HTW Berlin Fachbereich 4 Internationaler Studiengang Internationale Medieninformatik (Master) DIDACTM : The Didactics of Media Winter Term 2009/10

The praising game is behavioristic exercise with the goal of positively reinforcing praising behavior. The game may seem strange and artificial, but please try and keep to the rules. We will discuss the experiences that you had in your groups after the game.

The Game

Don't we all enjoy being praised for what we do? Some people even crave praise, doing anything in the hopes of attracting attention and being praised. But how often do we ourselves praise others? We tend to negatively criticize things around us and have great difficulty praising the good qualities of others. In this game you will be forced to praise others, in order to continue with the game.

The Activity

Materials: Paper, 2 pair of scissors, one ruler, colored pens, 1 glue stick, 1 roll of tape

Activity: Design and construct a three-dimensional city using only the materials above! Your city should at least have the following buildings and areas:

• 2 kindergartens
• 1 cemetary
• 1 prison
• 1 youth center
• 1 retirement center
• 1 swimming pool
• 1 train station
• 3 shopping centers
• 2 churches
• 1 school

The Reinforcement

No player can do anything or make a suggestion for the activity without paying first. Each player recieves five coins at the beginning of the game. Each suggestion or each action (for example drawing something or cutting something or putting something together) costs one coin. The coin is paid to the Reinforcer Team. All building materials are also with the Reinforcer Team. You must pay for the materials - each piece costs one coin. The Reinforcers can decide to rent materials instead of selling them to team members. It is up to them.

The game would be over fast without a city getting built if there was not a chance for the players to earn coins. For each praise that sounds like it is earnestly given (and not as a joke, such as "You are very good at using the right end of the pencil!") to another player, participants get a coin from the Reinforcer Team. They are the only ones who decide what is earnest and what is not. If you have no coins left, you can't do anything except praise others.