BOGUSŁAW ŚLIWERSKI
EDUCATOR AS AN INITIATOR OF EDUCATION
The debate on the basic conceptual issues is undertaken in pedagogy very rarely. The author analyses the concept of nurture as a pedagogical act and the category of pedagogical influence – its nature, conditions, types and consequences. In the case when an individual fosters, educates or teaches the other we should ask questions about the aims and results of his/her actions. To answer those questions we should also ask about the doer’s identity. The author raises the issue whether every single educator/tutor is an agent of fostering? How to select those activities or acts that can have a socializing influence on a person from a complicated network of links and interrelationships among people?
Key words: socialization, pedagogical act, pedagogical activity, pedagogical influence, coinfluence, tutor, pedagogical fact, socialization process, anti-tutoring, sense of influence.
JACEK PYŻALSKI
ELECTRONIC AGGRESSION AND ELECTRONIC MOBBING AND THE ENGAGEMENT OF POLISH GIMNAZJUM STUDENTS IN THE NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
In the article the issue of electronic aggression among children and youth (via Internet or mobile phones) is discussed. A lot of attention is devoted to cyberbullying, i.e. a kind of electronic peer aggression. In the article empirical data are presented. The sample group consisted of adolescents (aged 13–17, N = 719). In the study, Lodz Electronic Aggression Prevalence Questionnaire (LEAPQ) was used. The respondents were engaged in various electronic aggression types – also cyberbullying (17% – victims, 20% perpetrators). Electronic aggression issues were discussed on the background of positive and dysfunctional usage of new media by the respondents.
Key words: electronic aggression, adolescents, positive, dysfunctional online behaviour.
JULIA BARLIŃSKA
CYBERSPACE – A NEW ARENA FOR PEER AGGRESSION?
This article analyzes adolescents’ functioning on the Internet, with a special emphasis on violent behaviour referred to as cyberbullying. It discusses an experimental study that has tried to find out whether young people active in cyberspace are more likely to exhibit antisocial behaviour – compared to real-world personal interactions – and how their previous experience of being a victim or perpetrator of cyberbullying may influence their tendency to undertake such behaviour. The article also analyzes the causes of hostile behaviour on the Web, indicating two main sources: adolescents’ individual characteristics (as manifestations of the development process), and specific features of the Internet.
Key words: cyberbulling, adolescents, antisocial behaviour.
MAGDALENA SZPUNAR
FLAMING AND TROLLING AS FORMS OF VERBAL AGGRESSION IN THE INTERNET
The Internet is increasingly becoming a place of humiliation, bullying or other forms of verbal aggression. Insults and criticisms presented in the Internet, which acts as a sort of “smoke curtain,” come much easier than in a direct, face-to-face contact. The study confirms a frequent occurrence of uncontrollable bullying critics and others. An impersonal nature of the Internet promotes a more aggressive message than in the offline world, of importance here is also a greater emotional distance, and thus a lower degree of empathy in relation to the recipient. As it is apparent from the CBOS research conducted in 2008, around 11% of the respondents meet with the acts of aggression in the Internet. Some of these acts include aggressive or obscene content in the spam, or unwanted e-mails.
Key words: flaming, trolling, verbal aggression, offense.
STANISŁAW JUSZCZYK
COMMUNICATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN THE VIRTUAL SPACE
We are functioning in the time of the last information revolution, which is a revolution not in technology, machinery, or software but in concepts. The communication of masses represents a process made up of social imagination and symbolism on a global level. It is very interesting to know what types of media are used in children and youth’s daily life and what new media influence the way they spend their free time. Hence, the work focuses on the communication of children and youth in the virtual space, created by the new media such as: the personal computer, TV-linked games machines, computer games, the Internet and its most popular services, such as e-mail, chat rooms, and Internet communicators (such gadu-gadu and skype) and mobile phones in the context of the use of the classic media such TV, video, radio, CDs, books and magazines. The results of the empirical research are presented and discussed in the framework of cognitive theories.
Key words: media pedagogy, mass media, free time of children and youth, information revolution, mediated communication.
PIOTR PLICHTA
WAYS OF ICT USAGE AMONG INTELLECTUALLY DISABLED ADOLESCENTS
Ways of ICT usage among adolescents with mild mental retardation are presented. The data were obtained with the unstructured interviews in the field of special education. The research revealed several questions related to patterns of ICT usage e.g.: amount of time, subjective significance of computer and cell phones usage, range of applications, awareness of potential threats, being a victim or/and perpetrator of electronic aggression and other unpleasant experiences, as well as school and family context of the abovementioned fields.
Key words: mental retardation/intellectual disability, electronic aggression, Internet, ICT.
BASSAM AOUIL
INTERNET IN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE AND THE PROMOTION OF MENTAL HEALTH IN THE LIGHT OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS
The scope of the conceptual assumptions of on-line psychological support is directly related to the fundamental tasks of clinical psychology and also educational and development psychology as far as the widening of mental health promotion, both in terms of broadening the psychological knowledge of the society and making psychological services available to as many people in need on the one hand, and on the other – the need to prepare young psychologists for work in the new reality of the information society, including lifelong learning, which largely will be based on the use of educational resources of the Internet.
The study is an attempt to analyse certain issues related to on-line psychological support in the light of current achievements, challenges and methodological, practical and ethical expectations, as well as in terms of the usefulness of this new category of aid for the enrichment of achievements in clinical psychology and the improvement of aid tools.
Key words: on-line clinical psychology, promotion of mental health, ethical principles, training.
VERA BORONENKO
VLADIMIR MENSHIKOV
NEW MEDIA AND EDUCATION IN LATVIA
In the article, the authors present the results of the investigation of the problems and prospects of new media use in the Latvian system of education in the context of the review of e-society development in the world and in Latvia. The aim of the article is to show the place Latvian science and education system occupy, new media study, and instruments used in the quantity of education and the competitiveness of its agents. The results of international research, the documents of the Latvian government and the Ministry of Education and Science, work outcomes of European and Latvian scientists, the results of our own sociological investigations serve as the information grounding for the present research. The research is carried out in three directions – technological, sociocultural and pedagogical. The results of the research have shown that, in Latvia, during the last years there happened a sharp leap in the introduction of new media in the establishments of the education system. Educational institutions are more provided with new media equipment, and new media technologies are used actively for the implementation, coordination and management of a study process. At the same time, this has a poor effect on the development of pedagogical didactics media, and the level of media competence of the pedagogues still remains very low, and the standard educational programmes do not presuppose the media competence training of children either at the stage of pre-school training or at primary school.
Key words: e-society, new media, education system, media pedagogy, media education.
MÁRIA BRATSKÁ
GROUP COMMUNICATION STIMULI AND BARRIERS IN SOLVING AND COPING WITH PSYCHIC LOAD (STRESS) SITUATIONS
Many psychic stress situations, either in the acute or in the ordinary life conditions, may represent a moderate degree of psychic stress, in case the man has been adequately and on a professional basis acquainted with their substance in advance, and thus he knows what their points are. Even the ways in which the man approaches them, the ways of solving and coping with them are dependent on whether he knows the consequences of various eventualities, whether he is aware of them, whether he is ready and able to apply constructive, effective forms of the procedures. In such cases the man is more flexible in getting oriented, he does not concentrate just on the obstacles and the losses, but he is ready to search for and take into consideration the supporting factors contributing to constructive solving of the situation and effective coping with stress. He tries to achieve the balance of losses and winnings, in favour of his own personality growth.
In this article I want to recommend a programme which may stimulate the competence in constructive and creative solving and effective coping with psychic stress situations. This competence may be expanded, made deeper and improved within a lifelong process of socialization. The programme aims at constructive, effective, and creative solving and coping with psychic stress (load) situations and the support of active adaptation to complex conditions of the social system, the development of skills of communication and negotiation with people, reinforcement of self-assertion and empathy. The improved self-cognition (comprehension) enables more realistic planning of utilization of the acquired skills.
Key words: group communication, psychic stress situation mental load situation, stimulate, creative solving, effective and constructive coping.
CLAIRE MONKS, SUSANNE ROBINSON, PENNY WORLIDGE
ROSARIO ORTEGA
CYBERBULLYING AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS
The nature and extent of cyberbullying and traditional bullying were examined among a sample of primary school pupils aged 7–11 years in the London area. Pupils were given anonymous self-report questionnaires which asked about their use of mobile phones and the Internet, and their experiences of bullying and cyberbullying as either the victims or perpetrators. Most pupils had a mobile phone and almost all had access to the Internet at home. It was found that a significant number of pupils reported being involved in both types of bullying, although more children were involved in traditional bullying than cyberbullying. The most commonly reported types of cyberbullying were via instant messenger, email and text messages. Children were also likely to consider cyberbullying as upsetting as traditional bullying. Implications for intervention and prevention work are discussed.
Key words: cyberbullying; bullying; victimisation; primary school.
GEORGES STEFFGEN
ANDREAS KÖNIG
JAN PFETSCH
ANDRÉ MELZER
THE ROLE OF EMPATHY FOR ADOLESCENTS’ CYBERBULLYING BEHAVIOUR
A negative relationship between empathy and aggressive behaviour has been demonstrated in meta-analyses (e.g., Jolliffe & Farrington 2004). On the basis of these findings it was hypothesized that a lack of empathic responsiveness may also be a characteristic of cyber bullies. In the present study, 2,070 students of Luxembourg secondary schools completed an online survey that included a German version of the Cyberbullying questionnaire (Smith et al. 2008) and a newly developed empathy scale. ANOVAs indicated significant differences between cyber bullies and non-cyber bullies. Most importantly, it was observed that cyber bullies demonstrated less empathic responsiveness than non-bullies. The findings confirm and substantially extend the research on the relationship between empathy and aggressive behaviour. From an educational point of view the findings suggest that training of empathy skills might be an important tool in decreasing cyberbullying.
Key words: cyberbullying, traditional bullying, empathy, Luxembourg.