The Effect of Personality Traits on Unique Responses to Cyberbullying
Location
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Entry Number
50
Start Date
4-7-2021 2:30 PM
End Date
4-7-2021 2:45 PM
Department
Psychology
Abstract
This study's focus is to analyze whether personality traits are a factor in how people respond to acts of cyberbullying; specifically, actively doing something to stop the cyberbullying, actively retaliating to the cyberbully, or being passive in their response. The study administered online questionnaires to undergraduate students, including the HEXACO to analyze personality traits and the Cyberbullying Questionnaire to analyze how participants were likely to respond in a simulated cyberbullying scenario. The research study proposed three hypotheses. It was expected those who actively stopped the bully would report characteristics associated with scores high in Honesty/Humility, Conscientiousness, Openness, Emotionality, and low in Extraversion. The second hypothesis expected those who actively retaliated to the bully would report characteristics associated with scores high in Extraversion, low in Honesty/Humility, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. The third hypothesis expected those who were passive in response would report characteristics associated with scores high in Agreeableness, Openness, and low in Emotionality. This research study can be applied to future investigations in researching the interactions between personality traits and cyberbullying behaviors more specifically, providing more information on how personality traits may influence people’s choices of how to respond when they view others being cyberbullied on social media.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Alisha Marciano
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The Effect of Personality Traits on Unique Responses to Cyberbullying
This study's focus is to analyze whether personality traits are a factor in how people respond to acts of cyberbullying; specifically, actively doing something to stop the cyberbullying, actively retaliating to the cyberbully, or being passive in their response. The study administered online questionnaires to undergraduate students, including the HEXACO to analyze personality traits and the Cyberbullying Questionnaire to analyze how participants were likely to respond in a simulated cyberbullying scenario. The research study proposed three hypotheses. It was expected those who actively stopped the bully would report characteristics associated with scores high in Honesty/Humility, Conscientiousness, Openness, Emotionality, and low in Extraversion. The second hypothesis expected those who actively retaliated to the bully would report characteristics associated with scores high in Extraversion, low in Honesty/Humility, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. The third hypothesis expected those who were passive in response would report characteristics associated with scores high in Agreeableness, Openness, and low in Emotionality. This research study can be applied to future investigations in researching the interactions between personality traits and cyberbullying behaviors more specifically, providing more information on how personality traits may influence people’s choices of how to respond when they view others being cyberbullied on social media.