ipl-logo

Norms In An Elevator Observation

718 Words3 Pages

Norms and values dominate every society around the world and dictate the subsequent culture within it. A norm can be defined as the expected ways of behavior within a society. The disruption of these norms is quite obvious, whether it be a casual or more serious offense. Society tends to overlook the norms that dictate the behavior in an elevator. Participants A and B entered elevators in two resident halls located at Saint Mary’s College in order to observe the behavior of others. While breaking a norm in the elevator setting, the participants were able to observe the negative and confused reactions from others in the elevator. Moreover, these pessimistic responses of others in the situation contribute to the pressure on individuals to conform …show more content…

By using a random sample where everyone had an equal chance of taking the elevator, the participants were able to find reactions that represented the group. In the first study, Participant A sat on the floor of the elevator in Le Mans Hall. Participant A sat in the elevator from the basement to the fourth floor in order to gain the maximum amount of observers along the way. Participant B noticed that some women in the elevator were quietly laughing at Participant A, but did not say anything audible about the norm that was broken. However, once Participant A left the elevator, several students commented on how “weird” Participant A was for sitting in the elevator. The verbal and nonverbal reactions to the disruptive behavior in the elevator serve as a perfect example of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism can be defined as when an individual views one’s own culture as superior to another culture and subsequently judges the other culture as “inferior.” By both breaking and conforming to the norms of elevator behavior simultaneously, the participants were able to observe the confused feelings of others present and use a sociological lens to recognize the ethnocentrism present as …show more content…

Again, the participant repeated the process, breaking the norm from the bottom floor to the top floor to maximize the number of observers. In this second study, the observers were more vocal with their feelings about elevator norms being broken. Yet again, ethnocentric thinking was practiced when one woman commented “What is wrong with her?” and another “Why would she do that?” Even though there were no serious sanctions in place for breaking the norm of sitting in an elevator, others who were surrounding the disruption still felt the need to vocally address their confusion and dissatisfaction with the breaking of the

Show More
Related
288 Words | 2 Pages

A Cultural Minefield by William Ecenbarger is an article about how common gestures and customs at home have different meanings in other parts of the world. Ecenbarger has been to six different continents and didn’t realize until years later, that he offended or embarrassed his host during that time. For example Ecenbarger in Australia got into a taxi and jumped into the back seat. The taxi driver spoke to him in voice that made Ecenbarger nervous. In the United States it is a custom that you jump into the back seat whenever asking for a cab.

Read More
2035 Words | 9 Pages

The Re-Socialization of Buddy the Elf Introduction: The desire to want to be included and accepted within a society is far from unusual, however, when certain circumstances arise, it may not always be a simple task. Throughout this paper, the functioning of human society will be analyzed with a focus on the social impacts of resocialization. This resocialization will be evaluated on the effect it has on individuals when deviant behaviours or ideas impact ones societal expectations, class views, conformity, or lastly life chances. All of which are vital to be a functioning member of society and to ones well being, which can all be compromised coming from being in an isolated social system in which one has socialized apart from a wider society (Symbaluk and Bereska 2016 pg.87).

Read More
1415 Words | 6 Pages

In such an environment, it becomes easier for people to identify themselves and easily resolve issues affecting them using strategies that are better suitable for them. Ethnorace also proves to be effective because it allows all members of society to start learning more about the other different types of ethnicities that exist in societies around the world, from those that are different that theirs and even from their own. In doing so, they will not only start to appreciate the different cultures that exist, but also learn about their own biases against others and explore their own views about others, and how they can change any of their own behaviors, attitudes or beliefs that may be harmful or disrespectful towards others. Therefore, the theory of ethnorace also proves to be a learning opportunity for all members of

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

Brooks’ The Shame Culture elaborates on how certain wrong social conducts or morals can shape a person’s behavior. “Many people carefully guard their words, afraid they might transgress one of the norms that have come into existence. Those accused of incorrect thought face

Read More
1011 Words | 5 Pages

Most important, this model allows for investigation of clients ' level of conformity and idealized identification with the dominant culture as well as their rejection of their own culture.”

Read More
874 Words | 4 Pages

This is a standout amongst the most critical types of talk investigation and it recognizes examples of administration of discussion and different types of ordinary talk and this is regard the opening and closing conversation, turn takin, and Politeness and interpersonal meaning .Harvey Sacks has divided opening and closing conversation into three pointes number one discusses 'procedural guidelines ' ( 'principles of behavior ') which individuals have a tendency to take after when one individual addresses another. The principal speaker has the social right to pick the type of location, and that there are then unsurprising "returns" that the second speaker may routinely look over to fill the following speaker, number two Sacks alludes to adjacency pairs. In light of the primary part of the contiguousness pair by the principal speaker, for example, a welcome to be trailed by a complementary welcome or an inquiry to be trailed by an answer, the second party understand that they 'legitimately should ' to react with the second part. Discussion investigations allude to this "legitimate" method for reacting as the favored reaction.

Read More
400 Words | 2 Pages

Just because she looked different, or had a different culture than everyone else, she pretended not to know her own mother. The other children giving them looks in the halls and saying rude things about them completely embarrassed her and turned her against her culture. Both of these sadly common examples demonstrate how discrimination can cause one to turn against their own culture. In cultures today, discrimination is among the most critical issues, because it causes segregation and lack of acceptance of one's culture.

Read More
1471 Words | 6 Pages

Conformity and group mentality are major aspects of social influence that have governed some of the most notorious events and experiments in history. The Holocaust is a shocking example of group mentality, or groupthink, which states that all members of the group must support the group’s decisions strongly, and all evidence leading to the contrary must be ignored. Social norms are an example of conformity on a smaller scale, such as tipping your waiter or waitress, saying please and thank you, and getting a job and becoming a productive member of society. Our society hinges on an individual’s inherent need to belong and focuses on manipulating that need in order to create compliant members of society by using the ‘majority rules’ concept. This

Read More
416 Words | 2 Pages

Ethnocentrism occurs when one culture comes into contact with another. It the evaluation of one culture based on preconceived ideas that have derived from the customs and traditions from one’s own culture. William Summer, an American sociologist, believes that an ethnocentrism is “A view of things in which one’s own group is the centre of everything and all others are scaled and rated in reference to it” (Sorrells 2013). This phenomenon can have detrimental outcomes; such as stereotyping and prejudice both of which may hinder intercultural relations and assimilation therefore impacting on societal cohesion.

Read More
1093 Words | 5 Pages

Or sometimes, they get rid of their own customs and fuse themselves with the mythologies by the white. By discussing the other cause of racism, Eric Liu has opened my mind and drawn me into a new direction of thinking about the social issue. From this chapter, I am not only learning more about racism, but also about the ethnic people’s psychology: they are pressed down too much by stereotypes, and consequently, they will see them as the universal truth. And at the end of this chapter, I am also impressed that Liu advocates the Asian students to get involved in improving their political view. However, after imploring them to be conscious of the world’s news, the Asian students focus on each other, tell tales, and have different conversations.

Read More
811 Words | 4 Pages

My norm violation was facing the people while standing in an elevator. My partner, Ali and I decided to go to Jackson hospital to perform the norm, unfortunately we decided to change setting because the hospital was empty, and the experiment wouldn’t work. We decided then to go an apartment located at North Miami. When we first got there I thought it would be a perfect place because there’s so many different people of different ethnicity living in North Miami, but most of the people coming in and out of the elevator were Hispanics. The people in the elevator were mostly middle age, and a little bit older.

Read More
681 Words | 3 Pages

Firstly, a norm is defined as rules that regulate social life, including explicit laws and implicit cultural standards. This relates to the particular experiment because the whole point was to break one of these norms and see the ripple effect it had on the people around me. Another term is attitude, which is defined as a relatively stable opinion containing beliefs and emotional feelings about a topic. This has to do with the experiment because My mother, who had the biggest reaction when I broke the norm, and I have different attitudes when it comes to proper etiquette and it is something that is apparent in our behaviors when out and my mother’s role in trying to make me conform to being proper when in public. Going off of that, conformity is defined as the tendency people have to act and think like members of the group.

Read More
755 Words | 4 Pages

This has been shown through the prison research where the participants changed their behavior drastically due to the environment and in the conformity experiment where the individual changed their behavior in accordance to the larger group due to their belief that they had to fit in. However, both factors could work simultaneously as causes of one’s

Read More
457 Words | 2 Pages

People don’t want to be the odd one out and they certainly don’t want to be judged for it. This experiment showed how social pressure from a group could get a person to conform. All in all, the results of the elevator experiment show that conformity can be influenced by an individual’s innate desire to be like everyone

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

These prejudices that “white” people carry leads to discrimination against people of color. During the lecture, Dr. Jendian explained about ethnocentrism as well. The definition that he provided states that we judge others using our culture’s values, beliefs, and practices. Therefore, we believe the way of doing things is superior, so other people’s ways are inferior. For example, the professor explained that one day he went to a Oaxacan restaurant and that he ate crickets.

Read More

More about Norms In An Elevator Observation

Related Topics

Open Document