Time
Since the Jan. 14 death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old in South Hadley, Mass., who committed suicide after being bullied by fellow students, many onlookers have meditated on whether the circumstances that led to her after-school hanging might have been avoided.
Could teachers have stepped in and stopped the bullying? Could parents have done more to curtail bad behavior? Or could preventive measures have been started years ago, in early childhood, long before bullies emerged and started heaping abuse on their peers? (Read what can be done about bullying in school.)
Increasingly, neuroscientists, psychologists and educators believe that bullying and other kinds of violence can indeed be reduced by encouraging empathy at an early age. Over the past decade, research in empathy — the ability to put ourselves in another person's shoes — has suggested that it is key, if not the key, to all human social interaction and morality.[...]
Since the Jan. 14 death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old in South Hadley, Mass., who committed suicide after being bullied by fellow students, many onlookers have meditated on whether the circumstances that led to her after-school hanging might have been avoided.
Could teachers have stepped in and stopped the bullying? Could parents have done more to curtail bad behavior? Or could preventive measures have been started years ago, in early childhood, long before bullies emerged and started heaping abuse on their peers? (Read what can be done about bullying in school.)
Increasingly, neuroscientists, psychologists and educators believe that bullying and other kinds of violence can indeed be reduced by encouraging empathy at an early age. Over the past decade, research in empathy — the ability to put ourselves in another person's shoes — has suggested that it is key, if not the key, to all human social interaction and morality.[...]
“Bullying” is a topic that is on the hearts and minds of individuals in position of responsibility whether in the workplace or our schools. With the most recent incident where a young 15 year old girl hangs herself due to what is described as “relentless bullying” and by prosecutors as statutory rape has gone well beyond the parameters of “bullying.”
ReplyDeleteIt is only when we realize that this bullying behavior is “intent-driven aggressive behavior;” that there is a Continuum of Aggression, of which Bullying is an element, that we can actually prevent bullying. Through this continuum we can learn the “precursors” to bullying, and through this understand and application we can actually prevent and stop this culture of bullying. Until we learn the Continuum of Aggression we are relegated to reacting to bullying, not preventing it.
I am writing the definitive book on “preventing bullying,” and I need your help. I will illustrate how “bullying” is an element on the Continuum of Aggression and through this continuum we can foresee the precursors of bullying and therefore can prevent bullying and stop bullying behavior. However, I need as many examples of bullying as possible. I would like to read about any accounts of bullying you have experienced or observed, whether in the workplace or in education. I would particularly like to understand how you responded to this bullying and how and why it worked or didn’t work? Please go the my blog and share your account. In return, I would share excepts of the unique approach for your review and comment. My blog is located at http://blog.AggressionManagement.com