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Social norms modern day
Media influence in society
Nonverbal communication final paper
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Recommended: Social norms modern day
Violation of Space
On today’s episode of “Know Your Principles of Sociology,” the question is how important are the mundane rules of life? Our contestants in Dr. Marin’s class helped us out with finding the answer. To answer this they simply violated an unwritten social norm that people live by in our culture. They decided to violate the space theory. Weather it be to randomly hug people or sit extremely close to them, these brave young souls went to the farthest ends to observe and document the expressions of those being violated and those of others witnessing it. We now will go to one of the students to tell us about the experiment.
In article 14 of Cargan and Ballantine’s text Sociological Footprints, they discuss the variable of nonverbal communication. Anyone can learn the words of a language but to understand the gestures and facial expressions is difficult unless raised in that culture. That is why understanding nonverbal communication is important, cause without this knowledge then outsiders would be confused and problems may occur.
In our experiment we decided to invade people’s personal “bubble”. To do this we secretly videotaped them while others went up and got close to them. Now normally in an American society we have our space and we do not like it when strangers intrude on that space. If done then the typical reaction is to step back and gain the space between back. That ...
It’s important to study and understand a culture and its norms before assimilating yourself into it so that you do not break a serious social norm, whether it be verbal or nonverbal. According to our book, “Nonverbal communication is an ever-present form of human expression,” and you are always communicating messages even if they are not stated explicitly. Nonverbal cues are there for a reason and they help us to form relationships when we learn how to pick up on those cues commonly used by certain people in our interpersonal relationships. Nonverbal norms help to shape our society in deciding what’s acceptable, help us to establish interpersonal relationships, and help us form a part of our
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.
"This report . . . is concerned with the structure of social encounters--the structure of those entities in social life that come into being whenever persons enter one another 's immediate physical presence. The key factor in this structure is the maintenance of a single definition of the situation" (1959,
For this experiment we were asked to break a social norm and record our findings on how people reacted and how we felt in the situation. For my experiment, I chose breaking the social norm of sitting at your own table. To perform this experiment I went to the food court in the mall with my two friends. They would pick out people that looked to be in there
There are two important areas in this research- territoriality and use of personal space, all while each have an important bearing on the kinds of messages we send as we use space. Standing at least three feet apart from someone is a norm for personal space.
As meanings and social contexts and informal rules of society are created by people, they can subsequently be changed by the very same people. In an alternate universe where stretching on the elevator floor is considered to be a normal aspect of “elevator etiquette,” I would not have been able to break a social context in this way, simply because the inhabitants of that universe would take it for granted that an elevator is the appropriate place to stretch. This is the perfect illustration of the “Power of the Situation,” what can commonly be referred to as “social context.” As I shifted the social context and introduced a behavior that was not considered a social norm, I elicited negative sanctions and challenged the ideas of social control. Ultimately, this experiment revealed that so much of human behavior is dictated by an endless set of unspoken rules, most of which are never questioned, that members of a society are held captive to its every whim and irrational value. I now believe that individuals should frequently question the artificial constraints placed on them by society and seek to understand more about why they act in certain situations, even if that means taking their yoga routine into the nearest public
After a few days spent home with my parents it was time to return to the University of South Florida to continue with classes. I arrived at Regan International Airport at 7:45 am for and 9 am flight where I would conduct the research strategy of participant observation. Participant observation is a strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied. I made my way to the gate, sitting an elderly couple was across from me, next to me was a young woman and behind me was an older gentleman. Many people walked around the terminal trying to find seats close to the gate but far enough away from people they were unfamiliar with. There were little kids around the age of 3 and 4 walking around engaging in conversation with everyone. One little girl had stopped by me, saying “Hi” and then attempted to sit with me. However, her parents ensured she was not allowed to sit with me which I assumed was fear of losing their child. Also, with no rapport between me and the parents it was understandable as to why they would remove the child from trying to sit with me. Meaning the relationship of trust and familiarity with members of the community were not developed.
My fieldwork was taken place in Crossroads during Sunday night for dinner. I choice the breaching method to challenge the social norms that are in places like the common areas for Berkeley students. The method gave me the understanding of how much students are capable to talk with their bear peers. I am
The politics, religion, status, age, and social standards of people determine acceptable boundaries for personal space. What is acceptable in the United States differs from what is acceptable in Europe or the Middle East when interacting in each other’s space. Indeed, despite biological similarities as a human race, the social influences that surround an individual affect behavior (Trolley, “Personal Space”). Therefore, each culture must be sensitive to others’ established boundaries, knowing that personal space is just that: personal.
Thou shall not transgress thy neighbor's personal space. It's among the most sacrosanct rules of social behavior. But how do these invisible bubbles of space surrounding each of us come to exist in the first place , and why does it feel so icky when they overlap?
Hall’s spatial zones — was clearly displayed in this exercise. According to Hall, the relationship between others and ourselves determines what space we let people into. Bailey and I are good friends, but we are not on the level to let each other into our intimate space zone. I completely understand why it is usually reserved for romantic partners, because Bailey and I experienced physicality with each other that we were not comfortable with. While we were at brunch, we had to sit so close to each other that our plates were practically touching, and we kept bumping into each other’s arms. When we were studying on my bed, we had to sit directly next to each other, so close that we could see each other’s computer screens. While we were walking through the crowd at Pike Place, people kept trying to break apart Bailey and me so we had to link arms to maintain our distance. All of these behaviors made us uncomfortable. We were constantly put in a position that made us close when we weren’t ready for it, and therefore we were mutually dissatisfied with how our day
Nonverbal communication is defined as ending cues to others that are considered wordless. Author Joseph Devito states, “In many instances you’re communicating even though you might not think you are or might not even want to be” (Devito 24). Humans cannot not communicate; we are always communicating without even realizing it. Interpersonal communication is distributing information between two or more people. It helps humans cooperate with each other in order to promote a better understating with one another. Nonverbal communication is one of two forms of communication in interpersonal relationships. It is also the greatest aspect of survival in form of language, without it we cannot form interpersonal bonds with others.
Found information states that “nonverbal communication is the process of transporting messages through behaviors, physical characteristics and objects”. Its how and what we use in order to express our feelings and say things. Using symbols is a way of using nonverbal communication. Also nonverbal communication is the way we use body language and gestures too. Nonverbal communication is often used unconsciously. When using the certain communication it can be misinterpreted also. There are many different categories of nonverbal communication. They are the following: Aesthetics, Artifacts, Chronemics, Haptics, Kinesics, Paralanguage, Physical Appearance, Proxemics, and Oculesics.
Nonverbal communication surrounds us all the time. “Nonverbal communication is all aspects of communication other than words” (Wood, 2016, p. 135). It is not communication with words, but we use nonverbal communication when we talk. We use nonverbal communication without even realizing it in every facet of our lives. This type of communication can be challenging depending on someone’s culture. Something that means one thing in America, can mean something totally different in another country. It is important to know this so that you don’t offend someone from another culture (Wood, 2016, p. 149).
...tention to how people react to one another’s comments, guessing the relationship between the people and guessing how each feels about what is being said. This can inform individuals to better understand the use of body language when conversing with other people. It is also important to take into account individual differences. Different cultures use different non-verbal gestures. Frequently, when observing these gestures alone the observer can get the wrong impression, for instance, the listener can subconsciously cross their arms. This does not mean that they are bored or annoyed with the speaker; it can be a gesture that they are comfortable with. Viewing gestures as a whole will prevent these misunderstandings. Non-verbal gestures are not only physical, for example; the tone of voice addressing a child will be different from the way it is addressed to an adult.