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Category: Project

Description: Cyber aggression is a relatively common occurrence that can have deleterious effects on the victim. Cyber bystanders have a unique ability to intervene in cyber aggression and alleviate its impact. However, few bystanders choose to take positive, pro-social action when encountering cyber aggression. This underscores the importance of understanding the process that leads to bystander intervention in cyber aggression, and the barriers to intervention. The bystander intervention model posits that intervention in intervention in face-to-face bullying hinges on five sequential steps: noticing the harassment (Step 1), interpreting the situation as an emergency (Step 2), taking responsibility for acting (Step 3), knowing what to do (Step 4), and acting (Step 5). Barriers can block progress from one step to the next, including distraction (Barrier 1), ambiguity (Barrier 2), diffusion of responsibility (Barrier 3), and lack of competence (Barrier 4). However, to date, there is little work applying the bystander intervention model in its entirety in the context of cyber aggression. It is critical to avoid the pitfall of assuming that well-established conceptual models for face-to-face experiences similarly pertain to the cyber sphere, without independently evaluating this.