Psy talk contd... Bullying

Anmol Singh-Psychologist & Counselor, Chandigarh

1.      Bullying: Bullying is an unwanted & unethical aggression exhibited by children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. It is a dominating behaviour depicting power difference between students of all ages. This behaviour is violent, uncalled for and there is nothing good about it. It is a way of showing superiority and labelling weaker ones as inferior. It takes place because of lack of moral education. Students are not aware of the repercussions of the act of bullying. Nobody likes to be bullied. It is quite harmful and can create an ever lasting impact on the mind of students. Angered students bully meek, fellow students as they think that it might be of greater importance to them and they can show case their superiority by doing so. They consider it to be a real authority while others conceptualize it as a perceived one i.e. thinking of oneself above all others.  This act of behaviour is habitual and repeated over time as bullying provides for instant gratification and a pseudo sense of pride. Both the kids, who are bullied and who bully others, may have serious lasting problems in life. Bullying has many forms i.e. name calling, threatening, usage of mean words, pushing, teasing, cyber bullying, gossiping etc. Bullying can be categorised in 3 types which are verbal, social and physical. Verbal bullying includes saying or writing mean things, teasing, taunting, inappropriate comments and threatening to cause harm. Relational bullying or referred to as social bullying includes hurting someone’s reputation or relationships, spreading rumours, excluding on purpose and embarrassing in public areas. Hurting a person’s body or possessions, hitting, kicking, pinching, tripping, breaking things and rude hand gestures come in the last category of physical bullying.

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