Bullying

Bullying has become a significant social problem these days. It is estimated that nearly 6 million
children (approx. 30%) in grades 6-10 have been involved in moderate to frequent bullying (both
victims & victimized) in the U.S (Nansel et.al 2001). Bullying has both short and long term
consequences. The negative experiences endured by bullied children tend to stick with them for
the rest of their lives. A study conducted by Rigby & Slee mentions that youth who are bullies or
are bullied are at an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, attempts & completed suicide. (Rigby &
Slee, 1999, pg.119) Loneliness, humiliation and insecurity were further manifestations. The bully
victims find it difficult to adjust socially, emotionally, focus on their studies and develop in a
healthy mental fashion. This leads to more serious complications like depression further on.
(Ericson, 2001, pp 1-2)

Although the problem of bullying is not dealt with in this course directly, I would like to extend
Prof. Dan Ariely's views on honesty and dishonesty into this topic. Prof.Dan, in one of his
experiments, asked two groups of students to solve a problem, namely finding two numbers in a
matrix that add to 10. One group was asked to write down the ten commandments before the
test, the other weren't asked to. Then the students were asked to rip their answer sheets and tell
the examiner the number of matrices they solved correctly. It is found that, the people who
recalled the ten commandments cheated less than their counterparts. Also, signing a non-
religious moral code seems to have similar results as well. In Dan's words, 'When we are
removed from any benchmarks of ethical thought, we tend to stray into dishonesty. But if we are
reminded of morality at the moment we are tempted, then we are much more likely to be
honest'.

How to apply this to the problem of bullying? The Convention on the rights on the Child under the
Charter of the United Nations states that, 'the child should be brought up ............and in particular
in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity'. Instead of limiting this
code at the national level, all teachers and students should be made aware of this.

One of the major problems in controlling bullying is under reporting. Children are often reluctant
to report because they fear that the adults will only make situations worse and also due to
embarrassment. (Limber, 2002; Olweus, et al.,1999). For this, children should grow up in an
environment of love and trust towards the adults around them, both at home and school. Rather
than waiting for children to spontaneously report bullying, parents and teachers should ask about
the child's experiences, and look deeply into matters such as unexplained injuries, missing
belongings etc. From the atmosphere of market norms, teachers and school counselors should
adopt a predominantly social norm approach towards children. There can be a code of conduct
based on the UN Charter for the teachers and students to recite every day. The children can be
made to engage in activities like role play that emphasize the harmful effects of bullying.
Teachers and school psychologists can be imparted special training programs on how to deal
with bullies and their victims. If the adequate safety of the reporting victim is assured, children
would feel braver to report incidents of bullying without fearing repercussions.

Contrary to popular belief, bullies are not more likely to have low-esteem, and are not unpopular
among peers. ( Olweus, et al., 1999 ). They are, however, more likely to have positive beliefs
about the use of violence, use of alcohol and other drugs, have lax parents, and have abuse
histories. ( Limber, 2002: Olweus, et al., 1999 ). Olweus ( 1993 ) has found that individuals who
bullied during grades 6-9, were significantly more likely to develop criminal convictions at age 23,
compared to individuals who did not involve in bullying. Research has shown that, group
treatments, treatments for low self esteem and mediation between targets & bullies are not
advisable. (Dishion, 2004; Limber, 2002; Olweus, 1993) Hence the school must have a 'zero
tolerance policy' on bullying. Specific notices about bullying can be displayed in classrooms, e.g
Physically hurting someone, getting their money or belongings by force is a punishable offence.,
rather than putting up a notice that says 'bullying is punishable'. Bullies and their parents can be
given special therapy sessions to correct their wrong beliefs and family conflicts.

To conclude, bullying is a significant issue that has to be dealt with at all levels since the long
term consequences are significant. Behavioral economics & psychology can be applied in
managing this situation.


Citations:
Boyle, D.J. (2005). Youth Bullying: Incidence, Impact, and Interventions. Journal of the New
Jersey Psychological Association, 55(3), 22-24

Donegan, R. ( 2012 ). Bullying and Cyberbullying : History, Statistics, Law, Prevention and
Analysis. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications. 3(1) pp. 33-42.

Dishion, T. J. (2004. October ). Features of ineffective or unsafe interventions.

Ericson, N. U.S Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency program.
(2001). Addressing the problem of juvenile bullying ( FS-
200127) https://www.ncjr.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/fs200127.pdf

Limber, S. (2002, May) Addressing Youth Bullying Behaviors.

Nansel. R.N., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R.S., Ruan, W.J., Simons-Morton, B., & Scheidt, P. (2001).
Bullying behaviors among U.S. Youth. Journal of American Medical Association, 285(16), 2094-
2100.

Nina Mazar, On Amir, and Dan Ariely, The Dishonesty of Honest People: A Theory of Self-
concept Maintenance, Journal of Marketing Research (2008).

Lisa Shu, Nina Mazar, Francesca Gino, Max Bazerman, and Dan Ariely, When to Sign on the
Dotted
Line? Signing First Makes Ethics Salient and Decreases Dishonest Self-Reports, working paper,
Harvard Business School NOM Unit (2011).

Olweus, D. (1993) Bullying at school. Maiden, MA : Blackwell Publishers.

Olweus. D. (1994). Annotation: Bullying at school: Basic facts and effects of a school based
intervention program. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 1171-1190.

Rigby, K,,& Slee, P.T (1999). Suicidal Ideation among adolescent school children, involvement in
bully-victim problems, and perceived social support. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior,
29(2), 119-130.