Popularity, Rejection and Bullying Flashcards
How many kinds of popularity are there?
There are 2
What are the two forms of popularity?
Sociometric popularity
Perceived popularity
What is sociometric popularity?
Sociometric Popularity refers to how well-liked someone is and is determined mainly by social skills, friendliness, sense of humor, and
so forth (qualities that are valued by people of all ages and backgrounds)
What is perceived popularity?
Perceived Popularity refers to how much status, or prestige, someone has. Determinants of perceived popularity are highly variable!
- For example, having a boyfriend or girlfriend may have little to do with perceived popularity in fifth grade but may be highly correlated with it in ninth grade
Why is being liked when a teenager important?
The reward centers in teenagers’ brains are activated whenever they see Instagram
photos that have been labeled as receiving many “likes”
- This occurs for their own photos, for neutral photos posted by others, and for photos of risky activity…
What is the relation between popularity and aggression?
- Although psychologists used to believe that aggressive and antisocial adolescents are likely to be rejected by their classmates, it turns out
that some teenagers are BOTH aggressive AND popular! - In fact, some adolescents engage in antisocial or aggressive behavior because they believe doing so will make them more popular
- However, the degree to which aggression impacts popularity, really depends on the type of aggression…
What is proactive aggression?
Proactive Aggression refers to aggression that is strategic and selective. It generally involves forethought and planning
What is an example of proactive aggression?
A child threatening to physically harm a peer in order to get to the front of the lunch line, answers to the homework, etc.
What is reactive aggression?
Reactive Aggression refers to aggression that is unplanned and typically a reaction to a context
What is an example of reactive aggression?
A teen punching a peer after the peer made fun of or teased them or posting something really mean online about a peer who embarrassed
them
What did Donna Eder’s ethnographic research involving her observing peer relations in a particular middle school reveal?
- In this school, being a cheerleader gave you “elite” status – you were instantly popular if you made the cheer team
- She found that girls who were successful in cultivating friendships with the cheerleaders became a part of this “elite” group and thus, more popular
- However, popular adolescents can only maintain a finite number of friendships so these “popular” girls would inevitably end up snubbing other classmates who wanted to be their friends (I.e., they also came to be seen as “stuck-up”)!
In short, she found that adolescents who hang out with “popular” kids become more popular over time, but they also tend to become less well-liked by their less popular peers and even victimized because they are seen as snobby status seekers
What did Merten’s work contribute to the dynamic of popularity?
Merten (1987) also found that to ensure that no one person within a clique becomes “too popular” with students in general, clique members will often turn on other members of their clique
- Specifically, they would undermine the “too” popular girls’ standing by gossiping, starting rumors and trying to undermine her friendships
What happens if you are very high or low in popularity?
Students who are very high or very low in popularity are less satisfied with their friendships and social life than their peers who fall somewhere in between these extremes
What is relational aggression?
Generally, refers to acts intended to harm another through the manipulation of relationships with others (malicious gossip)
What is reactive relational aggression?
This type of aggression is a response to a
provocation that causes distress and is typically associated with impulsivity, anger, and making assumptions
What is proactive relational aggression?
(Sometimes referred to as Instrumental or
Premeditated Aggression)
- This type of aggression is planned and occurs
without provocation and its goal is to obtain a specific outcome or to coerce
others
Why has most research on relational aggression focused more on boys?
Most researchers have focused more on boys because boys on average show more
overt aggression
What form can relational aggression take?
May take the form of excluding a peer from social activities, damaging their
reputations with others, or withdrawing attention and friendship
Do girls engage in relational aggression?
Not only boys though… The “Mean Girls”
- Girls are more aware of it, more distressed by it, and more often victims of relational
aggression
Why is reducing relational aggression hard?
It typically improves perpetrators’ popularity
What are the three types of unpopular adolescents?
- Those who have problems controlling aggression
- Those who are withdrawn, shy, anxious, and inhibited
- Those who are both aggressive and withdrawn
What can peer rejection in adolescence be traced back to?
Peer rejection in adolescence can often be traced to rejection during earlier periods of development – It is not new to the adolescent
What are some of the negative consequences that being unpopular has on an adolescent’s mental health and psychological development?
- Depression
- Behavior problems
- Academic difficulties
What do many unpopular aggressive children display?
Hostile attribution bias
What is hostile attribution bias?
The tendency to interpret ambiguous interactions with others as deliberately hostile
What do unpopular withdrawn children generally display?
Unpopular withdrawn children generally display hesitancy, low self- esteem, and lack of confidence that make other children feel
uncomfortable, and their submissiveness makes them targets for bullying…
What is the vicious cycle of peer victimization?
Peer victimization causes adolescents to develop emotional problems, which often leads to more victimization…
How is bullying defined?
In general, bullying is defined by its repetitive nature and by the imbalance of power between bully and victim
True or False: 1/3 of American and European youth report physical bullying in the past year
TRUE.
Do rates of physical bullying and victimization decline as students more from middle school into high school?
YES.
Rates of physical bullying and victimization decline considerably as students move from middle school into high school
In what countries in bullying more prevalent?
Bullying is more prevalent in countries with greater income inequality
What problems do bullying victims report?
Victims report a range of adjustment problems including:
- Low self-esteem
- Depression
- Academic difficulties
- Difficulties in controlling negative emotions
How are the academic effects of bullying victims problematic?
The academic effects are really problematic as they impact:
- Academic performance
- School attendance
- School engagement
- Feelings of academic competence, all of which has cascading effects well beyond adolescence
Are psychological problems only a consequence of bullying?
NO.
It can also be the cause of bullying
- Many adolescents who report having been victimized also report bullying others
How are the effects of being bullied complicated?
International research (48 countries) of 12 – 15 year old’s found that suicide attempts increase as a direct function of how often a person is bullied
Studies of adolescents who have been bullied demonstrate that the regions of their brain
associated with monitoring the behavior of others are hyperactive making them
more likely to bully others…
Do anti-bullying programs work? Why?
NO
- School-based anti-bullying programs have a little effect during elementary school, but may actually lead to bullying during high school!!
Onlookers are more likely to intervene and defend the victim in schools in which doing so was expected by other students
A significant amount of bullying occurs outside of school
What are the 4 categories of victims?
Four categories of victims:
- Mainly passive (e.g., ignoring the bully or walking away)
- Mainly aggressive (e.g., fighting back, either physically or verbally)
- Support-seeking (e.g., telling a parent)
- Those who do a little of everything
What type of victim has the least negative consequences?
Those who are mainly passive have the least negative consequences but support-seeking can have protective effects as well
What is cyberbullying?
Bullying that occurs over the internet or via cell phones
- Less common than in-person harassment
- Affects victims in ways that are similar to physical bullying
- Becomes more common during adolescence
- Associated with both emotional and behavioral problems
How are in-person and cyberbullying correlated
- Victims of traditional bullying are also bullied online…
- Perpetrators of traditional bullying also engage in cyberbullying…
Does cyberbullying become more common over the course of adolescence?
Yes it does
Why do girls use cyberbullying vs boys?
Girls tend to use cyberbullying to spread gossip and rumors,
Boys more often use it for direct insults
What effect does cyberbullying have on popularity?
Conventional bullying tends to make adolescents less popular, but cyberbullying seems to have the opposite effect
What particular teenagers are less likely to be cyberbullied?
Teenagers whose parents monitor their internet activity are less likely to be
harassed.
Adolescents who are unpopular or who have poor peer relationships are more likely than their socially accepted peers to be…?
Low achievers in school, drop out of high school, show higher rates of delinquent behavior, and suffer from mental health problems
