Assignment 1 Norm Violation Study:
The Invasion of Personal Space
Personal space varies widely between different people, situation, and cultures, but undeniably it is something that is well respected and understood. It is defined as “an area with invisible boundaries surrounding a person’s body into which intruders may not come.”(Hutchinson, 2015, p. 232) Violating this unspoken boundary has consequences, due to a fact that it is a social norm that is well integrated into the human culture. “Many norms are informal. That is, they are not formally codified, or written down in any one place” (Ritzher, 2015, p. 112) As is the same in regards to the respect of personal space. Through the process of this assignment, the influence these “unspoken …show more content…
These norms are upheld through sanctions in the form of a reward when the norms are followed (i.e. applause, smiles) or a punishment when the norms are violated (i.e. weird stares, raised brow). (Ritzher, 2015, p.112) In order to challenge the norm of respecting personal space, I chose to encroach on the territory of a young couple, paying close attention to any possible sanctions directed towards me. I spied the subjects of interest in the far back of the vicinity on a busy afternoon lunch at Jazzman’s. The tall, narrow, retro table they occupied accommodated only two chairs facing each other in very close proximity. I gathered my courage and pulled a chair to their table and nonchalantly observed their reaction. The girl looks up at me, confused. A puzzled and irritated look crossing her eyes. With a pause she uneasily murmurs, “…okay.” Her boyfriend asks her if I am her friend. She then simply tells him she doesn’t know me at all. He then quickly gazes at me with a strange and confused look. They proceed to turn towards each other and eat their lunch together, happily catching up on the events of the day. With the way the tables were setup. I was literally five to six inches away from the “boyfriend” and less than a foot away from the girl. I could almost feel the warmth radiating from their bodies and their scent wafting towards my nose. However, contrary to my expectation, other than a …show more content…
It was probably due in part to these sanctions that I conformed quickly to the ways of American society. However, it was through my actions in Assignment 1 that I was made painfully aware of the sanctions I unconsciously employ on myself. It didn’t occur to me then, that in order to break the norm of respecting personal space, I had to willingly put myself in a position of major discomfort. I was doing something considered fundamentally wrong, and consciously so, that my body reacted violently by increasing my heart rate and feelings of anxiousness and distress. The sanctions of guilt and shame were acting within me, giving rise to these uncomfortable feelings. “Why? “you may ask. The words of Eric B. Rasmusen & Richard A. Posner explain the situation very clearly: “The violator feels bad about his violation as a result of his education and upbringing, quite apart from external consequences… The violator feels that his action has lowered himself either in his own eyes or in the eyes of other people. In its most common form, shame arises when other people find out about the violation and think badly of the violator…Also, he may feel lowered in his own eyes, a “multiple self” situation in which the individual is
The Invasion of Personal Space
Personal space varies widely between different people, situation, and cultures, but undeniably it is something that is well respected and understood. It is defined as “an area with invisible boundaries surrounding a person’s body into which intruders may not come.”(Hutchinson, 2015, p. 232) Violating this unspoken boundary has consequences, due to a fact that it is a social norm that is well integrated into the human culture. “Many norms are informal. That is, they are not formally codified, or written down in any one place” (Ritzher, 2015, p. 112) As is the same in regards to the respect of personal space. Through the process of this assignment, the influence these “unspoken …show more content…
These norms are upheld through sanctions in the form of a reward when the norms are followed (i.e. applause, smiles) or a punishment when the norms are violated (i.e. weird stares, raised brow). (Ritzher, 2015, p.112) In order to challenge the norm of respecting personal space, I chose to encroach on the territory of a young couple, paying close attention to any possible sanctions directed towards me. I spied the subjects of interest in the far back of the vicinity on a busy afternoon lunch at Jazzman’s. The tall, narrow, retro table they occupied accommodated only two chairs facing each other in very close proximity. I gathered my courage and pulled a chair to their table and nonchalantly observed their reaction. The girl looks up at me, confused. A puzzled and irritated look crossing her eyes. With a pause she uneasily murmurs, “…okay.” Her boyfriend asks her if I am her friend. She then simply tells him she doesn’t know me at all. He then quickly gazes at me with a strange and confused look. They proceed to turn towards each other and eat their lunch together, happily catching up on the events of the day. With the way the tables were setup. I was literally five to six inches away from the “boyfriend” and less than a foot away from the girl. I could almost feel the warmth radiating from their bodies and their scent wafting towards my nose. However, contrary to my expectation, other than a …show more content…
It was probably due in part to these sanctions that I conformed quickly to the ways of American society. However, it was through my actions in Assignment 1 that I was made painfully aware of the sanctions I unconsciously employ on myself. It didn’t occur to me then, that in order to break the norm of respecting personal space, I had to willingly put myself in a position of major discomfort. I was doing something considered fundamentally wrong, and consciously so, that my body reacted violently by increasing my heart rate and feelings of anxiousness and distress. The sanctions of guilt and shame were acting within me, giving rise to these uncomfortable feelings. “Why? “you may ask. The words of Eric B. Rasmusen & Richard A. Posner explain the situation very clearly: “The violator feels bad about his violation as a result of his education and upbringing, quite apart from external consequences… The violator feels that his action has lowered himself either in his own eyes or in the eyes of other people. In its most common form, shame arises when other people find out about the violation and think badly of the violator…Also, he may feel lowered in his own eyes, a “multiple self” situation in which the individual is