Social Work Faculty Publications

Making Human Behavior Theory Real Through the Unreal: Fiction in the HBSE Classroom

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2015

Journal Title

Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment

ISSN

1091-1359

Volume

25

Issue

3

First Page

236

Last Page

245

DOI

10.1080/10911359.2014.1003735

Abstract

This article examines the use of fictional literature as a method for helping students apply human behavior theory in competent practice. When students and educators read a poem, short essay, or novel, it allows them the opportunity to join together as an audience as they tease out teachable lessons from the story. The authors posit that when used in human behavior and the social environment courses, fictional literature allows educators and students to experience abstract content as more concrete. Following a brief literature review, we examine one novel through the lens of three different human behavior theories.

Keywords

Classroom, fiction, HBSE, human behavior, literature, social work, theory

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