Social Digital Networks as a new

scenario to perform virtual

violence and scapegoating
Dr. Aukse Petruskeviciute, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
David Garcia-Ramos Gallego, Valencia Catholic University Saint Vincent
Martyr
13-05-2021, Lithuania, Vilnius
 CONTEXT:

• THE RIGHT TO BE SAFE: EDUCATION AGAINST

VIOLENCE
• DIGITAL WORLD

DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT

CONTENTS • GOALS
• MIMETIC THEORY
• PREVENTION PROGRAMS
• TEI
• AVE / CISNEROS
• VIOLENCE IN A DIGITAL AGE

OUTCOMES
1. CONTEXT
 1.CONTEXT
The right to feel safe –
the most important right
• Some kids are than others

The most important right of

all human rights is the right
smarter
kinder to be safe:
more sensitive
more talented
more confident
• physicaly
• psychologically

Every want to be valued, accepted and safe

 1.CONTEXT

New social media landscape

Zet generation Alpha generation
1.8 billion people/
10 and 24 years
1996 & 2010
old
24% of the global More than 2.5 million are born
Population
every week

India 27% of total Japan 14% of total 96%+ smartphone By 2025 - almost 2 billion of
population population ownership Alpha generation

2.9 hours social 7+ social media (Megatrends (McCrindle M., Fell A., 2021)
media time daily accounts 2020, EY, 2020 )
2. DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
a. GOALS

Digital Mimesis (DM)

DM aims to analyze the phenomenon
New forms of violence and of violence in social networks, its roots,
identity formation in evolution, manifestations and effects
social networks. among a young audience, to propose
The encounter of homo
digitalis and homo
preventive and effective intervention
mimeticus. actions.
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
a. GOALS

1. Analyze through MT the phenomena of

violence and the creation of identities in social
networks, among youth in secondary
education.

2. Build an interdisciplinary network, national

and international, to broaden the
OBJECTIVES understanding of these phenomena.

3. Promote critical analyzes of discourse

explaining violence phenomena in the most
popular social networks among youth.

4. Design and produce training materials for

observation and prevention of violence in
social networks, orientated to teachers and
young people.
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY

René Girard’s Mimetic Theory

A brief, brief, brief introduction…
2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY

1. Mimetic Desire

Mimetic desire illustrated by Carly Osborn

Sometimes, not even the love of our life
we desire in an original way
2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY

2. Mimetic Rivalry
From resentment to
violence there is only one
step and immediately we
find rivals and victims at
hand: the escalation of
mimetic violence will take
place sooner or later in
spite of everything.
Come to blows is not only a matter of men... the
mimetic rivalry is a matter of all humankind.
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY

3. Scapegoat Mechanism

It is a universal mechanism [image

of the Codex Magliabechiano].
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY

Other elements of the #MT

Mèconnaissance
Guilty / Innocent
Random
Indifferentiation
Individual [marks] >>>
Collective [neatness]
Differences & Sacrifice
New Gods, new myths Victim’s divinization by Carly Osborn
 2.DIGITAL MIMESIS PROJECT
b. MIMETIC THEORY

The modern concern of victims

Our society is the most preoccupied with victims of any that
ever was. Even if it is insincere, a big show, the phenomenon
has no precedent. No historical period, no society we know, has
ever spoken of victims as we do. We can detect in the recent
past the beginnings of the contemporary attitude, but every
day new records are broken. We are all actors as well as
witnesses in a great anthropological first.

René Girard, I see Satan fall like lightning 2001: p. 161

How to deal with this?
a. TEI (Tutoria Entre Iguales = Peer Tutoring)
b. AVE / Cisneros (detection as prevention)
a. TEI (Tutoría Entre Iguales = Peer Tutoring)
https://www.programatei.co
m/programa-tei?lang=en

What is it
• The TEI PROGRAM, of which Andrés
González Bellido is the author, began its
development in 2002 and the
implementation process in primary and
secondary schools in 2003
• It is a coexistence program for the
prevention of violence and bullying with
the greatest implementation in Spain
and one of the first in the world.
 https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/4/580

• The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness

International Journal of
Environmental Research
and Public Health

Article
Effectiveness of the TEI Program for Bullying and
Cyberbullying Reduction and School

of the TEI Program, an intervention based on peer Climate Improvement

Rosario Ferrer-Cascales 1 , Natalia Albaladejo-Blázquez 1, * , Miriam Sánchez-SanSegundo 1 ,
Irene Portilla-Tamarit 1 , Oriol Lordan 2 and Nicolás Ruiz-Robledillo 1

tutoring, in the reduction of bullying and cyberbullying,

1 Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Health Science, University of Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain;
rosario.ferrer@ua.es (R.F.-C.); miriam.sanchez@ua.es (M.S.-S.S.); irene.portilla@ua.es (I.P.-T.);
nicolas.ruiz@ua.es (N.R.-R.)
2 Management Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08222 Terrassa, Spain; oriol.lordan@upc.edu
* Correspondence: natalia.albaladejo@ua.es; Tel.: +34-965-903-990
!"#!$%&'(!
Received: 30 December 2018; Accepted: 14 February 2019; Published: 16 February 2019 !"#$%&'

and in the improvement of school climate.

Abstract: The increase in the prevalence of bullying and cyberbullying in recent years worldwide
is undeniable. Although several intervention programs oriented towards the reduction of bullying
and cyberbullying have been developed and implemented, significant disparities have been found
regarding their efficacy. In most of the cases, the lack of the implementation of interventions involving
all of the school community could be on the basis of this limited efficacy. The present study aimed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the TEI Program, an intervention based on peer tutoring, in the reduction

• The design of the study was quasi-experimental, in

of bullying and cyberbullying, and in the improvement of school climate. The design of the study was
quasi-experimental, in which 2057 Spanish students (aged 11 to 16 years) participated from 22 schools,
and were randomly assigned to the experimental group (10 schools, 987 students) or the control group
(12 schools, 1070 students). The obtained results showed a significant reduction in bullying behavior,
peer victimization, fighting, cyberbullying and cybervictimization in the experimental group after
the intervention implementation. Similarly, a significant improvement in factors of school climate

which 2057 Spanish students (aged 11 to 16 years)

was found only in this group. The obtained results demonstrated that the TEI program is effective in
reducing bully and cyberbully behavior, and at the same time, improving the school climate.

Keywords: bullying; cyberbullying; school climate; intervention program

participated from 22 schools, and were randomly

1. Introduction
Bullying and cyberbullying, as phenomena increasing in prevalence, are public health problems
which entail severely negative consequences for health and quality of life, both for victims and
perpetrators [1]. Researchers have found that between 40% and 55% of students in school are involved
in some way of victimization (as victims, aggressors or observers), between 20% and 50% report
experiences of verbal harassment and between 2% to 7% of students have been victims of a severe

assigned to the experimental group (10 schools, 987

form of physical aggression [1,2]. Prevalence rates of bullying behaviors found in different countries
vary widely depending on the ages of samples and the period of time over which information is
requested [3]. For example, several studies have demonstrated that in Chinese societies school bullying
behaviors varies widely according to samples of adolescents aged 10 to 18, which rank from 8% to
52% [4]. For cyberbullying, there are also variations in prevalence rates of self-reported victimization
with rates of 55% in North America and Asia, 25% in Canada and 30% in Europe [3,5,6].

students) or the control group (12 schools, 1070

The global increase in prevalence in bullying and cyberbullying has supposed the basis
of the development of a series of anti-bullying interventions, although some of them possess

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 580; doi:10.3390/ijerph16040580 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

students).

Ferrer-Cascales, Rosario; Albaladejo-Blázquez, Natalia; Sánchez-SanSegundo, Miriam; Portilla-Tamarit, Irene;

Lordan, Oriol; Ruiz-Robledillo, Nicolás. 2019. "Effectiveness of the TEI Program for Bullying and Cyberbullying
Reduction and School Climate Improvement" Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16, no. 4: 580.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040580
 https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/4/580

• The obtained results showed a significant reduction in

International Journal of
Environmental Research
and Public Health

Article
Effectiveness of the TEI Program for Bullying and
Cyberbullying Reduction and School

bullying behavior, peer victimization, fighting, Climate Improvement

Rosario Ferrer-Cascales 1 , Natalia Albaladejo-Blázquez 1, * , Miriam Sánchez-SanSegundo 1 ,
Irene Portilla-Tamarit 1 , Oriol Lordan 2 and Nicolás Ruiz-Robledillo 1

cyberbullying and cybervictimization in the

1 Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Health Science, University of Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain;
rosario.ferrer@ua.es (R.F.-C.); miriam.sanchez@ua.es (M.S.-S.S.); irene.portilla@ua.es (I.P.-T.);
nicolas.ruiz@ua.es (N.R.-R.)
2 Management Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08222 Terrassa, Spain; oriol.lordan@upc.edu
* Correspondence: natalia.albaladejo@ua.es; Tel.: +34-965-903-990
!"#!$%&'(!
Received: 30 December 2018; Accepted: 14 February 2019; Published: 16 February 2019 !"#$%&'

experimental group after the intervention

Abstract: The increase in the prevalence of bullying and cyberbullying in recent years worldwide
is undeniable. Although several intervention programs oriented towards the reduction of bullying
and cyberbullying have been developed and implemented, significant disparities have been found
regarding their efficacy. In most of the cases, the lack of the implementation of interventions involving
all of the school community could be on the basis of this limited efficacy. The present study aimed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the TEI Program, an intervention based on peer tutoring, in the reduction

implementation.
of bullying and cyberbullying, and in the improvement of school climate. The design of the study was
quasi-experimental, in which 2057 Spanish students (aged 11 to 16 years) participated from 22 schools,
and were randomly assigned to the experimental group (10 schools, 987 students) or the control group
(12 schools, 1070 students). The obtained results showed a significant reduction in bullying behavior,
peer victimization, fighting, cyberbullying and cybervictimization in the experimental group after
the intervention implementation. Similarly, a significant improvement in factors of school climate

• Similarly, a significant improvement in factors of school

was found only in this group. The obtained results demonstrated that the TEI program is effective in
reducing bully and cyberbully behavior, and at the same time, improving the school climate.

Keywords: bullying; cyberbullying; school climate; intervention program

climate was found only in this group. The obtained

1. Introduction
Bullying and cyberbullying, as phenomena increasing in prevalence, are public health problems
which entail severely negative consequences for health and quality of life, both for victims and
perpetrators [1]. Researchers have found that between 40% and 55% of students in school are involved
in some way of victimization (as victims, aggressors or observers), between 20% and 50% report
experiences of verbal harassment and between 2% to 7% of students have been victims of a severe

results demonstrated that the TEI program is effective

form of physical aggression [1,2]. Prevalence rates of bullying behaviors found in different countries
vary widely depending on the ages of samples and the period of time over which information is
requested [3]. For example, several studies have demonstrated that in Chinese societies school bullying
behaviors varies widely according to samples of adolescents aged 10 to 18, which rank from 8% to
52% [4]. For cyberbullying, there are also variations in prevalence rates of self-reported victimization
with rates of 55% in North America and Asia, 25% in Canada and 30% in Europe [3,5,6].

in reducing bully and cyberbully behavior, and at the

The global increase in prevalence in bullying and cyberbullying has supposed the basis
of the development of a series of anti-bullying interventions, although some of them possess

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 580; doi:10.3390/ijerph16040580 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

same time, improving the school climate.

Ferrer-Cascales, Rosario; Albaladejo-Blázquez, Natalia; Sánchez-SanSegundo, Miriam; Portilla-Tamarit, Irene;

Lordan, Oriol; Ruiz-Robledillo, Nicolás. 2019. "Effectiveness of the TEI Program for Bullying and Cyberbullying
Reduction and School Climate Improvement" Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16, no. 4: 580.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040580
Digital Violence
b. AVE / Cisneros Program
What is bullying?
Deliberate and continuous verbal and
modal abuse that a child receives from
another or others, who behave cruelly
towards him/her with the purpose of
subduing, frightening, frightening,
threatening him/her, and that violates the
child's dignity.
• Existence of one or more bullying behaviors
• Repeated or frequent mistreatment that the child
systematically expects
• Continuous process over time

Conducts + Frequency + Action

Psychological harm is not a criterion for diagnosis, but an

essential complement.
Violence in a digital world
Evolution in the modalities of bullying and school violence

HARASSMENT
INTIMIDATION
THREATS
COERCION
EXCLUSION
BLOCKING
MANIPULATION
AGGRESSIONS

Source: Cisneros Barometer

Minors' mobile users in the last three months. Year 2019.
Percentage of population between 10 and 15 years old

Computer users Internet users Smartphone disposal

By gender
male
female
By age

años = years

Source: Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE)

Being young in Europe today - digital world
Evolution in the modalities of bullying and school violence

HARASSMENT
INTIMIDATION
THREATS
COERCION
EXCLUSION
BLOCKING
MANIPULATION
AGGRESSIONS

Source: Cisneros Barometer

Devices are objects of desire: you have
to have it, the newest, the biggest, the
best (always in a competition basis)

Privacy = Intimacy à Extimacy.

(There is no more the old-privacy)

3. Outcomes
 1. Analyze through MT the phenomena of
violence and the creation of identities in social
networks, among youth in secondary
education.

2. Build an interdisciplinary network, national

and international, to broaden the
OBJECTIVES understanding of these phenomena.

3. Promote critical analyzes of discourse

explaining violence phenomena in the most
popular social networks among youth.

4. Design and produce training materials for

observation and prevention of violence in
social networks, orientated to teachers and
young people.
Thank you so much for your attention!
david.garcia@ucv.es
aukse.petruskeviciute@vdu.lt