What is a norm? A norm is something that is typical or standard, and when broken can be rather humiliating because of the judgment you may receive. For this assignment, I will be breaking the elevator norm. Why is the norm of facing the doors of the elevator when you ride a norm? Well, it is the “get ready” position. Facing the doors is how you exit, so already starting in this position makes sense. To violate the elevator norm, I will ride the Regina elevator up to my floor facing the wall and also another time coming down from my floor, and as people enter with me I will observe their reactions and my own. Before breaking this norm, I believe there will not be a wide range of reactions. Most of the people entering with me will not even know me, and that is even uncomfortable in itself, so when they also feel uncomfortable because I am facing the wall, I do not believe they will make any comments. I $$#Break#$$ Society puts in place these odd expectaitons for certain situations that are so miniscule, and I do not want to repeat this experiment because it was embarrassing and awkward for me, and my personality is not outgoing. I like to remain a non-spectacle in any situation, unless I am around people I know. I did not experience any difficulties in carrying out this experiment because I use the elevator every day (when it is not broken.) Also, form this experiment, I learned this social norm, although small, is very awkward and uncomfortable when broken. Breaking a social norm does not suffer with huge consequences, but it does not go unnoticed because it is a change from the normal routine of day to day expectations. We as humans fall into a pattern, and when someone breaks this pattern people will react. All in all, this experiment was a success. The group of people I experimented with was rather small, but I think I received an accurate response from the two groups. These two groups provided the range of reactions to
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