Speakers
Description
This symposium brings together four papers examining moral dimensions and bullying and cyberbullying behaviours. Research has consistently shown that moral and social conventions, attitudes, beliefs and intentions that students adopt has a potential risk for involvement in order to develop evidenced-based interventions. The research presented here has examined experiences of young people from four countries (Spain, Sweden, Portugal and Italy). The first paper (Cabrera et al.) is a study with Spanish schoolchildren from 9-16 years identifying the mediating role of moral disengagement in the association between schadenfreude and bullying perpetration. The second paper (Sjögren & Thornberg) also explores, through a three-wave longitudinal study with elementary Sweden students, the different moral disengagement mechanisms that predict direct and indirect bullying. The third paper (Ferreira et al.) is a study among Portuguese university students. It examines, through a mixed exploratory study, how moral disengagement mechanisms and moral beliefs are used by victims, aggressors, and/or bystanders of cyberbullying. The fourth study (Serritella et al.) validates, through a Randomized Controlled Trial an online serious game design with Italian students from 11-15 years old, where the effects on explicit attitudes, perceived social norms and behavioral intentions related to (cyber)bullying were considered. Taken together, these papers explore the main role of socio-moral mechanisms for involvement in bullying and cyberbullying considering quantitative and qualitative methods, and the importance of intervention/prevention work involving young people.
Keywords
Moral disengagement, social norms, moral emotions, quantitative and qualitative methodology
Additional field for symposia
Abstract 1
Title: Schadenfreude, moral disengagement and aggressive behaviour in the phenomenon of bullying
Authors: Antonio Cabrera, Daniel Falla, Rosario Ortega-Ruiz, Eva M. Romera (Universidad de Córdoba, Spain)
Certain aggressive behaviours that occur between groups have been linked to the activation of morally undesirable emotions, such as schadenfreude. However, less is known about the aggressive behaviours that take place in dynamics such as bullying, and how individual moral disengagement may facilitate this moral emotion, which entails enjoyment and satisfaction in the suffering of others, and may lead children and adolescents to engage in bullying. To address this research gap, the present study set out to test whether schadenfreude is related to bullying perpetration, and whether moral disengagement has a mediating effect on this possible relationship. A total of 1170 primary and secondary school children aged 9-16 years (51.7% female; Mage = 12.25; SD = 1.53) were surveyed. Analyses confirmed that enjoying another's misfortune is associated with being involved in bullying as an aggressor. The mediating effect of moral disengagement in this relationship was also confirmed, such that high levels of moral disengagement enhance adolescents with high levels of schadenfreude in choosing to experience aggression through bullying others. The results of this research highlight the importance of approaching this problem in an integral or holistic way between emotional, cognitive and social variables. In short, socio-emotional and moral development is essential at these ages in order to achieve an ethical and responsible approach to situations of injustice, abuse and social exclusion.
Abstract 2
Title: Moral Disengagement Mechanisms as Predictors of Indirect and Direct Bullying Among Swedish Elementary Students: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study
Authors: Sjögren, Björn, & Thornberg, Robert
Moral disengagement (MD) has been shown to play a critical role in enabling bullying behaviors in schools by allowing individuals to rationalize harmful actions. Although various MD mechanisms have been identified, few studies have examined the longitudinal relationships between specific mechanisms and bullying behaviors. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of MD mechanisms on indirect and direct bullying among students across three measurement points within the same academic year. Utilizing a mixed-effects model with lagged predictors, we analyzed self-report survey data from 489 Swedish students in grades four to six, focusing on seven MD mechanisms: moral justification, euphemistic labeling, advantageous comparison, displacement of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, distorting consequences, and victim attribution. For indirect bullying, results revealed that, when all seven MD mechanisms were included simultaneously in the model, only victim attribution had a significant positive association with subsequent indirect bullying behavior. This suggests that students who rationalized their actions by blaming or dehumanizing the victim are more likely to engage in indirect bullying at later time points. For direct bullying, multiple MD mechanisms emerged as significant predictors. Moral justification, distorting consequences, and victim attribution were all positively associated with direct bullying behavior, with moral justification showing the strongest effect. These findings underscore the role of specific MD mechanisms, particularly moral justification, distorting consequences, and victim attribution, in fostering different forms of bullying. Targeting these mechanisms in interventions may reduce both indirect and direct bullying behaviors in school settings.
Abstract 3
Title: University students’ moral beliefs and (dis)engagement with cyberbullying and its perceived harm
Authors: Paula Ferreira, Diana Stillwell, Ana Margarida Veiga Simão, & Alexandra Marques Pinto
Moral disengagement (MD) enables individuals to engage in harmful behavior while distancing themselves from their moral standards. This can occur in cyberbullying- intentional aggressive and repeated behavior to harm someone, where individuals can be victims, aggressors, and/or bystanders. This study investigates how university students’ personal moral beliefs and perceived severity were related to MD, considering four loci (behavior, agency, results and recipient). We performed a mixed exploratory study, where university students (N= 50, Mage= 17.95; 59.2% female) had contact with two hypothetical cyberbullying behaviors (threatening and making fun). Students wrote freely about the situations they had witnessed in an open-ended question, and also answered the Cyberbullying Inventory for College Students, the Process Moral Disengagement in Cyberbullying Inventory and two questions regarding the severity and their moral beliefs about threats and making fun. Frequencies showed that all participants had been bystanders, 85.7% victims, and 73.5% cyberbullies. Content analysis of the students’ texts revealed that some students demonstrated MD, whereas others revealed strong moral beliefs against cyberbullying. Person correlations revealed that bystanders and victims, tended to consider making fun of someone, a joke. Bystanders used more MD concerning the locus of agency. These bystanders also tended to be more victimized and engage in cyberbullying behavior. Those who engaged more in cyberbullying behavior, also tended to be more victimized. Nonetheless, students who believed threats were severe, tended to consider them unjust, just as making fun of someone. These individuals used less MD. Limitations and implications for future research will be discussed.
Abstract 4
Title: Narrative Heroes: Playing to Rewrite the Bullying and Cyberbullying Script
Authors: Elena Serritella, Andrea Guazzini, Annalaura Nocentini, Ersilia Menesini
Bullying and cyberbullying are critical global issues, rooted in shared social norms and reflected in dominant group narratives. Despite existing preventive efforts, the need for innovative interventions remains. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) now serve as promising platforms for violence prevention, with Gamification showing considerable potential to enhance behavioral change.
A Randomized Controlled Trial was designed to validate an online serious game, “Narrative Heroes", aimed at preventing bullying and cyberbullying among adolescents through a Counter-narratives approach. The game combines Gamification, Digital Storytelling, and team-based discussions in anonymous online environments to shift social norms, explicit attitudes, and behavioral intentions concerning bullying and cyberbullying.
Through the Deindividuation Effect, the game encourages collaborative discussion on myths related to (cyber)bullying, strengthening players' sense of belonging and fostering collective engagement. The study involved 200 Italian students (ages 11-15) from the 1st years of middle and high schools, with an experimental group focusing on bullying-related content and the control group on technology use in school contexts.
Explicit attitudes, behavioral intentions and perceived social norms related to bullying and cyberbullying, as well as group salience, self-disclosure, psychosocial adjustment, and interpersonal goals were measured across three waves of data collection.
Preliminary results on the effects of “Narrative Heroes” on explicit attitudes, perceived social norms and behavioral intentions related to (cyber)bullying showed significant beneficial results. Peer-shared counter-narratives, supported by the Deindividuation Effect, are expected to drive changes in dominant group narratives and social norms, leading to shifts in attitudes and behavioral intention towards (cyber)bullying.
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Mixed method study |
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| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
