Many things of a moral and ethical nature at the trainings of the synton program (in particular, on the Mastery of Communication) are inserted in the background, not as special exercises, but in the mode of natural comments on the actions of the participants.
For example, the exercise Greeting the group is being practiced — although it is difficult to call it even an exercise. Assignment — do you want to greet the group, are there people who are interesting and nice to you? — Yes. — Do this! — People do it differently … The host makes an analysis, comments. In particular, for men, in a greeting, provocative hands are typical (“I want to take you all for myself!”) — we correct for a giving attitude. For women, in greeting, attention is characteristic not to the group, but to themselves: “That’s what I am!” — we correct, we teach in communication to see people first of all, and not ourselves.
The Plus-Help-Plus exercise is not only the effectiveness of criticism, it is also caring for a person. Exercise «Mistake!» — similarly, respect for oneself. The analysis of being late for the training is filled with ethical content… The game «Red and Black» is the theme of human cooperation instead of unfolding war and competition…
As for the special work on the formation of moral and ethical values, the Basic training of the synton program uses the idea of perception positions for this. The ability and habit to use the positions of perception is the formation of two interconnected things at the same time — rationality and ethics.
After the Basic Training, the underlying ethical beliefs and values are discussed with the participants in the topic «Ways of Human Life» and many, many smaller situations and exercises.
Working with confidence
Material from A. Lebedev
I led the synthon program, after the “blind and guide” exercise, one girl complained during the analysis that she got a partner in whom she did not feel reliable and was afraid all the time. Since the training manual was written very tightly, there was no time for discussion, I simply suggested that for comparison, walk with me and again with him. She closed her eyes, I did a couple of circles, said «So, now you!» shaking his head at the same time. The guy stood up, but, seeing my denial, sat down in surprise. I AGAIN took her hand and did a couple more circles. When the girl opened her eyes, she said that, behold, she really was much more comfortable with me than with him. Friendly neighing group. I explained that trust is in our heads, and further studies will require at least a minimum of trust in group members, just by the rules of the game. And this exercise just invites us to voluntarily trust, at least a little, a random person, to make sure that this is not scary, and that a random person will not necessarily let us down.