Social Norms And Conformity Experiment

Social Norms and Conformity Using the Elevator Experiment

Hailey Hampton, Larisa Zawacki, Niyala Steele, Sacqwoya Wright

Thomas Nelson Community College

Social norms are unconscious behaviors that people within a culture abide by. These unconscious behaviors can also be influenced by group conformity. The social conformity effect occurs when people alter their behavior when presented with conflict of unconscious behaviors related to specific social norms. This research project will focus on the unwritten but typically followed social norm of facing the elevator door upon entry and further attempts to alter this behavior when presented with the group non-conformity of facing the opposite wall.

Social Norms

“All groups create norms to enforce their values. Norms typically share rules that conduct and tell people how to act in specific situations or environments” (Caporale 2012). People do not want to be considered weird so they usually conform to what others are doing. “Conformity is the tendency for people to adapt the behavior or opinions presented by other group members. Why do people conform? People are extremely selective. Social Cognition is a process by which people select interpret and remember social information. Informational influences lead to conformity. The idea of not wanting to be wrong and understanding the right way dramatically influences people” (Caporale 2012). A student from Towson University conducted an experiment on an elevator. On that elevator the students were faced towards the back. The group of students got on an elevator and faced backwards. The point of this experiment was to get the people on the elevator to conform. The experiment made them go against the social norm of standing the correct way (towards the front) on the elevator. During their experiment they came in contact with thirty people. This experiment taught the group about social norms and conformity as a whole. Every environment is different and society makes their rule based on that. The experiment showed the difference between following and violating social norms. After violation of a social norm one will get to see numerous reactions showing how conformity has an impact on our society. “The data found was that twenty-five to thirty people entered the elevators in which the experiment was performed. It was found that out of thirty subjects it was two complete conformists who turned out to be a priest and a teen girl. Several people turned sideways as a way to keep their independence. Subjects tried to maintain their individuality. It was a trend where people would conform if the group of