Group processes and children’s responses to bullying

Jones, Sian 2011. Group processes and children’s responses to bullying. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates the role of group processes in children’s responses to bullying from the perspective of social identity and group-based emotion theories. It starts by reviewing research on group-based emotions in adults’ intergroup relations, and on social identity processes in children. It is argued that studying children’s group-based emotions might enhance our understanding of group-level bullying. Initial results suggested that group-based emotions related to supporting and resisting cyberbullying depend upon children’s social identity, and that group-based emotions lead to specific action tendencies (Study 1). Wider group norms were investigated in Studies 2 and 3. In Study 2 the prevailing normative context shaped responses to bullying, while in Study 3 peer group norms had a greater influence than school norms on children’s responses to bullying. The way that children manage their social identity in response to bullying was examined in Study 4. How strongly perpetrator’s group members identified with that group was determined by initial ingroup identification and the perpetrator’s group norm. How group norms shape interpretations of bullying when it is ostensibly negative (Study 5a) or ostensibly positive (Study 5b) was studied next. It was found that certain group-based emotional responses and action tendencies were inhibited when the bullying was misaligned with group norms. Group processes in school bullying incidents were examined in Study 6. A qualitative analysis of teachers’ accounts of bullying revealed that although bullying is responded to primarily at the group level, such responses do not directly address group processes. In Chapter 8 I draw the thesis together by highlighting the role that group processes play in children’s responses to bullying. Implications for antibullying work are discussed. It is concluded that successful intervention rests on awareness of the group processes (a) that lead children to become involved in bullying, and (b) by which bullying may be resisted.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Social identity; Bullying; Group processes; Group-based emotion theories
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2016 22:29
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/17859

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