Bullying is the use of force, coercion, or threat, to abuse, aggressivelydominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imbalance of physical or social power. This imbalance distinguishes bullying from conflict.[1] Bullying is a subcategory of aggressive behavior characterized by the following three minimum criteria: (1) hostile intent, (2) imbalance of power, and (3) repetition over a period of time.Bullying is the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another individual, physically, mentally, or emotionally.
Bullying ranges from one-on-one, individual bullying through to group bullying, called mobbing, in which the bully may have one or more “lieutenants” who may be willing to assist the primary bully in their bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as “peer abuse”. Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of rankism. The Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus says bullying occurs when a person is “exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons”,[4] and that negative actions occur “when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways”.Individual bullying is usually characterized by a person behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person.
Schools can choose from a range of approaches for resolving bullying incidents. The combination of approaches that the school chooses should reflect its culture and values, the community’s values and the type and severity of the bullying incident. Students in conflict, including initiator/target conflicts, are invited to take part in a session with a mediator, staff member or peer mediator to help resolve their differences without any compulsion.