PSYCHOLOGICAL HARASSMENT: CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES AND PROFILES - GEOGRAFÍA - 2024

The mobbing, also known as mobbing, refers to a type of personal treatment that is humiliating and dismissive, mentally harming the person who suffers. To be able to speak of psychological harassment, it is necessary that the person who carries it out does it in order to psychically unbalance the other person.

This type of abuse is characterized by undermining the dignity and moral integrity of the person, and involves psychological abuse and emotional abuse. The main reason why this type of treatment is called psychological harassment lies in the fact that it always involves the realization of psychological abuse and emotional abuse towards the person.

At present, different types of psychological harassment have been established, such as workplace harassment, sexual harassment, school harassment, cyberbullying or family harassment. Each of them is characterized by being carried out in a different field and through specific terms.

Definition of psychological harassment

Psychological harassment is a humiliating and disqualifying treatment towards a person, which is carried out in order to psychically destabilize them. This treatment constitutes a series of acts and behaviors of a person that directly undermine the dignity and moral integrity of another individual.

Thus, psychological harassment forms a long process where the person, being progressively subjected to uncertainty and impotence, loses their self-esteem and self-confidence.

According to several authors, one of the most important elements about the harassed person is that they are not usually fully aware of being humiliated and violated, so they do not usually adopt a confrontational attitude towards the harassing person.

The appearance of this term falls on the zoologist Konrad Lorenz, who observed group harassment in some faunal species. He called these behaviors "mobbing."

Konrad Lorenz

Later, the psychologist Heinz Lyeman devoted himself to studying group bullying and its psychosomatically traumatic effects in the work environment. The work carried out by this author led to the introduction of a new meaning for mobbing, moral harassment.

In the case of human beings, bullying or harassment is called moral harassment, which can lead to both psychological violence and physical violence.

However, the psychiatrist Marie-France Hirigoyen considered that the most serious cases of harassment should be called psychological harassment, a term that has been extended in recent years to refer to this type of abusive situations and behaviors.

characteristics

Psychological harassment has a set of circumstances that can occur in different types of contexts and that are characterized by:

1. Execution of behaviors of extreme psychological violence.
2. Exercising these behaviors in a systematic and continuous way.
3. Performing abusive behaviors on another person or on a specific group of people.
4. Psychological harassment is always carried out by a specific person or group of people.
5. Abusive and psychologically violent behaviors are carried out for a prolonged period of more than six months.
6. Abusive behaviors are carried out in a specific environment (work, family, school, etc.).

Effect on the victim

Thus, psychological harassment is characterized by encompassing a series of abusive attitudes and behaviors towards another person. Such harassing behaviors are carried out with the aim of producing a direct effect on the victim. Normally, the desired effects fall on the wear and tear and psychological submission of the person.

Subtle harassment

Bullying techniques are characterized by being underground and subtle. The use of certain words, looks, insinuations, lies or defamations are the behaviors most used in this type of violence.

Impose will

The objective of the harasser is to impose his will in a continuous and progressive way. Through his conduct, he tries to distort the situation from a position of force and motivate the submission of the accused person.

Depression in the victim

Bullying plunges the victim into a depressive spiral that, in some cases, can end with self-injurious or suicidal behaviors. According to psychiatrist Marie-France Hirigoyen, extreme cases of mobbing can be interpreted as psychic murders.

At first, the harassment begins by destabilizing the victim until it progressively loses confidence in herself and in others. Thus, the objective of psychological harassment is to create a situation of total defenselessness on the harassed.

Anxiety and tension

Likewise, the psychological harassment process is characterized by, at first, causing anxiety and tension in the victim, a fact that motivates the appearance of a defensive attitude.

This attitude of the harassed person usually motivates new subtle aggressions, so the aggressor's objective is not to destroy his victim immediately, but to subdue and control him over time.

Types of psychological harassment

Psychological bullying is a situation that occurs in very different contexts. Likewise, it can be carried out by both adults and children and / or adolescents.

At present, different types of psychological harassment have been established due to the differentiating elements that this type of behavior presents in the different contexts of action.

The main types of psychological harassment are: workplace harassment, sexual harassment, school bullying, cyberbullying, cyberbullying at school, property bullying and family bullying.

Workplace Harassment

Workplace harassment, commonly known by the English term "monbing", constitutes a series of actions carried out by a harasser or several harassers towards a victim or a group of victims.

The actions of bullies are characterized by having the objective of producing fear, terror, contempt or discouragement to the other person within the workplace, thus affecting their performance and professional situation.

Workplace harassment behaviors are carried out in a totally unjustified way and do not concern work objectives or requirements, so the work name is used only to refer to the context where the abusive behavior occurs.

The main behaviors carried out in workplace harassment are:

• Yelling, bullying, or insulting the victim when she is alone.
• Assign goals or projects with unattainable deadlines.
• Selectively overloading the victim with a lot of work.
• Threaten continuously.
• Take away key areas of responsibility.
• Treat you in a discriminatory manner.
• Ignore and exclude him systematically.
• Withhold crucial information for your work.
• Defame the victim by spreading comment throughout the company.
• Do not value at all the effort made by the victim.

You may also be interested in Complaint for Workplace Harassment: When and How to do it.

sexual harassment

Sexual harassment refers to a series of intimidating or coercive attitudes and behaviors of a sexual nature, as well as the unwanted or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors.

This type of behavior is illegal in most legal contexts, and can affect people of both sexes.

However, statistically, most cases of sexual harassment are carried out on women. Likewise, the main bullies are men, who exercise this type of behavior in work, academic or even family environments.

Bullying

Bullying refers to any form of psychological, verbal or physical abuse that occurs between schoolchildren. These abusive behaviors are carried out repeatedly over a certain period of time both inside and outside of class.

In this case, the dominant type of violence is emotional and usually originates mainly in the classroom and the schoolyard.

The protagonists of this type of situation are usually boys and girls who are in the process of entering adolescence. Likewise, the victim profile is usually much more prevalent among girls than among boys.

You may be interested in The 7 Most Common Types of Bullying or 9 Serious Consequences of Bullying in Children (and Adults).

Cyber ​​bullying

Cyberbullying, also known as virtual bullying or cyberbullying, refers to that type of abusive and restrictive behavior that is carried out through the use of digital media.

The general characteristics of these behaviors are similar to those of other types of bullying. In fact, cases of workplace bullying or bullying can incorporate cyberbullying into their practice of action.

The main characteristic of cyberbullying is that it allows abusive behaviors to be carried out on the victim practically at any time and in any situation, thus increasing its severity and damaging effects for the victim.

Through the use of digital communication, the stalker is able to "attack his victim" even when he is not physically in contact with her. The main behaviors related to cyberbullying are:

• False accusation: damaging the victim's reputation on social media through manipulation.
• Posting false information about the victim on websites.
• Collection of information about the victim.
• Monitoring the victim's activities.
• Expression of insults and threats through websites.
• Grooming.

Cyber ​​bullying

Cyberbullying is the most frequent type of cyberbullying and is characterized by the use of the media to harass a person within the school environment.

This practice is carried out to a greater extent by adolescents or pre-adolescents and is usually fed back with "non-cyber bullying".

Real estate harassment

Real estate harassment consists of exercising harassment to cause self-deprivation to the enjoyment of a home or rented property. The purpose of this type of behavior is torture enrichment.

The main actions of this type of harassment are characterized by generating a hostile environment in the home, whether in the material, personal or social aspect, with the ultimate purpose of forcing the person to make a clean decision about the right that protects to occupy the house.

This type of harassment is usually associated with neighborhood harassment, although in the latter type of harassment the purpose is not to enrich torture but rather to leave the home by the victim.

Family harassment

Finally, family harassment refers to the harassing behaviors and behaviors that take place within the family environment between members of the same family.

Profiles

Profile of the harassed

In general, it is argued that there is no specific profile of victims of harassment. They can be both men and women of different ages, status and personal characteristics.

However, statistically, it is shown that women have much higher rates of bullying than men. Likewise, certain specific ages such as adolescence and pre-adolescence also seem to present higher rates of psychological harassment.

With regard to personality traits, a series of characteristics have been postulated that could be related to victims of bullying. The main ones are:

• They are able to form their own opinion without cloning it or appropriating that of others.
• They are capable of questioning opinion and judgment.
• They can present a certain social isolation.
• They may present a lack of social defense.
• They are autonomous, independent and initiative people.
• They can be overly naive and / or trusting at times.
• They may have depressive features.

Profile of the stalker

Regarding the profile of the stalker, certain characteristics have now been described. Generally speaking, narcissistic and paranoid personality traits are most strongly associated with bullies.

Likewise, the following psychological mechanisms are also usually observed in a large part of the cases:

1. Bullies perceive the victims as the support of the qualities they are trying to appropriate rather than as persons and, in some cases, they may have an inferiority complex for not having those qualities.
2. The harasser's behavior tends to be due to an attempt to cover up or camouflage his own shortcomings.
3. Bullies tend to be competitive, controlling, manipulative and seductive people.
4. Bullies often present a mental and behavioral scheme in terms of dominance-submission.

References

1. Moral harassment at work: guide to prevention and action against mobbing. Lettera Publicaciones, SL 2006.
2. Crespo Hervás, Dolores; González Lucas, Raúl; Pando González, Fuencisla (2007). Bullying: moral harassment (school in childhood and adolescence): implications for doctors. Ergón Creation, SA
3. Levinson, Edward M.; Levinson, Edward M. (2004). »Assessment of Bullying: A Review of Methods and Instruments». Journal of Counseling & Development. American Counseling Association. 82 (4): 496–503.
4. Jose Bolton; Stan Graeve (2005), No Room for Bullies: From the Classroom to Cyberspace. Boys Town Press. ISBN 978-1-889322-67-4. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
5. Rodríguez López, Teresa (2006). Moral harassment, mobbing. Theory. Editorial CEP, SL
6. Vanderbilt, Douglas; Augustyn, Marilyn (2010). »The effects of bullying». Paediatrics and Child Health. 20 (7): 315–320.
7. Witted, Kathryn Suzanne (2005), »Student Reports of Physical and Psychological Maltreatment in Schools: An Under Explored Aspect of Student Victimization in Schools», PhD dissertation, University of Tennessee, retrieved 2013-10-29