dwf teaching companion for psychology courses

A Guide to Using Divided We Fall in Psychology Courses

Thank you for downloading this teaching companion for the documentary film, Divided We Fall. We are excited to offer you this resource and hope that you find it valuable and easy to use. The activities in this lesson are guidelines to inspire your

teaching; they may be applied flexibly. Visit our website http://www.dwf-film.com/ for more lesson guides, multimedia, and supplemental resources. If you have any questions about this guide, please contact Jodi Elliott at [email protected].

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Intended AudienceThe activities in this guide are designed for undergraduate Psychology courses. They may also be adapted and used as a primer on stereotyping for high school students or general audiences.

Lesson ObjectivesUpon completion of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Define and distinguish stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination.• Identify, analyze, and deconstruct social representations that stereotype social groups.• Analyze and discuss contemporary forms of racism in U.S. society.• Evaluate the impact of racism on Sikh Americans and other minority communities in historical and

contemporary U.S. society, with particular emphasis on post-September 11th society.• Develop empathy for the way stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination affect one’s self and others

(youth or general audiences)• Recognize acts of discrimination and develop strategies for combating them (youth or general audiences)

Additionally, the lesson may be used to facilitate exploration of these questions: What purpose do stereotypes serve? Do “harmless” stereotypes exist? How do stereotypes affect the stereotyped? How do stereotypes affect the person doing the stereotyping? In what ways have you experienced or participated in discriminating behaviors? How might an individual prevent discrimination? How might a group prevent discrimination?

Activity 120MIN DEFINING STEREOTYPE, PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION

1 Introduce students to the lesson: “Let’s begin by brainstorming definitions of three words: stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination. You probably have a sense of what these words mean, but let’s develop common definitions together so that we fully understand each other.”

2 Distribute Handout 1 (Stereotype–Prejudice–Discrimination Wordsplash) and instruct students to write in the box anything that comes to mind when they read each word.

3 Discuss the students’ answers. Record their answers where all can see. Decide as a group an accurate definition for each word. Students’ definitions should be close variations of the definitions provided on Handout 2 (Instructor Answer Key). Post the agreed upon definitions on a large screen or sheet of paper where all can see.

4 Show Chapter 13, the Role of Media, from the Divided We Fall DVD.

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Written by Irene Yeh and Marisa Jackson Hedges. Produced by Mindgate Media.© 2011 New Moon Productions. All rights reserved.

http://mindgatemedia.com/


Activity 260MIN GUIDED INTROSPECTION ON DISCRIMINATION

Intro This activity aims to develop students’ understanding of stereotypes by examining how students have been personally affected by them.

1 Pose these questions to the class: “What determines who is on the inside and outside of a particular group or culture? Who determines what is meant by us and them? What generalizations are made to establish these distinctions?”

3 Post these two prompts somewhere in the class where all can see: a) Write about a time when you were a target of stereotyping. b) Write about a time when you stereotyped an individual or a group. Allow 5 minutes for students to write down their answers in silence.

4 Divide the class into small groups of 3 to 4 students and ask students to share what they wrote with their group. Emphasize that each member of the group should have an opportunity to participate. Allow at least 15 minutes for discussion.

5 Reconvene the students for a large group dialogue. Allow 20 to 30 minutes for discussion. Pose the following questions: a) How did you feel about sharing your experiences with each other? b) What was easy to share? What was difficult to share? Which was more difficult to talk about, being stereotyped or stereotyping? c) What did you discover about the impact of stereotypes on each other? d) Why do you think you stereotyped others? Where did you learn these stereotypes? How did others influence you? e) How are stereotypes played out in your school or workplace? f) What can you do to create a more inclusive environment where stereotypes are less prevalent?

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Activity 360MIN STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH

1 Play the clip from Divided We Fall [scene 10, minute 30:36 to 31:19 on the DVD) where Joseph Brown, social psychologist from Stanford University, discusses how prejudice and discrimination shaped U.S. society’s responses to the events of September 11th. If the clip is not available, distribute Handout 3 to the class.

3 Guide students through a discussion of these questions:

a) Identify the stereotypes that Brown mentions in this statement. Which social groups are being targeted? What are some other stereotypes that people commonly share about these groups (physical and social characteristics)? Remember, you do not have to support or agree with these stereotypes to identify them.

b) In what ways have people expressed prejudice toward members of these social groups?

c) In what ways have people expressed discrimination toward members of these social groups?

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STEREOTYPE

PREJUDICE

DISCRIMINATION

Handout 1STEREOTYPE–PREJUDICE–DISCRIMINATION WORDSPLASH

Handout 2INSTRUCTOR ANSWER KEY

STEREOTYPEA stereotype is a generalization – positive or negative – made about a whole group of people based only on partial information or misinformation. Traits, characteristics, abilities, or expectations are assigned to the whole group, regardless of diversity within the group. Often these stereotypes are made based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and other social identities.

PREJUDICEAn attitude, which consists of three components: emotional (type and extremity), cognition (beliefs or thoughts that make up the attitude), and behavior (in this context, “a hostile or negative attitude toward people in a [social] group, based solely on their membership in that group”). Can be conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional.

DISCRIMINATIONAn unjustified negative or harmful action toward the members of a group simply because of their membership in that group.

Source: Adapted from Social Psychology, Aronson, Wilson, and Akert, 2005, Fifth Edition.

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Handout 3STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH

In the film Divided We Fall, Joseph Brown, a social psychologist from Stanford University, discussed how prejudice and discrimination shaped U.S. society’s responses to the events of September 11th:

How quickly people identified those representatives of the enemy, even if they weren’t in any way related. And people began to attack those individuals. Hate crimes, oppression, discrimination, the most horrible statements [were made against] people who were darker skinned, people wore turbans, people who resembled the Middle Eastern individuals responsible for the violence, apparently. Those people who resembled those enemies became targets, and we saw incident after incident that indicated that.

a. Identify the stereotypes that Brown mentioned in this statement. Which social groups are being targeted? What are some other stereotypes that people commonly share about these groups (physical and social characteristics)? Remember, you do not have to support or agree with these stereotypes to identify them.

b. In what ways have people expressed prejudice toward members of these social groups?

c. In what ways have people expressed discrimination toward members of these social groups?

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