Norm Violation

Norm Violation

Over the past two weeks I have learned that it is easy to fall into the social norm. I went through my day just doing what everyone else did. When this assignment was assigned I was nervous to do something out of the ordinary. How would society respond, how would I respond to society?

The social norm that I broke was I stood right next to the person in the open elevator. Whether it be me and one other person, or me and a couple other people. I just picked a person and stood right next to them. I did this at my Casino Morongo where I work valet. I did this every day I worked for the past two weeks, at the beginning and the end of the day.

I was only on the elevator for on floor but it felt like forever. I was quick to learn that just changing how I rode the elevator at work could make me feel so uncomfortable. I could say the same was true for the person who was in there with me. Although I never stopped the experiment once I got in the elevator there was one time there was the head of the casino waiting for the elevator so I decided I would just take the stairs that time. Other than that one time I conducted the experiment every day I worked and stayed in good character.

I got some different reactions each time but for the most part when I would stand right next to someone they felt the urge to talk to me. I would never start the conversation but if talked to would talk back. There was only one time that I got in the elevator with one other person and not one word was said. This made thinks very uncomfortable for both of us. There was one or two times when the person would move to the other side of the elevator, but once the doors closed I learned that no one would move. If they moved I would not follow them but this seemed to make thinks pretty awkward. This was almost opposite to me and one other person in the elevator, if there were three or more people in the elevator it usually was quite the whole time, and the person I would stand next to would never talk it would always be the third person. I felt like this person felt obligated to talk as if it was his job to take tension off the ride.

Reflecting on what I did I am not to surprised how people reacted. What i am surprised about is how I neglected the little things like an elevator ride and how if I just do something as little as stand a little closer to someone it changes so much. The social norm is everywhere and violating the social norm is not as simple as it sounds.