Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Explaining bullying with psychological theory
The causes of school bullying
Psychological approach theory bullying
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Explaining bullying with psychological theory
Bullying is of the main issues in today’s society and many times its effects are greatly underestimated. One may encounter bullying everywhere for example in schools, on workplace or even online; where it is called cyber bullying. Statistically it is inevitable for one to grow up and not experience any bullying whether on oneself or on other person. For many years, psychologists are trying to find out the trigger, which leads one to be an aggressor and begin to bully others. Causes for being and aggressor are various, but mainly bullies happen to have a background of dysfunctional family, feeling of being inferior and last but not least, there is often pressure of peers involved.
Background of dysfunctional family can have deeper and more severe effect on child than parents might admit. For instance, if name calling and physical abuse is on regular basis at home, child will consider this ordinary and will apply this “formula” on his peers or later on, on his own children. Furthermore, parents tend to not have in mind, the consequences of their actions. For example, if there happens to be fight whether verbal or physical, there are only two actions, that child might take. First one is fight back, whether it means execute a physical counter attack, or informing a third party adult, usually a teacher, a grandparent or an organization engaged in such matters. Second action that child might do is subdue, get accustomed to it and accept thing the way they are. Nevertheless, both actions are undesired.
The way how bullies choose their targets for bullying often signifies their fear of being considered inferior. Victims of bully generally has one simple different characteristic, usually so significant making them distinguish from his p...
... middle of paper ...
...d most certainly will lead to more and more brutal and ruthless means.
To sum it up, bullies are actually the victims. Victims of their own closed mind and intellectual backwardness. Due to their faulty family backgrounds, intellectual deficit and pressure by peers, they do not know how to act and deal with situations they happen to find themselves in, and because of that, they will try to attract attention by bullying others. To prevent bullying in society, firstly we must raise the awareness of effects of bullying, only after then we can start treating the society, step by step. Also encouraging people to report bullying to supervisors and punish supervisors if they will act reluctantly. Furthermore, if anybody will stand up for bullied one, the bully will have to back down. If we should simplify it, the only thing keeping bullying happening is fear and laziness.
To know how to prevent bullying, it’s important to note when these actions first become visible. It can be seen that bullying occurs most often in schools, then at work places. It is known that many schools stress and make efforts to stop bullying because younger kids are more susceptible to bullying. They have more difficulty defending themselves. However, this is not always the case. For example, “[…] the Columbine school shooting tragedy - highlight the serious and sometime deadly consequences of bullying behavior” (American Physiological Association). The teens who were involved in the shootings were bullied and decided to take revenge which led to the killing and injures of many people. In order to prevent further problems related to bullying, it’s important to spread the word. It’s true that bullying is already commonly known, but the health effects to it and especially the genetic effects are not. Spreading these ideas around might just bring in light for many to take serious action because of the implications it has to not just the ones being bullied, but also to the future generations to come. Although bullying may never actually be gone, these acts to prevent it will help lower and limit the amount of
Bullying has become a major problem facing the United States today. The American Psychological Association reports that roughly 40% to 80% of children are involved in bullying on some level during their time in school. (APA, 2014) The magnitude of the problem can be observed in the statistics. In the United States, a total of 4,080,879 children between the ages of five and 18 have been the victims of bullying compared to 3,892,199 who have reported that they have engaged in bullying someone else. Additionally, 851,755 said that they have been both the victim and the bully. That's a whopping 8,824,833 people in the United States that have been involved in bullying behavior on one level or another. (High, B., 2000 Census)
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.
“New bullying statistics for 2010 revealed about one in seven students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade is either a bully or has been a victim of bullying” (“Bullying Statistics 2010”). How does a person detect whether someone is being bullied? “A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself” (Olweus). Bullying takes place more in middle school because they are trying to fulfill a strong need for power, fit-in with their peers, and satisfy their pain. “Fear of being excluded by peers leads to by-standing, if the teen is aware of a bullying situation and decides to stay away or not get involved” (Vassar 26). Bully victims are targeted due to their sexuality, gender, religion, disabilities, and interests. 71 percent of the victims report bullying as an on-going problem. The effects of bullying can be best understood through the types of bullying, consequences of bullying, and legal policies prohibiting all forms of bullying.
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:
When someone first thinks of bullying, their perception of the bully may be someone who chooses to be mean or cruel to another due to their own low self-esteem. This concept however is one that may not be true at all. In fact, according to Jaana Juvonen, a professor of developmental psychology at UCLA, who has published multiple books and articles on this subject, a bully usually has a very high self-esteem and is usually from the group that one would consider being the “popular crowd”. [Lin]
Bullying has been around for decades and yet it is still a reoccurring problem, and it is only getting worse. The National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2009, said nearly 1 in 3 students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported being bullied in school. Eight years earlier, only 14 percent of that population said they had experienced bullying(Ollove,2014). There are two types of bullying the direct form and indirect form, in the direct form the victim receives physical harm example kicking pushing shoving. In the indirect form the victim receives emotional or mental harm by name-calling, rejection, gossip, threats, or insults(Green,2007). It doesn’t matter which way the victim was bullied it still causes
Olweus, D. (1984). Aggressors and their victims: Bullying at school. In N. Fmde & H. Gault
The article, “Bullies and Their Victims”, by Berk (2010) gives an analysis of how bullies and their victims develop, what makes them persistent and how they and their victims can be assisted. Bullying is an activity that thrives mostly in a school setting because of peers and the various cultures and diversities among them. Interactions are inevitable among children, but bullying is destructive because it aims at peer victimisation. Both boys and girls have the ability to become bullies but the majority of them are boys who use physical and verbal attacks on their victims. In the more recent generations, the means of bullying is amplified in the adolescent stage by using electronic means like cyber bullying. Students will rarely like bullies but if they do, it is because of their leadership abilities or influential personalities. Their peers may join or stand by to watch as the victims are bullied.
Throughout the United States education system, bullying has always been an issue that affects many people. Overall, 77% of US children have admitted to being bullied (“Bullying Statistics”). Of these numbers, why are these kids being victimized by the bullies? What exactly motivates bullies to commit to harassing innocent children? The eventual result of bullying can be caused by the home environment, rewarded behavior, and lack of empathy.
Every bully has different characteristics. As a result there’s no clear scheme or strategy that can stop the problem from ever occurring. By being able to spot deal with and offer long term bullying support you’ve targeted bullying at all junctures. Bullying can be taking care of no kid or teen needs to worry about being bullied when entering a school or entering social media sites. Kids and teens have to feel safe everywhere they go so they can have a good life and get through school without
Bullying is an important issue that is often overlooked by society. According to statistics, one out of every four students is bullied in school each year (Puhl ...
A category of strategies to prevent bullying in schools is identifying the causes of bullying. One factor that may cause bullying is the students’s family life. The lack of love or approval and involvement from the parents or overly permissive parenting where there is a lack of supervision or no rules may initiate bullying as the child may feel insecure. Another factor that may cause bullying is peer pressure. Friends who are aggressive and hav...
Bullying is a repeated harmful act that continues to affect millions of students every year. There is no stereotypical person that is a target for bullying; anyone can be its victim. There may not always be any signs of physical harm during these attacks, but our children always suffer emotional harm. Educating students, teachers and parents seems to be the only valid solution to this problem. There are many organizations that can educate the schools on this subject but for it to work people must care. Maybe one day, when enough people realize that this problem will not go away with out their help, we can eliminate bullying from our schools. In a perfect world there would be no bullying, but if you could ask Rachel Scott she would tell you we do not live in a perfect world, only a hopeful one.
Bullying can also be considered as a major problem in the teenager bracket. This can occur in any social environment not just schools as mostly portrayed. Bullyi...