Online peer victimization as an indicator for positive and negative feedback learning in young adults: A relationship moderated by social anxiety

Online peer victimization, more commonly known as cyberbullying, is becoming more and more commonplace, with its effects yet to be fully discovered. The current study investigated whether online peer victimization would significantly predict positive and negative feedback learning in young adults. A moderation effect of social anxiety was also investigated. Moreover, differences between subscales 'direct' and 'indirect' online peer victimization were investigated. Relations between online peer victimization and social anxiety and between social anxiety and feedback learning were found in prior research and therefore a relation between online peer victimization and feedback learning was expected. Participants were gathered from Leiden University and its surroundings and were a priori screened for Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) scores. This experiment was part of a larger study. For the present study, the Multidimensional Offline and Online Peer Victimization (MOOPV)...Show moreOnline peer victimization, more commonly known as cyberbullying, is becoming more and more commonplace, with its effects yet to be fully discovered. The current study investigated whether online peer victimization would significantly predict positive and negative feedback learning in young adults. A moderation effect of social anxiety was also investigated. Moreover, differences between subscales 'direct' and 'indirect' online peer victimization were investigated. Relations between online peer victimization and social anxiety and between social anxiety and feedback learning were found in prior research and therefore a relation between online peer victimization and feedback learning was expected. Participants were gathered from Leiden University and its surroundings and were a priori screened for Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) scores. This experiment was part of a larger study. For the present study, the Multidimensional Offline and Online Peer Victimization (MOOPV) questionnaire and the LSAS questionnaire were used. A feedback learning paradigm was conducted, measuring the tendency to either learn from positive or negative feedback. Results show no relation between online peer victimization and feedback learning. A significant interaction effect was found for 'indirect' online peer victimization and moderator social anxiety. 'Indirect' online peer victimization was only able to predict feedback learning for people with high social anxiety. The results of this study highlight the importance of educating teachers and students on the effects of 'indirect' online peer victimization. Future research should focus on identifying underlying reasons for the difference between 'direct' and 'indirect' online peer victimization. Moreover, the interaction effect should be taken into consideration in treatment of social anxiety, as online peer victimization causes socially anxious individuals to learn more from negative feedback.Show less

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Online peer victimization as an indicator for positive and negative feedback learning in young adults: A relationship moderated by social anxiety