Norms are socially determined rules that govern behavior that can vary from culture to culture.
A group or society creates rules (often unknowingly) about what kinds of behavior is appropriate for different situations, and can be classified as either pro-scriptive or pre-scriptive norms.
Pro-scriptive norms are the kind that tell people not to do something, such as belch loudly in a restaurant.
Pre-scriptive norms are the kind that tell people to do something, and we frequently do these without knowing. For instance, on an elevator, everyone gets in and faces the door rather than each other or a random wall.
Norms? Why not Howards?
It is interesting that you brought up the elevator example. In one of my classes in high school, we had a group project that involved breaking a social norm. My group decided to go to a well-traveled area and take turns riding the elevator while facing the opposite way of the door. It was funny to see everyone's reactions; some people smiled or looked down, while others tried small talk. My favorite reaction of all was when people would turn around and face the same wall as you.
ReplyDeleteAlong with what Tricia said, I also had a project in high school where I was required to go out in public and break a social norm and record the behaviors of others. My norm that I broke was personal space. Many people respect each others personal space and avoid getting to close because that is just the norm. What I did was i went to the mall and I went up to people i did not know and walked right up to them almost touching them and sparked a conversation. Many people immediately stepped back because they felt uncomfortable and I broke the norm that allowed for personal space. Norms are very interesting in that when you perform an experiment to break them, the reactions of people are very funny and clearly noticed
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