THE DOT – exercise 20 min.

Purpose: We would like the participants to get an insight into how we tacitly

communicate our identity with groups we belong to, while simultaneously rejecting groups we do not belong to.

NB! If some of the participants have read or done this exercise before, they should not participate. Their previous knowledge may prevent the intended experience of withdrawal and isolation to take place.

Tools: round stickers in different colors.

Instructions:

  1. Ask everyone in the group to close their eyes. The participants may not express themselves verbally from the time they close their eyes and until the facilitator say they may start speaking again (after they have formed groups).
    Explain that you will walk around the room and place a sticker on each participants’ forehead.
  2. Choose 1-3 persons, depending on the groups size, who get a sticker with different colours then the other people in the room. Except from these there must be at least 2 and max 5 persons in the room that have the same color. Up to 5 persons may have the same colour. One may also vary the size of the colour groups, for example two green, four red, five blue etc.
  3. Let the participants open their eyes and ask them to form groups without talking. This is the only instruction the groups get.
    (They may help each other finding their group, but they are not allowed to speak. When everyone have found their group, it is only the “chosen once” (with different colors) left that still are looking for their group).
  4. As soon as they understand that they don’t belong to a group, the facilitator says “stop” and let the participants speak again. Let everyone stay in his or her group.
    The facilitator now asks questions to find out what feelings the person or persons have that do not belong to a group, and likewise of the ones that belonged to a group.
    Point out the fact that it was never said that it was not allowed to let anyone join the group. Ask if it occurred to anyone to invite the “different” persons into their group. Or perhaps someone felt like breaking out of their own group and form a new one with the person that was “different”?