WHY?

Why do people bully?

The short answer: because the person being bullied feels they have more power and are in a higher posistion so therefore feel it is their right to bully another person.

In Rigby, 2003, p.17 the author mentions 14 reasons of why someone would bully another:

1. They think that bullying pays; in some schools they are admired by other; they are able to get what they want; and thye are less likely than others to be victimized. 

2. They are aggresive and impulsive, which makes them constitutionally more inclined to engage in bullying.

3. They enjoy the submission of others.

4. Bullying others is consistent with a macho or imposing image a person may have, especially of one male but increasingly so for females.

5. It sems like fun, especially when one is part of a group engaged in teasing someone.

6. They have relatively low levels of empathy, which results in a bully being unaffected by the evident distress of others.

7. Prejudice leads then to believe that some kinds of people deserve to be bullied; for example, people of a different ethnis group or of a different sexual orientation.

8. A generalised hostility towards others has been endangered by negative experiences with prents and families, especillay feeling unloved and/or over-controlled.

9. They have been influenced by aggressive 'models', in real life and/or watching violent videos.

10. The victim is percieved as having provoked the negative treatment; commonly bullies see their bullying behaviour as 'pay backs'.

11. Cronic boredom at school may result in bulying as a means of making life more interesting.

12. The achievment of desired goals is seen as more important than the insensitive means employed to attain them. This applies particularly to some people in management positions.

13. They are slaves to authority prepared unquestioningly to do their bosses' 'dirty work' by imposing on others.

14. They see ot as part of their role.

Although these ideas only touch on the ideas of why someone would bully another person I feel that these give a strong baseline as to how we can pin point those who are bullying others.

References:

          Rigby, K,. (2003). Stop the Bullying: A handbook for schools. Australia: Australian council for Educational Research, ACER Press Ltd.