Psychology and Cognitive Sciences · Vol. 5, No. 2 · 2019 · pp. 42–49 · e-ISSN 2380-727X

Building Resilience in Children to Prevent Social Aggression: The Principles of Behavioral Sciences

Percival Longworth, Israel Kalman, Jennifer P. Peluso

Applied Psychology,Walden University, MN 55401, USAUnited States
School Psychologist and Psychotherapist, NY, USAUnited States
Dean of Academic Affairs, Keiser University Flagship Campus,West Palm Beach, Fl 33409, USAUnited States

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17140/pcsoj-5-148 · Published 2019-10-09 · Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 · © 2019 The Author(s)

Also available as PDF (figures and tables appear in the PDF).

Abstract

Most anti-bullying programs today are punitive. They rely heavily on schools enforcing procedures based on reporting, investigating, punishing, and labeling bullies. This paper challenges the notion that bullying behavior can be regulated effectively by legislative bodies and policymakers. Schools are communal ecosystems featuring unique social norms and behaviors. For example, in school, a student reporting a classmate to authorities may be labeled a ‘snitch’ because ‘tattling’ violates accepted social norms. Furthermore, the current legal definitions of bullying are confusing and complicated. In many cases, even trained lawyers have difficulty identifying acts of bullying. We suggest, the better approach to preventing bullying in schools, even the workplace, is to ground interventions using psychological frameworks to strengthen children’s social and emotional competence. We contend that social development models provide the psychological frameworks society needs to develop emotionally stable children and adults while providing them with the internal fortitude to bounce back effectively from adverse situations like bullying.

Keywords: Bullying prevention; Social-emotional learning (SEL); Social development; Emotional strength; Social aggression; Anti-bullying; Self-awareness; Social-emotional competence; Power imbalance; Intentional; Columbine; Intervention

Conclusion

We are not advocating for the abandonment of existing anti-bullying programs. In severe cases of bullying, perpetrators should be apprehended and punished appropriately. Children also need a support system that includes the opportunity to report social aggression that causes physical or emotional harm to the proper authorities, but they also need an internal developmental system that helps them to address the issue on their terms. Meaning, by understanding social constructs within the school environment and developing social and emotional competence, we can prepare children to handle almost any unfavorable situation.9 One of the first ethical codes of conduct we learn as psychological professionals is to do no harm (APA, n.d.). Still, our profession promotes anti-bullying policies that, according to a significant body of evidence, produce minimal results. The current system suggests that targets are powerless; we need to protect them at all costs. After all, kids deserve the right to attend school in a bully-free, safe environment. While we agree in principle, we also know that establishing dominance through relational aggression has been in existence since the dawn of time; it is an instinctual survival behavior.5 From this perspective, legislating or setting a policy to prevent bullying runs counter to human nature and presses ed ucators into the role of enforcer, judge, and jury at the risk of their school’s legal peril. As psychologists, we are also taught to 47 Review | Volume 5 | Number 2 | “…by improving their social-emotional skills, we can provide children with the internal strength they need to overcome challenges like bullying, build secure relationships with others, and excel academically.”12 avoid taking client sides and more importantly, labeling people, but today’s anti-bullying establishment requires us to do both. Unfor tunately, this victimization rationality pits aggressors against tar gets, teachers against parents and students, administrators against policymakers, and the legal system against the educational system. This current state has netted a system in which 86 percent of the anti-bullying programs fail to reduce bullying at all, and only 14 percent provide minimal results.4 Scientists know that we cannot possibly control mother nature; in other words, a natural disaster will inevitably strike at some point somewhere in the world. However, like bullying, we can provide people with the means to prepare and mitigate the unexpected harm mother nature often perpetuates. As a result, we are recommending a fundamental paradigm shift in today’s anti-bullying interventions. Instead of focusing on protection and punishment, center the foundation for prevention on preparation and personal development.

In other words, help kids cultivate, identify, and tap into their social and emotional strength so they can persevere and thrive in hostile or challenging situations—this is the heart of what we recommend and support.

Conflicts Of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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