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What is a bully?
Bullies come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and ages. They can be athletic, popular, cheerleaders or chess players, straight A students or average students, boys, girls, even kindergarteners can be bullies. You can not tell that someone is a bully what he or she looks like, but you can tell ONLY by how they act. A bully can be anyone, and there is no single profile. Here are some typical bully characteristics:
-has a need to dominate others -has a need to control others or situations -takes pleasure in seeing a person or animal in distress -finds it difficult to see a situation from another point of view -might say “they deserved what they got.” -clever: can talk there way out of situations smoothly -intolerant -feels superior in some way (sports, clothing, grades, looks, money, popularity etc.) -lacks empathy
What is a target? Targets also include a variety of students and there is no single profile in this regard either. However, targets of bullies often have:
-low self confidence -has not learned to accept themselves as individuals ie: still comparing themselves to their peers and falling short in their mind at least -anxious -fearful -submissive -sad appearance, flat affect -limited sense of humor -poor or under developed social skills -dependence on adults (parents, teachers) -strongly differing characteristics that set them apart through culture, religion, physical attributes (scars, birth marks, hair color, height, weight, acne, glasses etc.)
What are the types of bullying behavior? DIRECT BULLYING: physical hitting, kicking, showing, spitting, taunting, teasing, slurs, verbal harassment, threats, obscene gestures INDIRECT BULLYING: rumors, deliberate exclusion from a group or an activity, getting someone to bully for you, cyberbullying. Indirect bullying is where the passive-aggressive social bullying comes into play |