Overview
These SEL activities help the learners identify similar and contrasting emotions and consider the mix of emotions present in hate speech situations, as well as the possible positive actions they could take to change the situation.
Prompt Questions
These questions are provided as examples to initiate and guide discussions around the topic in this focus area.
- What emotions do people feel when they are targeted by hate or prejudice?
- How would you know people are feeling that way? (e.g. by how they react/behave, verbal cues, non verbal cues.)
- Can you recognise the way people are feeling online? If so, how? Is it easier or harder to gauge emotions online - why do you think this is?
- What emotions do you feel if you see others targeted by hate or prejudice?
Warm Up Activity
The SELMA project short definition of hate speech is:
“Any online content targeting someone based on protected characteristics with the intent or likely effect of inciting, spreading or promoting hatred or other forms of discrimination.”
Contrasting emotions
Show learners the slide showing the Mood Meter with some words removed. Ask learners to suggest where the words should go. Ask them to explain their decisions using the language of the Mood Meter measures (e.g. I put _______ in the red quadrant because it is high energy and unpleasant/I put ______ in the green quadrant because it is low energy and pleasant.)
Ask - Were there any disagreements/confusion about where to place some of the words? If so, why?
It may be useful to explain/discuss how some of the emotions in the Mood Meter are sometimes difficult to articulate and distinguish between other similar emotions.
The next activity provides an opportunity to compare and contrast these emotions to help learners recognise the similarities and differences between them.
Show learners the complete Mood Meter. In pairs/small groups, ask them to select pairs of emotions from the Mood Meter that would fit the following statements:
- Convey opposing emotions.
- The most extremely opposed.
- The most similar.
Ask learners to feed back their pairs of words and encourage them to explain why they chose them - particularly when sharing their pair of words that are the most similar.
Ask learners if they can spot any patterns in the Mood Meter with regards to opposing emotions (there is opposition vertically and diagonally).
Main Activity
The SELMA project short definition of hate speech is:
“Any online content targeting someone based on protected characteristics with the intent or likely effect of inciting, spreading or promoting hatred or other forms of discrimination.”
Measuring mixed emotions
Explain that, when we communicate online we miss non-verbal communication cues - one of the key components to effective communication. Studies suggest that, in some contexts, over 90 per cent of our understanding comes from non-verbal communication, so its importance should not be underestimated. But, when we interact through text online, cues such as facial expression, tone of voice, physical gestures, and so on are not present and therefore a person’s mood/feelings are harder to determine.
Ask - how do you think you can gauge the mood of someone online?
Guide the discussion where necessary to elicit:
- Use of emojis.
- Their words.
- The support they give to others.
- The types of interactions they have with others.
- The types of people they are connected with.
- The feedback they receive from others (which should be positive).
Using the slide, briefly explain Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions - this study.com lesson may be useful:
Plutchik considered there to be eight primary emotions - anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust and joy, and further suggested that there are opposites or “bipolar” emotions: joy/sadness, anger/fear, trust/disgust surprise/anticipation. The wheel places those emotions with the highest intensity at the centre. The stronger the intensity of the emotion, the stronger the colour with the primary emotions having the strongest colours. The basic premise of the wheel is that if left unchecked, emotions can intensify.
If you have worked with previous SELMA activities, remind children of the Mood Meter words from Theme 1. If you have not worked with SELMA before, you may wish to review the SEL component of Theme 1 before continuing with this activity.
Use the slide pack with this activity to discuss the following:
Ask - Which of the Mood Meter emotions are easiest to express online?
Learners should identify the more extreme emotions such as livid, angry, excited, blessed, miserable.
You may wish to cross out those which the learners identify and then focus on the remaining words.
Draw the group’s attention to the remaining words.
Ask - why do you think these emotions are hardest to express online?
This means that it is easiest to recognise the strongest emotions both on and offline, while the subtler, more descriptive emotions are harder to recognise.
Explain that you’re going to ask the group to gauge the mixture of emotions of the different groups they engage with online.
Use the provided blank “Mixing deck”.
Divide the group into smaller groups and allow them some time to consider what emotions would fit on each end of the blank measures provided. Invite learners to suggest what emotions they think could be put onto the measures. An emotion is required at each end of a measure, with the midpoint being “neutral” or lacking in either emotion.
(Not all the measures need to be used so, depending on your learners’ ability and time available, you may wish to use one/two measures rather than the four available. A version has also been provided with labelled measures based on the four sets of opposing emotions in Plutchik’s wheel of emotion.)
Using the scenarios provided (or ideas of your own), ask learners to draw a marker on each of the emotional measures on the mixing deck to indicate the level of emotion felt by those involved.
Ask:
- What mixture of emotions might be present in this scenario?
- Why do you think that?
- Does anyone else have a different opinion?
- What actions might individuals/the group take based on these prevailing emotions (e.g. ignore hate speech, challenge hate speech, make light of hate speech, side with the hater(s), side with the target(s), report the hater(s), block, etc.)
- Why do you think this?
- What methods could you use to “move the sliders” of the emotions? (e.g. how could you shift disgust to trust, sadness to joy, or lower the level of anger/fear?)
Tasks
Ask the learners to think about some of the groups they are part of - both online and offline. Provide another copy of the blank mixing deck worksheet and ask the learners to plot the emotions of a group they belong to online.
Encourage learners to list the possible actions/responses that members of this group might use if they encountered online hate.
Resources
Recognise that there may be a mixture of emotions present in an online group (and individual members). Identify the emotions present in an online group that young people belong to.