BULLIES ARE EVERYWHERE :
Power Issues at Home, Work, and School
Part II: Examples at Home, School,
and Work - Designing Effective
Interventions
Stuart W. Twemlow, MD
Professor of Psychiatry
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas
How Power Dynamics Work
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Social Roles Attract Certain Personalities
All Personalities are Unique
Behavior in the Social Role Is Predictable
Power Dynamics Are Public Dramas
The Stages for the Dramas Change and
Individuals Might Play Different Roles
• Leaders Set the Tone for a Climate-Group
Dynamic
Bullies Are Everywhere
Bullies, Victims, Bystanders at
Home
• Absent Father as Bully, Victim, and
Bystander
• Child as Bully to Parent and Siblings
• Domestic Victims as Bystanders to Child’s
Victimization
• Bully Parent Defensiveness at School
(Victim)
• Parentification and Helpful Bystanding
• Dismissive Families
Bullies Are Everywhere
Non Mentalising Families:
When Bullies Run Families
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Hurt and Neglect their Children
Poor Internal Regulation of Affect
Fixed Power Struggles Create Reactivity
Sadistic and Anti Authority Role Modeling
Dismiss Pain of the Victim-Leads to Multiple
Generational Transmission of Trauma
• Inconsistent Parenting: Different Parental Signals
Bullies Are Everywhere
Bullies at Work
• The exposure of a worker over and over again to
negative interactions on the part of one or more
dominant persons or groups who gain in some way
from the discomfort of the victim. These negative
actions are intentional inflictions of injury or
discomfort and may involve physical contact, words
or insulting gestures, forms of sexual bribery and
coercion including quid pro quo manipulation.
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There is an imbalance of power in an asymmetrical
coercive power dynamic.
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Victim - victimizer and bystander roles interchange,
and when violence is imminent, become fixed.
Bullies Are Everywhere
“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac” - attributed to Henry Kissinger.
The Nature of Workplace Harassment
• Sexual Harassment first legally defined in 1980
(U.S. Equal Employment Commission)
• 42% Women report harassment in previous 2 years
15% Men
(U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board 1981)
• 73% Women reported harassment in medical school and residency
22% Men
• Primarily Sexism
• Other Vulnerable Workers: Disability, SES, Sexual Orientation, Race
“Who can one hit if not ones friends.” Sir Ralph Richardson to Sir Alec
Guinness before punching him in the jaw.
Bullies Are Everywhere
Violence & Harassment in the Workplace is:
• Social Systems Group Focused
• Group Dynamics Magnifies FEAR
• Fear Narrows Response Options & Perspective
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Induces Perseveration
Reduces Work Efficiency
Promotes absenteeism
• Group Dynamics Create Transference
Distortions
Bullies Are Everywhere
Street Violence
•Individual Focus
•Acute
•Influenced by Community Organization
•Physical Motive
Work Place Violence
•Group Focus
•Chronic
•Influenced by Workplace Organization
•Psychological Motive
Bullies Are Everywhere
Types of Harassers
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The Spurious Counselor/Helper
The Confidant
The Intellectual
The Power Broker
The Sadist
Bullies Are Everywhere
Three Cases of Harassment :
• African-American woman by white male
supervisor: Avoidant Bystanders : husband,
personnel chief, co-workers,
• Hispanic woman by African-American woman
Bully Bystanders: co-workers, personnel chief.
• Conservative white male by female co-workers and
their supporters: Bully bystanding and victim bystanding by co-workers and personnel officers.
Bullies Are Everywhere
Bullying at School
• Earliest Indication of Lifelong Problems
with Aggression
• Bullying Creates Non-Achieving Climates
• Home Played Out on School’s Stage
• Developmental Evolution from Physical to
Social Aggression
• Urban/Suburban/Rural Enactments
Bullies Are Everywhere
BACK OFF BULLY
Back Off Bully, Get Out of My Face,
Everybody Needs their Personal Space,
Do Your Own Thing, Get Off My Case,
Did You Ever Notice that Trouble Comes In Threes,
The Bully, The Bystander, and The Victim, That’s me,
The Bully Needs Attention, The Victim gets Hurt
The Bystander just Watches and Doesn’t say A Word,
Shame is The Bully’s Game,
The Victim Stands There And Takes The Pain,
Bystander You fan The Flames,
Round and Round It’s a Hurtin’ Game,
We Don’t Like The “Bully Game”, With All That Pain And Shame,
We’ve Got Other Things To Do, Better Roles To Play,
Im Not A Victim, I am A Person, I Will Stand Up For Myself,
I’m Not A Bystander, I am A Friend Who Can Look After Someone Else,
Change Bully, You Can Change,
You Don’t have To Play That Hurtn’ Game,
Try A Different Role, Try A Brand New Way,
Its Easy, All You Have To Say Is
BACK OFF B ULLY
Bullies Are Everywhere
GENTLE WARRIOR
• Create a Model of
Being a Helpful
Bystander or Friend
• 10 Week Course for
K-5 Children in PE
• Practice Movement
(physical) and Self
Reflection (Mental) to
Teach Assertiveness
and Strategies to
Deal with Bullies
Bullies Are Everywhere
GENTLE WARRIOR
Program Elements
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Stretching &Breathing
Relaxation
Role Play
Defensive Escapes
Use of Voice/Feet
Self Reflection
Parent Involvement
Bullies Are Everywhere
Research Findings
Gentle Warrior Program
• Randomized, Control Study with 11 schools over
3 years
• Gentle Warrior Program Specially Studied Using
a Sub Sample of 268 (141 boys, 127 girls)
• Grades 3-5 in Midwestern American City
• Study in the Third Year or Maintenance Phase
• All Prior Exposure to CAPSLE
• 3 Session Refresher Course
Bullies Are Everywhere
Measures
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Self Report of Victimization
Bystander Behavior
Attitudes to Aggression
Teacher CAPSLE Use
GW Participation
Using Validated Questionnaires (Vernberg)
Bullies Are Everywhere
Results
3 Week Review of GWP
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reduced boys victimization of others
increased boy’s helpful bystander
increased boy’s empathy
had little impact on girls
Validates that Mentalization was Mediated
by the Use of A Martial Arts
Bullies Are Everywhere
Bullies Are Everywhere
Bullies Are Everywhere
Bullies Are Everywhere
CHILDREN’S BOOKS: ILLUSTRATING VARIOUS ROLES
Bullies Are Everywhere
MIDDLE SCHOOL-URBAN WORKSHEETS
Bullies Are Everywhere
Classroom Tools
• Coloring Books,
Games, Word
Searches, Work
Sheets Used to
Increase
Mentalization
Bullies Are Everywhere
higher value = more empathy
I feel upset if I see a kid being picked
on
9.4
9.2
9
8.8
8.6
8.4
8.2
8
"A"
"B"
Intervention Condition
Bullies Are Everywhere
"C"
higher value = more enjoyment
I enjoy and encourage aggression
3.1
3
2.9
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
"A"
"B"
Intervention Condition
Bullies Are Everywhere
"C"
higher value = more responsible
I feel responsibility to stop aggression
8.6
8.4
8.2
8
7.8
7.6
"A"
"B"
Intervention Condition
Bullies Are Everywhere
"C"
Teachers report less victimization in
CAPSLE schools
Higher = more victimization
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
"A"
"B"
Intervention Condition
Bullies Are Everywhere
"C"
Mean Metropolitan Achievement Test Scores of
1,106 Children Participating in Peaceful Schools
Program and 1,106 Matched Controls
Percentile scores
Reading
Maths
Language
Basic battery
60
58
56
54
52
50
48
46
44
42
40
Matched
controls
Own
control
In program
current
year
In program
previous year
In program
both years
Note: Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals (two standard errors)
Bullies Are Everywhere