Are Cyberbullies Less Empathic? Adolescents' Cyberbullying Behavior and Empathic Responsiveness

Abstract

Meta-analyses confirm a negative relationship between aggressive behavior and empathy, that is, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Based on theoretical considerations, it was, therefore, hypothesized that a lack of empathic responsiveness may be characteristic for cyberbullies in particular. In the present study, 2.070 students of Luxembourg secondary schools completed an online survey that included a cyberbullying questionnaire4 and a novel empathy short scale. According to the main hypothesis, analyses of variances indicated that cyberbullies demonstrated less empathic responsiveness than non-cyberbullies. In addition, cy-berbullies were also more afraid of becoming victims of cyberbullying. The findings confirm and substantially extend the research on the relationship between empathy and aggressive behavior. From an educational point of view, the present findings suggest that training of empathy skills might be an important tool to decrease cyberbullying.

Like the good or bad guy—Empathy in antisocial and prosocial games.

“…This means that empathy does not only affect people's behavior substantially (e.g., Calvert, Strouse, & Murray, 2006;Steffgen, Pfetsch, König, & Melzer, 2011). Rather, empathy may also serve as a major moderator of the responses to violent behavior (Miller & Eisenberg, 1988).…”

Cyberbullying, self-esteem, empathy and loneliness

“…Thus it may be less important that perpetrators of cyberbullying are able to distance themselves from their victim. Despite these differences, initial findings suggest that empathy is also a valid predictor of cyberbullying perpetration (Ang & Goh, 2010;Casas, Del Rey & Ortega-Ruiz, 2013;Steffgen, Konig, Pfetsch, & Melzer, 2011). Empathy also influences the likelihood that online 'bystanders' will become involved in cyberbullying (Barlinska, Szuster, & Winiewski, 2013).…”

Empathy in Traditional and Cyber Bullying/Victimization Involvement From Early to Middle Adolescence: A Cross Sectional Study

“…Cyber-bullies may feel less remorse for their victims compared to traditional ones and perceive their acts as harmless (e.g., Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007), because of their low empathy, which may be further reduced due to their inability to see their victim's reactions (Campbell, Slee, Spears, Butler, & Kift, 2013). Finally, since CMC lowers users' perception of others' feelings (Suler, 2004), it is possible that students with adequate affective empathy also take part in the CB incidents, since the used means may emotionally distance the users (Brewer & Kerslake, 2015), and incommode them from understanding the consequences of their actions (Steffgen et al, 2011). Findings regarding the relationship of empathy with CV are still limited and controversial (Schultze-Krumbholz & Scheithauer, 2009;Van Noorden et al, 2014).…”