Download this free C1–C2 English worksheet PDF for English learners and teachers. This advanced lesson examines how rule-breaking spreads through groups, why some people escalate misconduct and how social identity can influence behaviour.
The article describes an online experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Amsterdam with 750 American adults. Participants had to identify the brightest point of an animated shooting star, but they could maximise their payment by choosing a different square and effectively flouting an arbitrary rule.
Students examine how people responded after seeing another participant’s behaviour. Some gave in to temptation after witnessing rule-breaking, while a small minority went beyond the level of misconduct they had observed. Watching someone comply, by contrast, had relatively little influence.
The article also explores the role of group identity. Participants were especially likely to fall into line with rule-breakers who shared their political affiliation, which the researchers used as a measure of social closeness. Even so, roughly a quarter continued to hold firm and follow the instructions despite the financial disadvantage.
The worksheet then considers how small violations might snowball into wider non-compliance. Computer simulations were used to explore this possibility, but the article also stresses the limits of applying an artificial online experiment directly to workplace dishonesty, public disorder or real-world corruption.
Students are also encouraged to consider an important distinction: not all rule-breaking is necessarily destructive. Challenging unfair rules or conventions can sometimes be essential, so the discussion moves beyond simple ideas of obedience and disobedience.
Level: C1–C2
Date: 26 October 2026
Focus: Advanced reading comprehension, idiomatic phrases, vocabulary and discussion about misconduct, conformity, group identity and social influence
This free worksheet includes:
- An advanced three-paragraph article about the Bad Apple Effect and the spread of rule-breaking through groups
- Eight True/False questions testing detailed reading comprehension
- A Phrase Match activity with 10 advanced expressions
- A Synonym Match exercise with 10 precise vocabulary items
- A Use the New Language activity requiring students to produce their own sentences
- 16 advanced discussion questions divided between Student A and Student B
- Speaking topics including conformity, leadership, loyalty, complicity, workplace misconduct and unjust rules
- A complete answer key
- Example sentences demonstrating the target phrases in natural contexts
Useful phrases from the worksheet include take for granted, set out to, give in to, go beyond, fall into line, hold firm, draw on, snowball into, read too much into and boil down to. Advanced vocabulary includes breaches, inevitable, flouting, blatant, subsequent, roughly, escalation, premature, undermine and unsettling.
A central classroom point is that social influence is neither automatic nor simple. The worksheet encourages students to discuss why some people conform while others resist, whether loyalty can become complicity and how far an artificial experiment can tell us about real-world dishonesty.
Worksheet preview
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