Social and delay discounting in a behavioral economic analysis of bystanders’ helping cyberbullying victims: The moderating role of gender

Abstract

This study examined the relative contributions of social discounting, delay discounting, and trait motor impulsivity to bystanders' helping cyberbullying victims. College students completed online questionnaires that assessed their cyberbullying experiences as well as levels of social and delay discounting and motor impulsivity. In the social- and delay-discounting tasks, the participants made repeated choices between two hypothetical monetary rewards that assessed their decision-making tendencies toward generosity and self-control, respectively. Levels of motor impulsivity were assessed by a self-reported questionnaire. Binomial logistic regression analyses conducted separately for each gender revealed that the experience of helping victims was significantly predicted by lower delay discounting rates for females, whereas the experience of helping was significantly predicted by higher delay discounting rates and lower social discounting rates for males. Implications for decision-making processes underlying bystanders’ helping cyberbullying victims as well as potential theory-based intervention strategies are discussed.