Understanding Physical And Verbal Bullying Psychology Essay

Print   

23 Mar 2015

Disclaimer:
This essay has been written and submitted by students and is not an example of our work. Please click this link to view samples of our professional work witten by our professional essay writers. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of EssayCompany.

Bullying is an abusive way to show one person's power over another person. "For instance, although we may agree that bullying is oppressive behavior - and not to be tolerated - to one person some observed behavior may seem downright oppressive; to another the same behavior may seem merited or justified, and not bullying at all" (Rigby, 21). This review of literature will concentrate why people bully others. Bullying is a common situation that Australian schools and other schools around the world challenge (McGrath). Research on bullying is important to understand the reasons for bullying, when the consequences to victims are considered. A general consequence to bullying is creating an unsafe environment for victims and bystanders. However most bullying happens in school with younger peers amongst their age group which creates more consequences. "Bullying has only been acknowledged for fewer than two decades as a serious problem that results in negative mental health and learning out comes for students and the development of a negative school culture" (McGrath). Physical and verbal bullying has been well studied to discover why people bully other people. On the other hand there are other more than just physical and verbal harassment; some of the other forms of bullying can be "based on racism, disabilities, homophobia and gender" (McGrath). Also, in our technologically evolving society, cyber bullying has become a problem, if not a greater problem than just physical and verbal bullying (Kowalski).

Creating an Identity of a Bully

A bully is said to be suffering from low self-esteem or wanting to be cool (Frinsen, Ann, Anna-karin Jonsson and Camilla Persson). Yet, it is also said that "[children] who bully are seeking to gain control and power" (Rosenthal, 36). So which is a more correct answer? Actually, both are quite correct because a bully has low self-esteem so he or she has to bully someone in order to feel better and find their placement (Rigby, 45). Rigby believes that this behavior in a student is to "… [establish] a hierarchy of dominance in a school" (Rigby, 45).

Student who bullies is creating their identity (seeing who is more powerful) amongst the school (Rigby, 45). "Children who bully desire to dominate their peers. They need to win" (Rosenthal, 36). In school, "[bullying] behavior is often under the powerful influence of social pressure from friendship groups" (Rigby, 45). Rigby believes that bullying can be a social role; "children find that they can get what they want more quickly and more easily by exploiting a situation in which they are more powerful that another, and do so recurringly. (In short, they bully)" (Rigby, 23).

"Here is a list of the kinds of power differences that are commonplace in schools (often in other places too): being able to physically hurt others, being numerically superior, being more confident, more assertive than others, having greater verbal dexterity - more specifically the capacity to hurt or threaten by one's choice of words and how one speaks, having superior social or manipulative skill - the capacity to turn people against someone or get them excluded and having greater status and the corresponding capacity to impose on some others." (Rigby, 23).

Therefore kids bully is because "the bully has low self-esteem, example: the bully is mean to others in order to feel better; the bully feels cool, example: the bully thinks he or she is better than others, the bully wants to impress others" (Frinsen, Ann, Anna-karin Jonsson and Camilla Persson). Not only do children bully for those reasons, but they also do so to belong in a specific peer group (Rigby, 59). Lastly some youths bully because they feel like they have something to prove.

Being Bullied Somewhere Else

Bullies are often influenced by other people or past experiences to bully others. The research on bully indicates that many children are bullied by their parents (Rosenthal, 35), their peers in the same peer group (Rigby, 59), someone who just doesn't like them at school (Rigby, 45) and/or someone anonymously over the virtual world (Kowalski). For example, "According to a University of Washington and Indiana University study, 97% of the children in the study who bullied others had been bullied" (Rosenthal, 35). Rosenthal's research is supported by Rigby's analysis; "[the] reason for the bullying may vary according to the kind of bullying being practiced. For example, perpetrators of cyber bullying are more likely to have been victims of bullying themselves, and are often seeking a kind of revenge" (Rigby, 45).

Based on an Australian Survey, many children bully because of the following reasons from most to least common: 1. they annoyed me, 2.to get even, 3. for fun, 4. others were doing it too, 5. the people I bullied were just wimps, 6. to show how tough I am and 7. to get things or money from people (Rigby, 45). "Notice that the most common reasons (the annoyed me, to get even) suggests that the bully may feel personally justified in bullying someone" (Rigby, 45). Children bullying have often "been victims of bullying themselves, and are often seeking a kind of revenge" (Rigby, 45).This means the child will become a bully to show vengeance on the bully, however sometimes that is not the case.

Bullying does not always happen between age groups, as some children may experience bullying at home. "Children often become bullies after witnessed their parents bullying others and after having been bullied themselves" (Rosenthal, 34). "When children are bullied by their parents they in turn may bully their peers to gain control over some portion of their life" (Rosenthal, 36). (This will be further discussed in section C. Nature or Nurture. Poor up Raising)

Furthermore, some children nowadays are being bullied through the internet. Bullying make take place in chat rooms to emails to video games and even cell phones (Kowalski). It has been reported by Kowalski that "girls (13%) more than boys (9%) [perpetrate] cyber bullying and more girls (25%) than boys (11%) report being targets of cyber bullying" (Kowalski). In view of the fact that cyber bullying is often unknown, many children are bully victims meaning that they are a victim and a bully (Kowalski).

Finally, the majority of people bully due to the fact that they get bullied themselves. These victims will become a bully by "[gaining] control over some portion of their life" which maybe their peers or family" (Rosenthal, 36).

Nature or Nurture. Poor up Raising

Children who are bullies may be influenced by a role model with previous bullying experienced (Rosenthal, 37). Although some children are just bullies for who they are, they decided to bully people themselves (Rigby, 45). "A child may become a bully when they grow with an aggressive model that is consistently repetitive. Too often, in a child's life that model is their parent" (Rosenthal, 34).

"Sometimes bullying is subtle; maybe mom is consistently rude to the bank teller, the teacher, the clerk at the grocery store or the teenager taking orders in the drive-thru window. Maybe dad has trouble with road rage and a habit of letting loose with verbal epitaphs while the kids are riding in the car with him" (Rosenthal, 35).

It is seen that parents who bully their children do not know how to control their anger and most likely to support their child's bullying behaviors towards others (Rosenthal, 34). "[Parents] also use bullying as a method of controlling their kids or "toughening them up"" (Rosenthal, 34). This influences the kid to be more aggressive in the way they handle situations in the future, and most kids will not show this kind of attitude towards parents, they will project this to their peers (Rosenthal, 36).

In other cases, bullying does not happen between the parents and children, but for some reason the child is still a bully. "In recent years [researchers] are finding that genetics play a very substantial part in determining our social behavior" (Rigby, 55). In a study between identical and fraternal twins, identical twins that were raised apart were more likely to bully than fraternal twins raised together (Rigby, 55). "This strongly suggests that genetic influence is more powerful than any nurturing effect. Characteristics associated with involvement in bully/victim problems can be inherited" (Rigby, 55). "One of the most important discoveries in recent times is that the same parental nurturing, or the lack of it, can have quite different consequences for different infants" (Rigby, 98).

Bullying can be caused from nature and/or nurture. Children can be bullies due to the lack of nurturing or just poor nurturing from their parents using aggressive and violent behavior (Rosenthal, 37). And sometimes, the parents are great nurturer but the young might of picked up some genetics that may have triggered their bullying (Rigby, 55).

Conclusion:

Bullying is an effect that is caused by low self-esteem in oneself and the poor upraising of a child. It may also be the situation where one is being bullied and has to take power over another causing them to bully. "The effects of bullying last a lifetime" (Rosenthal, 37). If these behaviors are not changed then it will keep on going through their adult hood and they will influence their family and co-workers to bully one another (Rosenthal, 37). These researchers will have continue to investigate why humans bully one another especially when technology changes, "so, too, in all likelihood will the venue by which cyber bullying occurs" (Kowalski).



rev

Our Service Portfolio

jb

Want To Place An Order Quickly?

Then shoot us a message on Whatsapp, WeChat or Gmail. We are available 24/7 to assist you.

whatsapp

Do not panic, you are at the right place

jb

Visit Our essay writting help page to get all the details and guidence on availing our assiatance service.

Get 20% Discount, Now
£19 £14/ Per Page
14 days delivery time

Our writting assistance service is undoubtedly one of the most affordable writting assistance services and we have highly qualified professionls to help you with your work. So what are you waiting for, click below to order now.

Get An Instant Quote

ORDER TODAY!

Our experts are ready to assist you, call us to get a free quote or order now to get succeed in your academics writing.

Get a Free Quote Order Now