How To Win Friends and Bully People

Warwick boffins Neil Tippett and Professor Dieter Wolke came to the conclusion after reviewing 28 academic studies of bullying. Bullying others in the classroom has been proved to lead to popularity in the playground and the academics also identified that bullies are not just big beefy boys who take your lunch money.

Instead, bullies are clever; covering their tracks to prevent teachers ever recognsing them as the perpetrators. Thus Wolke concludes:

“Bullying is about gaining access to resources and can be used to achieve elevated status within social groups. They are often the ring leaders that are not always detected by teachers. Bullies are considered to reap social benefits from their actions due to the hierarchical nature of the school yard where the most adept bullies become popular figures amongst their peers.”

So how do we prevent bullies? By providing them with oppurtunities that lead to leadership and influence in social groups; bullies can channel their thrist for social status in a productive way.

Professor Dieter Wolke: “Some have previously suggested bullies may often be operating in socially deprived areas – this is not the case.”

Equally the generic view that bullies come from deprived areas with nothing better to do with their spare time than pick on other kids is one contested by the psychology eggheads. They found out that bullies were only two per cent more likely to come from poor backgrounds than those from rich ones.

Bullying is, thus, a universal problem and one that the whole of soceity needs to tackle and the evidence from the Warwick Wizards suggests that bullying is becoming evermore a public health issue. The increasing number of children involved in bullying may that be a victim, bully or both has reached one third; causing problems further down the line in adulthood.

What do you think? Do you agree with the researchers findings? Let us know down below!