DISSONANCE, HELPING AND BULLYING BYSTANDERS : BROADENING SCOPES FOR RESEARCH AND INTERVENTIONS

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Addresses the scarcity of research on inactive bullying aiming to reverse bystanders trend of inaction and prevent its detrimental effects by capitalizing on findings and techniques devised within the framework of the cognitive dissonance theory. Bullying studies have reported the discrepancy existing between children's attitudes on bullying and their behaviors. Dissonance principles are reasoned to be instrumental in understanding the experience and behavior of inactive bystanders, and effecting wholesome changes in them. This study first presents a review of studies on the relationship between dissonance and helping behavior, and of applied research within the novel approach of Aronson's hypocrisy paradigm. Next, it analyses the process of inactive bystanding, and proposes a way to apply the hypocrisy paradigm to dispel the uncommitted passive viewing of peers, and involve them in prosocial behavior. Finally, it reports an original experiment carried out with 115 children (11-12 yrs-old) to test this procedure, which drew out successful results : significantly more participants in the hypocrisy condition were motivated to volunteer to a peer support program. Relevant implications of these results for anti-bullying interventions are also discussed.