10 December 2021

Bullying is less prevalent in classrooms where pupils perceive that their classmates believe that bullying is wrong without exception, that the bullied person is adversely affected and that those who bully cannot blame someone else. These are findings from a study from Linköping University, published in Educational Psychology.

Photographer: lakshmiprasad S

“The results indicated that it’s important for teachers to work on issues relating to bullying and what is acceptable behaviour in the classroom. The study shows that in their classroom management, teachers must cultivate a positive, considerate, inclusive and respectful classroom climate together with their pupils. And it’s especially important to establish rules for how to treat each other and how to be together when the class is new”, says Robert Thornberg, professor of education at Linköping University’s Department of Behavioural Sciences.

He has studied bullying and abuse in school settings for many years, and is ranked among the foremost experts in the field.

Bullying cannot be reduced to an individual problem; it is a social phenomenon that occurs among groups of peers and in social contexts. Although most pupils believe that bullying is wrong, it continues to exist, and when they witness bullying in school, few pupils side with the bullied person.


Moral disengagement is a sort of moral corruption, for instance exemplified by euphemisms such as ‘we were just joking’.
Robert Thornberg

One explanation for bullying, and for why witnesses rarely act, is what psychologists call moral disengagement. Moral disengagement can appear both at individual and group levels, thus as a group phenomenon. In this study the researchers use the term collective moral disengagement to refer to the existence of shared moral disengagement beliefs among a group.

“Moral disengagement is a sort of moral corruption, for instance exemplified by euphemisms such as ‘we were just joking’. The phenomenon has been studied a great deal at the individual level and we know that pupils who engage in this sort of thinking are more often involved in bullying. However few studies have explored whether the phenomenon can be linked to bullying at the group level. We wanted to investigate this by studying classes in schools”, says Robert Thornberg.

The participants of the study were 1054 primary school pupils aged between 10 and 14, in 70 different classes from 29 schools in central and southern Sweden. They responded to a voluntary, anonymous questionnaire that measured collective moral engagement by way of statements such as ‘it's OK to hit to protect your friends’ and ‘insults between children don't harm anyone’. The questionnaire also included questions about whether the respondent has bullied or been bullied. Photo credit Magnus Johansson

The results showed that the aspect of the class climate that can be called collective moral disengagement was associated with the bullying prevalence in the class. Bullying and the risk of being bullied were lower in classes with low moral disengagement. In these classes the pupils felt that the class believed bullying was wrong without exception, that the bullied person is adversely affected and that those who bully cannot blame someone else. Conversely, bullying was more common in classes where the pupils more often believe that their classmates feel that bullying can be OK sometimes, that bullying is just ‘for fun’ and that bullying doesn’t do any great harm – that is, where collective moral disengagement was higher.

“The results point to the importance of teachers and other school staff working to make the pupils aware of the processes involved in moral disengagement. This can enable the pupils to detect and see through these processes when they are triggered in various situations”, says Robert Thornberg.

The study:
Collective moral disengagement and its associations with bullying perpetration and victimization in students. Robert Thornberg, Linda Wänström, Gianluca Gini, Kristen Varjas, Joel Meyers, Rasmus Elmelid, Alexandra Johansson & Emelie Mellander (2021). Educational Psychology, 41:8, 952-966, doi: 10.1080/01443410.2020.1843005


Facts

Moral disengagement

Moral disengagement involves psychological and social processes through which individuals justify or rationalise away actions that are normally seen as inhumane or harmful to other people. Those who carry out the abusive actions do not feel they are doing anything wrong and therefore do not have a bad conscience. They are, so to speak, morally disengaged, and feel no regret or guilt. Examples of moral disengagement can be displacement of responsibility such as ‘he told me to do it’, or dehumanisation, where you see another person as having less value. Blaming the victim or distorting the consequences of bullying, i.e. ‘just put up with it’, are further examples of moral disengagement

Research on the same subject:

Cover of publication ''
Marlene Bjärehed, Robert Thornberg, Linda Wänström, Gianluca Gini (2021)

Journal of Interpersonal Violence , Vol.36 , s.NP9576-NP9600 Continue to DOI

Cover of publication ''
Gianluca Gini, Robert Thornberg, Tiziana Pozzoli (2020)

Psychology of Violence , Vol.10 , s.38-47 Continue to DOI

Cover of publication ''
Björn Sjögren, Robert Thornberg, Linda Wänström, Gianluca Gini (2021)

Educational Psychology , Vol.41 , s.264-281 Continue to DOI

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