This study investigated physical stereotypes of victims of
ijime (bullying in school). A group of judges were asked to identify
ijime victims from facial photographs of 49 middle school students from two classes. Their judgements were concentrated on a handful of photographs. One particular photograph was judged to be an
ijime victim by about 70% of the judges. Another group of judges rated the same set of photographs on apparent weakness. Finally, the former classmates of the photographed students were contacted by mail and asked to report who had been the actual victims of
ijime in their class. No statistically significant relationship was observed between the actual
ijime victims as reported by their former classmates and the photographs judged to be
ijime victims by the first group of judges. However, the student judged by about 70% of the first group of judges to be a victim was the one whom his former classmates most consistently reported to have been an actual victim.
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