Victims' Goal Understanding, Uncertainty Reduction, and Perceptions in Cyberbullying: Theoretical Evidence From Three Experiments

Abstract

Cyberbullying is repetitive and aggressive behavior transmitted through mediated channels aimed at directing malice toward a victim with a to-harm goal. Three experiments manipulated a cyberbully's identity uncertainty - each employing different stimuli and scenarios - and assessed individuals' responses to being victimized. Experiment 1 demonstrated victims' information-seeking about a bully's identity and motives, emotional valence, and social attractiveness to the bully depend on victims' uncertainties about the bully's motives and identity. Experiment 2 examined victims' particular inferences about a bully's goals, revealing victims find bullies more socially attractive when they think a bully is trying to personally attack them or gain status, but only if the bully is anonymous. Experiment 3 aimed to replicate findings with a modified method and an extended rationale explaining why inferring attack and upward-mobility goals enhances the attractiveness of an unknown bully, showing that victims' ability to cope with the bullying episode is a critical mediator.