The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Reducing Bullying

            In this Education Week article, Marc Brackett and Susan Rivers (Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence) say that most anti-bullying initiatives are ineffective because they address symptoms, not the underlying causes. “Taking the law-and-order approach, characteristic of many existing programs, does not offer youths or adults the fundamental skills needed to regulate powerful emotions that, when unregulated, can lead to psychologically and physically harmful behaviors,” say Brackett and Rivers. The heart of the matter, they believe, is “a lack of emotional intelligence – a set of skills for understanding, communicating about, and regulating feelings… Neglecting the emotional education of children and adults risks leaving children at the mercy of every emotion they feel and every aggressor who comes along.”

            “Emotions matter,” they say, “and they matter a great deal in school. A child who feels anxious, jealous, hopeless, or alienated will have difficulty learning, making sound decisions, and building relationships.” Bullying leaves emotional damage all around:

-    Victims have a higher incidence of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

-    Perpetrators experience depression, anxiety, and hostility and are prone to substance abuse and antisocial behavior.

-    Bystanders can feel hopeless, insecure, and show symptoms of trauma.

-    Those who bully and are bullied have it worst of all, with a higher likelihood of being involved with criminal activity and partner abuse later in life.

“Fortunately, emotional intelligence can be taught just like math or reading,” say Brackett and Rivers. With their colleagues at Yale, they have developed the RULER program and implemented it in more than 500 schools. The program integrates emotional intelligence into daily classroom routines, showing adults and student how to:

            • Recognize emotions

            • Understand what causes them

            • Label emotions

            • Express emotions

            • Regulate emotions

RULER schools write an “emotional intelligence charter” that articulates how colleagues want to feel, what they will do to foster those feelings, and how everyone in the school can work together to prevent unwanted emotions, manage them when they occur, and handle conflict. RULER schools also develop a “mood meter” to help staff and students gauge their feelings, set goals, develop self-regulation strategies, and reach their objectives. For more information on the program, see http://ei.yale.edu/ruler/.

 

“An Emotionally Intelligent Approach to Bullying Prevention” by Marc Brackett and Susan Rivers in Education Week, Feb. 19, 2014 (Vol. 33, #21, p. 40, 32-33), www.edweek.org