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Social norms psychology essay
Breaking societal norms
Breaking societal norms
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When I was reading the assignment, the first thing I thought I would try as a way of breaking the norms is pretty simple but for some reason I knew it will be a very good example because I work at a warehouse, it have all kind of people from different cultures so I decided, it will be a perfect place to try my experiment, I decided to simply say hello to everyone and shake their hand and ask them about their day during the break time, before doing it I tried to imagine the reaction that I will get simply by thinking about what would I do if someone did the same thing to me . We may be very different from each other as an individual, different culture, religion and beliefs but despite all of this difference, we all go by almost the …show more content…
Anything different will be considered as a violation of our social norms, it’s like there is a script for our social norm that determine how a certain social interaction should proceed. For example, the standard restaurant includes waiting to be seated, and the server will explain your food choices, and you are supposed to ask for a certain food rather than getting it yourself, and certain ways for eating your food and paying your bill. There is no doubt that those social norms are a way to achieve a social purpose, such as collaboration, punishment, or justice, but it’s not just because of this. Many social norms are not really determined and the objectives they may serve sometime is unknown.
This norm also can result to some harmful practices, and the reason that they still get practice is that individuals and families will choose to earn social status and respect even if they have to follow those harmful norms. People usually do not diverge from these social norms for the risk of being excluded and rejected. all social behavior is related to things like sharing, cooperation, and competition but they definitely differ in different society and culture. The reaction we get when we violate those norms may depend on who violated it and also change depend on the contexts, both of participants and observers and the location. So, the same rule may not apply, or be implemented as strongly as
In history, social norms have not been fully established.
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
Sexual violence is sometimes thought of as a natural part of life. That men have an inherit biological trait that predisposes them to violence and that it cannot be helped. The famous quote is “boys will be boys” meaning that men have no control over their actions and that if they sexual assault someone, that it is just human nature. This is in fact false. There is nothing in the biological makeup of males that can explain away sexual violence. It is a learned cultural behavior generated by gender norms and the medias perpetuation of sexual violence.
While breaking the three social norms there was one feeling that I felt was mutual throughout. Breaking those norms made me felt 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 I was breaking the norm. I faced a couple of difficulties through my assignment when it came to violating the social norms. While trying to break the movie theater norm, it was difficult for me to pick movies with different variety of people and movies that were a little older so less people would be attending them. I also had a little trouble when it came to answering the phone and waiting for the other person to talk first. The problem with this one was that I had to wait for people to actually call me which doesn 't happen that often in this day and age anymore. To conclude, these social norms forced people to be in uncomfortable situations and make a decision as to how they would react to
Social norms are the implicit or explicit rules a group has for the acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs of its members. Implicit social norms are introduced to us at a very early age, and exert a powerful influence on our behavior into adulthood. Our culture is ruled by social norms. In many situations, people 's perception of these norms have a big influence on their behavior. Implicit social norms are not openly stated, but found out when disobeyed. Implicit rules are rules we conform to as a society, and generally these rules make living together more comfortable. Social norms are important because they define the nature of a group, clarify relationships among members, and express values. They are also important because they create cohesion within the society, and members of that society are very aware when such norms are violated. Social norms are often strictly enforced and offenders are often disliked for their conduct. Also, some norms are more strictly held to in certain situations than in
For our class project, each student was asked to break a norm that exists in our society and record the reactions of observers and results of the experiment. The norm I chose to break was the idea of driving normally-the belief that cars should be driven by pushing the gas pedal and moving in a forward motion, not a...
I do not take the elevator a lot in my day to day life because I live on the second floor in my residence hall and my farthest I have to travel to get to class is three flights of stairs. I never see the need to wait for the elevator, but even though I probably have not been on one for over four months, I still, like most people, remember the social norms that go along with riding in one. When you go in you either push the button for the floor you need or you ask someone to press the button for you. If you were having a conversation with someone either you wait to continue it when you get off or you lower your voice considerably. These rules obviously only apply if there are strangers in the elevator with you. If you are alone in an elevator you can essentially do anything (that still follows all of the laws. You could sing to yourself, run in place, or even play patty cake and no one would know. The problem is, once someone gets on the elevator with you, these behaviors are now breaking a norm. I decided to take this concept of a quiet environment
To violate a social norm, i will be greeting strangers in a nontraditional way. This norm acts as a mechanism of social control by getting people to give an approved reaction to meeting strangers. It allows us to be friendly without getting too personal. Normally when we greet a stranger we say something along the lines of, “Hello, how are you?”, and the other person responds by saying something like, “Good, how about you?”. Instead I will respond by giving them some unusual greetings to break this social norm.
Social norms refer to the way that members of a society are expected to act and behave. These norms provide structure and conformity for individuals within a society. They also provide a sense of “normalcy” amongst individuals within a society. In a society, “we tend to follow our own cultural norms without questioning them, because we regard them as the ‘norm’.” (Henslin,2012). To intentionally break a cultural norm, takes some thought and effort to consciously go against our inbred “culture within us.” When pondering about social norms that I could break and the reactions of others, I began brainstorming various social norms. One in particular norm came to mind. In American society there is a social norm that if you use the drive thru window
American literature often examines people and motives. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, and in Arthur Miller’s dramatic classic, The Crucible, people and motives often depict patterns of Puritans struggling for life during a precarious time.
Social norms are really important to our society’s functioning. If certain norms were not followed it is almost certain chaos would ensue. Not only do we follow social norms in order to prevent chaos, we also follow them to avoid the consequences of not following them, especially if the functional perspective is accurate. On occasion though, breaking subtle norms that we may not think about often can prove to have interesting results.
The daunting task of violating a social norm, something that I could be ostracized and ridiculed for, I still chose to do. Social norms are the rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in a group or society. Doing weird things in public while surrounded by strangers is a recipe for disaster, especially for somebody like myself. I am awkward and have plenty of trouble talking to new people. Most of us are told not to talk to strangers when we are younger because there are all sorts of crazy people out there. There could not be a better way to break out of my shell and violate a social norm than to sit down and talk to total strangers while they eat.
I chose to break a social norm by sitting/ laying on the floor of an aisle in a grocery store, engaging in deviant behavior, instead of shopping for groceries. Sitting on the floor of a grocery store is a case of deviant behavior because it goes against society by breaking the norm. Because the standard behavior of people in a grocery store is to walk and look around, with usually a basket or cart, shopping for desired items, the expected response of others would be feeling uncomfortable, awkward, and confused. Upon performing my act of social deviance, numerous people demonstrated the anticipated reaction. As people turned down the aisle, I occupied, conversations died down to whispers or stopped altogether. Of the people who questioned me on my
Norms can also be broken but violating these norms would be considered rude of disrespectful. Along with these norms there are also laws. Laws are the “binding rule created through custom or official enactment that defines correct behavior and the punishment for misbehavior” (Miller 2011: 175). The system of a law is more common among state type societies. State type societies such as Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, just to name a
...ple is affected by the laws and lifestyles that they follow. Many dislike the idea of change, and reject any new ideas that could alter their societies norm. Civil rights, homosexual relationships, and religious beliefs are three prime examples of how society has been changed over the course of time. Rousseau contradicted himself, stating that religion keeps the peace, however the most bloody battles in history have been over religious beliefs. Change will be adapted to one way or another, even if the morality of the people is set on two different sides. Time, politics, and war will depict the present and the future of society as a whole.