Characteristics

• Bullying hasnt always been considered a serious issue,cases of child taking their own lives due to bullying has changed this perspective
• Annual bullying survey 2022

  4000 secondary school students,21% had experienced bullying in the past 12 months
• Bullying is a form of aggression but is different to other forms of aggression because the consequences are different.Its crucial to take into account the context and intentions of bullying
• Dan Olweus


  argues bullying occurs when an individual subjects another individual to repeated acts and has 5 features
• 1.Bullying involves negative acts

  • several behaviours can be described as bullying depending on the context and intentions
  • Physical aggression
  • verbal aggression
  • social exclusion
• 2-Behaviour is repeated

  • not a single one-off event,a pattern of behaviour that becomes predictable
  • repetition depends on the bullies access to the victim
• 3-Bully intends to cause harm

  • causing harm accidentally is not bullying even if done repeatedly
  • bullies deliberately attempt to cause harm to the victim
• 4-The bully has the greatest power

  • central to defining bullying,the bullies purpose is to impose their will on the victim,they both understand who has the power
  • bully often is taller,stronger and has a higher social status
  • victim feels helpless to prevent it and learn to not expect support from bystanders
  • power asymmetry
• 5-Different types of bullying

  • Overt bullying,observable by others,mostly between people of a similar age and takes place in social contexts.The bully may have bystanders and accomplices.Usually unpopular boys
  • Covert bullying,requires greater social skills and manipulation.They favour social exclusion and difficult to detect,usually popular girls
• Cyberbullying Nancy Willard,says there are several types of cyberbullying

  • Stalking,following a victim around social media to send threatning messages
  • outing,revealing something to a wider group
  • trickery,deceiving someone into revealing something about themselves
  • exclusion,blocking someone and encouraging others to do the same
• Myths of bullying

  • Myth 1,bullies are unpopular. Juvonen asked 2000 students and teachers in LA to identify those who are popular and those considered victims and bullies.Bullies were rated the most popular
  • Myth 2,Bullies have low self-esteem. Baumeister et al found that bullies have a higher self-esteem,they are often less anxious,depressed and lonely