Winning Through Deception: A Pedagogical Case Study on Using Social Deception Games to Teach Small Group Communication Theory

Social deception games are games that involve players adopting roles and teams that are not known to all players of the game. One of the components of these types of games is deceiving other players for the purpose of completing goals and tasks. The focus of this case study is to show how social deception games were used to teach aspects of small group communication (specifically the development of roles with small groups and power structures that emerge within small groups) to multiple groups of students taking a basic communication course at a large university in the United States. The framework of this case study will begin with an explanation of two social deception games (“Are You a Werewolf?” and “The Resistance”) and the previous literature related to small group communication, game-based learning, and other pedagogical frameworks. This review of literature is followed by a description of the lesson plan and course objectives that were used to frame the class time. An analysis of the reflective assignments will help describe the benefits of approaching small group communication with a ludological technique. Finally, discussion of the effectiveness of games like those in the category of social deception within the college communication curriculum is provided.