The Bystander Effect In Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is a very common social phenomenon around the world,and it has a negative impact on both victims and bullies(e.g.,depression,anxiety,and substance abuse).In cyberbullying incidents,in addition to the bullies and victims,there are usually a large number of bystanders.Bystanders' behavioral responses will further affect the development of cyberbullying incidents.In general,bystanders' positive behaviors(e.g.,protecting or supporting the victim)may inhibit the cyberbullying incident and mitigate the harm that the victim suffered;while their passive behaviors(e.g.,reinforcing or assisting the bully)may exacerbate the cyberbullying incident.Therefore,in the field of cyberbullying,it is necessary and important to pay attention to bystanders' behavioral responses.This not only helps to understand the cyberbullying phenomenon more comprehensively,but also provides some reference for formulating intervention or prevention measures on cyberbullying.Through the review and analysis of previous studies,many factors were demonstrated to affect bystanders' behavioral responses when confronting cyberbullying incidents,including gender,empathy,and cyberbullying experiences.Among these factors,the role of the number of other bystanders has also attracted some researchers'attention.In fact,in the real context,the presence or number of bystanders can significantly inhibit individuals' intervention or helping behavior in an(non-)emergency situation.This is usually called "bystander effect".However,to date,few studies have investigated the bystander effect in cyberbullying.For the very few studies,their results regarding whether there is a bystander effect in cyberbullying are inconsistent.At the same time,previous studies have some limitations in the measurement of individuals'behavioral responses to cyberbullying incidents and in the manipulation of the number of bystanders.In addition,the situational conditions and psychological mechanisms regarding the bystander effect in cyberbullying are also unclear.Based on these limitations or shortages in the previous research,this study will focus on three research questions:examining whether there is a bystander effect in cyberbullying,exploring the situational conditions of the bystander effect in cyberbullying,and analyzing the psychological mechanisms of the bystander effect in cyberbullying.The three questions above were investigated separately by conducting three studies(a total of 8 sub-studies).To be specific,study 1 examined whether there was a bystander effect in cyberbullying by setting four different conditions of the number of bystanders(0,1,14,and 49).From the perspective of the characteristics of the network environment,the characteristics of cyberbullying incidents,the cyberbullying victim,and the cyberbullying perpetrator,study 2 separately investigated the impacts of the anonymity of the network,the severity of the incident,the behavioral responses of the victims,and the number of the bullies on the bystander effect in cyberbullying through four sub-studies.Based on the findings of study 2 and the general characteristics of the network environment,study 3 explored the psychological mechanisms of the bystander effect in the context with lower online anonymity,lower incident severity,victims'passive responses,and multiple bullies.Specifically,study 3 performed three sub-studies to separately examine the mediating roles of personal responsibility,evaluation apprehension,and pluralistic ignorance in the relationship between the number of bystanders and individuals'behavioral response to cyberbullying incidents.In order to achieve the research purposes above,a web-based experimental system was developed.In this system,cyberbullying incident was simulated in the discussion group,and the subjects' actual behavior and behavioral intention were separately observed and measured.The subjects' actual behavior mainly involved the following indicators:response rate,response time,response words,and the intervention score.The subjects' behavioral intention mainly included the following five types:protective,supportive,outside,reinforced,and assisted behavior.This study recruited a total of 1,027 subjects(mainly college students)through offline and online methods,and they were required to complete relevant online experiments.By this means,the following results of the three studies were obtained.The results of study 1 generally indicated that there was a bystander effect in cyberbullying.Specifically,individuals'supportive behavior and intervention scores were significantly higher when the number of bystanders was small than when the number of bystanders was large.The results of study 2 showed that the bystander effect was more likely to occur in cyberbullying situations with lower online anonymity,lower incident severity,victims'passive and reactive responses(two types of victims' behavioral responses),and multiple bullies.Specifically,the results of the four sub-studies showed that:(1)For individuals'supportive behavior and intervention scores,the bystander effect in cyberbullying existed only in the context of lower online anonymity;(2)For individuals' protective and outside behaviors,the bystander effect existed only in the context of lower incident severity;(3)For individuals' supportive and reinforced behaviors,the bystander effect existed only in the context of passive response;for individuals' response words,the bystander effect existed only in the context of active response;and for individuals' intervention scores,the bystander effect existed only in the context of reactive response;(4)For individuals'assisted behavior,the bystander effect existed only in the context of multiple bullies.The results of study 3 showed that personal responsibility,evaluation apprehension,and pluralistic ignorance significantly mediated the relationship between the number of bystanders and individuals' behavioral intention as well as actual behavior.Specifically,the results of the three sub-studies showed that:(1)Personal responsibility mediated the relationships between the number of bystanders and individuals' protective behavior,supportive behavior,outside behavior,response words,and intervention scores;(2)Evaluation apprehension mediated the relationships between the number of bystanders and individuals' protective behavior,supportive behavior,outside behavior,and intervention scores;(3)Pluralistic ignorance mediated the relationships between the number of bystanders and individuals' outside behavior,response words,and intervention scores.The present findings have certain important contributions and innovations in terms of the research content,research paradigm,and research design.It may help to expand the breadth and depth of understanding the bystander effect in cyberspace,and it has some implications for formulating the bystander-based interventions on cyberbullying.In the future,researchers can study the bystander effect in some more open network platforms based on the real cyberbullying incidents.Also,future researchers can further explore the neural mechanisms of the bystander effect in cyberbullying,and conduct the comparative study about offline and online bystander effects.