Paper on The Psychology of Why People Bully (written by Brittany Domb)

The Psychology of Bullies

            Tragic events, such as suicides and school shootings caused by bullying have compelled researchers to ask: why do people bully? There is no simple answer to this question – bullying is incredibly difficult to eradicate because it is caused by various social and psychological factors, such as lack of empathy, authoritarian parenting, and the Law of Effect. Before delving into what causes people to bully, one should understand the definition of bullying. According to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, “bullying is aggressive behavior that involves unwanted, negative actions, it includes a “pattern of behavior repeated over time”, and there is typically an “imbalance of power or strength” ("Olweus bullying prevention," 2011).  

One probable reason for bullying is that some bullies lack empathy, which is defined as “experiencing the emotional state of someone else” (Lamia, 2010).  Professionals in various fields have found that “…bullying…can indeed be reduced by encouraging empathy at an early age. Over the past decade, research in empathy…has suggested that it is key, if not the key, to all human social interaction and morality” (Szalavitz, 2010). Szalavitz also states that empathy is an inherent quality. In fact, there have been “studies [showing] that children as young as 14 months offer unsolicited help to adults who appear to be struggling to reach something” (Szalavitz, 2010). However, like many things, empathy is probably something that needs to be practiced and relearned in order to be used. In reality, many kids do learn that empathy is a core value in preschool and sometimes from television shows, such as Sesame Street (this is where the practicing and relearning occurs). However, not all children are taught empathy in preschool or are exposed to shows that teach empathy and are not given the opportunity to practice and relearn empathy. One can infer that those who do not relearn empathy are the children who will go on to bully (or are more likely to, as every individual is different).

Sometimes the positive influences from school and media are not enough to stave off the negative influences at home. It is highly likely that many (though not all) bullies learn that they can gain control and power over others’ lives from their parents’ authoritarian parenting style. Authoritarian parenting “[is] obedience- and status-oriented, and [authoritarian parents] expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation” (Baumrind, 1991, p. 62, as cited in Darling, 1999). The authoritarian parent is “focused on maintaining control” and is known for “rule[ing] with an iron hand” (Carpenter and Ferguson). If a child’s parents have the attitude that they are always right and the child is always wrong, then the child will develop this attitude as well. Because he/she has no control in his/her own home, he/she acts out and controls the people that he/she can—for instance, other children. This is because the authoritarian parents’ behavior has taught this child that is acceptable to exert control over other people. In addition to teaching children that it is the social norm to control others, authoritarian parenting has been proven to cause a higher risk of aggression in children. This was discovered by psychologist Elizabeth Gershoff who only looked at “ordinary smacking or spanking and excluded any [cases of] physically injurious or legally abusive punishment (Grille, 2005). The evidence she found was consistent across all studies…even ordinary smacking tends to make children more aggressive” (Grille, 2005).  It is important to emphasize that authoritarian parenting is not considered abusive, but the study done by Gershoff proves that it does lead to aggression. The two components of a need for control and learned aggression are likely to be what oftentimes leads the children of authoritarian parents to become bullies. This is because they are taking the bad behaviors their parents have exhibited towards them at home and using them at school amongst their peers.

One possible cause of bullying is that bullies have learned that they can treat people with disregard, with limited to no consequences. (Lazarus, 2011) explains this dynamic in Are You Teaching People to Treat You Badly? by recounting the story of how one woman reacted to her abusive husband. “Sally picked up his shirts from the laundry, ran some other errands for him, and decided to cook his favorite dish for dinner” even after he yelled at her relentlessly. Lazarus uses the “Law of Effect” to demonstrate why Sally would do her husband’s chores after he overreacted at her for being on the phone. The Law of Effect “states that behavior varies as a function of its consequences.  Hence, if Sally is nice to Hank when he treats her badly, she is teaching him to continue being abusive” (Lazarus, 2011). This also connects to Pavlovian theory and the concept of classical conditioning.

Classical conditioning occurs when a subject is repeatedly exposed to different stimuli and is trained to respond the same way each time that particular stimulus is introduced. The simplest and most well known example of classical conditioning is that of Pavlov's dog. Pavlov trained his dog to salivate at the sound of a bell through repeated conditioning. Thus, the dog learned through conditioning that it was time to eat when he heard the bell (Ormrod, 2008). This is relatable to bullies and their victims; if a bully is not confronted with a negative reaction upon bullying his target, he will continue to harass the target. The victim’s reaction—or lack thereof—conditions the bully to think there is nothing wrong with his bad behavior. The target of the bullying is not at fault. Rather, it is the cyclical nature of the Law of Effect that continues to enable bullying.

In conclusion, a lack of empathy, authoritarian parenting, and the Law of Effect all contribute to someone’s development of the bullying behavior. It is clear that both parents and teachers play a significant role in whether a child will bully. Now that enough thorough research has been done on the factors that cause bullying, it will be possible for parents and teachers to extinguish signs of bullying behavior early on in a child’s life.

 

 

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References

Darling, N. (1999, March). Parenting styles and its correlates. Retrieved fromhttp://www.athealth.com/Practitioner/ceduc/parentingstyles.html

Ferguson, C., & Carpenter, D.  Why do some kids bully?. Retrieved from http://www.netplaces.com/dealing-with-bullies/the-bully/why-do-some-kids-bully.htm

Grille, R. (2005). Natural born bullies. Retrieved from http://www.naturalchild.org/robin_grille/natural_born_bullies.html

Lamia, M. C. (2010, October 30). Do bullies actually lack empathy?. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/intense-emotions-and-strong-feelings/201010/do-bullies-actually-lack-empathy

Lazarus, C. (2011, September 22). Are you teaching people to treat you badly? . Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/think-well/201109/are-you-teaching-people-treat-you-badly

Olweus bullying prevention program: The world's foremost bullying prevention program. (2011). Retrieved fromhttp://olweus.org/public/bullying.page

Ormrod, J. (2008). Human learning. (5 ed., p. 41). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Szalavitz, M. (2010, April 17). How not to raise a bully: The early roots of empathy. Retrieved fromhttp://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1982190,00.html