School Bullying -Who Cares!

As a personal observation a few years ago I was on a plane and seated across the aisle from my wife and I was a family with 2 children – the youngest being a toddler.  In the course of the 3 hour trip I became aware of the youngest child looking over at me and ‘inviting’ me to engage with her in some way.  We then began a  short  game of ‘peek-a-boo’ which we both enjoyed before I went back to my reading.  At the end of the trip as we stood up to take our bags from the over-head locker I felt a light tap on my shoulder and looking around saw the young child leaning her head on one side and looking to play the ‘peek-a-boo’ game again.  I was distracted with managing my bags and looked away but again felt a light tap on my shoulder.  I asked the mother how old the little girl was and the mother replied ‘14 months -she is such a social little thing’!

As Trevarthen (2011, p.1) has written ‘We are born to generate shifting states of awareness, to show them to other persons, and to provoke interest and affectionate responses from them”.

Prosocial Behaviour and Defending the Victim. The following data was collected by the author from 5529 students from  36 schools across Australia with students responding to the question –“What would stop you from helping another student who was being bullied”? From the two figures below it can be seen that primary school students (6-12 yo) answered that they ‘feared being picked on in return’ (32%)  or that the ‘teacher should stop it.’ (28%).  In contrast the older secondary students (13+ yo) indicated that it was ‘none of their business’ (59%) followed by ‘fear of being picked on’ (31%). There is a clear developmental trend in student’s  attitudes to helping another student being bullied (Goosens et al, 2006).

From a social psychology perspective the ‘bystander effect’ has been researched in detail. A common explanation includes a breakdown in the moral and social fabric of society.   The Situational Decision Model argues that our response to witnessing victim distress is moderated by the presence of others and how they might think we should react and on the number of witnesses present (Darley & Latane, 1968).  The Cost-Reward Model proposes that a response to victimization  triggers and evaluation of the costs/reward for intervening/non-intervening (Piliavin, 1981).

Who is Most Likely to Act as a Defender? When a defender acts it is usually effective is stopping the bullying. Carol Gilligan has written about the ‘ethics of caring’ and we can apply this idea to school bullying.  Research indicates that those most likely to defend others are girls, those with high empathy and low moral disengagement, who are socially skilled and enjoy a warm and caring home environment(Slee, 2017). To act in a prosocial  manner a bystander must (i) note whether  someone needs assistance (ii)  evaluate whether to assist and (iii) act. In a school setting the bystander effect is influenced by whether the school actively supports and promotes acting as a defender, and promotes values and attitudes which are the antithesis of the ‘manosphere’ outlook.

For further information please visit our websites www.caper.com.au and https://bigtalkslittlepeople.com/

References

Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard University

Press.

Goossens, F. A., Olthof, T., & Dekker, P. (2006). The New Participant Role Scales: A comparison between various criteria for assigning roles and indications for their validity. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 343-357. doi:10.1002/ab.20133

Darley, J. M., & Latane, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(4, Pt.1), 377–383. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0025589

Piliavin, J. A., Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S., & Clark, R. D. (1981). Emergency intervention.  NY: Academic.Press.

Slee, P.T. (2017). School Bullying. Teachers helping students cope. Routledge, London.

Trevarthen, C. (2011), What is it like to be a person who knows nothing? Defining the active intersubjective mind of a newborn human being. Inf. Child Develop., 20: 119-135. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.689

How would you reflect on the statement of Trevarthen’s?