Birds of a feather bully together: Group processes and children's responses to bullying

Abstract

Recent research has shown that a group-level analysis can inform our understanding of school bullying. The present research drew on social identity theory and intergroup emotion theory. Nine- to eleven-year olds were randomly assigned to the same group as story characters who were described as engaging in bullying, as being bullied, or as neither engaging in bullying nor being bullied. Participants read a story in which a bully, supported by his or her group, was described as acting unkindly towards a child in a different group. Gender of protagonists and the bully's group norm (to be kind or unkind to other children) were varied. Identification affected responses to the bullying incident, such that those who identified more highly with each group favoured this group. Moreover, children's group membership predicted the group-based emotions they reported, together with the associated action tendencies. Implications for understanding the processes underlying bullying behaviour are discussed.

Bullying and Belonging: Teachers’ Reports of School Aggression

“…There was also evidence that children form supportive groups around targets of bullying, and that children are encouraged to identify with school-level group norms surrounding peer victimization. These findings are thus in line with scenario-based research (e.g., Jones et al, 2011Jones et al, , 2012Nesdale et al, 2008) showing children"s tendency to follow group norms surrounding bullying, and to identify with, and behave in line with, their friendship groups. A novel insight for research looking at social identity processes in bullying is that bullying occurs between children who were former friends.…”

“…The data presented above provided a more nuanced picture of the ways in which social identity processes might be relevant to the problem of school bullying than that provided by previous experimental work (e.g., Jones et al, 2011;Nesdale et al, 2008), which has focused on strength of identification and group norms . Specifically, it emerged that bullying in groups has a substantial intragroup dynamic, with bullying sometimes occurring among former friends.…”

“…As such, group members are likely to be rewarded for adherence to group norms, or rejected by the group when they fail to adhere to them (Morrison, 2006). Building on this, it was hypothesized (e.g., Jones, Haslam, York, & Ryan, 2008;Jones, Livingstone, & Manstead, 2011Nesdale, 2007) that bullying might be a set of behaviours that is motivated by social identity processes, including levels of ingroup identification, and adherence to group norms. In line with this hypothesis, a number of studies have indicated the role of social identity processes in maintaining bullying.…”

“…Furthermore, Nesdale, Durkin, Maass, Kiesner, and Griffiths (2008) showed, in a minimal group study, that children"s intentions to engage in bullying were greater when they were assigned to a group that had a norm of outgroup-disliking, rather than a norm for outgroup-liking. In later research, Jones et al (2011) showed that children who identify highly with a target feel more anger on behalf of that target -they "stick together" with a target of bullying, while children who identify with a bullying group express more pride -and want to be friends with the bullying children. Thus, social identity processes might account for children"s responses to bullying, in terms of a need to maintain a positive ingroup image, and to adhere to ingroup norms.…”

“…Two themes used to inform the analysis were guided by the extant research (see Jones et al, 2011) on social identity processes: 1) children ganging up on another child, (condoning and joining in the bullying) and (2) children sticking together with the target (supporting the target and/or reporting the bullying).…”