Suspend Judgments
Participants engage in exercises designed to notice and suspend their automatic judgments about others' ideas and contributions.
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Related Exercises
Don't Think of the Color Black!
Don't Think of the Color Black! is a focus exercise that demonstrates the impossibility of suppressing a thought once it has been named. Players attempt to clear their minds of a specified image or concept -- the color black -- and immediately discover that the instruction to avoid thinking of it guarantees they will. The exercise is used to introduce discussions about attention, mental focus, and the paradoxical nature of thought suppression.
Drop Inhibitions
Drop Inhibitions is a category of applied improvisation exercises designed to reduce self-consciousness and free participants for more authentic expression. The exercises use physical activity, group play, absurdity, and supportive social norms to displace the internal critical voice that typically moderates spontaneous expression. They are used to prepare groups for creative, collaborative, or personally vulnerable work by lowering the threshold for authentic participation.
Concentration
Concentration is a category of focus-building exercises that challenge participants to maintain sustained attention amid distractions and competing demands. The exercises train participants to stay with a primary task while the environment introduces interruption, noise, or parallel activity. They are used in improv training to develop presence and in applied settings to explore how individuals and groups manage attention under pressure.
Funny You Should Say That!
Funny You Should Say That is an applied improv exercise in which participants practice building enthusiastically on unexpected or challenging statements by finding and naming a genuine connection to their own experience or contribution. Rather than redirecting or correcting an unexpected statement, the participant responds with "Funny you should say that..." and then connects the unexpected statement to something real. The exercise develops cognitive flexibility, active listening, and the capacity to find genuine relevance in what was not anticipated.
Three Changes
Three Changes is an observation exercise in which partners face each other, study their appearance, turn away, and each make three small changes. They then turn back and attempt to identify what the other altered. The exercise sharpens observational detail and teaches performers to notice the subtle specifics that bring characters and environments to life.
Camera Game
Camera Game is an observation exercise in which one player acts as a "camera," closing their eyes while a partner physically guides them through the space, briefly opening their eyes to capture mental snapshots of what they see. The exercise develops visual memory, trust, and sensory awareness. It reframes everyday environments as material worth noticing.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Suspend Judgments. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/suspend-judgments
The Improv Archive. "Suspend Judgments." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/suspend-judgments.
The Improv Archive. "Suspend Judgments." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/suspend-judgments. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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