Some Men Just Want To Watch The World Burn: The Role Of Sensation Seeking, Impulsivity, And Empathy In Cyberbullying

This study explored the potential role of sensation seeking, impulsivity, and empathy in cyberbullying behavior directed towards known and unknown persons. Sensation seeking is one’s propensity to desire novel situations and stimuli. Impulsivity is one’s tendency to engage in behavior without regard for potential consequences. Empathy is conceptualized as one’s ability to understand the experiences and emotions of others. Cyberbullying is the act of intentionally aggressing against another individual via some form of technology. University of Mississippi students (N=393) participated in an online survey and completed measures of the aforementioned variables. Cyberbullying behavior was measured in the context of aggressing towards both known and unknown persons. When sensation seeking was examined as a mediator between impulsivity and cyberbullying of known persons, a significant indirect path was found, indicating mediation. A similar trend relationship was observed for cyberbullying of unknown persons. Results and implications of findings are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Ehman, Anandi C.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Alan M. Gross
• Carrie Dowling
• Elicia Lair

• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/807

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1806