Poker Face

Social awareness exercise to explore bias & inclusion.

Poker Face

Social awareness exercise to explore bias & inclusion.

Social Awareness Exercise

This trust-building game reveals unconscious bias and social hierarchies based on non-verbal perceptions. People experience firsthand how others treat them differently based on external markers, creating powerful insights about inclusion, privilege, and social dynamics. Poker Face is a powerful social awareness exercise that demonstrates how assumptions influence behaviour whilst building empathy for marginalised experiences.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

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Randomly distribute one card from a playing deck of cards to each person. Instruct people not to look at their cards.
Ask each person to place this card on their forehead so that it faces the other people.
When ready, invite your group to mix and mingle.
As they interact, instruct everyone to engage with and treat all others based on the face value of the card on that person’s forehead.
All interaction must remain silent, ie no verbal forms of communication, but gestures are permitted.
After 1 to 2 minutes of interaction, stop the activity and remind people not to look at their cards (yet.)
Ask your group to divide and gather into one of three groups – low-value, middle-value and high-value cards.
Divided into three groups, people may then look at their cards.
Process this dynamic experience to explore topics of diversity, cultural norms, valuing others and inclusion.

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