With more and more schools and colleges placing strict action against students who bully other students, the time has come to find out the real reason behind why a so-called bully acts like s/he does. What prompts him/her to bully others? And why does s/he feel that the act is necessary in spite of knowing that s/he would probably be punished severely for the same? Here are some possible explanations.
Attention Seeker
A person would most likely want to bully someone in front of others in order to draw attention to him. Having an audience around at all times makes him feel cool and popular. Therefore, if he does not get the attention that he needs, he would most probably resort to bullying someone to get it.
Group Fights
People belonging to different groups usually bully each other to show their strength or superiority. If a member of a group is caught alone, the members of the other group would most probably bully him for hours on end, with the act leading to fights and even fatalities.
Sharing the Misery
People, who lock up their emotions inside, vent out their frustration by bullying others. Doing so would make them happier in thinking that they are passing on the misery to the victim. Some individuals who feel miserable about their lives also tend to bully others who are in a better position in order to get some respite.
Bad Upbringing
People who come from dysfunctional families and broken homes usually tend to bully others mercilessly. This can be because they were born and brought up in an environment devoid of love or companionship. Therefore, they would have little or no respect for others and their feelings.
Role Models
In certain cases, a bully would emulate another bully in the same family. For instance, if the elder brother in the family happens to be a bully, the younger brother who looks up to him would most probably follow his footsteps and bully others as well, thinking it would be ok to do so.
Media Violence
Watching too many movies can make people try to emulate heroes in their personal lives. A kid watching the hero beat up some bad guys in a movie would most probably want to become like his favorite star and resort to bullying others, irrespective of whether they had done anything wrong or not! They feel it is cool for them to act bossy with others, like their favorite heroes do in the movies.
