Breaking barriers: The impact of intergroup contact on bystanders' actions against bias-based cyberbullying

Abstract

Bystanders are present in most bullying and cyberbullying incidents, and when they intervene in favor of the victim, they can effectively stop it. Evidence suggests that intergroup factors, such as social identification, increase bystanders’ helping intentions in bullying episodes. However, relatively little is known about the potential positive effects of intergroup factors on bystanders’ attitudes and behaviors when witnessing bias-based cyberbullying (i.e., cyberbullying based on identity). Two studies examined bystanders’ responses to cyberbullying toward two minority groups (i.e., LGBTQI+ and Black youth); and what can influence their helping intentions when they witness bias-based cyberbullying episodes. Study 1 (N = 2,253) showed that bystanders' responses vary depending on the target of cyberbullying, helping an LGBTQI+ youth target less than a Black target, and showing less empathy, less positive group norms, less inclusive identities, less positive attitudes, and more intergroup anxiety. Study 2 (N = 2,254) revealed that high quality offline contact is associated with more helping behaviors via increased empathy, outgroup attitudes, dual-identity representations and decreased intergroup anxiety (for the LGBTQI+ target), and via empathy, one-group identity, and group norms (for the Black target). Implications for efforts to promote more helping behaviors and positive intergroup attitudes in the online context are discussed.