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Antisocial behavior is behavior that violates social norms at some level. This may be as minor as picking one's nose or as serious as serial murder. However, in casual use, the term typically refers to relatively minor degeneracy that disturbs the peace or otherwise noticeably disrupts the social order: including being a loner, lacked of respect, vandalism, littering, cheating, stealing, complaining, lacked of sense of humour and grumpy. Bullying is the act of intentionally causing harm to others through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation. Although the UK currently has no legal definition of bullying, some US states have laws against it.
In colloquial speech, bullying often describes a form of harassment perpetrated by an abuser who possesses more physical and/or social power and dominance than the victim. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a target. The harassment can be verbal, physical and/or emotional. Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person (Besag, 1989). Behaviors may include name calling, verbal or written abuse, exclusion from activities, exclusion from social situations, physical abuse, or coercion (Carey, 2003; Whitted & Dupper, 2005). Bullies may behave this way to be perceived as popular or tough or to get attention. They may bully out of jealousy or be acting out because they themselves are bullied (Crothers & Levinson, 2004). The effects of bullying can be serious and even fatal. Mona O’Moore Ph.D of the Anti-Bullying Centre, Trinity College Dublin, said, "There is a growing body of research which indicates that individuals, whether child or adult who are persistently subjected to abusive behavior are at risk of stress related illness which can sometimes lead to suicide". |