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Have a master's when everyone else in your department has only a bachelor's?  Don't get too ahead of yourself.  Your possible  over-qualification  for the job could actually hurt you. According to newswise.com, it may cause you to feel "pyschological strain." If you’re an employee who perceives you’re over-qualified for your position, chances are you’re unsatisfied with your job, uncommitted to your organization and experience psychological strain, according to a study co-authored by a faculty member from  Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) College of Business . Perceived over-qualification – the belief that one has surplus skills compared to job requirements – can have negative implications for employees and employers alike, says  Michael Harari , Ph.D., assistant professor in FAU’s  Department of Management Programs . Harari, together with fellow researchers analyzed perceived over-qualification, synthesizing 25 years of research to clar...

We've all heard the horror stories about bullies , mostly from our kids.  But adults can be big bullies, too, and what do you do when there's one in your workplace? I was bullied by a manager for several miserable months when I spoke up to his boss and asked for more work because I was bored, and was afraid I wasn't doing enough.  The fragile ego came down hard on me, and from that point on, I was picked to get the donuts for meetings, never called on in those same meetings, and was not invited to department social events. I survived but I never forgot this man.  Bullies die hard in our lives. But unfortunately, they're everywhere. So, should you take advice from someone who has been bullied? Get over it.  Move on.  Don't get mad, get even.  Not very satisfying. Now a new study is saying, forget the advice.  It generally doesn't work, according to newswise.com. The reason is simple.  People looking for a rational response to what may be ...

A new study on the brain has found exactly where inside it bullying begins. According to newswise.com, individual differences in the motivation to engage in or to avoid aggressive social interaction (bullying) are mediated by the basal forebrain, the lateral habenula circuit in the brain, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published June 30 in the journal Nature . Now, you don't need to know the exact scientific facts about this.  All you need to know is that maladaptive aggressive behavior is associated with a number of psychiatric disorders and is thought to partly result from inappropriate activation of brain reward systems in response to aggressive or violent social stimuli. Researchers have now learned that the basal forebrain, or its projections to other brain regions, directly controls the rewarding aspects of aggression. Yes, that means that bullying is seen as a rewarding activity to some people. "Our st...

Think about this.  If you saw someone in a crowd being bullied, would you try to stop it?  The startling truth is that, the more people who witness the act, the more likely it is no one will stop it.  A new study sheds light on the behavior of “bystanders” who “witness” cyberbullying. According to newswise.com, "The higher the number of 'bystanders,' the less likely intervention would occur during a cyberbullying incident." The perceived anonymity of “bystanders” also reduced the likelihood of intervention. However, the closeness that a particular “bystander” felt toward the victim was most consistently related to his or her decision to intervene. That's why cyberbullying is such a threat.  The perceived “invisibility” offered by digital communication allows for less adherence to societal standards (who hasn't blown the horn from the safety of your car at someone who turns unexpectedly without signalling, yet would never confront someone who doesn...

Who knew? Cyber-bullying is apparently less emotionally harmful than in-person bullying. I guess it makes sense.  Someone standing in front of you calling you a racist slur is a lot more alarming because he's in your face.  But I maintain that cyber-bullying is every bit as bad, despite the conclusion a new study came to. Newswise.com reports that, contrary to popular belief, cyberbullying that starts and stays online is no more emotionally harmful to youngsters than harassment that only occurs in-person and may actually be less disturbing because it's likelier to be of shorter duration and not involve significant power imbalances, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association. Although technology-only incidents were more likely to involve large numbers of witnesses, they were least likely to involve multiple perpetrators, the study found. Also, while technology-only incidents were more likely to involve strangers or anonymous perpetr...

Bullying hurts enough when it's happening.  But a new study has found that its effects last well into adulthood. According to newswise.com, bullying may have long-term health consequences. Bullied children may experience chronic, systemic inflammation that persists into adulthood, while bullies may actually reap health benefits of increasing their social status through bullying, according to researchers at Duke Medicine. How depressing is that.   “Our findings look at the biological consequences of bullying, and by studying a marker of inflammation, provide a potential mechanism for how this social interaction can affect later health functioning,” the Web site quotes William E. Copeland, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and the study’s lead author. Is it all in the head?  Researchers think not. Earlier studies have suggested that victims of childhood bullying suffer social and emotional cons...

As anyone who's been bullied can tell you, they can still see that kid's face from 5th grade and remember his name long after they've graduated from college. Now a new study finds that not just the memory -- but the damage, too -- can remain long after you never see that person again. According to Mary Bowerman at USA Today, the study " shows harmful effects can extend decades after the initial bullying. Researchers found those bullied in childhood had lower levels of education, greater physical and cognitive health problems, and poor social functioning throughout their lives, compared to those who were not bullied." For five decades, she reports,  The National Child Development Study followed almost 8,000 participants of children born in England, Scotland and Wales. "In 1958, they assessed children ages 7-11 and found 28% of the participants were occasionally bullied and 15% were frequently bullied. The researchers checked in with the participants at...

It was one of the first things I worried about when my son started middle school. Skinny and shy and quiet at the time, and a bit of a computer nerd, I feared he would be bullied. To my delight (and surprise), he became a different kid in middle school – out-going, happy, and “chatty,” as one teacher put it.  Even what some would call popular.  Popular?  My kid? He was one of the first sixth graders to have a girlfriend (but young love, being what it is, she broke up with him over the summer). Maybe I’ve been lucky because I have a boy and from what I’ve seen and heard, bullying seems to be hugely rampant among girls (although we did have the heartbreaking story of Bart Palosz the second day of school). Two 12-year-olds have been arrested for tormenting a girl who ended her life in Miami recently, and in Stamford , one has been arrested for bullying another girl into talking about committing suicide. Twelve-year-olds? What is this? Are kids...

It sounds way too simple.  But a new study says recess -- when organized right -- can reduce bullying, while making students feel safer and learn better in school, according to Emma Brown of The Washington Post. We're not talking free-for-all, but recess using coaches "who introduce and oversee games and activities that are meant to be vigorous, fun and inclusive."  She cites Playworks, a national nonprofit that runs recess programs in low-income schools, who use Americorps volunteers as the coaches. They teach kids to cheer each other on and to resolve their disputes amicably and fairly, Brown writes. Playworks coaches are on duty in nearly two dozen cities, she notes. Some pediatricians feel recess is just as important as math and language arts. Time magazine reported last year that "Pediatricians. . . support the importance of having a scheduled break in the school day." “Children need to have downtime between complex cognitive challenges,” Dr. Ro...

First, it was obesity .  Now it's bullying .  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has just announced that bullying is a public health problem.  I guess it still counts if it happens in your family , too. Sadly, the CDC has proposed this because of its link to suicide, according to Howard Mandel. Mandel writes that the suggestion has been made that "educators and health care professionals should consider broadening their focus beyond just providing services for those who are already involved in bullying or suicide-related behaviors, but also towards developing strategies to prevent bullying and suicidal behavior from happening in the first place." Makes sense to me.  I remember when I was in school back in the '60s and '70s, bullying went on and no one pretty much talked about it.  Kids being shaken down for their lunch money.  Being ridiculed because their teeth stuck out, or wore glasses (me).  I even had a friend with cerebral palsy who had a...

What seems to me an odd twist in the sad story of children bullying other children is that it lasts well into their lifetimes.  Bullies, too. According to an article in The New York Times, those who are bullied, and the ones who do the bullying, have psychiatric problems in childhood, which has been known for some time. But chilling new research shows that they also have an "elevated risk of psychiatric trouble extends into adulthood, sometimes even a decade after the intimidation has ended." Catherine Saint Louis writes that the new study is the most comprehensive ever done on this subject.  "“The experience of bullying in childhood can have profound effects on mental health in adulthood, particularly among youths involved in bullying as both a perpetuator and a victim,"  Catherine Bradshaw , an expert on bullying and a deputy director of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence at Johns Hopkins University, which was not involved in the study, told Sain...

A new study as reported by The New York Times today has found that, though "playing the games can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behaviors" the good news -- I think -- is that it's not totally clear if that is the case.  It's quite possible that those who like to play violent video games self-select themselves. In other words, as The Times noted, young people who tend towards violent tendencies just might be the ones most likely to play the bloodiest games.  A psychologist quoted in the story, however, said that the violent behavior of people like Adam Lanza, the Newtown murderer, could only partly be attributed to video games. “None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on,” Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University, told The Times. A statistic I found very revealing was that "the proliferat...