Motvations Behind Cyber Bullying and Online Aggression: Cyber Sanctions, Dominance, and Trolling Online
Year: 2011
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Bullying is widely considered to be a serious social problem, with severe consequences for its victims.Recently, a new trend has emerged in bullying; it has moved to the online world.This phenomenon is known as cyber bullying.Unfortunately, because this trend is so recent, very little is known about cyber bullying.In this study, I used a broad symbolic interactionist approach to study both cyber bullying and online aggression.Undergraduate students at a Midwestern university were surveyed to determine the extent and nature of their cyber bullying and online aggression experiences.The results of the study found that 16.8% (n=37) of the respondents reported being victims of cyber bullying or online aggression in the past year.A grounded theory approach was used to analyze qualitative data from the survey, and three primary motivations were discovered.These included: informal social control, dominance, and entertainment.The author uses control theory as a theoretical explanation for cyber bullying and online aggression.
Author: Rebecca S. Rafferty
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2283816294