Breaking A Social Norm Essay

“Etiquette is all human social behavior. If you’re a hermit on a mountain, you don’t have to worry about etiquette; if somebody comes up the mountain, then you’ve got a problem…” This quote from American journalist, Judith Martin, illustrates the concept that the presence of others creates or inspires expectations. Social norms, or specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation, are practiced throughout various societies and cultures across the planet. People relay on social norms to provide order and predictability in social situations. Social roles are the part people play as members of a social group. With each social role one plays, the behavior changes to fit the expectations both you and others have of that role. It is most common for people to conform to the guidelines provided by the roles we perform. When one does not conform to the social norms, it is considered abnormal behavior. For this assignment, I faced the challenge to disregard expectations of social roles and norms in society.

In our society we have a number of society norms that we abide by. For example, there is an unwritten rule of how one should behave in an elevator. For example, it is proper to face front, stand away from strangers, and not to look at others. When a social norm is broken people may respond with alarm, humor, fear, irritation, or an array of other emotions. When you think of a norm, you are probably thinking about being normal. But in psychology terms, norm means, a standard or representative value for a group. The norm that is more common to people is a social norm. Meaning expectations about what behavior, thoughts, or feelings are appropriate within a given group within a given context.

My mother has always told me that certain things should not be done in public. Social norms are opinions and beliefs that are shared amongst a group. Throughout our lives our parents tell us things that aren’t socially acceptable, and that there are consequences for those actions. Those that don’t act in ways that are socially acceptable are isolated from society. Norms help to guide the general public by reinforcing it with a punishment in waiting.

A norm is a behavior or unspoken rule that society has deemed as normal or acceptable. Those who do not follow the norms of a group may be shunned or looked at as different. The norm I will be violating for my project is asking people that I am unfamiliar with to do something simple for me. It is not common for a stranger to ask another stranger to do something that they are seemingly able to do. This norm acts as a mechanism of social control by keeping people from talking to those who are unfamiliar. It also puts forward the idea that we should be able to do all simple tasks ourselves. To break this norm, I am going to wear tennis shoes with one of the laces untied and ask strangers passing by to tie my shoe for me.

According to this theory, people follow social norms because of their attachment to others. People care about others’ perceptions of them, so they are likely to conform to social expectations (Andersen et al., 2016). In the library, people conform to the social rule of keeping quiet because they know that others are expecting them to be. The developer of social control theory, Travis Hirschi, would probably view people’s behavior in the library as a result of their attachment to social norms. Even if people usually would say hello to each other in different settings, the expectations of people in the library stop them from participating in deviant behavior. If Hirschi were to see me performing my norm violation, he would most likely view my deviant behavior as a result of my weakened attachment to social

It is actually a great deal of fun to behave outside of the socially excepted norm when you are with people that are unwilling to follow suit. I was able to get away with my behavior because no one was willing to say anything for fear of “causing a scene.” There is great power in having no shame. I eventually explained the reason for my behavior and all is well with my new friend.  During my second trial, I made the same approach with a female subject. I treated her gesture with more contempt than in my first trial. I did not feel as embarrassed or out of place as I did with the young man. I credit this comfort level to the fact that I had practiced this behavior once before and with practice comes confidence. This particular young lady was clearly an extroverted personality type and did not take my offense as gracefully as had the young man. This may have been because my offense was bolder than the first trial. She showed her offense by looking me up and down and with one hand on her hip, stated, “Anyways…” She proceeded to ignore my presence and continued her conversation with our mutual friend. This experiment obviously had a specific angle and expected result. The typical result will be discomfort and even mild hostility. I really enjoyed watching people struggle in between responding how they “ought” to instead of how the instinctively wanted to. For me, the most valuable lesson learned is the advantage

In our society we have a number of norms that we abide by. For example, there is an unwritten rule of how one should behave in an elevator. It is “proper” to face front, stand away from strangers, and not to look at others. When a social norm is broken people may respond with alarm, humour, fear, irritation, or an array of other emotions. When you think of a norm, you are probably thinking about simply being normal. But in psychology terms, norm means a standard or representative value for a group. A social norm is some sort of an expectation that our society has that is deemed normal by that society; they tell us which behaviors, thoughts, or feelings are appropriate within a given

In my Norm Violation assignment I chose to break the common dining etiquette norm of eating with your hands. Since eating with your hands is only deviant behavior in certain dining situations, I chose to break this norm at a local sit-down restaurant in Eugene, Café Soriah. I went to the downtown restaurant with a group of friends for an afternoon meal without telling them of my Norm Violation assignment. Being the only informed one in the experiment seemed like the best way to get the most candid reactions from my peers.

When I began to drive with my mom in the car, I was forced to obey the speed limit. However, after I started to drive on my own, I consistently speeded. Due to the fear of getting a ticket, I typically only travel five miles per hour over the speed limit. Although I do not drastically speed, I become irritated when I get stuck behind a vehicle traveling at or below the speed limit. So, for one of my norm-violations, I will become one of the people who drives the speed limit, and I will determine how others react. Another norm-violation I decided to participate in is walking on the wrong side of the hallway. Even though there is no specific rule or law stating that students are required to walk on the right side of the hallway, everyone walks on the appropriate side and violators of this norm sometimes get run over. Finally, a third norm I will violate is whispering when I talk. There are situations when whispering is appropriate; however, I will be whispering at the lunch table, at home, and in everyday settings where the environment is not quiet. By performing these three norm-violations, I hope to better comprehend why norms such as these exist in society.

The social norm experiment that I performed consisted of me violating a social norm and observing people’s reactions for doing so. I did something that is deemed “not normal,” based off from societal standards. The norm I broke was an interesting one. Instead of respecting strangers’ personal space, I invaded their space. I stood in front of them as close as I could possibly get, without touching them. I choose to break this social norm because of how I am with people. Strangers or friends, it does not matter, I do not like when people stand close to me. I feel as if they are invading my personal space. When people stand too close to me, I tense up and feel very uncomfortable. In my eyes, this social norm is necessary, especially for people who are similar to me and need to have their distance from others.

In order for you to continue to stay accepted in the current social society you live in today you must follow a certain set of social norms throughout your life, most of the time you do without even realizing it. As well as be followed social norms are broken everyday all around you on all sorts of different levels some harmless and some more serious and punishable such as stealing. Since I have moved out to Santa Barbara and have been experiencing life here now in school and outside of class I have really come to love the beautiful scenic and friendly feel that is given off here with the excessive palm trees on the streets filled with young eager students adjusting to the new college feel and experience finally living away from home on

This norm acts as social control teaching us how to avoid conflict or confrontation. There are a large number of reactions that can occur from a person stepping slowly away, ignoring us completely or some who will say that we are getting too close. Everyone acts differently and some will tolerate the invasion to certain degree. Even the fact that we execute this scenario on a man or a woman will get different reactions, as will the reactions of a younger or older individual. The reactions will be varied depending on each individual’s tolerance of personal space violation.

Judee Burgoon’s expectancy violations theory is about how people deal with violations of personal space, behaviors, and communication. Burgoon first started with Edward Hall’s theory about proxemics. Proxemics is someone’s personal space. She then modified her theory to include behavior and communication violations. The three main parts of Burgoon’s theory are expectancies, violation valence, and communicator reward valence. Expectancies are what some expects to happen. There are three factors that influence expectancy. The first is the context. Context can include cultural norms and the setting of the conversation. For some cultures, it is normal to stand right next to a person when you’re talking to them. In other cultures, that is a major violation. Also, the setting of the conversation affects the expectations. If you are talking with a professor in a classroom you expect there to be plenty of space. If you are on a dinner date you probably expect the other person to be close to you. The second factor of expectancy is relationship. Your relationship with the person you are talking to affects your expectations. If you are best friends being close together may not be a violation, but if you are strangers it may be seen as a big violation. The third factor is communicator characteristics. This includes a person’s age, sex, race, physical appearance, personality, and communication style. When people are warm, inviting, and physically attractive to us we

At a very early age, children learn about social norms to help them become proper citizens in society. Examples of some social norms that students learn are: “do not yell in the library,” “do not speak unless spoken to,” “do not talk to strangers,” and “close the door when you use the restroom.” As you grow older, these rules become unspoken because everyone knows how to act like a proper individual in society. The textbook definition of a social norm is something that is a rule of behavior that society accepts. (Bicchieri) Since everyone knows these unsaid rules of society, what would happen when someone decides not to follow these rules? What would people think and react? In this paper, I discuss my violation of the social norm “don’t talk to strangers” and discuss what I learned from this experiment.

As discussed in class, non-verbal communication can send stronger relational messages in many cases than verbal messages alone. With every culture having norms relating to non-verbal communication, a lot can be lost or forgotten in translation with many being left solely up to personal interpretation. Some mild examples of non-verbal communication are, smiling or making eye contact, facing a certain way in the elevator, moving or making room when passing someone, smiling apologetically for almost bumping into someone. Why are norms important? Norms are important because it helps to keep people grounded, in such a way so as to use discipline for actions dictated by laws, and social expectancies.