The Crucible Socratic Seminar: Pre-Reading Resources

Essential Question: How can fear, suspicion and ignorance lead to cruelty and destruction in society?

What allows individuals to be cruel to one another?

What are some of the effects of this cruelty on the individual? On society? Have you seen examples in your own personal experience?

From where does prejudice and suspicion come? What are the effects on the individual who is experiencing prejudice? The one who is prejudice? How does prejudice add to the cruelty of society?

What role does ignorance play in cruelty, destruction and prejudice in society?

What are the causes of mass hysteria?

What is groupthink? Describe positive and negative effects of this phenomenon.

How does it impact society? The individual?

How does modern technology affect groupthink in positive and negative ways?

What are some modern day examples of a witch hunt? Why do they exist? How might one be caused?

Is human cruelty implicit or is it something that can be overcome in the individual? Provide examples to support your thinking.

What are some methods to alleviate fear and suspicion in society?

What are some methods to alleviate human cruelty in society?

Resources

ARTICLES

This is so We from Psychology Today

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200906/group-think-is-so-we

An articles about how preferences are formed by social phenomenon (ex: music downloads)

The Marathon Bombings: Lessons on Fear, Good and Bad from Psychology Today

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-risky-is-it-really/201304/the-marathon-bombings-lessons-fear-good-and-bad

An article about the positive and negative effects of fear

Discusses some ideas on how fear can be overcome in a society but will always exist

A Brief History of Group Think from Yale Alumni Magazine

https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/1947

An article describing how the term group think came to exist and some examples of it in history

Describes possible ways group think can be avoided

First part is good on its own, but it also has a collection of academics views of group think at the end of the article that could be broken into separate pieces

Bad to the Bone: Are Humans Naturally Aggressive from Psychology Today

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/busting-myths-about-human-nature/201204/bad-the-bone-are-humans-naturally-aggressive

An article analyzing whether violence has a psychological and physiological basis

The Evils of Yes Men and Group Think from CNN News

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-evils-of-yes-men-and-groupthink/

This article describes the problems caused in corporations when leadership does not seek truth over flattery

Prejudice Can Cause Depression from the Association of Psychological Science

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/prejudice-can-cause-depression-at-the-societal-interpersonal-and-intrapersonal-levels-researchers-argue.html

This article describes the link between depression and hate for self and others

It is really interesting and addresses deep-seated connections between self-loathing and prejudice of others

What Causes Prejudice Against Immigrants and How Can it be Tamed from Scientific American

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-prejudice-aga/

This article defines prejudice and its causes; it explains how foreign can equal threat, and it addresses options for how to alleviate prejudice in society

Europes Roma Face Witch Hunt After Reports of Child Snatching from Time Magazine

http://world.time.com/2013/10/23/europes-roma-face-witch-hunt-after-reports-of-child-snatching/

This article outlines a modern day witch hunt based upon race through examining the plight of the Roma in Europe (from 2013)

Peter Kings Modern Day Witch Hunt from The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031004680.html

VIDEO/MULTIMEDIA RESOURCES

To this day, for the Beautful and the Bullied a TEDTalk from Shane Koyczan (12 min.)

http://www.ted.com/talks/shane_koyczan_to_this_day_for_the_bullied_and_beautiful.html

A man talks about how he came to be a bully. It is a very personal take on the article on the effects of prejudice on the individual, as he experienced bullying growing up because of his weight.

The Wisdom of Crowds from PBS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-FonWBEb0o

This video explains how crowds can accurately estimate information to come up with correct answers whereas one individual is unlikely to be able to come to the same conclusion

The Code- The Wisdom of the Crowd from BBC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOucwX7Z1HU

This video has the same information as the one above, but has a different tone.

The Power and Danger of Online Crowds a TEDTalk from James Surowiecki (16 min.)

http://www.ted.com/talks/james_surowiecki_on_the_turning_point_for_social_media.html

This video explores the blogosphere as a form of collective intelligence and also addresses potential problems

It provides some examples about how groups think more effectively than individuals.