Violating Social Norms (or: The Most Uncomfortable Elevator Ride of My Life)
Upon completing this assignment, I have come to the conclusion that trying to violate a social norm on purpose is actually difficult and takes calculation, whereas accidentally doing it is so much easier. I chose to model my violation of a social norm off of the famous elevator groupthink experiment from the 1960s that has to do with conformity and ‘peer pressure’. I use to do this when I was a kid with my friends at the mall. We would have a high success rate, partly because there were about six of us. Because I was by myself this time, the results of that famous experiment and my past experience would not match my own and would be even more awkward.
I used the elevator in the Hale library on campus. I was not able to film anything but not much meant on anyway, in a ‘action’ sense. I was in the elevator for …show more content…
When it comes to normative social influence, it is the influence of other people that leads us to conform (so we can be accepted). And as we know, social norms are powerful. As people continued to step onto that elevator, look at me, and then ignore me or share a ‘look’ with their companion, the violation of a social norm I was committing became even more salient. Just like we when accidentally say ‘you too’ when our server says to enjoy the food, or when our phone rings very loudly in public and everyone turns to stare in disdain. My heart was beating quickly and I was probably staring a hole in the wall for the entire duration. But, because I was the one actively controlling the violation, it was not as bad. That is not to say I was not extremely uncomfortable (I was) and would do this again (never, if I can avoid it), but the knowledge that I was in control of the violation helped to separate me from the violation the slightest
Upon completing this assignment, I have come to the conclusion that trying to violate a social norm on purpose is actually difficult and takes calculation, whereas accidentally doing it is so much easier. I chose to model my violation of a social norm off of the famous elevator groupthink experiment from the 1960s that has to do with conformity and ‘peer pressure’. I use to do this when I was a kid with my friends at the mall. We would have a high success rate, partly because there were about six of us. Because I was by myself this time, the results of that famous experiment and my past experience would not match my own and would be even more awkward.
I used the elevator in the Hale library on campus. I was not able to film anything but not much meant on anyway, in a ‘action’ sense. I was in the elevator for …show more content…
When it comes to normative social influence, it is the influence of other people that leads us to conform (so we can be accepted). And as we know, social norms are powerful. As people continued to step onto that elevator, look at me, and then ignore me or share a ‘look’ with their companion, the violation of a social norm I was committing became even more salient. Just like we when accidentally say ‘you too’ when our server says to enjoy the food, or when our phone rings very loudly in public and everyone turns to stare in disdain. My heart was beating quickly and I was probably staring a hole in the wall for the entire duration. But, because I was the one actively controlling the violation, it was not as bad. That is not to say I was not extremely uncomfortable (I was) and would do this again (never, if I can avoid it), but the knowledge that I was in control of the violation helped to separate me from the violation the slightest