Perception
One of the aims of the Perception workshop is drawing attention to how much our perceptions differ and how common that is, then accepting different perceptions and views, and better understanding the factors that impact perceptions.
Perception exercises are particularly suited to working with young people encountering topics such as conflict for the first time. They are not demanding, but easy and even fun, and are a good option to do after more difficult workshops that result in tensions or where emotions run high.
Exercise Examples
5 Minutes of Silence
Type of exercise: Experiential exercise, work in plenary
Duration: 10–15 minutes
Exercise description
Everyone sits in a circle in silence. Their task is to listen to the sounds in the room and coming in from outside. After five minutes, the participants list the sounds they heard.
What Do You See in the Drawing?
Type of exercise: Work in plenary
Duration: 5 minutes
Materials: A copy of the drawing for each participant
Exercise description
Prepare one or more drawings with different images beforehand. Hand out copies of the drawing to the participants. Then ask them what they see.
A sample drawing for this exercise for printing on A4 paper is available here.
“Little Red Riding Hood” Story
Type of exercise: Work in plenary
Duration: 30 minutes
Materials: “Little Red Riding Hood” from the wolf’s perspective
Story of the Little Red Riding Hood from the Wolf’s Perspective
I lived in the woods. It was my home and I did my best to keep it clean and tidy. One sunny day, as I was picking up bits of food left behind by people, I heard
footsteps. Looking behind a tree, I saw a girl with a basket coming down the path. She seemed suspicious to me right away – she was dressed so strangely, all in red, with a hood on hear head, as if she wanted to disguise herself.
Although I know that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, she was in my woods and it seemed right that I should try to find out more about her. I asked her who she was, where she came from, and so on. First she rudely told me she did not talk to strangers. I, a stranger? I, who live in these woods with my whole family, a stranger?! Then she calmed down a bit and told me about her grandma. The grandma was ill and she was bringing her lunch. Actually, the girl seemed like an honest person to me and I thought it would be good to set her straight and teach her that it’s not nice to skulk around other people’s woods dressed so suspiciously.
I let her go on her way, but I hurried down a shortcut to her grandma’s house. When I got to grandma’s I explained the whole situation to her and she agreed with me that it would be good for her granddaughter to learn to be more polite to others. We agreed that she should hide under the bed until I called her.
When the girl arrived, I called from the bedroom where I was lying in bed dressed in her grandma’s clothes. Her cheeks ruddy, she came into the room and right away said something insulting about my ears. I was no stranger to being insulted, so I tried not to make a big deal out of it and simply said that I needed big ears to hear her better. What I wanted to say was that I found her likeable, but she should take more care about how she talks. But then she started making fun of my eyes. Surely you understand that my feelings about the little girl quickly shifted and from someone likeable, to me she suddenly seemed like a very unpleasant creature. But, as I was experienced in controlling my anger, I simply said that I needed my big eyes to see her better.
With her next insult, however, she really crossed the line. I’ve had some dental issues in the past and that girl really couldn’t come up with anything better to say than to remind me of my oversized teeth. I know I shouldn’t have reacted so impulsively, but I jumped from the bed and growled at her that my big teeth would come in handy when I ate her!
Let me be clear that no wolf would ever dream of eating a little girl. Everyone knows that. But to my surprise, the silly girl started running through the house screaming. I ran after her to try to calm her down. I took off grandma’s clothes. But suddenly I heard a pounding at the door and the forester came in, a man seven feet tall with an axe in his hands. When I saw him, I knew I was in big trouble. Quickly, I jumped out the window and ran away.
If only that were the end of the tale, but grandma never told anyone my side of the story. Soon rumours spread that I was a horrid creature and not to be trusted. I don’t know what happened to the girl afterwards, but I can tell you that the rest of my life was ruined.
Evaluation
Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:
What do you think about this story? What does it tell you?
Note
Before reading the story, check whether the participants know the original version of “Little Red Riding Hood”, because if most don’t, the story will not have the desired effect.
Drawing by Instruction
Type of exercise: Experiential exercise, work in plenary
Type of exercise: Individual work, plenary presentation
Duration: 15 minutes
Materials: Paper and pencils
Everyone gets a sheet of paper and pencil. The trainer gives instructions for drawing geometric shapes that will make up a concrete drawing. A house, for example. She does not mention a house to the participants, but gives the following instructions:
“(1) Draw a large square in the middle of the paper, (2) then two smaller squares inside the large one, (3) then a rectangle at the bottom of the large square, (4) and a triangle on top of the large square.”
A small exhibition is put up at the end to show all the drawings.
Drawing on Your Neighbour’s Back
Type of exercise: Experiential exercise, work in plenary
Duration: 20 minutes
Materials: Paper and pencils
Exercise description
Everyone stands in a circle and turns sideways so that they are looking at the back of the person next to them. One person draws something with their finger on the back of the person next to them (they choose what to draw and don’t tell anyone), then the person receiving the drawing draws the same thing on the back of the next person and so on. When the drawing comes full circle back to the person who started the round, everyone takes a paper and pencil and draws what they drew on the back of their neighbour. Everyone puts their drawing in front of them for a small exhibition.
Let Me Tell You a Picture
Type of exercise: Experiential exercise, work in plenary
Duration: 20–35 minutes
Materials: A picture with a lot of details
Exercise description
The participants split into three groups. A volunteer from each group leaves the room. The trainer shows the volunteers a picture with a lot of details and then they describe the picture to the next person from their group. It’s important that the rest of the group don’t hear this description. The second person describes it to the third, the third to the fourth and so on. The three last persons from the three groups to hear the description go on to describe the picture in the plenary. Then the picture is shown to everyone so they can see what they have been describing to each other.
Evaluation
Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:
What happened?
“Husband, Wife, Compote” Story
Type of exercise: Individual work, work in pairs
Duration: 35 minutes
Materials: Paper and pencils
Exercise description
The participants split into two or three groups. A volunteer from each group is taken aside and the story below is read out to them. Then they tell the story to another person from their group (without the rest hearing it), the second person tells it to a third person, and so on. The last person to hear the story is supposed to write it down and read it in plenary. When all three groups have read out the final versions of the story as they heard it, the original version is read to everyone.
Husband, Wife, Compote
You won’t believe what I heard yesterday. These people, a husband and wife, acquaintances of my parent’s godparents, they were eating apple compote after lunch. A piece of the apple got stuck in the husband’s throat. The wife slapped his back. The husband thought she wanted to fight. A neighbour walked in without knocking. She left the door open. A Roma woman walked in after her. At that point, a report about the earthquake in Izmir started on TV. The Roma woman tried to hold back the wife and the neighbour took hold of the husband. The husband dropped his wallet on the floor. After the tussle, the neighbour went back to her apartment and the Roma woman followed. The TV said more than 3000 people lost their homes and that a shipment of flour had arrived in the Izmir harbour, but no one knows how long it will have to stay there because the customs provisions have not been fully regulated. The postman showed up. The husband went to take out his wallet to pay the TV bill. The wallet was gone. They all went down to the police station. They stayed there for a long time because the Roma woman read their palms.
Evaluation
Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:
What happened?
Wall Newspaper: What Determines Perception?
Duration: 10 minutes
Who Is This?
Type of exercise: Individual work, work in pairs
Duration: 20 minutes
Materials: Small pieces of paper with the names of all participants, “hat”, paper and pencils/felt-tip pens
Exercise description
The small pieces of paper with the names of the participants are put into a “hat”. Everyone takes out a paper. If they take out their own name, they put it back and take another. Their task is to draw the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of the person whose name they picked out of the “hat”. When they are finished, they can look at what everyone else has drawn. If the drawing reminds them of someone, they can write that person’s name next to it.