Hypothesis: If I send someone a birthday card earlier than expected, then they will most likely call and ask why I sent it at the “wrong time”. By sending someone a birthday card months earlier/later than their actual birthday, one would be breaking a folkway (Kendall, M.): “the traditional behavior or the way of life of a particular community or group of people”. In this experiment I hope to prove that a folkways exist in our society; and when broken then there are social consequences. Breaking a norm can affect the people around one, including oneself. If one does something out of the ordinary, people often look at one as being an outcast. Breaking a social folkway makes an individual stand out and other people might not be comfortable with that. To prove that breaking a norm is something that …show more content…
She clearly was aware that I knew which day and month of which was her birthday and we had celebrated it a few months prior to this experiment; with that being said, I obviously know when her birthday was. I debriefed her by telling her that my hypothesis was “If I send someone a birthday card earlier than expected, then they will most likely call and why I send it at the “wrong time”. Once I explained how breaking a norm will affect someone and the choices that we choose to make in everyday life, it became simple as to why we were studying about it. Sometimes the consequence of breaking a social norm could be breaking a law. Laws are subsequently formed and developed around social norms. These social norms are based on crime that are based on discrimination and prejudice, making them morally unacceptable. Breaking a social norm can make you someone to look up to or an outcast. Individuality is something that many people admire and breaking a social norm is an action that will get them