HTW Berlin Fachbereich 4 Cyber-Security & Business Social Engineering Winter Term 2025/26

Lab 5: The Praising Game

The praising game is behavioristic exercise with the goal of positively reinforcing praising behavior. The game may seem strange and artificial, but please try and keep to the rules. We will discuss the experiences that you had in your groups after the game.

The game

Don't we all enjoy being praised for what we do? Some people even crave praise, doing anything in the hopes of attracting attention and being praised. But how often do we ourselves praise others? We tend to negatively criticize things around us and have great difficulty praising the good qualities of others. In building rapport in a social engineering task, praise can be used to put other people at ease. In this game you will be forced to praise others, in order to continue with the game.

The game is played on two levels, the activity level and the reinforcement level. Each group should have 4-5 members, with one person playing the Reinforcer and the others participating in the activity.

The activity

Materials: 1 piece of paper (DIN A3), 1 pen or pencil (only one!!), 1 ruler, and one pair of scissors. No other tools are permitted, in particular no glue or scotch tape.

Activity: Construct a three-dimensional house using only the materials above! Your house should at least have the following properties:

• at least three walls,
• a roof,
• at least two windows, and
• at least one door.

The reinforcement

No player can do anything or make a suggestion for the activity without paying first. Each player receives five "coins" at the beginning of the game. Each suggestion or each action (for example drawing something or cutting something or putting something together) costs one coin. The coin is paid to the Reinforcer.

The game would be over fast without a house getting built if there was not a chance for the players to earn coins. For each praise that sounds like it is earnestly given (and not as a joke, such as "You are very good at using the right end of the pencil!") to another player, participants get a coin from the Reinforcer. S/He is the only one who decides what is earnest and what is not! If you have no coins left, you can't do anything except praise others.

The game is over when the house is built, or when time is up. The game lasts 60 minutes.

Submit the written PDF report documenting your experiences and reflections to the Moodle area by 22.00 the evening before our next session. Don't forget to include everyone's name and report formalities such as page numbers and a date! Everyone submits a copy of the report.