A social norm is an activity or something that is regarded as morally acceptable in the society. We observe these activities in our common lives as being normal without perpetrating the conscious part of our brains. Norm violation is breaking the rules that govern these social norms. Violating a social norm especially in a public place can attract the attention of the surrounding people. One can easily note their reactions towards the person violating the norm. I carried out an experiment violating a social norm by singing loudly on a public bus as I was on my way home.
I was in the bus for about 10 minutes then I stood up began singing loudly. I chose the bus because I could manage to read the reactions of different people easily within a small distance. I cleared throat then began to sing loudly as if I was invited to perform in the bus. I even waved my hands while I was singing making me appear as if I was singing to a congregation sited in a church. At times, I could even jump up and down to make sure that I got the attention of everybody in the bus. I did not mind the surprised faces of the people who were looking at me because at the back of my mind, I wanted to understand how people can react towards a norm violated. I had boarded the same bus people and I knew that it the passengers had never experienced such a scenario before. I kept on singing and making my performance to appear real. The passengers in the bus comprised people from different ethnic backgrounds but they were all puzzled by what I was doing. There were also children who were also looking at me. At times, I could sing a point to a particular person, jump around while waving my hands, and even dancing as if I was performing to a large number of people.
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The initial reaction I observed from my ‘audience’ is that they were shocked, others wondering what I was doing. For a period of more than 2 minutes, no one tried to talk to me or ask what I was doing. They knew what I was doing is never common in a public bus. Most of them tried to figure out what I was doing. Almost everyone in the bus was looking at me very closely to understand what I was doing. I think others taught I was out of my mind. Children were looking at me surprised while others were even laughing as I was singing while jumping around and waving my hands.
My hypothesis was proven when I witnessed people surprised of what I was doing. I had violated the social norm of singing loudly on a public bus, something that people are not used to. When I violated the social norm, I realized that people react in a very different manner towards an individual. This is because they believe that the action which I did was not normal or it was against the social values in the society. I learnt that it is very difficult to change the beliefs of the people in the society regarding a particular aspect which they consider is normal. Behaving differently or against the norm can result in people viewing an individual in a negative manner or believing that the action is not morally acceptable in the society. Therefore, I realized that it is very challenging to change the belief of people regarding what they belief is acceptable by going against or violating a social norm.
