Rosalyn H. Shute’s research while affiliated with Flinders University and other places

This study examined whether emotional intelligence (EI) contributes to teachers' (N = 221) responses to vignettes portraying student peer conflicts characterizable as indirect bullying. They rated these vignettes (and others portraying direct bullying) on perceived seriousness, self-efficacy for intervening, and likelihood of intervening. EI was a positive predictor of seriousness of indirect bullying and self-efficacy, these two variables mediating the effect of EI on likelihood of intervening. However, the effect of EI was relatively small. Teachers also perceived indirect bullying as less serious than direct bullying, and felt less self-efficacious and less likely to intervene. Implications for teacher professional education are discussed.

Infants born preterm (less than 37 weeks completed gestation) have a higher risk of suboptimal cognitive and behavioral outcomes when compared with their term-born counterparts. The risk and severity of poor outcome increases as gestational age at birth decreases; however, not all children born preterm will develop deficits, and environmental influences post birth may have a role in shaping developmental outcomes. Whilst early preterm birth is not preventable, it may be possible to intervene after birth via the environment in order to improve outcomes. The diathesis-stress theory hypothesizes that vulnerable individuals will have worse outcomes after a negative environmental exposure, whereas the differential susceptibility theory posits that vulnerable (or plastic) individuals can be both adversely and positively affected by environmental factors. These two theories were compared in 535 children born <33 weeks' gestation. The interaction between the degree of prematurity and the home environment (as measured by the Home Screening Questionnaire) at 18 months on cognition (Intelligence Quotient from the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence) and behavior (Total Difficulties Score from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) at 7 years was explored. Evidence was not found for either theory, although a supportive/stimulating home environment appeared to contribute to a decrease in the risk or severity of suboptimal scores. Future research is needed to establish stronger evidence in order to inform interventions to improve the home environment of children born preterm.

Harold ‘Kim’ Philby (1912–1988) was a British MI6 intelligence officer who became infamous for acting as a double agent for the Soviet Union during the Second World War and the early Cold War period. He has recently been subject to a character analysis by historian Ben Macintyre. The present paper applies psychological science to Macintyre’s evidence, to assess whether Philby could be considered psychopathic and, if so, whether his developmental history can shed light on how this might have come about. A charming, accomplished liar and sensation-seeker, displaying marked callous and manipulative traits, his dedication to the communist cause gave meaning to his life not achievable through close personal relationships. Philby’s case adds to discussion about the little-understood aetiology of psychopathy and supports the suggestion that espionage is a field in which psychopaths who are not antisocial or impulsive can achieve success.

Young people respond to being victimised in a range of different ways that can be considered as forms of resistance or as coping. While marginalising others is the main response to social exclusion anxiety, as identified by paradigm 2 researchers, this has not emerged from the literature that has used a coping framework for studying responses to bullying. Resilience-based approaches that address sense of mastery and relatedness have been suggested, though the concept of resilience needs to be used with caution. Promoting supportive relationships and other forms of active coping are the main ways suggested for alleviating the stress of being victimised, but coping-based programs are at an early stage of development and need to be considered within a systemic, ecological context, which raises issues of social justice.

This final chapter offers some further thoughts in a number of areas that are either neglected or novel in the context of bullying prevention and intervention but deserving of greater consideration and research attention. Some are consistent with a Complex Adaptive Systems conceptualisation of bullying, but those favouring more traditional approaches might also find some inspiration here. Topics discussed include addressing bias-based bullying (e.g. gendered and racist bullying) and prejudice, morality-based methods, the use of the arts, the potential for a new view of bullying in public policy, and teacher education about bullying.

Although a compelling case can be made for the paradigm 2 perspective on bullying as a form of group-based marginalisation, it is not sufficient, as it downplays the relevance of individual and family factors. There is an enormous body of research that is continuing to emerge from studies driven by the traditional bullying paradigm. These unequivocally demonstrate a role for individual characteristics as both cause and effect in bullying, with the emergence of vicious cycles of victimisation and deteriorating mental health of victims that demands attention through both prevention and intervention.

To place bullying a very broad context, this chapter outlines evidence that modern humans have evolved as an essentially social species, in which biological and cultural evolution are intertwined. Sociality, especially close emotional relationships within a broader social environment, enables our very survival. It plays a central role in the dynamic systemic processes that constitute our developmental path and determine our wellbeing. Being bullied is a threat to the basic human need for belonging.

There is a discernible shift from paradigm 1 towards paradigm 2 for understanding bullying, but some of the most helpful lessons learned from past decades of research on individual and family factors need to be retained. There is a greater focus on everyday social processes underlying bullying, under paradigm 2, with a further movement towards an integrated view (paradigm 3?) discernible in the work of several authors. In this chapter, an Integrated Bullying Framework is put forward, in the form of both a statement and a supplementary diagram. It unites a top-down paradigm 2 perspective with the bottom-up evolutionary and psychological perspectives explored in this book to present a process-based systemic framework for understanding bullying in functional terms, which hinges on social identity and the basic human need to belong. The chapter ends with an illustrative case study.

Working out whom to trust and cooperate with, and whom to distrust and exclude, relies on evaluative talk about others (gossip). Humans gain identity, status and power from the groups with which they associate; therefore, group belonging is essential to self-esteem and wellbeing. Thus, people are highly motivated to defend their sense of identity and the groups with which they identify, when these are threatened. These social processes are apparent in bullying and at times involve deceit, self-deception and the use of humour. Someone who marginalises others may suspend empathy for the victim, in the interest of defending their own reputation and sense of self as a ‘good’ person.