For ages, bulling has been and still is a significant social issue that has brought substantial concerns in the contemporary society. For the purpose of understanding bullying and how bullying can be reduced, it is vital that we review and critique the article “Reducing bullying: Application of social cognitive theory” by Susan Swearer. Moreover, studies have proved that people who witness bullying have a tenancy of bullying others. Therefore, it is essential that the principles of social cognitive theory be applied where a person pay attention to, encode and model some of the behaviors they observe contingent regarding their motivation to attend to the behaviors. This has created more emphasis and need for more researches to be conducted in order to reduce or eliminate bullying. Further, on reviewing the article, proper knowledge on behavioral management programs can be achieved and this will help to minimize cases of bulling in schools as well as in the contemporary society.
Reducing Bullying Article Review
Introduction
The phenomenon of peoples aggression has always been and continues to be a prevalent In the recent time, bullying has become a major problem in the society with many cases of bullying being reported at school as well as in the community. The rapidly raising number of bullying incidences among youths and adults globally has brought much attention among practitioners, psychological, legal and educational scholars. Moreover, there has been need for more research to establish the causes of bullying and identify appropriate methods to reduce bullying and eventually eliminate it fully. Social cognitive theory is one of the theories that have attempted to explain the complexity of bullying, factors that contribute to bullying, and develop interventions for bullying perpetrators. This essay focusses on reviewing the article “Reducing bullying: Application of social cognitive theory” by Susan Swearer, a professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Nebraska and colleagues with the aim of understanding how bullying can be reduced.
Swearer, S. M., Wang, C., Berry, B., " Myers, Z. R. (2014). Reducing bullying: Application of social cognitive theory. Theory into practice, 53(4), 271-277.
Bullying is recognized as a form of aggressive behavior and this has made it to receive a lot of concerns and attention. (Swearer et al., 2014) Nonetheless, bullying has become a major topic in the news due to the increasing recent cases of allegations of intimidation, bullying and harassment in schools and in the community as well (Swearer et al., 2014). According to Swearer et al, studies have shown that 10 to 33 percent of students have reported of being victims of bullying or having bullied others (Swearer et al., 2014). Further, the authors recognized bullying as a substantial issue that require to be reduced and eliminated, and they suggested that the appropriate measure was to directly intervene with the bully individuals with the objective of assisting them to change their social and cognitive behaviors which underlined their bulling perpetration (Swearer et al., 2014).
Additionally, the authors view social cognitive theory as a more new and developed version of social learning theory and the theory prefer that people learn from observing other individuals behaviors and repercussions apart from learning through direct instruction (Swearer et al., 2014). Besides, Swearer et al. indicated that for learning to take, people must carefully observe a behavior, encode the images of the behavior observed, reproduce the images and be motivated to perform the behavior (Swearer et al., 2014). The article focusses on cognitive behavioral intervention as the appropriate because the authors recognize bullying as a cognitive behavioral phenomenon (Swearer et al., 2014). The authors supports this measure because they believe that an individual’s beliefs and thoughts influences behaviors (Swearer et al., 2014).
Despite bullying being a serious and morally unethical issue, the article precisely ascertains the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral interventions in reducing bullying (Swearer et al., 2014). Moreover, a social cognitive intervention program that is aims at parental behaviors and children’s cognitive processes such as The Coping Power Program (CPP) has been proven to minimize participant’s disruptive, delinquent and aggressive behaviors (Swearer et al., 2014). Nevertheless, the article has a limitation in that is does not indicate a comprehensive assessment criteria of bullying and related issues (Swearer et al., 2014). A cognitive behavioral assessment is crucial in order to determine mental health factors and cognitive processes that are associated with bullying (Swearer et al., 2014). Moreover, assessment phases can significantly assist in elaborating on the constructs that are related to bullying.
References
Swearer, S. M., Wang, C., Berry, B., " Myers, Z. R. (2014). Reducing bullying: Application of social cognitive theory. Theory into practice, 53(4), 271-277.
