Bullies often display some sort of sadism. The common rationalism for bullying is that the bully has a rough home life and engages in bullying to get back control, but the research suggests that this is not always the case. Some studies indicate that boredom is a common motivation for bullies. Students who felt boredom more often were most likely to bully others.
The personality traits most linked to bored students are those with low agreeableness, low humility, low conscientiousness, and low openness, and students who were at risk for developing psychosis.
But boredom can happen to anyone, and most boredom is situational. If school is either way too easy or way too, then students easily become bored and unmotivated. Students also become bored if they sit down all day.
Most anti bullying programs focus on the moral aspects of bullying and try to plead with the potential bully’s empathy. However, since bullies typically have lower empathy new strategies are needed. Focusing on making school more engaging to people who have above, or below average intelligence could be a solution to bullying.
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