Why Do People Cyberbully
According to O’Moore (2014) European studies have shown that children who cyberbullied others were motivated primarily by anger and secondly because they found it fun. Cyberbullying for affiliation/acceptance by others and for power scored lower than these first two.
Fun, affiliation/acceptance and power seems to be tied directly to cyberbullying, because while ‘traditional bullies’ main motive was also found to be anger they rarely mentioned bullying for fun, acceptance or power. However, for bullies who used both cyber and traditional methods, while anger was again the main motive, with the cyber bullying element again included, they were again motivated by power, affiliation and fun.
Boys tended to be more motivated by power and fun than girls.
Other motives identified as being involved in cyberbullying are
- revenge
- meanness
- attention
- looking cool and tough
- jealousy and the pleasure of inflicting pain
For more details see the Cyberbully Chapter in the Manual.
or readO’Moore, M. (2014) Understanding Cyberbullying. Veritas
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.