Socio-Paths: Blazing a Trail Through the Communications Maze
by Nico Pemantle

Examples:

The "Presidential Election Game," in which every student is either a candidate (who must develop a specific platform and campaign budget) or a constituent (with specific self-interests based on their designated economic and social status, profession, age, physical condition, sexual orientation, etc). As constituents use their allotted contribution money and electoral votes to "buy" candidates' political platforms, the game teaches quickly and dramatically, as no books or lectures ever could, how the political system really works.

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The "Mock Small Claims Court Cases," in which the class is divided into groups of Plaintiffs, Defendants, and Jurors; the "lawyers" identify and argue the salient facts and arguments to a jury that hears and asks relevant questions to judge a complaint that can be interpreted several different ways.

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The"Conflict Exercises," each of which centers around social threesomes gone bad; the exercises encourage students to look empathetically at each character's hidden feelings, unspoken messages, and true motives, while identifying how the characters might have been able to diffuse, rather than inflame, the conflict.