Benedicto, Gatchalian, Lagbas, Sangalang, Tirona September 30, 2014
SA 21 - A Ms. Emily Roque
Breaching Experiment
- What norm did you violate?
Usually when someone drops papers, books or actually anything, some other person/s will help pick up those things and give it back to the owner then the owner will receive the things and probably say thank you to the helper. This is the norm that we violated. Instead of picking up the papers we dropped or receiving the papers we dropped from the person who helped us, we decided to just walk away without saying anything.
- Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?
Our experiment was to observe the reactions of people who helped our groupmate pick up the papers that she dropped, but then left them behind instead of getting the papers from them or from the ground which violated a norm. In fact, our experiment hits two birds with one stone. First is to observe the reactions of the people from the violated norm. Second is to observe the reactions of the people who are in the specific area where our groupmate dropped the papers. By doing this experiment, it would answer the question “Would they help our groupmate or not?”
Process of the activity:
One person in our group held a bunch of bond papers in her hands and walked in the opposite direction of any group of people. Our groupmate acted like she tripped and dropped all the papers on the ground in effect scattering the papers. She waited on the group of people to help her or not. If no one helped her, she just continued to pick up the papers. But if someone or some people helped her, she picked up the papers for about 3-5 seconds and then just left them on the ground and left the people who helped her. So she walked away leaving the papers with the helpers. This is where the norm is violated. After getting the reactions of the helpers, another person from the group went to the “participants” and explained to them our experiment to avoid any wild reactions. We thanked them for helping our groupmate pick up the papers and also for unknowingly participating in our experiment.
Venue of the activity:
Our group decided to do this activity in two different places wherein the majority of the people in these places have different social classes. We did this so that we can observe if different places/classes have different reactions. One place that we experimented on was in Shangri-La Plaza at Ortigas, Mandaluyong City. This mall is known to have expensive stores wherein the people who can afford are the ones who usually go there. The other place that we experimented on was in SM Megamall right next to Shangri-La. Now, this mall is usually crowded with people who are what the society calls as the “masses”. Additionally, we did the experiment in the same section of the malls - the Food Court. We chose this because this is the part of the mall where there are a lot of people.
- What were the different reactions of the people? List all possible reactions you observed. Why do you think they reacted this way? What caused these reactions?
We had the experiment in two different venues and each venue had a different set of reactions. In Shang, people usually walked passed us when we did the experiment. Out of five trials only one person dropped down to help us pick up the papers while everyone else simply walked over us, sometimes turning back to glance to check if other people helped. Even though the paper was dropped infront of them, they chose to walk the other way just to avoid helping. The reactions we received in Megamall were a lot better compared to Shang. Out of five trials, we only had one instance wherein the person or the group of people just walked over us. Four groups of people stopped to help us when we dropped the papers in front of them. Most of the time when we start walking away after someone helps us, they get a puzzled look on their face because it isn’t normal for people to just leave their things when they drop them and it’s even weirder for them to leave right after someone starts helping them. One of the highlights or memorable reactions we got while doing the experiment was from this bystander who reported us to the guards in the foodcourt in Megamall. She accused us of playing pranks on people telling the guard how we dropped papers then started walking away while filming the entire process again and again. She said what we were doing was a form of “pambabastos” and that we should be stopped. Thankfully, the guard understood our experiment after we explained it to him and allowed us to continue filming. In fact, when we talked to one of the supervisors of the food court and explained what we were doing, he even said that “Ahh, madami talagang hindi nakakaintinde diyan,” proving that not everyone would understand and accept the experiment. It was quite ironic that the person that complained was not the person we were doing the experiment on, but just a bystander. What was also ironic was that once we told the bystander that we were explaining the experiment to those people who helped us, she purposely avoided us, maybe because she felt that she was wrong about us disrespecting other people.
For the reactions of the people, I think it stems from how they grew up or how they lived. Shang is a mall for the upper class with the more expensive stores while Megamall is a “for the people” kind of mall holding all kinds of stores and restaurants, so their social class may have had an effect on the reactions of the people. Also, maybe they reacted the way they did because they did not want to take time to personally help a person, especially since it was a stranger.
- Did the deviant act reaffirm/reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?
The deviant act reaffirmed the existing norms based on the reactions received. First, our hypothesis that receiving the things that you dropped from a person who helped you is a norm was already proven in the activity. This was proven since the people who helped our groupmate were puzzled and confused from the deviant act of leaving them with our groupmate’s papers. If the norm didn’t exist at all, then the “participants” would just ignore the fact that our groupmate just left them after they helped her pick up the papers. Getting back the papers from the people who helped you is normal while, leaving them and the things you dropped is not normal. Ergo, our group’s experiment reaffirms/reinforces the existing norm.
- Aside from the norms, what sociological themes are at play for people to react in a certain way? is it a function of gender (gender norms, roles), social class (norms of the rich & the poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group, etc.).
There are two sociological themes that influenced how people would react to our experiment. First is the function of gender. While doing the experiment, it was noticed that only guys helped us. This may be because our groupmate that would drop the papers was a girl. So, by helping her, the people would think of them as “gentlemen.” However, if it was a guy that would drop the papers, then the number of people that would help us would decrease. Also, it could be because of the norm that girls are helpless. Due to the gender roles, girls are usually helpless, and need the help of men, so that influenced why these men helped us. Aside from the function of gender, another sociological theme that was at play was social class. We did the breaching experiment in two malls, namely Shangri-La and Megamall. These two malls have different crowds, one for the upper class and the other one for the middle and lower class. After the experiment, we found out that more people in Megamall helped us than in Shangri-La. This could be because the norm of the upper class, which is that people from the upper class normally have people to do things for them, so one reason why they chose to avoid helping us was that they are not used to doing so. Lastly, a sociological theme that may be at play during this experiment was values/beliefs of institutions, specifically one’s family. They might have reacted the way they did because they were taught not to talk to strangers. Maybe, by helping a person they do not know, it could be not safe, so they chose to not help.
- How did you feel when you did this experiment? How does it feel to deviate from the norms? Were you hesitant to do the activity?
It felt somewhat saddening that not everyone was willing to help someone in need. Even though they can see that someone is having a hard time, people chose to ignore us and just pretend that nothing happened. However, for the people that did help us, it was somewhat rewarding that there are some people that would selflessly take time and help. At first, we were hesitant to do the experiment due to the fear that people would get mad at us. However, after doing the experiment for numerous trials, we got used to doing it. To avoid any violent reactions from the people we did the experiment on, we made sure to explain to them after looking at their reactions that whatever we were doing was for school and it was intended to get people’s reactions.
It felt somewhat nerve-racking to deviate from the norms because of how people would react to us. Since we were doing something that was not normal, some people might judge us. However, after doing it more than once, it felt somewhat empowering to do so, because we rarely get the chance to deviate from the norms.
The questions that were in our heads before experiencing the deviance was “what will people think of me?”, “will they get mad at me?”, “will I get embarrassed?”. These questions made us hesitant to achieve the experiment, and this is why norms are really strong. Breaking norms can have a negative impact on how people see us and in our society how people see us is important. Our “dignity” is what we take care of everyday and deviating from what is normal can degrade it. After this activity, we can say that norms are the guidelines on how to judge people. Just like how the bystander quickly judged that we were joking around and misbehaving. She judged us negatively to the point that we could get kicked out from a mall by the security because we broke a norm and this clearly proves that norms are strong.
As a student, it felt very embarrassing to try and deviate from these norms. For one, I grew up in a household full of different kinds of norms (do not do this or you will be punished // do not do that because it is disrespectful to people // etc). And I, have accepted these rules and norms and have taken them with me ever since they were engraved into my mind through the use of a belt hitting my rear end. I, for one, did not find it even a bit consoling that the justification for doing this was an experiment for school. Even if it had such a valid excuse, I still found it hard because of bystanders and passersby (who did not know or were not informed at what we were doing) to look at us with such judgmental expressions on their faces. However, I felt relieved after we had to debrief people who unknowingly volunteered to help in this experiment.
- Other observations and analysis that you may have on the activity and on deviance in general.
One thing that caught the group off guard during the experiment was one of the spectators voicing out her opinion on what our group was doing. She was displeased about it and even to complain to the security about it. It can be seen in this situation that the deviance of norms will be met with several negative comments and outlooks from different people.
Since society creates norms that would give people ways on how to behave, by giving patterns that determines what is acceptable or unacceptable, it is quite liberating to do something out of the ordinary. By being a deviant, it enabled us to truly determine how these norms control how people live. Even though we try our hardest to live independently, we are still controlled by norms. These norms are not even in the conscious minds of people, but then by doing this activity we get to see how it works from the outside. Consequently, we get to act outside of the “control”.
To see the video of our experiment, click below!! :)
