Cognitive predictors of cyberbullying

Cyberbullying, intelligence, critical thinking, rationality

The Internet has become not only an important technology for leisure and work, but also a self-sufficient and complete “habitat” for people. It is important to study the individual causes and environmental conditions of the problematic use of the Internet, to build on the empirical data obtained, ways to prevent negative phenomena in the personal and communicative life of children. In the psychological literature, personal predictors of cyberbullying are well studied, which have much in common with predictors of conventional aggressive behavior and traditional bullying. Deficiencies in moral development, low conscientiousness and goodwill, emotional instability and low social intelligence are the main markers of both bullying and cyberbullying. Cognitive predictors of cyberbullying are not well understood, fragmented and limited. At the same time, various researchers note the strong influence of Internet technologies on various cognitive abilities of users. The purpose of this study is to summarize the results of several correlation studies of the cognitive bases of cyberbullying in adolescents (n=105) and students (n=199). Two studies tested hypotheses about the relationship of cyberbullying with different types of intelligence, critical thinking, cognitive reflection, as well as a tendency to certain cognitive distortions, such as the frame effect, failure to take into account the basic probability of an event, naive epistemology, confirmation bias and sunk costs. As a result, statistically significant relationships were found between the tendency to cyberbullying in different roles (offender and victim), on the one hand, with reduced emotional intelligence and critical thinking, on the other hand. In addition, cyber-offenders had a poorer estimate of the base probability of an event and acted irrationally when analyzing sunk costs. In general, these studies demonstrate the promise of studying cognitive predictors of cyber-aggressive behavior, which are both intellectual and irrational in nature.

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