Training activity 4.4

Value clarification exercise: awareness and influences*

1. Goals
   

   • To increase awareness of social influences on the formation of attitudes, beliefs, values and perceptions
   • To examine personal development and growth in the context of political history, social movements and popular culture
   • To share differing values and orientations

2. Group size
   Individual
   Group of 5
   Plenary
   

3. Time required    90 minutes

4. Materials
   

   Handout 6:	Lifeline worksheet
   Flipchart	sheet with chart reproduced from Handout 6
   Flipchart	sheets and markers

5. Process
   

   1. Explain the goals of the activity and provide a brief orientation to the topic of the importance of social influences on the formation of values, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions. The following ideas can be explored:

   • People seem to attach different degrees of importance to events and eras, related to whether they experienced those times directly or think of them as part of history. Their feelings about these events are also influenced by their family’s approach, and whether they were positive or negative for them
   • One’s current personal values, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions result partly from the dominant social and economic conditions existing during the formative years in one’s development.
   • Identical events have different meanings and different consequences for different people.
   • Events, past and present, such as the Anglo-Boer war, the Great Trek, the Apartheid era, introduction of the birthcontrol pill, the advent of HIV/AIDS, play a part in shaping the views and morals of all persons in a given era.
   (10 minutes)

   2. Distribute Handout 6: Lifeline worksheet. Reproduce the chart on a flipchart sheet so that you can demonstrate where items are to be filled in. Give instructions for completing the worksheet.

      1. In the top rows marked “before birth” and “family experiences” participants fill in events that occurred before they were born that had an impact on their upbringing and attitudes eg forced removals, family lost money or gained an inheritance, a parent was disabled, family’s political involvement.
      2. In the first column marked “7-year period” participants enter the year of their birth, and the year in which they were age 7 (eg 1961- 1968). Below that, they enter the year in which they reached age 8 and the year they reached the age of 14 (eg 1969 - 1976). They continue to fill in the dates for each 7-year period.
      3. In the “Social environment” column. Participants enter events that were significant for them during the designated years eg political events, wars, technological advances, popular music, movies, books, sports events.
      4. In the “Personal life” column, participants list important events in their own lives or in the lives of persons close to them during the designated years eg births, deaths, marriages, divorces, school/college/university, job changes, crises, travel, relationships, accomplishments.
      (15 minutes)

   3. Form participants into groups of 5 people each to share the information on their Lifeline worksheets. The groups should be as varied as possible from the age point of view. They should discuss:

      • Similarities and differences in their experiences and the significance of these
      • Ways in which public events were experienced eg how the new constitution has impacted their work
      • How differences in background are seen as contributing to differences in values and perceptions
      (30 minutes)

   4. Tell them that a spokesperson from each group should report back to plenary after the group discussion on some of the experiences that came out of the small group discussions eg public events that have special meaning for participants, differences in experiences among participants in various age groups, how differences in experiences contribute to conflicts and misunderstandings, how events on the charts impact the way magistrates do their jobs. Give each group flipchart sheets and marker to record their significant points.

   5. In plenary, using their flipchart sheets, the spokesperson reports back on his or her group’s discussions.
      (30 minutes)

   6. Summarise points made during the reportbacks and make generalisations from these on the impact of social issues on the formation of personal attitudes.
      (5 minutes)