Bullies And Their Victims Show Different Patterns Of Brain Activity To Emotional Faces

By Emma Young An estimated one quarter to one half of adolescents will at some point either be a victim of bullying, or engage in it — or both. Whether you’re on the receiving end, or dealing it out, there are all kinds of associated negative implications for mental health and well-being, including distress, depression and anxiety.  “This highlights an important need to understand the predictors of bullying and victimisation, in order to identify ways to reduce these experiences in adolescents,” write the researchers behind a new study, published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. And this research has revealed one such factor: both bullies and victims show differences in the brain’s response to angry and fearful faces. Johnna Swartz at the University of California, Davis and her colleagues studied 49 adolescents, aged 12 to 15 years old, who were recruited from the local community. They first reported on their experiences of “relational bullying” (either as bully or victim) over the past 12 months. This is a form of non-physical bullying that involves damaging an individual’s social standing and relationships. It might entail excluding a child from social activities — like a party or a group chatting at a lunch table — or spreading gossip or rumours about them. Next, the participants were shown a series of images of faces chosen to signal fear, anger or happiness while their brains were scanned using fMRI. The team found clear rela...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Brain bullying Developmental Source Type: blogs