Why do people bully?

[Daos]

http://news.discovery.com/human/2010/04/01/bullying-278x225.jpg

The story of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old Irish immigrant who killed herself in January after, prosecutors say, she was bullied relentlessly by her South Hadley, Mass. classmates, returned to the international spotlight this week after indictments were made public of nine teenagers on various charges including stalking, statutory rape and criminal harassment.

The charges raise the question: Why do people bully?

"It provides these kids with a sense of power," said Catherine Bradshaw, a developmental psychologist who studies bullying at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. "It's a way of pulling your core group closer and putting someone else out of it."

"The simple reason is it shows that they have power over others," agreed Marlene Snyder, Development Director for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in the United States, based in Clemson, S.C. "The reason that they do it repeatedly is that they are getting away with it. Nobody is calling them on their bad behavior. When they aren't called on it they think, 'Well, it must be O.K.'"

This power brings popularity and high social status for bullies, Bradshaw said. "But they're also perceived as disliked."

Evidence has shown that bullies often suffer from social and emotional problems, she added. At the same time, "one of the big myths is that bullies bully because they feel bad about themselves," Snyder said. "The research consistently shows that they have average or above average self-esteem."

"For the longest time we thought for sure that these ringleader bullies were socially rejected, that there was no way that you could establish dominance and control by humiliating other kids or tormenting them," said bullying expert Dorothy Espelage, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "But now we've shown that there is a peer socialization process -- that bullies tend to have more friends."

Indeed, experts agree that peer influence is crucial in accounting for bullying. "If your peer group says that pushing and shoving and spitting on people or spreading lies is O.K., even though you may have been taught differently in your home, you lose your moral compass," Snyder said.

But researchers also emphasize that parents play a role. "If parents are modeling aggression, the kids might learn that," Bradshaw said. "The things they say to their kids about how to handle conflict and the way they handle conflict, are important."

"The reality is we're not talking to kids early enough and long enough about bullying and healthy relationships," Espelage said.

"As you age, you understand the consequences of your behavior," she added. "I don't think high-schoolers understand that they can be prosecuted."

Snyder emphasized that the definition of bullying is important: "It is not just kids being kids," she said. "A person who bullies intentionally picks out someone that they know is weaker than themselves so that they can intimidate, harass or humiliate them to do their bidding. It is a misuse of their power. This behavior is usually repeated and of course this power differential is there."

"It's not just a conflict," she said. "In a conflict the kids are of equal power. They are still supported by their friends. It's important to understand that bullying is abuse."


Source (http://news.discovery.com/human/bullying-phoebe-prince-teens.html)

[Tabiti]

Complexes...

[Amarantine]

I like bulling Radojica, and I do it as much as I can:P...he never complained...:P

[Cato]

Mob mentality, peer pressure, low self-esteem, thuggish personality, being a loser, etc.

[Agrippa]

One has to distinguish, but there are different mechanisms of exclusions, most of which exist even in our primate relatives, some even in other animals, being related to in-group cohesion and group boundaries.

Often they are related to various forms of deviation, which can be objectively or subjectively (for the players) negative.

In general, it being related social status, organisation and rules traditionally, but can degenerate to some form of simple sadism and abuse.

However, exclusive behaviour being deeply rooted in our biological and cultural past, if there are no reasonable structures and rules, authorities which define whats good and bad in the group, the young do it for themselves, often with very abusive and destructive consequences.

So its a lot about the absense of a functioning group structure and authority in my opinion, like in the recent case in which no one really cared and acted appropriately in time.

[Radojica]

I like bulling Radojica, and I do it as much as I can:P...he never complained...:P

In case you have older brother like I am, your bullying would be something like holiday :rolleyes2:. In other words, I love your bullying :love:

[Groenewolf]

My early childhood was a bit of a mixed experience thanks to bullying. :(

[Bloodeagle]

Growing up in a majority Mexican part of California,"the same town as César Chávez, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceasar_Chavez
I experienced first hand what it feels like to be bullied.
It is these events in life that can make one strong or make someone give up,
or do as the boys of Columbine High School did, not so long ago!
This is a clear case of social Darwinism.
I find it beautiful in its simplicity!:)
I wonder what the exact social structure, race, religion, and creed these bullies were?
Were they W.A.S.P.,"white Anglo Saxon's", or for lack of a better term,"minorities"?

[SuuT]

Someone tried to bully me once but I did a Ralphie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzn5d0dBLIU&feature=related).

[Bloodeagle]

Someone tried to bully me once but I did a Ralphie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzn5d0dBLIU&feature=related).

Where I am from, "if you mess with one bean you end up messing with the whole burrito!:D

[Groenewolf]

Why? Mainly due to bad manners introduced to the northern Europe mostly by swarthy Mediterranoids aka southern Europeans.

Sure :rolleyes: . Kids will always pick on those who do not conform to group-norms. Even more so if you are superior intelligent and a bit eccentric.

[Lutiferre]

Why do people bully? Because it's great entertainment, because it's self-empowering, because it gives you the intoxication of power and victory that it equally does to win over others in competitions and more specifically to destroy and undermine others in general.

Some of the more sociological reasons are that it's an effective tool at enforcing, maintaining and demonstrating social power structures - e.g. an opportunity for the alpha's to exert power and for the betas to demonstrate their loyalty to the alphas. The weakest are most often the targets for this mechanism, and hence become excluded and/or scapegoats.

It is also an effective method of enforcing norms and rules which naturally emerge in group situations. Due to their hierarchies and the interest in preserving power for the members, groups develop unconsciously a kind of common mind whose interests they then try to defend.

People who violate or try to break out of that common minds norms and rules threaten the power hierarchy and hence, are the -rightful- target of isolation, social and psychological terrorism, physical violence or on a societal level, destruction/elimination.

So not only the weak will become targets, the stronger and psychologically more independent who are more independent of groups will often also become targets. But so what? This will simply be a test of their strength. It will be good for them. It will develop them.

[SuuT]

Where I am from, "if you mess with one bean you end up messing with the whole burrito!™

Lmao. Fixed.


(hey, you don't mind if I borrow that, do ya?:D)

[RoyBatty]

Why do people bully?

Because some people just deserve to get f***** up. It's written on their foreheads. It's hard to resist such temptations.

[Groenewolf]

Because some people just deserve to get f***** up. It's written on their foreheads. It's hard to resist such temptations.

Yes, thank for this inside in the mindset of the bully:rolleyes2: . So I deserved to be bullied.:rolleyes:

[Groenewolf]

Yes, thank for this inside in the mindset of the bully:rolleyes2: . So I deserved to be bullied.:rolleyes:

And I am not really willing to explain this completely on the forum. To personal.

[Cato]

I was a the quiet sort of kid when I was in school, the perfect sort for bullies to pick on- which did happen. A lot. In looking back, the sorts of kids that always picked on me (and other kids) were usually always part of a gang (gang niggers, preppy kids, whiggers, and so on), who'd usually back down if you stood up to them. In seventh grade, I decked one of them, some white trash kid, upside the head with a rather clunky school textbook one day after something he said that I didn't like. I got suspended for it, but with the added satisfaction of all but knocking the kid out. :) Of course he acted as if he was the innocent party, but they always do...

And, said white trash never bugged me again.

[Cato]

Bullies mates, not the runes or Romans or Celtiberians.

:)

[Eldritch]

Bullies mates, not the runes or Romans or Celtiberians.

:)

Agreed. Split?

[Cato]

Agreed. Split?

Sounds about right.

[Bloodeagle]

Bullies in my neck of the woods are viewed as vermin. You can be charged with a hate crime by bullying or hazing.
No more fun for bullies period!:coffee:

[Heimmacht]

Because they try to distract people from their own insecurities.

[Ibericus]

Did bullying happen, say, 200 years ago ? Or is just a recent phenomena ?

[Pallantides]

How many people live in the middle of the ice? Just the samis and some happy reindeers.

Majority of the Saami live exactly like other Scandinavians, there is no communites with only Saami, at least not in Norway.

[Cato]

Well, look at how wolf/dog packs have the pecking order- the alpha male and his mate, etc. all the way down to the omega, the asshole of the group who gets the most abuse.

As in nature...

[Vulpix]

OT moved here (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14660).

[Amarantine]

Did bullying happen, say, 200 years ago ? Or is just a recent phenomena ?

I think and what we could concluded from the books, novels etc, bullying is human creation, and def we had even deeper in the past.

But some sort of bullyintg like cyberbullying is quite recent form of bullying.

[Radojica]

I dare someone to bully this guy :shocked:

qJsK1w3L0Vo

[Liffrea]

Most places I have worked generally revolve around some form of hierarchy, low level insults and “tests” of balls and just how far you will be pushed. Picking on the new guy is common in most environments, if you come off as a drip you will be butchered mercilessly, I don’t consider it “bullying” just normal behaviour (women are just as much inclined as men).

[Aviane]

Simply put people who bully are only the weaker ones who would like to make people think that they are strong or very tough, but at the end their just worthless people.

[Radojica]

Where I am from, "if you mess with one bean you end up messing with the whole burrito!:D

Hahaha

Having Gypsies in your neighborhood :D?!

[Cail]

Actually i think that from some point of view bullying is normal for humans as social animals. Many animals "bully" each other to establish social hierarchy in the packs. Including primates - dominant chimp males bully other males, and alpha females bully other females.

That doesn't of course mean that it must be accepted. Like many others, these aren't the best aspects of humankind's animal side.

[Aviane]

Actually i think that from some point of view bullying is normal for humans as social animals. Many animals "bully" each other to establish social hierarchy in the packs. Including primates - dominant chimp males bully other males, and alpha females bully other females.

That doesn't of course mean that it must be accepted. Like many others, these aren't the best aspects of humankind's animal side.

Well put by the way. ;)

[Bard]

I've bullied and I've been bullied, it's quite horrible and I would never do that again.

[lei.talk]

The court document tells the story of the dark side of high school life. Prince (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Phoebe_Prince) entered South Hadley High School on September 1 after moving to Massachusetts from Ireland. Initially, she was relatively popular. She dated Mulveyhill, a senior, but they broke up in December and he went back to his old girlfriend, Narey. Longe was close friends with Mulveyhill and also was friendly with Narey.

In December, Prince went out with Renaud, who had an on-again, off-again relationship with Mullins, according to the documents. Velazquez was Mullin's friend.

The defendants viewed Prince as someone who was "taking away" other girls' boyfriends, witnesses told investigators. As the alleged bullying escalated, Prince told a friend that she was "not a tough girl" and "would not know how to fight," the documents indicate. At one point, she asked friends to surround her for protection as she walked the halls of the high school.

South Hadley Public Schools Superintendent Gus Sayer has defended school administrators' handling of the matter, saying Prince had not told anyone about her situation.

He cited two incidents January 7 that brought the situation to light. The court documents describe at least three occasions in which teachers or administrators either witnessed or were told of the alleged bullying.

In one case, a teacher saw Prince in tears after she was berated by Velazquez and reported it, the document states. Velazquez, who threatened Prince, saying she'd "punch her in the face," was suspended for one day, the court documents said.

Sayer told CNN that Prince "was apparently a very private person, she bore a lot without talking to friends or with parents or with anybody at school."


http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:9BDCwzWLRohE0M:http://www.adlinkchicago.biz/CNN%20Logo.png (http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/09/massachusetts.bullying.suicide/index.html?hpt=Sbin)