You must have Adobe Flash 6 or greater installed to play this game. Screen reader users can find a full transcript of the game contents below.
Can you figure out what kind of pressure is going on in each scene?
For the flash game called “Bag of Tricks,” the introductory screen reads as follows: “What kind of pressure is going on in each screen? If you need help, just click on a trick to find out what it means.”
Four scenes follow, in which a peer pressure situation is presented and the user is asked to choose the form of peer pressure depicted.
Scene 1: In the background, a person on a mountain bike does a flip. Then two girls appear in the foreground, at the left and right of the screen.
Girl 1 says: You’ve gotta try it – it’s such a rush.
Girl 2 says: No thanks, I really don’t know what I’m doing.
Girl 1: You’re such a baby. Just do it.
Girl 2: Hmmmm….
A quiz screen then asks: What kind of pressure is this? The choices are (1) put downs; (2) rejection; (3) reasoning, and (4) unspoken pressure.
The correct answer for this scene is “put downs.” Put downs mean insulting or calling a person names to make them feel bad.
Scene 2: A street scene with two girls. A beer can spins between them and stops near Girl number 1 on the left.
Girl 1says: You’ll have way more fun.
Girl 2 says: I’m not sure.
Girl 1: Come on, it won’t kill you.
Girl 2: Yeah, it probably won’t kill me, but my parents might.
What kind of pressure is happening here? (1) put downs; (2) rejection; (3) reasoning; (4) unspoken pressure.
The correct answer for this scene is reasoning, which is telling a person reasons why they should try something or why it would be OK if they did.
Scene 3: A classroom scene with desks in the background an two girls in the foreground.
Girl 1 says: Let me copy, or I won’t be your friend anymore.
The screen shows a desk with papers on it. A blank paper slides over a paper with writing on it.
Girl 2 says: I want to be your friend, but not if I have to cheat.
What kind of pressure is happening here? (1) put downs; (2) rejection; (3) reasoning; (4) unspoken pressure.
The correct answer for this scene is rejection, which is threatening to end a friendship or relationship. This pressure can be hard to resist because nobody wants to lose friends.
Scene 4: A cafeteria line with four girls. Three of the girls have already chosen salads for their lunches. In a thought balloon, the fourth girl initially thinks she wants a burger and fries. The next thought balloon shows her thinking about the other three girls with their salads. The next thought balloon shows her looking perplexed, thinking about both choices, the hamburger and fries on the left and the salad on the right. In the last frame, she chooses the salad.
What kind of pressure is happening here? (1) put downs; (2) rejection; (3) reasoning; (4) unspoken pressure.
The correct answer for this scene is unspoken pressure. This is something you feel without anyone saying anything to you. You feel unspoken pressure if you want to do the same things you see others doing.
The final frame of this game reads as follows: Now that you know about the different kinds of peer pressure, the next step is learning what to do when you face it. In the “Right to Resist” section, you can see how to beat peer pressure no matter what form it takes!