, 2007). Although other non-dyadic variations certainly may exist such as ganging up on someone, in the majority of instances there is one perpetrator and one victim connected to each other by an interaction that has had a decidedly negative impact upon the victim. This is an unequal alliance in which the perpetrator is the stronger and the victim is the weaker. If there is equal strength in the pairing, whatever happens between the two is not considered bullying. The imbalance of power is key. When we see an older, bigger, stronger boy beating up and intimidating a younger, smaller, weaker boy, this is a classic case of bullying. Similarly, other dyadic bullying matchups that may be expected would be: stronger gender (boys) vs. weaker gender (girls), aggressive personality (competitive athlete) vs. passive personality (bookworm), and dominant cultural preference (straight) vs. minority cultural preference (gay).
Uncertain, Unprovoked, Repetitive Attacks.
Another general characteristic of the bullying phenomenon is the unprovoked one-sided, repetitive nature of the attacks. The perpetrator decides who, what, where, when, why, how, and how often the attacks shall proceed much as terrorists conduct war on their enemies. The unequal power equation keeps the victim at bay. The uncertainty enhances the perpetrator's control over the victim's fate and quality of life. .
Types of Bullying .
Discussion by researchers over the definition of bullying has been more nuanced and has lingered over the many different types of attacks that perpetrator unleash. Maunder, Harrop, and Tettersall (2010) parsed bullying types into three broad categories: "direct bullying", "indirect bullying", and "ambiguous bullying". They defined "direct bullying" as including: physical abuse, theft, name teasing, property damage, and intimidating language and gestures; they defined "indirect bullying" as including: exclusionary cliques, on-line bullying, distributing lies and innuendos, and troublemaking; and they defined "ambiguous bullying" as including: hostile talk, going things alone, and stealing school assignments.