bullies to target their victims. Cyberbulling, or the use of any number of technological means to harm or harass another, has become an increasingly prevalent occurrence, specifically among school-aged children (Campfield, 2006).
Bullying is a form of violence, a way to gain the power to repress the weak.
Bullying does not have a standard definition. Bullying can be anything from calling someone else names, beating them up just for the fun of it, to texting or messaging them on the internet or any mobile device. Any person can be the victim of bullying, not just children. Bullying causes many issues, physically, emotionally, and mentally, not only for the victim, but for their entire families as well. Bullies have many different reasons as to why they start bullying someone else. The actions done to the victim leaves them with only a few options on how to stop being bullied. How they handle it is always different.
Bullying is an issue that is a problem in society today. Bullying is any kind of unwanted behavior to an individual on repeated occasions which is a display of power over someone. Bullying is mainly common among students in school, and unfortunately, it happens in other places like at home between parents and children, and on rare occasions, among adults. When people began to identify bullying for what it is, it was only known as a physical aggression towards others, but over the course of time, bullying has moved from just physical bullying to verbal bullying, and power abuse in the workplace between co-workers in different ranks. In a book called Welfare Brat: A Memoir, Mary was bullied in school by boys on the streets, and unfortunately, she was verbally bullied by her mom. Bullying among children in the society is caused by different reasons, and affects its victims negatively.
Bullying is defined as the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively to impose domination over others and is often repeated and habitual. Bullying is something that can manifest in all kinds of places whether it be at home, school, or in the community. There are different ways that bullying can manifest at home. For example, we often hear of fathers trying to “toughen up” their sons up and make them into a man, when in reality, they are bullying their children to make them tough. Parents often allow their sons to be aggressive and rough and find it appropriate for them to physically hurt other people. They often say “boys will be boys” as if that behavior is normal and okay. Well, it is not normal or appropriate behavior, that kind of behavior is only teaching them to be aggressive in society and to bully other people. This type ...
This happens in those cases where the management is determined to be reluctant to prevent bullying or does nothing to protect the juniors. The emotional torture that the victim gets after a prolonged torture is what makes them think of killing themselves. Bullying also has effects on the institution where it’s reputation is greatly destroyed. People will negatively talk about the school and chances are higher, that most parents will avoid taking their children to such schools. The overall performance for the school is found to decrease as individual victims of bullying ends up performing poorly. In other cases, the oppressed students might gang up to organize strikes which greatly destroys the school infrastructure and disrupts the normal
Bullying is a form of abuse. It is a selfish and destructive act, those who organize bullying denote others for the thrill of aggression and dominance. Mark Dombeck, PH.D, writes in his article, The Long term effects of Bullying that “Narcissists treat other people as though they were objects either to be used, or discarded, and the bully both uses his victim for purposes of self-gratification and aggrandizement and then discards him”. Aggrandizement is the expansion of power. Making something or someone appear greater or more intense. David Frattare states that “Kids feel more powerful when they do not come face to face with the ...
The lack of parental attention causes a feeling of insecurity leading someone to acquit bullying. Unfortunately, adult role moles, parents, teachers, coaches, can build up tension in a student to generate them to bully. Students that are neglected, have divorced parents, or are around the influence of drugs/alcohol are more controlling and impulsive by nature. Those who have younger siblings are more suitable to bully in order to feel empowered. When children have an inadequate amount of supervision from a parent, they suppose they can get away with anything, like bullying. Bullying is more known in schools due to a student trying to fit in, and act “cool” in front of his or her classmates. A lot of people believe that in order to acknowledge power and popularity, you need to push the people around you to gain control. However, some children bully others because they used to once be a victim of bullying. Bullying can also arise from peer pressure through manipulation. On the other hand, bullies do not need a reason to hurt another, they seek fragile targets, and intensely desire attention. Also, bullies are not aware of their wrong behavior, and how gruesome it makes a person