Since people judge us by the way we behave, we make continuous efforts to fit in by acting in the most desirable manner. The criteria by which our behaviors, and therefore ourselves, are being judged are social norms - the implicit, explicit rules and values created by members of the group. Following these norms creates a positive self-image because we would be perceived as “normal”, “good breeding”, or “fine upbringing”. On the other hand, violating these norms may lead to harassment or social isolation. Social norms are often good but they can also be bad. When they are bad, not many people have enough courage to speak up their personal beliefs due to the need for companionship and the fear of receiving negative attention. This dilemma hints the term “normative social influence” - which means following other people do so that we can be …show more content…
One of our social norms, though not written, implies that we should chew with out mouth closed, a sign of respect to self and others. I decided to invite my best friend to our favorite restaurant and perform the experiment there. Once we got our food, I chewed with my mouth wide opened. At first, she was surprised because that was not how I usually eat. After a while, she became annoyed and repeatedly asked me to stop acting that way. She also told me how it was a shame to be seen in public with someone acting all foolish like me. I did not follow through with her request. After the meal, I continued to chew gum with my mouth opened when shopping with her. She then decided to keep a farther distance from me so that people would think we were not together. At the end of the hangout, I debriefed her by explaining that what I did was just a part of an experiment I had to do for my psychology class. She laughed and said “Thank God you’re not like that!”. Signs of relief were clearly shown on her
Deviance is any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs (Kendall, 2012). Our experiment will study the behavioral deviance of a social norm. Sociologists use symbolic interactionism to study face-to-face interactions. We are expected to follow these certain unwritten rules of behavior telling us the way that we should act in certain situations. The social norm or folkway I chose to break was that of invading an individual’s personal space. See Figure 1.0 showing the proximity generally utilized by Americans, according to Edward T.Hall. Personal space is the region surrounding a person, approximately 18 inches, which they regard as psychologically theirs. People value their personal space, and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when their personal space is encroached (Personal space, n.d.). We walked around to find the best scenario and individuals to interject our teammate in purposefully invading their comfort zone.
... day. The hardest part of the experiment was going against social psychology; it was very uncomfortable going against the social norms. We also found that it was difficult to match all of our schedules to be able to do the experiment all together when the gym was full. Overall the experiment taught us that social norms have molded society to believe that they should restrain their original thoughts and actions when in a public place. Lastly, individuals should not disturb other social norms that occur within the range of accepted actions, especially in the area of clothing.
I violated a social norm by refusing to “mirror” the nonverbal display of one of my best friends. Her name is Hailyn and we have been best friends since middle school. Because we go to the same church, I met her on Sunday and she told me that she needed to talk to me. She explained to me that she was asked out by a man that she has been dating for two weeks now. I already knew that she was dating this person and that she was interested in him. Yet, she was never in a committed relationship so she told me that she wants to go out on a few more dates with the person before deciding to actually go out with him. To violate the social norm, I responded to her without empathizing. I tried my best not to create any chameleon effect of any unconscious nodding or gasp. My responses were very simple and straight forward. When she told me that the man that she’s been dating, I literally told her, “good for you,” without any facial expressions. She seemed to be a bit disappointed by my reaction but she still went on and told me that she wants to date
Every culture or group has a certain degree of expectations (norms) for its members, which is not all equally achievable by its members, especially the innate features
Breaking those norms made me feel extremely out of place and rude. They made me feel that way because I knew what I was doing wasn't socially right and people would get mad or be rude to me with their reactions. For the most part throughout my experiment, most people reacted the way I thought they would. You could tell that most people felt awkward or uncomfortable while breaking the norm. I faced a couple of difficulties during my assignment when it came to violating the social norms.
“Social conformity has been practiced in societies around the world since ancient times,” and the reason it is so effective is that humans have an inherent need to be accepted as part of a group (Sadat). Furthermore, Hossna Sadat reports that:
There are many different things that influence our behavior from internal influences to social norms. Social norms are explicit rules that govern how we behave in our society. Social norms influence our behavior more than any of us realize, but we all notice when a norm has been broken. Breaking a social norm is not an easy task and often leads us feeling uncomfortable whether we broke the norm ourselves or witnessed someone else breaking it. Sometimes however, you just have to break a norm to see what happens our professor gave us an assignment that is really easy, but also difficult to do because we have to break a norm in from of people. We had two choices, choice number one, facing people while standing in an elevator, and the other choice
The social norm behavior violation that I engaged in was taking my dog, along with a stuffed animal dog on a walk around our neighborhood. I picked this particular social norm to violate because when walking my dog daily, many people ask to stop and pet my dog so I was curious how that would change if they saw me as well walking a stuffed animal. I also chose to violate this norm because every time I walk there are many people I encounter and I wanted to participate in something that involved many people to get a wide range of reactions.
One big implicit social norm involves personal space. In our society it is implicitly know that you give people enough space when waiting in line or when sitting next to them as not to invade their personal bubble. I thought it would be particularly interesting to see what people did the moment you crossed that “bubble line.” Periodically throughout the day I would intrude upon people’s bubbles. For varied results, this occurred in classrooms, the elevator, the lunch line, the lunch table, and at work. During classes and at lunch I would move my chair really close to that of the person next to me. While in the lunch line and in the elevator I would stand really close to the person, even if there was plenty of space to spread out. At work, again I stood really close to the person when talking to them.
Instead, I stood up and handed the desired two-liter of orange Fanta to the confused, uncomfortable woman. As a group of three teenage guys started walking down the aisle, their conversation ceased and proceeded to stare. Feeling sheepish, the one boy left to obtain something on another aisle while the other two proceeded to get some cases of cokes. The weirdness and creepiness of my actions were clearly evident on the faces of passersby because we’re instilled by our parents that you can’t just sit on the floor of a grocery store. Although I had gotten permission from the manger to perform my act of social deviance, the employees had no knowledge of my social experiment. They nervously avoided the aisle I had occupied and occasionally would walk past to see if I was still there. Throughout the experiment, I refrained from most eye contact relying on my peripheral vision or staring at people’s feet and only talked if I was spoken to. I sat and occasionally laid down in the aisle for about 40-45 minutes at
Conformity is defined as “a change in one’s behavior due to he real or imagined influence of other people.” Research has shown that impersonating a certain group or persons ideas, or conforming to their beliefs, happens so quickly and without thought that it’s mechanical and the reason that conformity is constantly present because it is habitual (Griskevicius, 2006). While assessing a situation we are uncertain about, we can find more precise information by adhering to others, eventually leading to correct decision-making. Everybody conforms (men, women, children, etc.), it’s just a part of living, but what tells us if we should conform or not? Specifically, does gender determine our level of conformity, or is it the social roles we take as individuals? This paper reviews studies on primed social roles on gender differences in conformity, performed by Cassie Ann Hull Eno, sex differences in human behavior, performed by Alice H. Eagly and company, fundamental motives that facilitate strategic conformity, performed by Vladas Griskevicus and company, along with others cited in the “resources”.
Following cultural norms is a part of our human nature. We diminish any ideas regarding breaking these norms because going against them would be socially and culturally unacceptable. By choosing the freedom our country has offered us we also accept the rules and regulations that come along with it. Including all unspoken and untaught cultural norms of our society. Going into the cultural norm project I wanted to break a cultural norm that was a contradiction within itself.
I knew she was just worried about me, but to be honest it bothered me. It sounded masochistic, but now I didn't want her to have stopped Alia from insulting me. She was my sisters, we were both near the perfect age to be 'moody teenagers' and we lived under the same roof. It was almost natural for us to yell at each other frequently.
Unfortunately, this struggle for conformity often extends beyond a personal level. It is not uncommon for society to chastise a person for being different, in one particular way or another. This chastising could range from polite disapproval, to snide comments, to harmful, oppressive tactics such as bullying and harassment. This causes more people to conform to society for the fear of being labeled a
Norms tend to guide the group. Even unknowingly, members act within the norms established. Staying within these boundaries, which become ingrained in their behavior patterns, the group becomes equipped accomplish its goals. While group norms may help a group progress towards its goal, some norms may also hinder the group from working together