Ganging Up or Sticking Together: Group Processes and Children's Responses to Bullying

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Jones, Sian; Manstead, Antony and Livingstone, Andrew. 2011. Ganging Up or Sticking Together: Group Processes and Children's Responses to Bullying. British Journal of Psychology, 102(1), pp. 71-96. ISSN 0007-1269 [Article]

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Official URL: http://doi/10.1348/000712610X502826

Abstract or Description

Drawing on social identity theory and intergroup emotion theory (IET), we examined group processes underlying bullying behaviour. Children were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a perpetrator's group, a target's group, or a third party group. They then read a gender-consistent scenario in which the norm of the perpetrator's group (to be kind or unkind towards others) was manipulated, and an instance of cyberbullying between the perpetrator's group and a member of the target's group was described. It was found that group membership, group norms, and the proposed antecedents of the group-based emotions of pride, shame, and anger (but not guilt) influenced group-based emotions and action tendencies in ways predicted by social identity and IET. The results underline the importance of understanding group-level emotional reactions when it comes to tackling bullying, and show that being part of a group can be helpful in overcoming the negative effects of bullying.

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Article

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https://doi.org/10.1348/000712610X502826