Posted: August 1st, 2023

For this assignment, I want everyone to break a social norm. Then you will discuss how breaking the norm made you feel, and how it might have made other people feel.

Step 1:

First you need to identify a social norm. Some examples are:

• Appearance (you can wear pink slippers to school or around town instead of shoes; put a blue dot on the tip of your nose; wear your shirt backward / inside-out; overdo your makeup)

• Interpersonal Behavior (stand too close or too far away from someone you are talking too; avoid eye contact; scoff at a person’s every comment)

• Social Etiquette (violate elevator norms – that is, instead of turning around to face the elevator doors when they close, face the other people in the elevator and stare them in the eye!; eat with your mouth open; talk loudly in a library; fly a kite inside the mall, something one of my former students actually did!)

• THESE ARE ONLY EXAMPLES. PLEASE TRY TO BE CREATIVE & COME UP WITH SOME ORIGINAL IDEAS ON YOUR OWN. Another one of my former students stood behind people at water fountains chanting “Chug! Chug! Chug!” loudly.

Note: You may want to do the behavior several times in different places to note any interesting patterns. Do people’s reactions may differ as a function of sex, age, location?
I want everyone to defy a societal convention as part of this task. After that, you’ll talk about how breaching the rules made you feel, as well as how it might have made other people feel as well.

The first step is to create a plan.

To begin, you must first identify a social norm. Here are a few illustrations:

• Appearance (you can wear pink slippers to school or around town instead of shoes; put a blue dot on the tip of your nose; wear your shirt backward / inside-out; overdo your makeup)

Inappropriate Interpersonal Behavior (standing too close or too far away from someone you are talking to; avoiding eye contact; scoffing at every word a person makes)

It’s okay to break social rules (for example, instead of turning around to face the elevator doors when they close, turn around to face the other people in the elevator and stare them in the eyes!; eat with your mouth open in the library; fly a kite in the mall, which one of my former students actually did!) and have fun.

These are merely illustrations of the point. Try to go outside the box and come up with some unique ideas of your own. Thank you for your time. Another one of my former students stood behind people at water fountains, yelling “Chug! Chug! Chug!” loudly in their faces while they drank.

Note: It is possible that you may wish to repeat the behaviour numerous times in different locations in order to identify any intriguing patterns. Do people’s reactions alter depending on their gender, age, or geographical location?

Step 2: Make a list of all of the things you want to do.

Incorporate the following ideas into a brief text (400 words least, 700 words maximum): a brief introduction;

1). Which implicit norm(s) did you break in this situation? (Four points)

2) Explain how you went about violating it (them). (Four points)

3). Examine your thoughts and feelings while you were in violation of the rule (s). (Four points)

4). Consider what other people were probably thinking about your violation when you were caught (4 points)

5). Did you get any insight into your own or others’ behaviour as a result of this experience? What about the gravitas of the circumstance? (Four points)

6). Incorporate AT LEAST ONE important social psychology principle into your work. Perhaps you’d like to include anything on role-playing, conformity / nonconformity, normative social influence, cognitive dissonance, self-monitoring, or some other aspect of human behaviour. Your choice, but have AT LEAST ONE! (Five points)

Step 3: Make a list of all of the things you want to do.
Step 2:

Incorporate the following points in a short document (400 words minimum, 700 words maximum):

1). What implicit norm(s) did you violate? (4 points)

2). Describe how you violated it (them). (4 points)

3). Analyze your thoughts and feelings while you violated the norm(s). (4 points)

4). Analyze what other people were probably thinking about your violation (4 points)

5). Did you gain any insight into your own or others’ behavior? What about the power of the situation? (4 points)

6). Include AT LEAST ONE key social psychological principle in your work. You may want to include something about role-playing, conformity / nonconformity, normative social influence, cognitive dissonance, self-monitoring, etc. Your choice, but have AT LEAST ONE! (5 points)

Step 3:

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Tags: Masters Essays, PSY Papers, PSYC, Psychology Assignment, Psychology Dissertations