User:Kayla haddad17/sandbox

= Bullying and Personality Characteristics =

Bullying
Bullying is characterized as the control or manipulation of another person for personal benefit. Bullying is presented as an act of aggression, with an imbalance in power happening multiple times. It is hypothesized to be done for three reasons, resources such as money, reputation and reproduction. People tend to target weaker individuals. Bullying may include physical harm such as hitting, it may also involve psychological harm such as calling other's names or even spreading rumors about them. Bullying may have long term effects on those involved. Children who are mean to others show higher aggression into adulthood. Victims and bystanders can be left with psychological damage causing changes in personality such as their levels of extroversion and agreeableness.

Big Five

Neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness tend to be predictors on victims and bullies. .Bullies scored higher extroversion. People higher in extroversion are more likely to assert themselves into social situations. Those high in extroversion tend to be more popular, knowing they will have others backing them up. Those found to be bullies typically are involved in high social activities such as sports teams or clubs. Aggression was another trait bullies scored high on. Bullying early in life shows a child does not know how to control their aggression. Agreeableness is characterized as being friendly and getting along with others. People high in agreeableness tend to care a lot for the needs of others. Bullies tend to be low in empathy, which is being able to understand the feelings of others, therefore score low in agreeableness. Neuroticism is a trait that both have in common. It can be described as being moody, and having feelings of anxiety, fear, depression and many others. Openness was consistently found to have no association with bullying. Openness is the willingness for new activities and experiences and having an open mind. Neither victims, nor perpetrators were found to be high or low in this trait.

Dark Triad
The dark triad in psychology contains three characteristics, narcissism, psychopathy and machiavellianism which is described as someone who manipulates other for their own interests. People high in machiavellianism are typically involved with direct bullying, they use empathy to manipulate others into doing what they want. People high in neuroticism have a very high interest in themselves, they are very selfish and only care for their own well being. Those high in narcissism are found to be positively correlated with aggression, they feel the need to put others down and have high reactivity in social situations when things to do not work in their favor. People high in psychopathy tend to lack empathy, therefore have no care if they are hurting others. All three traits were found to be highly correlated with bullying.

Morality
Morality can be described as a person's judgement. It is considered what they believe is wrong and right and how they chose to behave in society. It was found that those who bully others tend to be low in morality. Questions asked to determine one's morality may include asking if a person feels guilt after doing something wrong, or if they have been mean to others often. Studies have found morality and bullying to be negatively correlated, those low in morality showed the highest rates of targeting others.

External factors
Other factors also play a role in determining if a child will become a bully. Parenting style has a big contribution. Children of parents who are not home often or do not have time for them are more likely to act out seeking attention. Children learn many things through observational learning. Living in an aggressive household with people constantly fighting or even children who are bullied in the home are more likely to bully others. Growing up seeing it as a normal occurrence, adolescents are less likely to realize the true effect it may have on others.