by Lucy Betts, Sarah Buglass, Oonagh Steer and Loren Abell
Monday 16th November marks the start of Anti-Bullying week in the UK. The weeklong activities are co-ordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance. This year’s theme is united against bullying. As in previous years, members of NTU’s Bullying and Aggressive Behaviour research group will be encouraging as many people as possible to join in #OddSocksDay (on Monday 16th November) to celebrate what makes us all unique at the start of Anti-Bullying week.
Data from the Anti-Bullying Alliance shows that one in four 7- to 15-year-olds report being bullied a lot or always[1]. Given that bullying is such a common occurrence for many, understanding what behaviours constitute bullying is a topic that members of the Bullying and Aggressive Behaviour Research Group have been exploring over the last few years; one particular topic we have focused on is banter.
We see, hear and experience banter everywhere, from our interactions with friends and family, to our classrooms, workplaces, television screens and online platforms. There is nothing wrong with engaging in a bit of friendly banter as such, after all everyone enjoys a good joke that helps us connect with friends/colleagues. However, banter may be used to elicit harmful, bullying behaviours towards individuals and groups in both offline and online domains. To explore these aspects of banter, we have held focus groups with adolescents and university students.
This research with adolescents highlights that banter is a form of social interaction between peers and that there is a shared understanding of what is appropriate friendly banter versus offensive banter. Friendly banter was viewed as communication that was not designed to cause offence but rather between friends with no intent to harm. However, without these existing friendships and prior knowledge, adolescents were more likely to regard banter as offensive which “crossed the line” or “went too far”. There was also a recognition that banter could be used to euphemistically label behaviour that was cyberbullying.
Similar findings emerged in the university sample, with a recognition of the importance of the context of the banter and understanding the social rules of engagement. If these rules of engagement were not understood or if banter extended to a wider audience beyond friendship groups, this was seen as something that was likely to be perceived as harmful. When the intent of banter was unclear, ambiguous banter was more likely to be perceived as negative and potentially bullying.
In summary, not all banter is bad, in fact engaging in banter can be a socially rewarding experience when everyone is agreement. However, there are situations when banter can be problematic. Bantering with people who do not understand your intent and/or humour. Bantering in public and seeing your in-jokes go disastrously wrong. And of course, using banter as an excuse for malicious intent. The line between banter and bullying may not always be easy to gauge, so it is important for us to be mindful of our behaviour when engaging in banter with others.
You can find more about these research findings in:
Buglass, S. L., Abell, L., Betts, L. R., Hill, R., & Saunders, J. (in press). Banter versus bullying: A student perspective. International Journal for Bullying prevention
Steer, O., Betts, L. R., Baguley, T., & Binder, J. F. (2020). “I feel like everyone does it”- Adolescents’ perceptions and awareness of the association between humour, banter, and cyberbullying. Computers in Human Behavior, 108, 106297.
[1] Anti-Bullying Alliance (2016). Anti-bullying alliance wellbeing indicators wave one report (click here to access report).
Psychology at Nottingham Trent University 