Emotions of agressors and victims of cyberbullying: a preliminary study of Secondary students.

R. Ortega, P. Elipe and J. Calmaestra.

Ansiedad y Estrés, 15, 151-165, 2009.

Spanish

English

Cyberbulling, emotional intelligence, feelings, ICTs.

Research

Researchers.

1 - 20 pages

This article presents a study on cyberbullying over the Internet, conducted with students of secondary school in southern Spain (Andalusia). Specifically, we examined the emotional perception of these students about the suffering of the victim as a result of harassment. We compared the responses to the issue of victims, bullies and bully-victim (which in turn VICTIMS atacked). The results showed significant differences between VICTIMS, on the one hand, and bullies and bully-victim, on the other. Bully and bully-victim perceived less suffering on the victims as a consequence of the harassment the own victims report. Particularly amizing is the bully-victim also make this kind of attribution when they refer to themselves in their role as victims. The authors suggest several possible explanations for these discrepancies related to inadequate emotional perception and the presence of a deficit in this area that would make the students perform these crude and insensitive roles to the feelings of the victim. On the other hand, the slant on emotional perception found is similar to the moral desconexion shown by assailants revealed in previous studies on traditional bullying. Thus, according to the authors, this result reinforces the conceptualization of cyberbullying as a phenomenon whose underlying psychological characteristics are similar to those of traditional bullying: a diagram imbalance of power and dominance-submission.

The relevance of this article is in several respects: first, it is an issue that, due to their recent creation, has not yet been studied in extent. Moreover, the central focus of the article: the emotional perception of the victims of harassment, we believe a key issue. Especially important was the comparison made to allow us to delve into the emotional processes of all involved in the phenomenon, which is central for design of effective interventions. Finally, it seems relevant comparison made between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, and we need to narrow down what are alike and how they are different phenomenons and shaping what is exactly cyberbullying and what processes are in their origin and maintenance.

University of Seville