Session 4: 

What drives my choices?

Session overview

The fourth session examines how we can also be strongly influenced by our own basic psychological needs. This can lead us to make different choices than we would ordinarily, in order to satisfy those needs. Unfortunately this can also enable others, who identify those needs, to use the offer of satisfying them to lead us to make choices that benefit them, and in doing so, put ourselves at significant risk.   

In episode 3 of Ella’s Story, as Ella becomes embroiled in the thought of actually realising her dream, and the opportunity to join a world where she feels she might truly belong, the behaviour of her new friend Leah, seems to change, becoming more controlling, and encouraging Ella to distance herself from anyone else, while also persuading her to take increasing risks.

In this fourth session, we take a detailed look at process of making choices and in particular the components of “Choice Theory”. Choice Theory is a ‘universal system for empowering individuals and improving relationships.’ It works on on the simple premise that every individual has only the power to control themselves and limited power to control others; and aims to empower individuals to take responsibility for their choices while supporting others in taking ownership of theirs. Doing so reduces the frequency and intensity of negative behaviours, while strengthening relationships and increasing satisfaction in life. 

The basic tenet of Choice Theory is to promote self-control so that individuals can increase their ability to make and act on responsible choices. This principle is core to the Choices Programme and reflected in the style and content of the activities throughout. 

The theory also sets out seven connecting and disconnecting Relationship Habits. The connecting habits should be adopted as general principles to guide how students interact with each other, and these should be proactively maintained by the teacher/facilitator. All connecting habits were included explicitly in the Ground Rules activity introduced in Session One.

A. Key takeaways

B. Resources required

All resources can be found at the foot of this page 

❏ Teacher notes for Session Four

❏ Checklist for Session Four

❏ Slide pack for Session Four

❏ Worksheet(s) for Session Four

❏ Choice Theory explainer

C. Terminology introduced

Please note any new terminology used and share it with Lime with as part of this pilot.

Starter activity: Making choices

Students will learn about the basic psychological needs that we all have and how these drive the choices we make, focusing particularly on how they can sway snap decisions in a given moment. These needs, to survive, love and belong, have power, freedom to act and have fun can tip the balance of our choices in one direction or another and so it’s important to help young people foster an awareness of the impact of their psychological state when making important decisions.

FACILITATOR TIP:

Before you begin, recap and review ground rules as a class. 

Discuss any rules created which worked well, together with any that didn't work - do they need to change? Make amendments if needed. Ensure pupils are clear why ground rules are used and why they are so important.

EXPLAIN:

Last time we looked at influence, focusing on the people or groups that we connect with and how this can lead them to influence us … 

Sometimes the very fact that we choose to connect with certain people or groups is driven by our own basic psychological needs.  Choice Theory - a system developed by psychologist, William Glasser - suggests that there are five such needs and that these dictate our behaviour:

SHOW:

 Choice Theory states that all we do is behave, and that almost all behaviour is chosen. Everything we do is therefore our best attempt to achieve what we want, at that particular point in time, and with the information available to us. Getting what we want ultimately satisfies one or more of these five basic needs, which provides the motivation for everything we do.

Choice Theory helps to explain why we make the decisions that move us closer to certain goals and how, in the desire to satisfy our needs, these can motivate us to make positive choices as well as ones that, ordinarily, we might not even consider.

These five basic needs are…survival…love and belonging…power…freedom…and fun!


Introduce learning outcomes for today’s session.

Activity one: Ella's story - Episode three

Students should read through the third episode of the interactive story, which can be done either individually or alternatively as a whole class guided reading. As they did so, they should think about the decisions Ella is making and try to link these to her state of mind. Ella’s inner monologue provides some useful clues to the circumstances that might be driving her decisions and how these have led her to the choice she now faces. 

Students should note the events on Worksheet 4a: Ella’s Needs that they feel are important as well as their opinions as to why.

EXPLAIN:

Now we’ll read through Episode 3, examining the events in detail. 

Take care to note the decisions Ella makes and your thoughts about which of the basic needs is likely to be driving those decisions. 

We’ll talk about these later as a class.

Activity two: Understading Ella's needs

The character of Ella provides a useful proxy to explore the basic needs construct. 

The idea here is twofold; to illustrate the range of psychological needs that can impact our behaviour and actions; and to demonstrate that young people, in particular, tend to act out of a heightened need to belong to their peer group. Consequently, depending on the particular group to which young people feel an affinity, a sense of belonging can drive very different and potentially risky actions. 

The examples included are a guide but not exhaustive. However, these have been deliberately chosen to demonstrate that many young people feel a heightened need to belong.

ASK:

EXPLAIN:

Let’s walk through specific scenes and share our comments. 

Discuss for 1 minute with the person next to you and then feedback as a class. 

Come up with reasons to back up what you believe

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Using this to then manipulate Ella

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Plenary: What drives our behaviour?

Neuroscience suggests that adolescents will do whatever it takes to build meaningful connections with their peers. From an evolutionary perspective this was absolutely necessary because it aided survival because it facilitated procreation. However, the same hormones that were vital to the survival of our species now lead to potentially very different outcomes depending upon situation and context. For example, the confident ‘good’ student, who makes friends easily, forms affiliations with other like-minded ‘good students’. As a group they find connection and comfort from one another and even keep each other’s (natural) risk-taking behaviour in check because those connections are secure and so they do not need to constantly prove themselves to one another. However, the less confident student (e.g. someone who is not so good at school, a sport, or some other skill) lacks a mechanism to help them build their own self-confidence and the connections they have with others. This often leads them to look for other ways to make meaningful connections, which primes risk-taking behaviour in an attempt to get the attention of others.

ASK:

EXPLAIN:

We’ve seen today how Ella’s state of mind, and her basic psychological needs pulled her into a situation almost unwittingly. Ordinarily, this is unlikely to lead to anything too serious but over the coming weeks we will see how such a situation could escalate and why it’s therefore important to have some understanding of our own psychological states and how they can impact our decision-making.

Delivery resources

LIME Choices Y7 Session 4 Checklist (V02 02-12-21).pdf

Delivery checklist

LIME Choices Y7 Session 4 Work Sheet(s) (V02 05-12-21).pdf

Work sheet(s)

LIME Choices Y7 Session 4 DP Slides (V03 12-01-23).pdf

Slides (PDF)

LIME Choices Y7 Session 4 DP Slides (V03 12-01-23).pptx

Slides (PowerPoint)

Ella's story Episode 2 recap 

How to access Ella's story on handheld devices