The creative break-out methodology to promote prosocial behaviors in the school context

The Creative break out is a methodological approach and a practical tool that enhances good communication and improve relationships within different types of relational contexts, increasing self- awareness and prosocial attitudes. The tool has been developed and implemented within the EU-funded project MOST (Motivation to study) born thanks to the collaboration among different European organizations with the aim to contrast school-drop out increasing pupils’ motivation to study. In particular, an innovative training model for teachers has been developed in order to improve teachers’ competence and skills to strengthen pupils’ motivation to study, within an approach based on the promotion of prosocial behaviors and attitudes within the school context.The Creative break out technique is one of the methods that are part of the didactical kit for teachers developed within MOST project, but it can be applied to different relational contexts with the aim to help individuals learn how to use communication strategies and relational styles to increase their sense of belonging to that contest and to promote effective communication, prosocial behaviors and good relations.The method, whose theoretical background can be identified in the constructivism and the social cognitive psychology, is based on the assumptions that everyone perceives the reality through their personal characteristics and experiences, and that there is a mutual influence between perceptions (about ourselves, the others and the environment) and our typical relational style. Therefore, the one and only “reality” does not exist. On the contrary, there are common mechanisms that come from cognitive needs of our mind, such us functional fixedness, as well as typical relational styles that can deeply affect interpersonal relationships creating conflicts and relational difficulties.The intervention is focused on the development of self-awareness about typical characteristics of our mind when we are in relationship with someone else, providing strategies that can enable toovercome the typical traps of our mind-functions processes and to enhance social skills and prosociality. Facilitating the awareness about how we think in regard to others, how we construct judgments and stereotypes, or how we see emotionally other people, means to promote a change in typical relational styles that will affect relationships improving prosociality and wellbeing.