Breaking Social Norm

Of course I was freaking out, thinking to myself, “Why are people staring at me? Is this normal? Ahh! What do I do? Keep

The title of this odd social experiment is Parental Permission. The title will make more sense once you become more familiar with the project. The aim of this project was to break an everyday social norm; a social norm is a set of rules or behaviors that are considered acceptable in society or among a group. As citizens of a society we all adhere to many social norms, a very common social norm is tipping a waiter or simply wearing clothes.

I brainstormed and contemplated about what social norm I should break in order to achieve this assignment. I fathom the idea that some social norms and expectations would be quite difficult to accomplish. Surprisingly, without much thought I knew exactly what norm I wanted to break. I decided to break the well known concept that each gender must go to the restroom in their designated restroom area. I planned on starting the assignment by choosing a few public restrooms in which I would enter the men’s restroom. That particular behavior breaks a social norm because with most public restrooms; genders are separated by signs or names. Thus, there should be no reason why men or women end up going into the same restroom. I personally believe that

All six studies used self-reports. Although this methodology clearly has its shortcomings, available alternatives are not necessarily better. I wanted to examine not just one but multiple behaviors that violate social norms. In addition, I wanted to examine the relationship between social control and civil courage, which would not have been possible if the design had enacted a single uncivil/immoral behavior like Baumert et al. (2013), Chekroun and Brauer (2002). Future studies may benefit from the inclusion of behavioral measures of people's actual reactions to norm transgressions. In an earlier study (Brauer & Chekroun, 2005), the correlation between self-reported social control reactions and actual behaviors was .86 (across situations).

I experimented with this three times when I was at the Dobbs University Commons, more commonly known as the DUC cafeteria where many Emory students would eat throughout the day. The social norm in this environment was much like any other eating establishment: people sat with others that they knew close enough to open their personal space to them. If they did not see anyone that they recognized, then they tended to sit by themselves. I broke this social norm by sitting with three different types of people that I did not know, two of those strangers that I voluntarily sat with as part of my experiment and the third as an accidental occurrence where I was the victim that had my so-called personal space violated. The three individuals for my experiment

ciety has molded us to be or act a certain way, this all sdepends where we are in the world. For example in the United States it is considered completely normal for a women to show skin like their legs, arms, stomach, and chest while in some Islamic states, were it is considered a social value for women are not allowed to show any form of skin whether its legs, arms, and sometimes their face. One’s own society norms, values, and sanctions vary depending where you are geographically in the world as well as your status in your society. I witnessed many norm violations being done on a daily basis and did a couple myself. In every class of individuals one establishes their values which help create their norms while creating negative and positive

Focus wasn’t just on my manners anymore, it was on subtly diluting my personality. The sad thing is that it worked, and I spent years placing such heavy restrictions on my speech that words barely left my mouth. Determined to fit in, I kept silent when my friends walked all over me and jailed the part of me that could fire back retorts or make a joke.

One of the biggest reactions I had during that conversation was when almost everyone just stared at me with such disbelief after I had interrupted many time repeatedly. No one actually said anything but it was pretty clear what they were

In sociology, the term “norms” can be described by a set of objectives where someone does to another person in a society that is normal to do in a culture or a country. There are many variants of types of norms in different countries, depending on what you are located has different norms. Just like shaking somebody’s hand, or making eye contact while talking to another person is proper etiquette in the American culture. In other countries like Vietnam, it is disrespectful to touch someone’s shoulder while talking to them. In American culture, that is allowed because we see it as a respectful interaction. An example of violating a social norm is, how president Trump expresses himself and what he is thinking of each major topic, whether it is the election or

I was the type of person who isolated myself from all that college had to offer. I didn't make friends my first week like everyone else or didn't attend the social events planned for us. I took this project as an opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and break the social norm of opening up to random strangers in their dorms at 11 p.m. without the fear of rejection. Looking back at the positive responses I received even though I barged into my floor-mates rooms unannounced, I assume that their positivity was because we had similar struggles, and they could relate to me. If the tables turned and I was not in FSP and a minority, their reaction would have not been so receptive. If I was white the reaction of my peers would have not been the

Breaching is a type of sociological experiment where a social norm is purposefully broken and the reactions of people unaware of the experiment are noted. It can be used to discover how people react when presented with a situation to which they are not accustomed. Along with that, it is important because some reactions are more or less severe based on their experiences and how developed their generalized other is in regards to the norm being breached. Some things that are considered mores in one group may only be folkways in another. Breaching experiment are the first stepping stone to discovering why people react to different events in different ways.

When I was breaking this norm I was kind of afraid to see what people would think, but I am also a loud person so I knew it wouldn’t be that hard. The fact that I didn’t get anyone around me to say anything, I found shocking but I was as surprised of my friends reaction. My friends point out to me when I start to break this norm. I didn’t find any difficulties with this assignment only because I was able to use the area around me wisely. I did learn that talking in certain areas require you to be either quieter or

After 10 minutes into being alone, I see a guy and a girl coming to talk to me. I was actually happy with them coming to me. I’m the type of person that likes to talk, I’m just too shy to go and introduce myself to someone.

The reason why I am quiet is because that is what I am used to. In the first place I never talk in the box blind even though I can if I want to. Secondly, I hate to talk in front of a crowd of more than fifteen people. I never talk when I hunt. Lastly,

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.