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What are the Rules of the Game? Teaching Socialization with Game Changer's Lie Detector Episode
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Keywords

socialization
social norms
social sanctions
impression management

How to Cite

Judson, Hannah. 2026. “What Are the Rules of the Game? Teaching Socialization With Game Changer’s Lie Detector Episode”. TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology, May. Washington DC: American Sociological Association. https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/what-are-the-rules-of.

Abstract

This activity is designed to help students learn core sociological concepts through analysis of and application to a short game show TV episode. Students will watch and draw connections between the Lie Detector episode of the Dropout show Game Changer and the sociological concepts of socialization, social norms, social sanctions, social interactions,...

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Details

Subject Area(s):
Socialization
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100, College 200
Class Size(s):
Any

Usage Notes

This activity can be used in classes of any size; for larger classes, it may be beneficial to utilize more of the think-pair-share strategy or break students into groups to recap their responses to the worksheet, for example. This activity is best completed after students have already learned about social interactions and the social construction of...

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Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

  1. At the end of this activity, students should be able to explain the process of socialization into social norms through the application of social sanctions.
  2. At the end of this activity, students should be able to draw parallels between the process of socialization and the rules of the game in the presented episode.
  3. At the end of this activity, students should be able to describe impression management and give examples of it that they saw in the episode.

Goal Assessment(s):

  1. Students will demonstrate their concept comprehension and application skills through a provided watch-along guide, an in-class discussion, and an optional written assignment.

When using resources from TRAILS, please include a clear and legible citation.

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