Abstract
Cyberbystanders are generally defined as witnesses of cyberbullying performed through electronic media. They might support the perpetrator (reinforcer), help the victim (defender), or do nothing (outsider). Limited research has investigated the different roles of cyberbystanders and the factors that influence their behavior. This study aimed to advance the understanding of cyberbystander behavior by focusing on the role moral disengagement plays in the relationship between empathy and behavior. Four hundred and thirty-five participants (45% males) with an average age of 30 years completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index-C, the Moral Disengagement Scale, and the Cyberbystander Behavior Questionnaire. The results indicate that gender and age have non-significant associations with cyberbystander roles. Both cyberbullying perpetration and victimization had significant effects only on reinforcer behavior. Moreover, moral disengagement mediates relationships between either emotional or cognitive empathy and reinforcer/defender/outsider roles, respectively. The significance and limitations of these results are discussed.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their careful work and thoughtful suggestions in improving the quality of our research.
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This research was supported by the Major Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 19ZDA359).
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Shen was mainly responsible for data analysis and writing the paper. Yuan and Xiong contributed to data collection and revision of the paper. Xin led the project and also made revision to the paper.
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Shen, Y., Yuan, L., Xiong, X. et al. Empathy and cyberbystander behavior: The role of moral disengagement. Curr Psychol 42, 18070–18079 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03015-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03015-z