The Evolutionary Psychology Of Bullying - Modern Wisdom with Tony Volk

Super interesting:

The YouTube video, featuring Tony Volk, a researcher specialising in bullying, delves into the complex nature of bullying from an evolutionary psychology perspective, challenging common misconceptions and offering insights into its causes, dynamics, and potential interventions.

1. Definition and Nature of Bullying

• Definition: Bullying is defined as a deliberate, aggressive attempt against a weaker individual that causes harm. It must be goal-directed and occur in a context where the victim has difficulty defending themselves, establishing a clear power imbalance. This distinguishes it from general aggression.
• Not a Rite of Passage: Bullying is not a minor issue or a "rite of passage"; severe bullying can affect an individual's immune response and gene expression for decades.
• Ubiquitous and Hard to Prevent: Bullying is observed across time and cultures, making it a ubiquitous and challenging behaviour to prevent.

2. Evolutionary Hypothesis Behind Bullying

• Signalling Danger, Not Direct Competition: Unlike typical dominance hierarchies in nature where the alpha doesn't pick on lower ranks, bullying is primarily a way of signalling how dangerous one is to compete with to higher-status individuals. By targeting a weaker, non-threatening individual (e.g., a Grade 12 student picking on a Grade 9), the bully demonstrates their capabilities to other peers.
• Resource Acquisition: Bullying can also serve to acquire resources, such as the best spot in a playground or a scholarship.
• Audience Effect: Over 80% of observed bullying occurs with an audience, suggesting a performative aspect designed to signal capabilities and deter others from "messing with" the bully. This includes private bullying, such as in sexual partnerships, but public display is common in schools and workplaces.
• Ancestral Functions: Ancestrally, bullying was used for similar purposes, such as securing better or more meat, defending territory, and derogating competitors' reputations, especially when entering the dating pool.

3. Characteristics of Bullies

• Not "Broken Kids": Bullies often have better mental health than average, as well as strong social skills, theory of mind, and even empathy, contradicting the stereotype of insecure individuals.
• Low Honesty-Humility: The biggest predictor of bullying across cultures (Chinese, Dutch, Canadian, North American) is low levels of honesty-humility. This trait is part of the HEXACO personality scale and reflects a belief in being better than others, deserving more, and a willingness to act on that belief. Individuals low in honesty-humility are willing to cheat and take advantage of others.
• Strategic and Flexible Target Selection: Bullies are very good at finding targets they can successfully victimise. A physically strong bully will target a physically weak individual, while a socially strong bully will target a socially isolated one. They choose targets that offer a meaningful "cost-benefit signal" – strong enough for the signal to matter, but weak enough to prevent retaliation.
• Gains in Popularity and Dominance: Bullies gain in popularity, reputation, and dominance through their actions, and those who become more popular may, in turn, become bullies themselves, highlighting the powerful incentives.
• Reproductive Success: Bullies have been found to have more sex (both boys and girls in early and later adolescence) and, in longitudinal studies, more children later in life, suggesting an evolutionary benefit. This is linked to their social adeptness and ability to play the "dominance and status game".
• Wealthier Kids More Likely: Counterintuitively, higher socioeconomic status (SES) is a risk factor for bullying, as wealthier kids often have more power (e.g., best clothes, travel experiences, luxury items) that they can leverage over others. Parents' arrogant attitudes can also trickle down.

4. Characteristics of Victims

• Weaker Power Levels: Victims tend to have weaker levels of power, being less socially connected and more likely to have pre-existing mental health issues that bullying exacerbates.
• Predictors: Common predictors for victimisation include social isolation, lack of a support network, fewer friends, physical size, and younger age within a grade or overall.
• Social Ineptness: Victims are often less socially adept, making them more vulnerable and less able to explain what's happening to adults, leading to less sympathy.

5. Sex Differences in Bullying

• Similar Motivations: Both boys and girls bully for similar reasons: resources, reputation, and reproduction.
• Method Differences: Boys engage in much more physical bullying. Girls tend to use more indirect verbal and social bullying.
• Target of Derogation: Women (and girls) often target another woman's sexual reputation (chastity), while boys often target another boy's manliness/formidability. These are precision-engineered strikes, as derogating chastity is almost impossible to disprove.

6. Bullying Across the Lifespan

• Peak Age: Bullying typically peaks between the ages of 13 and 15, often correlating with puberty and the onset of the "mating game".
• Persistence into Adulthood: While bullying decreases after adolescence, it continues into adulthood. Childhood bullying is predictive of adult bullying, with many "jerks" persisting in their behaviour.
• Workplace Bullying: High school bullying is "almost certainly" predictive of workplace bullying due to shared underlying traits like low honesty-humility.

7. Impact of Social Media on Bullying

• Anonymity and Lack of Repercussions: Social media makes it much easier to bully anonymously and without consequences, posing a challenge for authorities to track and prevent.
• Exacerbated Mental Health for Girls: Social media algorithms, which show sensationalized views and promote social comparison, contribute to a higher decline in mental health for girls than for boys, with over 60% of teenage girls reporting persistent feelings of hopelessness. The "ambient displeasure" is often baked into the technology itself.

8. Interventions and Solutions

• "Lamb with a Lion" Interventions Fail: Attempts to bring bullies and victims together (e.g., mediation) are iatrogenic, meaning they make things worse in the long run. Bullies may play nice initially but then seek revenge.
• Punishment as a Cost: Bullying is a cost-benefit behaviour. Increasing the cost (e.g., through monitoring, consistent consequences) can make it less likely.
• Norway Study: A comprehensive national program in Norway that "cracked down" on bullying reduced it by 30-40% for three years, but when funding stopped, bullying quickly returned to normal levels, suggesting it's not a purely learned behaviour.
• Peer-Based Interventions (Kiva): Programs like Kiva, which rely on peers to reject bullying behaviour, can reduce bullying by 20-25%, but are less effective against high-popularity bullies who are often the most prolific.
• Meaningful Roles (Pro-social Way to Gain Status): Assigning "meaningful roles" that give students attention and status in a pro-social way has been shown to reduce overall school violence by 70%. The goal is to redirect the bully's desire for status without harming others, hoping for a long-term shift towards pro-social behaviour.
• Challenge of Adult Role Models: Interventions struggle because children see numerous examples in the adult world (e.g., politicians, celebrities, sports figures) where bullying and aggressive behaviour lead to success and rewards.
• Long-Term Impact of Bullying: Untreated bullying can lead to lifelong risks of depression and anxiety, and in tragic cases, suicide. It can also impact immune response and gene expression for decades.
• Importance of Support for Victims: For victims, open lines of communication with parents, contacting the school, and building a strong support network of friends are crucial. Even one friend can cut the odds of serious mental health outcomes by over 50%.
• Mastery and Status: Gaining competence in areas valued by peers can lead to increased status, which acts as a "prophylactic against somebody bullying you".
• Parents of Bullies: Parents are advised to intervene, recognising that their child's behaviour is cowardly and likely to persist across different relationships. They should monitor their child more closely, communicate disapproval based on ethics and fairness, and reward pro-social changes.
• Heritability: Bullying has a high degree of genetic heritability (60-70%), meaning a significant portion of the difference in bullying behaviour between individuals can be explained by genetics. However, it's not purely deterministic, but an interaction between predispositions and environment.