Bystanders in Situations of Bullying: Motivations for Defending a Victim

People may not realize it, but bystanders play a huge role in bullying. By not stepping in or telling someone about it, they are making the problem worse. A bystander intervening could stop someone from getting hurt, and even prevent bullying from happening in the future. If a bystander does not say or do anything about it, they are contributing to the issue. There are more bystanders than there are bullies, so it is their choice to help or hurt the situation.

The bully is normally very well known; someone who is just as, if not more, guilty is nearly undetectable. This person is a bystander, and according to Tales of Bullying, being a bystander is just as bad as bullying. Bystanders just join in on the laughing. They don’t even help; they just watch bullying like it’s some sort of comedy show. Bystanders can also be people who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They can just as easily turn into a person who stands up to bullies, but they don’t. In the end bystanders are just as, if not more, guilty than the

To begin with, bystanders choose not to help the victim. According to Source 4, they just stand by and watch. They usually do this because they are afraid to get in trouble or become bullied too. This tells the victim that they don't matter and that this is okay. Making the victim feel upset may cause them to harm their self or even become a bully. If someone does decide to help the bully out, the bystander will exclude them from their group of friends. That is how bystander choose not to help the bully.

Chapter three - How people can prevent bullying from happening. What can you do if you are the Bystander?

In the book "Bystander", written by James Preller, it talks about not just the bully and victims but the other roles, such as Bystanders and allies. In chapter 20, a gathered group of boys discuss their responses to Griffin's unreasonable and illogical behavior. Their reasons for doing nothing include "The unreliability of authority figures to respond", "The threat of retaliation", "The victim, at least on some level, deserves it" , "It is human nature, the law of the jungle, and it will always persist", "It's better to stay out of it", "No one should rat out another student". These are ridiculous and absurd reason to be a bystander to such a unspeakable act. The main idea I would like to another reader to consider is advise others to not

That the need to fit in by participating doesn’t make them a bad person, that statement is of little consequence to the victims or their families. Excuses made by parents, bystanders, and the community no longer hold up in a legal setting. Hearing anti-bullying messages from the different adults in their lives can reinforce the message for kids that bullying is unacceptable. More than half of bullying situations (57%) stop when a peer intervenes on behalf of the student being bullied (Hawkins, Pepler, & Craig, 2001. Prevention is

It is also known that bystanders play an important role in encouraging or discouraging the bully. Bystanders can be "active" by laughing and cheering on

When they witness someone being bullied, a bystander’s first instincts are to remain silent and try to slip away from the bully as he/she throws another student against a locker or calls them names and teases them for being “different.” Although the child may empathize with the person being targeted, they retaliate to avoid embarrassment if they speak up, or they may feel as though they do not have the power or social status to challenge and to change what they are witnessing. Other assumptions why kids don’t get involved is because they may not want to become the next target, they have been told to “mind their own business” in the past or fear the reputation of

Most of the incident in regards with bullying are either online or on campus. When it occurs in campus most of the students surrounding the occasion of when bullying occurs become the bystanders and prefer not to take action upon it to try to avoid being in it when since the beginning the teens were already part of the problem. The teens believe that being part of the problem is when their is a verbal accusation and believe that just watching the bullying occur will avoid the teen from being involved in the situation. In the survey the students were asked if one of their friends have been bullied and if they were a bystander. Surprisingly 628 students said that seeing bullying and stopping the problems was not a part of the teens experience in high school. In the other hand only 247 students said that they were bystanders. Usually when a teen becomes the bystanders it's to entertain the crowd of kids around causing the bully to feel more in power of the

“New bullying statistics for 2010 revealed about one in seven students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade is either a bully or has been a victim of bullying” (“Bullying Statistics 2010”). How does a person detect whether someone is being bullied? “A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself” (Olweus). Bullying takes place more in middle school because they are trying to fulfill a strong need for power, fit-in with their peers, and satisfy their pain. “Fear of being excluded by peers leads to by-standing, if the teen is aware of a bullying situation and decides to stay away or not get

An appropriate step of a bystander is getting help by telling a friend or a trusted adult. A trusted adult can assess the argument between the bully and the victim. The impartial decision and solution made by the adult may have unwanted consequences for the bully. “When it comes to empowering bystanders, simply telling students to “tell an adult” is not enough.” As another step, the bystander must be vocal by expressing how the victim might feel by being bullied. As a bystander takes the risk of getting involved, a friend is all that may be needed by a victim to share the feeling of being alone, scared, and helpless. With only 63% of students reporting watching a bullying incident, there is still plenty of work to be done by the bystanders, (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-pink-and-blue/201504/bullying-hurts-everyone-even-bystanders). When a bystander decides to take action and acts on the behalf of the victim, nearly 57% of the bullying incidents stop, 4(https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-pink-and-blue/201504/bullying-hurts-everyone-even-bystanders). Even all of the ages one through twele grades are getting bullied even adults. It is not easy to stand up to a bully even when the bully does not stop. We, the people, of the United States have the right and responsibility to stop all

In conclusion, being a bystander is much worse than a bully because you have to deal with the guilt, You'll get in trouble either way, and you encourage the bullies to do more by sitting by and letting it happen or laughing and cheering the bully on. You let the victim suffer bulling, every seven minutes a child Is bullied all around the world. we can stop bullying if you just stand up. Don’t be a bystander be a

Adult bystander behavior influence the continuation of children bullying in schools. A bystander is a person who directly witnesses a bullying situation but are not directly involved in the situation on either side of the perpetrator or the victim, they are just standing by watching the event take place (Evans and Smokowski, 2015, p. 2289). Accountability is a commitment and a responsibility to a call to action. In order for teachers, adult support staff, and administrations to become more accountable, they would have to become an active participant in making sure the anti-bullying policies are in place, effective and have training in how to intervene in bullying situations. Based on research by Olweus ( as cited in Crothers et al, 2006, p.477)

This article mainly reviewed the history of special education and reiterated familiar bullying concepts. Parents of school-age children would benefit from reading this article. The article addressed the roles of the bully and the victim. However, the study failed to address the role of the bystander. Most bullying activity occurs during unstructured activity. Properly trained, the bystander is the key to change. Witnesses sometimes fail to get involved because of fear that the bully will turn on them. Some observers feel the victim deserves to be punished or simply, don't like the individual. Other onlookers don't know how to help or feel they will get in trouble with other peers by reporting the incident. Bottom line, school districts need to utilize the eyes, ears, and heart of the bystander. School districts must engage all students and personnel in eradicating school

Imagine being at your locker and a kid across the hall was being pushed around by a group of big guys, would you just stand there and watch an innocent person being bullied or would you step in and stand up for him? Most teens are bystanders who witness bullying and don’t think to step in and break it up. Some people are too scared or just don’t care about what is happening and what they could have done to stop it. Being a bystander can be either good or bad depending on what they do. Most teens are bystanders who don’t do anything because they don’t want to get hurt or judged for it. Some teens do something because it is the right thing to do and they want to help. " In truth, as many as 25 percent of American schoolchildren continue to be