Social Breaching Experiment

Naturalistic observation involves recording subjects' naturally occurring behavior while they are in their natural environment. This experiment revolves around this type of observation. Specifically, it involves the observation of the various human dyads (male-female, male-male, female-female,) social interaction, within in a public environment. Focal points of observation included conversation space (distance between individuals heads,), and body language.

The Social Penetration Theory is an explanation by two communication theorists, Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor. This theory attempts to explain how relational closeness develops. Since we all have hundreds of different relationships, with thousands of different people during our lifetime, it is an important theory to study and understand.

For my breaching social norm experiment I was determined to do something I would never do even if it was a dare, especially since my ability to interact with strangers is not the best. So, I decided to make people feel uncomfortable by holding their hand. What I would do is walk up to the person from behind and slowly make my way to their hand to make them feel even more uncomfortable. People normally hold hands with their significant other, or with someone they know like a friend or family member, so to be holding hands with a stranger is out of the ordinary and awkward.

Identify behavioral changes that result from the presence of others. Why does the presence of others produce changes in our level of performance or awareness?

My experiment consisted of me asking strangers, on the streets of Downtown Grand Rapids, for directions to Rosa Park’s Circle, and invading their personal space. To start, I would approach a stranger; tell them that I am lost, and that I am in need of directions to the Rosa Park’s Circle. As strangers began giving directions to me, I inched closer and closer to them. In addition to invading their personal space, I also held intense eye contact with them, trying my best not to blink. The whole time, although it was difficult, I kept a straight face while I performed my experiment. To make sure that I gathered enough information, and a variety of results, I tested my

Throughout the course of two weeks, I observed my fellow classmate Stacy Kydd while using empirical observation. Right off the bat, Stacy appeared to be introverted. For instance, during the bridge exercise, Stacy was one of the last people to participate. When she was left with just a few other girls, her face appeared flushed. She seemed to get embarrassed easily. This led me to believe that Stacy is not only introverted, but also timid and shy. In addition, when decided whether or not to cross she seemed apprehensive as well. Eventually when we were pushing the seats back into their original positions, she pushed mine for me. When I looked up surprised, her cheeks turned pink. When I whispered to her to say thanks, she smiled back shyly.

Secondly, being an individual member of a larger crowd has been shown to inhibit helping behavior. Levine (1999) discuses this “audience inhibition and diffusion of responsibility” (p. 1135) in his analysis of bystander nonintervention. In three separate experiments by Latane and Darley (1969) these effects were demonstrated and it was determined that “[p]eople are less likely to take a socially responsible action if other people are present than if they are alone (p.259). They further state that due to the different types of situations tested that the same process must occur in real life as well (p.

This paper will detail the account of an observation of human interaction. It will include a brief description of the location, the setting, emotional atmosphere, the demographics of the people being observed and various other pertinent details. I will focus on and describe behaviors and interactions between the participants. In the paper I will also identify the unwritten rules of social interaction as they apply to the situation. The information gathered during the observation will be used to draw conclusion about the specific social interaction and how it may relate to all social interactions in general.

I noticed a woman in the seafood department looking over the selection of first. I walked toward here and got within one foot of touching her and said, “Hello” even though she saw me approaching, she jumped back as if she was startled. I continued to try to get closer to her as I asked which fish her thought was good. She walked to the other side of the shopping cart and put it between us. While I tried to be courteous and cheerful and non-threating, I couldn’t help but feel as though this woman was a little bit scared. She didn’t know how to react to my actions of wanting closes and closer proximity for our conversation. I also tried this experiment at my apartment complex. I went outside to the courtyard this afternoon and walked by a line of par benches. An older lady, perhaps someone’s grandmother, was sitting and watching the kids play in the sand box. I purposely sat down right beside this woman, almost touching her leg with mine. She jumped up and let out a small scream. I had frightened her. I slide over and apologized for my action. I went on to comment on “What a gorgeous day it was and how cute the kids were. This was a hard experiment to perform. People naturally want to keep their “Me space.” I found it hard to violate this space on both

     We started by observing what happened when one of us went up to a stranger and sat abnormally close to them while they were studying at the library. We did this numerous times and with different genders of people to obtain different types of responses. The group and I went even further as to go up and hug random people. Needless to say that they were surprised and were left confused and uncomfortable. We did all of this while videotaping them so we could document the reactions of each.

Introduction: Psychology focuses on the human behavior and how the mind reacts to certain situations. In college, many students demonstrate many different personalities and customs because these students are coming from different states and countries. This causes many of these people to interact with others differently. Some students would rather be introvert, which is a more quiet and shy personality or the students may demonstrate a extrovert personality, which is when you are more outgoing and talkative towards others. The purpose of this observation was to observe and calculate the behavior of students walking to class. This allows us to visually see college students in a social environment and how they interact between each other. The

Finding a location that I frequently visit was a challenge. However the harder part was being a people watcher which I often don't partake in due to the fact that I have a hard time when catching a glimpse of someone watching me throwing my anxiety into hyperdrive. I don’t have time to visit many locations since all my free time is spent studying or tending to family. I decided I would spend a little extra time on campus at the centre tech location. While there I observed a wide variety of ethic backgrounds as well a wide range of ages. This was a very comforting thing to see considering I am a first time college student at a older age. I think the variety of ethic backgrounds brings a wide variety of culture to our campus. While observing those that passed me heading towards what I would assume was class very few people looked towards my direction. Most were of the younger generation busy with their mobile devices either talking, texting or had headphones on. Those that were around my generation I did manage to get a few smile greetings or the universal head nod that non-verbally could have meant what’s up, hello or in general just an acknowledgment that you’re there. I was grazed by some younger generations that appeared to give an

Audience Inhibition: The tendency for people to perform differently when in the presence of others than when alone.

Imagine walking down a crowded city block and knowing every single person that passes by. It’s hard to imagine, because the chances of knowing everyone are improbable. Each day city dwellers pass by strangers they have never met before and have the good chance of never seeing again. Each day these dwellers pass by each other without any forms of social acknowledgement interactions. Though everyone’s actions may appear the same, behavioral patterns and mindsets when interacting and being near strangers in public spaces vary depending on gender. Fear is the main contributor in behavior and what goes through the minds of people when walking in public spaces and limit the amount and the ways that interactions take place with strangers.

Students taking part in the study thought they were taking part in a marketing study for a game. When the receptionist greeted the participants she informed them she would be next door while they signed the questionnaires. The receptionist produced much noise as possible in order for the participants to hear her; she shuffled paper and slammed drawers. Out of nowhere a big collapse was heard, which resulted in her screaming asking for help. Those who were in a condition with others were less helpful than when participants were alone. Participants blamed inhibition for not helping because others would not show any action. The behaviors of others influence one’s own behavior in the process of deciding to help or not. People are more influenced by others than what they think. This can be a negative factor as society acts on others actions it can make people become passive. The presence of others tends to decrease responding to a situation. Those who are alone are rated hire to respond to a situation compared to those who are in a group (Shotland & Heinold, 1985).When other bystanders are aware of one another the bystander group results in no help at all towards the victim.