Mentalizing Emotions and Social Cognition in Bullies and Victims

Abstract

Mentalizing is the ability to represent mental states to navigate the social world. A reduced mentalizing ability is a risk factor for a variety of psychological issues. Several studies indicated deficits in social cognition in bullies and victims, specifically in mentalizing anger. However, only a few studies investigated mentalizing abilities related to both anger and happiness in pre-adolescence. Our study investigated possible differences in the ability to mentalize anger and happiness in preadolescent bullies and victims, compared to a control group. We interviewed 104 preadolescents (44% males; 56% females; M = 13.2 years; SD = 0.82) and administered the Olweus Questionnaire to identify bullies and victims. We applied a narrative approach to investigate the mental state language referred to anger and happiness. The results indicated a reduced ability to mentalize anger in bullies and victims compared to controls. Both bullies and victims tended to consider anger and happiness predominantly as behavioral conditions rather than a state of mind. These results highlight the need to promote effective intervention programs to prevent bullying by enhancing appropriate mentalization of emotions in pre-adolescents.

Effects of Personality Traits and Mentalization on Workplace Bullying Experiences among Intensive Care Unit Nurses

“…Previous studies showed that mentalization was negatively correlated with borderline personality traits, depression, and anxiety [45]. Bullying victims are particularly vulnerable to mentalizing anger [37], and the inability to mentalize may afect the ability to suppress violent behavior [38]. Terefore, lower mentalization is presumably associated with higher workplace bullying.…”

“…Te deterioration of the ability to mentalize can put various psychological issues and bullies at risk. Moreover, victims are particularly vulnerable to mentalizing anger and are consequently more likely to perceive anger and happiness as behavioral conditions rather than mental states [37]. According to a previous study, the inability to mentalize can afect the ability to suppress violent behaviors [38].…”

Gender-Specific Significance of Peer Abuse during Childhood and Adolescence on Physical and Mental Health in Adulthood—Results from a Cross-Sectional Study in a Sample of Hospital Patients

“…If there is a lack of epistemic trust and mentalizing ability, which arises in an environment characterized by arbitrariness, neglect and violence, this developmental opportunity cannot be seized, epistemic mistrust, restricted social learning and further relationship difficulties are the consequences. As we have described above, it can be assumed that both the epistemic trust and mentalization ability of affected individuals may be reduced [ 62 ]. Fostering the mentalization ability and development of epistemic trust may help affected individuals to increase their social functioning [ 63 ] (including better social risk assessment) and to decrease long-lasting psychological issues [ 57 , 64 ].…”

CODE ATI: Sewing activities with various patterns affect the cognitive aspects of kindergarten children?

“…Children need cognitive skills to develop knowledge about What they Look at (Hudha, 2023;Anggraini, 2022), hear, feel, touch, or kiss with five senses. In institutional education, child age early, like park child, in cognitive development, also called mental growth or mental development (Pedditzi, 2022;Safitri, 2023). The discussion of cognitive development includes studying visual development in thinking, cognition, or knowing processes (Mustakim, 2023;Santiago et al, 2023).…”