**5. The relationship between empathy and bullying**

mediation approach seeks instead to draw attention to the contribution that everyone, starting with students, can create a positive and satisfying atmosphere of cooperation for promoting general health [62]. Mediation is a concrete instrument to manage conflict and to avoid escalation. Through mediation litigants can meet themselves in front of a third person, impartial about the conflict [56]. Mediator must not judge them, interpret what they tell and give them advices: he has to welcome them, make them feel heard and lead them toward a solution. Its goal is to restore their communication and he should suggest them what to do: only litigants will be able to find the best solution possible [56]. Therefore, mediation is the best practice to face the conflict because it cares about relationship and prevents escalation to ruin it. In fact, mediation is increasingly complicated as escalation progresses. In conclusion, in mediation path, students can learn that there are many forms to react to the conflict, including violence that is certainly the least effective. Identifying the causes of the conflict, discussing them and practicing nonviolent dispute resolution methods helps students become aware of the positive aspects of the conflict, and above all of the power they

Bertoluzzo and Bouquiè [62] described in depth the concept of conflict the various ways in which one can handle it. They pointed out that the term conflict is always associated with that of resolution because the first aim is to resolve it, but they put the emphasis not on the usefulness and effectiveness of the resolution that if forced can lead to other problems but to change the prospective and to focus on the emotional aspects such as fears and suffering of the person involved in the conflict. Considering aspects such as individual sensitivity, interpersonal relationship, story, fragility can be useful for effective conflict management. One of the typical features of the conflict is the predisposition to grow. In fact, from the moment it begins, it naturally tends to convolve all energies and resources in a vortex characterized by increasing intensity, this tendency is called *escalation* [63]. It represents the process by which conflicts grow through various stages in severity over time, driven by incompatible point of views and goals; it can lead to destructive social and interpersonal dynamics. To describe this escalation mechanism, Path Pathfoort [63] used the so-called MN model. According to it, in the relationship, one of the two persons assumes superior position (M = higher) while the other that of inferiority (m = minor). This can be humiliated and offended and can accumulate a lot of tension that will push him/her to assume a superior position over the other. This mechanism creates a situation that tends to increase the level of aggression until it reaches a point of rupture and often to violent behaviors [62]. Often escalation has already reached such a level as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to restore the peaceful situation from which it is started. All conflicting dynamics, especially those affecting bullying, are fuelled by the inability of the main actors (victims, bullies, and observers) to recognize themselves inside or

In particular, in bullying events, mediation can represent an efficacy practice to face the conflict because it cares about relationship and prevents escalation to aggressive behaviors. In

conclusion, mediation can represent a tool for preventing bullying.

have in making important and new choices.

104 Socialization - A Multidimensional Perspective

outside these dynamics.

Empathy is the ability to understand and experience how another person feels [24–27, 45, 46] and bullying as a subtype of aggressive behavior in which an individual or group of individuals intentionally attacks, humiliates, and/or excludes a relatively powerless person repeatedly and over time [33–37].

During the last 30 years, it has been well established that elevated levels of empathy are associated with prosocial behavior [53]. The association between empathy and antisocial behavior has been the focus of numerous studies: empathy's affective component was measured in several ways, including story presentation, facial and gesture reactions, questionnaires. Eisenberg [59] reviewed these studies and found affective empathy was negatively associated with antisocial behavior, especially when it was detected by questionnaires. In a more recent study, Joliffe and Farrington [60] studied links between empathy, in both her affective and cognitive components and offending: they found a negative association between empathy and offending that was stronger for cognitive component. Moreover, 3 years later, this negative association between empathy and offending was confirmed, though it was stronger in studying children and adolescent, and not so obvious in studying younger children. The first study that assesses a direct link between empathy and bullying was by Endresen and Olweus (2001) who found a negative association. After that, a number of bullying intervention programs have incorporated empathy as an essential element to reduce bullying [60]. For these reasons, we have deepened the concept of bullying considering that of mediation and that of empathy strictly associated with the prosocial behavior.
