Typically, bully behaviour is constituted by the following three factors:
1. A power imbalance: A bully is often bigger than their victim (physically, mentally, politically or financially, or in the case of children, in age), or more popular, or in some other position of power (such as a manager or boss).
This position of power enables the bully to control or manipulate the victim in a way that makes it difficult for the victim to protect themselves. Bullying is essentially an abuse of this power.
2. Intention: A bully generally engages in bullying behaviour on purpose. That is, their behaviour is not accidental, but rather, they are trying to cause emotional or physical injury to the person they are bullying. This does not mean that a bully is always a bad person.
Most commonly, bullying behaviour is learnt by experience, and the bully will often have a traumatic background themselves. In other cases, and particularly in the case of children, bullying behaviour may derive from lack of confidence, loneliness, a drive for attention, or other behavioural or learning difficulties.
3. Recurrence: A bully typically targets his/her victim over and over again, a situation that slowly whittles away at the victim’s self-confidence.