Meta-analyses confirm a negative relationship between aggressive behavior and empathy, that is, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Based on theoretical considerations, it was, therefore, hypothesized that a lack of empathic responsiveness may be characteristic for cyberbullies in particular. In the present study, 2.070 students of Luxembourg secondary schools completed an online survey that included a cyberbullying questionnaire4 and a novel empathy short scale. According to the main hypothesis, analyses of variances indicated that cyberbullies demonstrated less empathic responsiveness than non-cyberbullies. In addition, cy-berbullies were also more afraid of becoming victims of cyberbullying. The findings confirm and substantially extend the research on the relationship between empathy and aggressive behavior. From an educational point of view, the present findings suggest that training of empathy skills might be an important tool to decrease cyberbullying.
Despite significant overlaps between victim status in traditional forms of bullying and cyberbullying, and qualitative results about self-reported reasons for cyberbullying, the role of revenge and retaliation as a motive to engage in acts of cyberbullying has not yet been examined systematically. As a first step, this study investigates whether and to what extent traditional victims, when they become cyberbullies, actually choose their former (traditional) perpetrators as targets of their own cyberbullying behavior. Furthermore, the impact of individual differences in relevant traits, such as vengefulness and justice sensitivity, on the choice of cybervictims is examined. Data from 473 students were collected via an online survey. Of these, 149 were identified as traditional victims/cyberbullies. Results show that traditionally bullied students indeed tend to choose their former perpetrators as cybervictims, and that individual differences play a role in the choice of their victims. Implications for further research, as well as for interventions and prevention programmes, are discussed.
Previous research has shown that normative appeals to engage in environmentally friendly behavior were most effective when they were accompanied by a provincial norm (e.g., when norms matched individuals' immediate situational circumstances). Analyzing hotel guests' towel-use during their stay, the current study tests whether messages employing provincial norms were more effective in reducing towel-use than standard environmental messages. In line with previous findings, guests of two hotels used significantly fewer towels when provincial normative appeals--rather than standard environmental messages--were communicated. These findings corroborate to the body of research demonstrating the power of social norms on environmental behavior.
People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Link to publication
General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the "Taverne" license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement:
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.