People usually relate the behavior of others to their internal dispositions or to their external situations. A dispositional attribution pertains to the personality of a certain person, whereas a situational attribution pertains to the environmental conditions around an event. For example, if a child was bullying another, it could be considered a dispositional attribution because the kid is just naturally a bully and he has a low self-esteem, or it could be a situational attribution because the kid that he is bullying is annoying and he deserved it. Another cause of bullying is to impress other people. It is easier to bully someone when you have a group of people behind you. Because of social facilitation, people tend to improve their performance and want to better themselves in the presence of others. For some people, they consider making someone else feel bad a way to better themselves. A person that is normally not a bully may tend to become one in a group situation. Although it may not be part of someone's personality to be a bully, this may change because of deindividuation. Because the rest of the group is doing something, a certain person feels more comfortable doing it as well. A kid that may not bully anyone on his own would go along with the crowd in bullying someone because of the loss of self-awareness in a group situation.
Sometimes, people can be bullied for a certain reason that is extremely unethical. This is called a prejudice or a stereotype. These two things are unjustifiable attitudes toward a group of people that in many circumstances are not at all true. For example, a person or group of people could be bullied because of their race or culture. This would be called a prejudice because it is unjustifiable to be making fun of someone because of his or her color. Oftentimes, a person is bullied because someone else needs a person to take his or her anger out on. Sometimes, a person can just be a target for someone's