Social cognition and moral cognition in bullying: What's ... - DPSS

Different studies showed a positive relation between aggressive behavior and the
activation of one or more of these mechanisms in both adults and children (Bandura,
Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996; Caprara, Barbaranelli, & Bandura, 1995;
Caprara, Barbaranelli, Vicino, & Bandura, 1996; Yadava, Sharma, & Gandhi, 2001). In
particular, Caprara and colleagues (1995) confirmed the strong link between moral
disengagement and physical and verbal aggression, both self- and peer-evaluated,
especially in male children. More recently, Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli,
and Regalia (2001) have replicated these results. They found a positive relation between
moral disengagement and transgressive behavior, and a negative relation between moral
disengagement and self-regulatory efficacy and prosocial behavior.
The above mentioned studies actually referred to aggressive individuals, but a
similar pattern of data has been found in school bullying research, as well. Bacchini,
Amodeo, Ciardi, Valerio, and Vitelli (1998) and Menesini, Fonzi, and Vannucci (1997),
for example, found that male bullies utilized the moral disengagement mechanisms more
than did other peers and, most of all, they seemed to use the mechanisms of
Dehumanization and Moral Justification. A confirmation of these results emerged in a
cross-national study, involving Italy and Spain, conduced by Menesini and colleagues
(Menesini, Codecasa, Benelli, & Cowie, 2003), who assessed moral reasoning of bullies,
victims and children who assumed the role of the defender, using the Scan Bullying test
(Almeida, del Barrio, Marques, Gutierrez, & van der Meulen, 2001). These authors
confirmed the tendency of bullies to show higher levels of moral disengagement, and the
presence of a profile of egocentric reasoning in these pupils.
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