Jane Horton, MD
Washington and Lee University
October 7, 2010
Presentation to VACALC
• Green Dot is built on the premise that in order to
measurably reduce the perpetration of powerbased personal violence, a cultural shift is
necessary
• In order to create a cultural shift, a critical mass
of people will need to engage in a new behavior
or set of behaviors that will make violence less
sustainable within any given community
• The “new behavior” is a green dot
• Green Dot: A single choice in one moment in time
that makes the world safer.
• Green Dot: A social movement that harnesses the
power of peer influence and individual bystander
choices to create lasting culture change resulting in
the ultimate reduction of power-based personal
violence.
Key theoretical drivers of Green Dot:
• Bystander Behavior Theory
• Diffusion of Innovation / Social Diffusion
Theory
• Social Marketing Theory
• Socio-ecological Model of peer and cultural
influence
• Diffusion of Innovation / Social Diffusion Theory
– Behavior change in a population can be initiated and
then diffused if enough natural and influential opinion
leaders within the population visibly adopt, endorse and
support an innovative behavior (Rogers, 1983)
– Popular opinion leaders (POLs) of a given population are
identified, recruited and trained
– They shift targeted attitudes and behaviors in their
community and sphere of influence
– Application has been successful across settings and
content areas
Social Marketing:
• Understand the consumer—involve key
stakeholders in design and implementation
• Design the “product” to meet consumer
needs, desires, expectations
• Market the “product” to overcome consumer
obstacles, misperceptions
• Goal—product and marketing are consistent
with community mission, vision, values
• Green Dots carry influence and create change
across all levels of the socio-ecological model.
• Regardless of the level, ultimately change is created
when an individual takes a specific action.
• The scope of the influence – from individual to
societal – is determined by the access and sphere of
influence of the individual.
• Tim, the freshmen college student makes the single
choice to write a paper on violence prevention,
increasing his knowledge and making an impact at
the individual level.
• Paul, a lawyer in town, makes the single choice to
have a conversation with his brother about the
importance of getting involved in prevention
efforts, making an impact at the relational level.
• Karen, president of the local home-owners
association, makes the single choice to organize a
community training for her neighborhood,
impacting at the community level.
• Kristen, a Hollywood producer, makes the single
choice to avoid gratuitous violence in all her
movies, making an impact at the societal level.
In order for individuals to forward prevention efforts
by engaging in a new behavior, they need to:
• Believe there is an issue
• Believe they are a necessary part of addressing
the issue
• Know what to do
• Know how to do it
• Feel their contribution is manageable
Three key tasks of Green Dot training:
• Recognize red dot behaviors
• Identify our “self-defining moments” when our
recognition of red dots meets our obstacles and
we are tempted not to act
• Minimize, eliminate or overcome these
obstacles and perform green dots
The Green Dot curriculum is comprised of
three primary components, each with an
emphasis on particular elements of the
Butterfly:
• Green Dot Persuasive Speech
• Green Dot Bystander Training
• Social Marketing Campaign
• Green Dot Persuasive Speech
– 5 minutes to 1 hour
– Introduce the basic elements of Green Dot
– Use persuasive and inspirational language
– Generate community-wide buy-in
– Butterfly: build ownership through
relationship building and connection to issue
• Social Marketing Campaign
– Increase awareness and social acceptance of core
language and principles of Green Dot
– Use of Green Dot symbols and marketing strategies
– Associate Green Dot with socially influential
individuals and groups (POLs)
– Increase social desirability of targeted bystander
behaviors
– Butterfly: maximize the influence of each Green Dot
behavior
Green Dot Bystander Training
• Interactive training, 5-7 hours
• Tailor for target audience and issue
• Equip participants with knowledge and skills to
increase proactive and reactive bystander behaviors
• Target participants that carry the most social
influence across sub-groups within the community
– Intentional relationship building and invitations
• Butterfly: build competence, knowledge and skills
to intervene
Green Dot Bystander Training
• 4 modules, each utilizing multiple learning
modalities
– Lecture
– Video clips
– Clickers, Go to your corner, Chip questions
– Small group skills practice
– Activities to develop / strengthen ownership
Green Dot Bystander Training
• Module One: “Tiny pushes…”
– An Introduction to Green Dot
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my
chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they
were great and noble. The world is moved along, not
only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the
aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
-Helen Keller
Do you know someone who has had an
act of power based personal violence
committed against them?
1. Yes
2. No
If you know someone who has had an act of
power-based personal violence committed
against them, was there ever a bystander who
could have attempted to stop the violence?
1. Yes
2. No
Have you ever directly observed a reddot moment?
1. Yes, on campus
2. Yes, off campus
3. Yes, both on and
off campus
4. no
Green Dot Bystander Training
• Module Two: “Not to be neutral…”
– Recognizing Red Dots
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the
powerful and the powerless means to side
with the powerful, not to be neutral.
-Paulo Freire
Green Dot Bystander Training
• Module Three: What we are capable of doing…”
– Bystanders: Identifying Self-defining Moments and
Overcoming Obstacles
GREEN
DOT
RECOGNIZE
SELF
DEFINING
MOMENT
Understanding Offender Behaviors
that:
1)are potential high risk
2)could be pre-cursors to high risk
Alcohol…offenders best friend
• Ability to resist is reduced
• Less likely to report
• Moves blame from offender to victim
Concerning Behaviors that could
lead to Sexual Assault
Normal Behaviors within a
Consensual Hookup
Identifies someone they think they can Identifies someone they think they can
score with
score with
Turns on the charm and tries to get
the person to like them
Turns on the charm and tries to get
the person to like them
Buys the person a few drinks
Buys the person a few drinks
Uses some cheesy line like, “your
place or mine?”
Uses some cheesy line like, “your
place or mine?”
They have sex
They have sex

Take a second look

Check in

What if it were someone I loved?
Green Dot Bystander Training
• Module Four: “Above all, try something…”
– Proactive and Reactive Green Dots
It is common sense to take a method and try
it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try
another. But above all, try something.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
•Bystander Dynamics
•Peer Influence
•Personal
•Bystander Dynamics
•Diffusion of Responsibility
•Evaluation Apprehension
•Pluralistic Ignorance
•Cause of Misfortune
•Helping Model
“To go against the
dominant thinking of
your friends, of most
of the people you see
everyday, is perhaps
the most difficult act of
heroism you can
perform.
- Theodore H. White
•Personal
•“I’m an introvert”
•“I can’t stand conflict”
•“I’m shy”
•“I hate calling attention to
myself”
•“It’s not my concern”
•“I don’t want to get involved”
Which of these bystander obstacles
might keep you from acting?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
There are other people around
who will probably act so I don’t
have to.
Don’t want to be embarrassed
No one else is doing anything
The victim looks like they “had
it coming.”
My friends would give me a
hard time if I did anything
My personality traits make it
hard (I’m shy, hate conflict,
etc.)
It’s not my concern and I don’t
want to get involved.
3 categories of
green dots:
•Direct
•Distract
•Delegate
You are at a party and you see a girl who is obviously intoxicated,
being pulled up the stairs toward the designated room. Given
your obstacles, what are you most likely to do?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Distract: Go to the guy and tell
him you have had too much to
drink and are about to puke and
that he needs to take you to the
bathroom.
Direct: Go up to the guy and ask
him what he is doing.
Direct: Go up to the girl and tell
her you want to talk to her in
private.
Delegate: Tell the girl’s friend and
suggest that she go get her
GO TO YOUR CORNER:
You notice someone slipping a drug into
someone’s drink at a bar. Given your obstacles,
what are you most likely to do?
1. Direct: You confront the person who
slipped the drug, “I saw you do that,
and I’m going to call the cops.”
2. Direct: You tell the person whose
drink was drugged.
3. Distract: You “accidently” spill the
drink.
4. Delegate: You let the bartender know
what you saw and ask him/her to do
something
Who we are is what we do…
Just impact your peers
You already do it everyday!
What we do
What we say
Interpersonal influence is THE
most significant factor
What are you
communicating?
How wonderful it is
that nobody need
wait a single
moment before
starting to improve
the world.
-Anne Frank