不同網路霸凌情境的旁觀者反應傾向探究：網路霸凌辨識能力、道德疏離與受害者行為的影響

Bystander Behavior in Different Cyberbullying Situations: Role of Cyberbullying Awareness, Moral Disengagement, and Victim Behavior

旁觀者的行為反應對於網路霸凌事件的發展有重要影響，在旁觀者選擇反應方式之前，會受到網路霸凌辨識能力、道德疏離以及受害者本身行為的影響。本研究之目的在探討以上三者如何影響旁觀者的救助行為傾向及吆喝行為傾向。研究方式採調查研究法，受試者為1,393位臺灣大學生，研究工具包含《網路霸凌辨識能力測驗》、《網路道德疏離量表》，以及兩份不同情境的《網路霸凌反應傾向量表》。調節分析的結果顯示在受害者單純受到網路霸凌的情境中，旁觀者的道德疏離並不會調節其網路霸凌辨識能力與吆喝行為之間的負向關係，但在受害者因為違反社會規範而遭受網路霸凌的情境中，道德疏離在網路霸凌辨識能力與吆喝行為之間具有調節效果。根據以上結果，本研究提出在網路霸凌防治策略上的具體建議。

Bystander behavior is an essential component in either halting or perpetuating cyberbullying (Padgett & Notar, 2013). When bystanders choose to share, like, or repost aggressive content, they may inadvertently reinforce cyberbullying behavior. By contrast, actively defending the victim may reduce or even stop cyberbullying (Bastiaensens et al., 2014; Salmivalli et al., 2011). Consequently, the bystander effect is a key area of study in the fields of traditional bullying and cyberbullying. According to the bystander intervention model (BIM) proposed by Latanéand Darley (1970), bystanders engage in five steps during their decision-making process after they witness an emergency such as cyberbullying: noticing the event, interpreting the event as an emergency, assuming responsibility for intervention, deciding on an appropriate course of action, and executing the intervention strategy.
Overall, the BIM delineates the psychological mechanism of the bystander effect and offers insights into why individuals choose to assist or not assist the victim. According to Asanan et al. (2017), bystanders become more inclined to intervene when they become aware of cyberbullying. This model addresses only internal individual processes and potentially neglects the unique aspects of the internet and the influence of the victim’s behavior. In cyberbullying incidents, the number of witnesses may be large, causing bystanders to engage in a cognitive mechanism referred to by Bandura (1990, 1999, 2002, 2016) as moral disengagement. Moral disengagement is a set of cognitive processes that enable individuals to circumvent negative self-evaluation and self-sanction, thereby morally disconnecting themselves from moral standards. According to Koehler and Weber (2018), the frequency of moral disengagement increases when the actions of the victim violate social norms. Few studies have examined the effect of victim’s behavior in cyberbullying.
In this study, we designed two cyberbullying scenarios and used the BIM to examine the complex relationship between cyberbullying awareness, moral disengagement, victim behavior, and bystander reaction intention. Scenario 1 involved a man who was cyberbullied without any apparent reason, and scenario 2 involved a man who was cyberbullied because of his norm-violating behavior. We hypothesized that (1) cyberbullying awareness positively predicts bystanders’defending behavior and is not moderated by moral disengagement in scenario 1, (2) cyberbullying awareness negatively predicts bystanders’reinforcing behavior and is not moderated by moral disengagement in scenario 1, (3) cyberbullying awareness positively predicts bystanders’defending behavior and is moderated by moral disengagement in scenario 2, and (4) cyberbullying awareness negatively predicts bystanders’reinforcing behavior and is moderated by moral disengagement in scenario 2.
For participant recruitment, we posted on Facebook, PPT, and Dcard (the three most popular social media platforms in Taiwan) to attract university students. A total of 1,393 Taiwanese university students volunteered to participate in the study. College students were selected as participants because they are among the most frequent internet users and are highly exposed to the risk of cyberbullying. After reviewing the study details, the participants completed a cyberbullying identification test (Chao, 2021) and the Online Moral Disengagement Scale (Paciello et al., 2020). Subsequently, they were presented with two hypothetical cyberbullying scenarios and asked to report their behavioral intention toward scenarios (these items were adapted from Bastiaensens et al., 2014). For the analysis, we conducted a correlation analysis, simple linear regression analysis, and moderation analysis with PROCESS for SPSS (Hayes, 2022) to test our four hypotheses.
Our analysis results revealed the following. First, cyberbullying awareness was not significantly correlated with bystanders’defending behavior when the victim was cyberbullied without any apparent reason (r = .00, p = .99 > .05), which is inconsistent with our first hypothesis. Second, cyberbullying awareness negatively predicted bystanders’reinforcing behavior (adjusted R2 = .03, F = 40.30,β=−.17, p < .001) and was not moderated by moral disengagement when the victim was cyberbullied without any apparent reason (coefficient =−.02, p = .23 > .05), which is consistent with our second hypothesis. Third, cyberbullying awareness negatively predicted bystanders’defending behavior (adjusted R2 = .00, F = 4.75,β=−.06, p = .03 < .05) and was not moderated by moral disengagement when the victim was cyberbullied because of his norm-violating behavior (coefficient = .02, p = .29 > .05), which is inconsistent with our third hypothesis. Fourth, cyberbullying awareness negatively predicted bystander’s reinforcing behavior (adjusted R2 = .02, F = 29.57,β=−.14, p < .001) and was moderated by moral disengagement when the victim was cyberbullied because of his norm-violating behavior (coefficient =−.04, p = .03 < .05), which is consistent with our fourth hypothesis.
Regardless of whether the victim was cyberbullied for no apparent reason or for violating social norms, the bystanders exhibited only a moderate tendency to defend the victim, and this tendency was not influenced by the degree of cyberbullying awareness. In other words, regardless of whether the bystanders perceived the ongoing event as a cyberbullying incident, their inclination to assist remained the same. According to previous studies (Asanan et al., 2017; Elçi & Seçkin, 2019; Steer et al., 2020), identifying cyberbullying can prevent bystanders from becoming bullies or victims. However, no direct evidence currently exists regarding whether cyberbullying awareness increases the willingness of bystanders to assist. Therefore, cyberbullying awareness is regarded as a prerequisite for initiating defending behavior, with willingness to take action influenced by other factors.
In the two scenarios, cyberbullying awareness negatively predicted bystanders’reinforcing behavior. In other words, when the bystanders realized that the current event involved cyberbullying, they became less likely to engage in reinforcing behavior, such as liking, sharing, reposting, or commenting on posts. These findings are consistent with those of Asanan et al. (2017), who indicated that cyberbullying awareness has an inhibitory effect on reinforcing behavior. In this study, we further examined the moderating effect of victim behavior and bystander moral beliefs on the relation between cyberbullying awareness and bystander behavior. Our moderation analysis results indicated that when the victim violated social norms, moral disengagement moderated the relationship between cyberbullying awareness and reinforcing behavior, whereas this was not the case in the regular cyberbullying scenario. These findings support our second and fourth hypotheses, indicating that if bystanders lack cyberbullying awareness and hold beliefs of moral disengagement, such as moral justification, dehumanization, or victim blaming, they may become more inclined to rationalize their reinforcing behavior as an act of justice. Their moral sense may also have a limited influence on their actions, resulting in increased reinforcing behavior. By contrast, if bystanders become actively aware of their own behavior, even if they hold moral disengagement beliefs, they may become less likely to rationalize their reinforcing behavior, which enables them to exercise restraint in their own behavior.
On the basis of our research findings, we offer three recommendations for preventing or intervening in cyberbullying incidents. First, because cyberbullying awareness has an inhibitory effect on bystanders, we recommend that schools implement antibullying programs that emphasize cyberbullying awareness among all members of the school community, including teachers, students, and parents. Second, our study indicates that the reactions of bystanders are influenced by the victim’s behavior. Bystanders are more likely to refrain from assisting or even engaging in reinforcing behavior if the victim has previously violated social norms. Notably, cyberbullying differs from traditional bullying because online information tends to be one-sided, which can challenge bystanders’ability to fully grasp the situation and the victim, leading to premature judgments regarding the victim’s behavior (Liu et al., 2019). Therefore, when bystanders witness a cyberbullying incident, they should attempt to first understand the full context of the event, gather both positive and negative information, and refrain from premature judgments of the victim’s behavior. Lastly, in programs aimed at combating cyberbullying, we recommend that teachers incorporate dilemma-based instruction and address the moral disengagement beliefs of their students. For students with high levels of moral disengagement, teachers should explicitly communicate that cyberbullying is an unacceptable means of seeking justice.
This study has some limitations. First, our sample comprised only college students, thus limiting the generalizability of our findings to other populations. Second, all data were collected using self-reporting instruments, potentially resulting in mono-method bias. Third, only one norm-violation scenario was examined. Future studies should include a wider range of scenarios to better understand how the perceived severity of cyberbullying incidents influences bystanders’perceptions and actions.