Lecture 6: Witnessing online aggression Flashcards
What are bystanders?
Focus on individuals that are confronted with acts of online aggression,
taking place between others
Why is it so important to focus on bystanders of online aggression?
- Group process
- Think about Theory of planned behavior & underlying beliefs
- Bystander are also important for the continuation of the behavior of the perpetrator
- And important for the impact for victims
What are three potential reactions/behaviors of bystanders witnessing online aggression?
- Helping
- Joining in
- doing nothing
What is a worrying behavior of bystanders witnessing online aggression?
Most bystanders do nothing
Why do most bystander nothing when witnessing online aggression?
Explained/influenced by:
1. personal characteristics
2. socio-psychological mechanisms
3. contextual factors
What was the focus of the study? - Study: Personal Characteristics and Contextual Factors ThatDetermine“Helping,”“Joining In,”and“Doing Nothing”When Witnessing Cyberbullying (Van Cleemput et al, 2014)
Personal characteristics as predictors of joining in, helping and doing nothing:
- Empathy
- Social anxiety
- Involvement in cyberbullying and traditional bullying as perpetrator or victim
What is the definition of ‘empathy’?
“a fundamental social skill which allows the individual to anticipate,
understand, and experience the point of view of the other people”
What are the three aspect of ‘empathy’? (Olweus & Endresen, 2001)
- Perspective taking
- Empathic concern
- Empathic distress
Which empathic aspect is most related to bystander behavior?
Empathic concern
What is the definition of ‘perspective taking’? (empathy aspect)
Perspective taking refers to the cognitive ability to understand or adopt the viewpoint or feelings of another person.
What is the definition of ‘empathic concern’? (empathy aspect)
Empathic concern is an emotional response characterized by feelings of warmth, compassion, and concern for another person’s well-being.
What is the definition of ‘empathic distress’? (empathy aspect)
Empathic distress involves experiencing personal discomfort or distress in response to another person’s suffering or negative emotions
What is the definition of ‘social anxiety’?
“the fear that one will make a mistake and be criticized (Miller et al. 1972)”
What are the three aspects of ‘social anxiety’? (La Greca & Lopez, 1998)
- Fear of negative evaluation
- Social avoidance and distress
- Social avoidance specific to new situations or new people
What is the relationship between social anxiety and self-efficacy in the context of bystander behavior?
Inverse relationship (means that as one of these factors increases, the other tends to decrease, and vice versa)
What is the definition of ‘self-efficacy’?
One’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in executing a certain task, behavior, … .
What are the socio-cognitive processes in bystander behavior?
- bystander effect
- Moral disengagement
What is the ‘bystander effect’?
a social phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help or intervene in an emergency situation when there are other people present.
Which factors contribute to the bystander effect?
- diffusion of responsibility
- Evaluation apprehension
- Pluralistic ignorance
What is the definition of ‘diffusion of responsibility’? (bystander effect)
- Diffusion of responsibility is the tendency for individuals to feel less personally responsible to take action or help when others are present.
- In a group setting, individuals may assume that someone else will take the initiative, leading to a diffusion of responsibility.
What is the definition of ‘evaluation apprehension’? (bystander effect)
- Evaluation apprehension refers to the concern or fear of being judged or evaluated by others when making a decision or taking action.
- Individuals may hesitate to act in a group setting because they are worried about how their actions will be perceived by others.
What is the definition of ‘pluralistic ignorance’? (bystander effect)
- Pluralistic ignorance occurs when individuals in a group mistakenly believe that their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are different from those of the others, even though they are not.
- This misperception can lead to inaction because individuals assume that others must know something they don’t.
What is ‘moral disengagement’?
- refers to a set of socio-cognitive processes that individuals may use to rationalize or justify behavior that goes against their moral principles.
- These processes allow people to distance themselves from the negative impact of their actions and reduce the guilt or discomfort associated with engaging in morally questionable behavior.
What are the 8 ‘moral disengagement’ processes?
- moral justification
- Euphemistic labeling
- Advantageous comparison
- Displacement of responsibilities
- Diffusion of responsibility
- Distortion of Consequences
- Dehumanization
- Attribution of blame
What is ‘moral justification’? (moral disengagement process)
- This involves portraying potentially harmful actions as serving a moral or higher purpose.
- Individuals may convince themselves that their actions, which may otherwise be considered immoral, are justified in the service of a greater good.
What is ‘Euphemistic labeling’? (moral disengagement process)
- Euphemistic labeling involves using mild or positive language to describe actions that are morally objectionable. (e.g., teasing, joking around)
- It’s a way of making harmful behavior seem less offensive.
What is ‘Advantageous comparison’? (moral disengagement process)
This process involves comparing one’s behavior to more extreme or reprehensible actions to make it seem more acceptable in comparison.
What is ‘Displacement of responsibilities’? (moral disengagement process)
Displacement of responsibilities involves shifting the responsibility for one’s actions onto others or external factors.
What is ‘Diffusion of responsibility’? (moral disengagement process)
Similar to the bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility occurs when individuals in a group feel less personally responsible to take action because they believe someone else will do so
What is ‘Distortion of Consequences’? (moral disengagement process)
This involves minimizing or distorting the potential negative consequences of one’s actions.
What is ‘Dehumanization’? (moral disengagement process)
Dehumanization involves perceiving others as less than fully human, making it easier to justify harmful actions against them.
What is ‘Attribution of Blame’? (moral disengagement process)
This process involves blaming the victim or external circumstances for the harm rather than taking responsibility.
What did a path model reveal regarding the indirect associations between psychopathy and sadism with online aggression perpetration, while considering online aggression victimization? - study: dark tetrad traits and online aggression (Pabian, 2023)
- In the path model, it was found that both psychopathy and sadism were indirectly associated with online aggression perpetration.
- This association was mediated by online moral disengagement.
- Notably, the model controlled for the influence of online aggression victimization, highlighting the specific indirect pathways through moral disengagement linking these personality traits to the perpetration of online aggression
What were the results of the study? – Personal Characteristics and Contextual Factors ThatDetermine“Helping,”“Joining In,”and“Doing Nothing”When Witnessing Cyberbullying (Cleemput, 2014)
who:
* 11,1 % victim
* 11,1 % perpetrator
* 3,8 % both victim and perpetrator
* 35,2 % Being a bystander
Reactions:
* 4.6% joining in
* 45.1% helping
* 58,6% doing nothing
What were the main reasons for remaining passive when witnessing CB (open question answers)? – Exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander (Van Cleemput et al., 2014)
- difficult to interpret situations
- Did not want to get involved / it was not necessary to get involved
- out of fear
- because of relationship with perpetrator
- because of relationship with victim
- timing
- victim’s behavior
What were the main reasons for remaining passive when witnessing CB (closed question answers)? – Exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander (Van Cleemput et al., 2014)
- because it was not my business (31.1%)
- because I could get bullied myself (20.1%)
- because i did not know how to help the victim (19.4%)
- because of other reason (11.4%)
- because i cannot help the victim (9.8%)
- because it is the victim’s responsibility to act (8.2%)
What was the conclusion of the study? – Exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander (Van Cleemput et al., 2014)
▪ At a certain age, adolescents start to feel more inhibited about helping
▪ Empathic concern predicts adequate bystander behavior
▪ Past experiences with bullying matter!
▪ Doing nothing was less well explained by the mode
What was the goal of the desensitization study of Pabian et al. 2016?
Does exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander lead to desensitization, as reflected in less empathic responsiveness and a more positive attitude towards cyberbullying?
What is the definition of ‘Desensitization’?
Repeated exposure to a certain stimulus can lead to reduced physiological,
emotional, cognitive, and/or behavioral responsiveness to it (Rule & Ferguson,
1986)
What is the background of ‘Desensitization’?
media effects theory
What is the ‘media effects theory’?
“a theory that attempts to explain the uses and effects of media on individuals,
groups, or societies as a whole” (Valkenburg & Oliver, 2019)
What is central in the ‘media effects theory’?
- Exposure to specific mediated messages or stories
- Potential changes that this media use can bring about in individuals, groups, or
societies
▪ Changes? Deliberate and/or non-deliberate; short- and/or long-term; individual and/or collective;
▪ Changes in cognitions, emotions, attitudes and behavior
What changes can the media bring in individuals, groups, or societies? (media effects theory)
▪ Deliberate and/or non-deliberate; short- and/or long-term; individual and/or collective;
▪ Changes in cognitions, emotions, attitudes and behavior
What does Desensitization mean in the present study? - desensitization study (Pabian et al., 2016)
Desensitization in terms of lower empathic responsiveness and more positive attitudes towards cyberbullying
What is the principle of cognitive consistency?
Individuals derive their cognitions, beliefs, and attitudes from their own overt
behavior = expression effects (Bem, 1972; Valkenburg, Peter, & Walther, 2016)
What is ‘Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory’?
Individuals have an inner drive to hold attitudes, beliefs, and behavior in
harmony (Festinger, 1962)
What is empathic responsiveness?
Empathic concern towards distressed others
What did the results show? - desensitization study (Pabian et al., 2016)
- exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander at Time 1 predicted subsequent lower levels of empathic responsiveness at Time 2.
- The attitude towards cyberbullying at Time 2 was not influenced by seeing more cyberbullying acts at Time 1.
