Moral disengagement and empathy in cyberbullying: how they are related in reflection activities about a serious game.

Cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon with multiple factors involved, both contextual and individual factors, such as moral disengagement and empathy. This study investigated how moral disengagement and empathy could be related, longitudinally in cyberbullying events. Specifically, two gamified tasks (one for empathy and other for moral disengagement) were analyzed. These tasks were developed attending to the specificities of the cyberbullying scenarios presented in a serious game. To accomplish this goal, data from gamified tasks (N = 208), from 4 different moments, were analyzed through multilevel linear modeling. Results suggested that there was a change in adolescents' moral disengagement over time. Participants with greater empathy revealed lower moral disengagement overall. Over time, adolescents with greater empathy revealed lower moral disengagement within their own growth rate. Overall, our results provide important information about the dynamic relationship between moral disengagement, empathy and cyberbullying, which informs future studies and interventions.

Measuring empathy online and moral disengagement in cyberbullying.

This investigation intends to explore how adolescents report empathy in online contexts and moral disengagement in cyberbullying incidents, and how these two constructs are related. To accomplish this goal, three studies were conducted considering the need to develop new instruments to uncover this new approach of measuring empathy and moral disengagement. In the first study, we adapted the Portuguese version of the Empathy Quotient-short form to online contexts, which resulted in the Empathy Quotient in Virtual Contexts (EQVC). We also developed the Process Moral Disengagement in Cyberbullying Inventory (PMDCI), in order to assess moral disengagement in these specific situations. In the second study we conducted exploratory factor analyses (N = 234) of these instruments. Finally, in the third study, we conducted confirmatory factor analyses (N = 345) of both instruments. These results showed how adolescents reported empathy in online contexts and moral disengagement in cyberbullying incidents. Specifically, empathy revealed a bi-dimensional structure including difficulty and self-efficacy in empathizing (Cronbach's α = 0.44, 0.83, respectively), whereas process moral disengagement revealed four unidimensional questionnaires including locus of behavior, agency, outcome, and recipient (Cronbach's α = 0.76, 0.65, 0.77, 0.69, respectively). Furthermore, a correlational analysis was also performed of both constructs, and we also considered the variable sex. Results showed that difficulty in empathizing was negatively associated with sex (with girls revealing more difficulty than boys) and all moral disengagement mechanisms except for behavior. Moral disengagement was positively correlated with sex, suggesting boys morally disengaged more from cyberbullying. The instruments provided new insights on how empathy and moral disengagement can be specific to online contexts and cyberbullying situations, and how they can be used in educational programs to promote empathy and gain insight on moral disengagement within this phenomenon.

Ocean acidification dampens physiological stress response to warming and contamination in a commercially-important fish (Argyrosomus regius).

Increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emissions are changing ocean temperature and carbonate chemistry (warming and acidification, respectively). Moreover, the simultaneous occurrence of highly toxic and persistent contaminants, such as methylmercury, will play a key role in further shaping the ecophysiology of marine organisms. Despite recent studies reporting mostly additive interactions between contaminant and climate change effects, the consequences of multi-stressor exposure are still largely unknown. Here we disentangled how Argyrosomus regius physiology will be affected by future stressors, by analysing organ-dependent mercury (Hg) accumulation (gills, liver and muscle) within isolated/combined warming (ΔT=4°C) and acidification (ΔpCO2=1100µatm) scenarios, as well as direct deleterious effects and phenotypic stress response over multi-stressor contexts. After 30days of exposure, although no mortalities were observed in any treatments, Hg concentration was enhanced under warming conditions, especially in the liver. On the other hand, elevated CO2 decreased Hg accumulation and consistently elicited a dampening effect on warming and contamination-elicited oxidative stress (catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S-transferase activities) and heat shock responses. Thus, potentially unpinned on CO2-promoted protein removal and ionic equilibrium between hydrogen and reactive oxygen species, we found that co-occurring acidification decreased heavy metal accumulation and contributed to physiological homeostasis. Although this indicates that fish can be physiologically capable of withstanding future ocean conditions, additional experiments are needed to fully understand the biochemical repercussions of interactive stressors (additive, synergistic or antagonistic).