When an unfortunate individual in a social incident is cyberbullied by the public, even empathetic people can be bystanders: The role of perception of unusual behaviors

Researchers suggest that people with a high level of empathy are more inclined to defend victims of bullying and less inclined to attack them. However, in this study, we show that when an unfortunate individual in a social incident (e.g., the victims' family members) is cyberbullied by the public, even empathetic people can turn bystanders if they perceive the unfortunate's behaviors as unusual (i.e., violating role-related norms and expected behaviors). In Study 1, 225 adults read a news coverage on netizens' questioning and condemning toward a mother, whose daughter was in coma and subsequently died due to influenza. The results showed that the positive relationship between participants' empathy and empathetic tendencies that promoted defending and opposed attacking the mother was weaker among participants who perceived the mother's behaviors as more unusual and stronger among those perceiving the mother's behaviors as less unusual. In Study 2, 166 undergraduates were instructed to focus on the various messages of the same news report. The results showed that when the participants' attention was directed to the mother's unusual behaviors, the positive effect of empathy on empathetic tendencies that promoted defending and deterred from attacking the mother was suppressed and disappeared. Potential implications are discussed.