Name_______teresa mccane___________________ section___60517__ #____10____

Name_______Teresa McCane___________________ Section___60517__ #____10____ VIOLATE THAT NORM This assignment is designed to have you become more familiar with the concept of a social norm. A social norm often involves a tacit rule of expected or appropriate behavior that is agreed upon by a group of people, yet is not always clearly verbalized. For this assignment, you will violate a social norm. Remember as per our discussion of this assignment, you are not to violate a law or a regulation, both of which are clearly articulated and are not considered social norms. Also, in choosing the social norm you plan to violate, do not do anything potentially harmful to yourself or to anyone else. For the purposes of this assignment, if you violated a social norm in the past (whether intentionally or accidentally), you may choose to relate that experience. After you have violated a social norm, fill out the answers to the questions on the following sheet. Type each answer (single space) under the question you are answering. Double space between questions. Note that your response to each question must be written in full sentences in Standard English. The answer to each question must be three or more sentences in length. After you have finished filling in your answers, print out this sheet and your answer sheet, and staple this sheet on top of your answer sheet. This assignment will be collected at the start of class, so make sure that you have it ready to be turned in then so that it will not be considered late. Follow these directions carefully in order to be eligible for all the points allotted to this assignment. VIOLATE THAT NORM 1. What social norm did you violate? Be as specific as possible. I am the kind of person who usually follow the rules wherever I am. While violating a social norm can be second nature to some, it is very unusual for me. I attempted to violate the social norm of disturbing the peace in a quiet setting. 2. Describe exactly what you did to violate the social norm. Include in your description when you violated the norm (date and time) and where you violated the norm (location) as well as exactly what you did. I went to my local public library in Largo on Monday, March 18, 2013 around 3: 30pm. I sat down in the reading area in the middle of the library next to the checkout counter. I had on my headphones, full blast listening to my favorite music by Rhianna. I had a book open in front of me pretending to be engrossed in it. I started singing out loud to the music and dancing to it in my sit. 3. Describe what happened when you violated the norm focusing on the reactions of the person(s) who saw you violate the norm. I was singing aloud but not really sure how loud. But of course, if you are in a library and you do this, it can be quite loud. I raised my head from my book a little to look around and I saw a few people glance at me with piercing looks, as if I was on drugs or something. I laughed inside myself and felt so embarrassed. I continued to sing while the stares increased until I felt uncomfortable. Someone must have reported me, because one of the librarian or someone who works there came up to me. She tap me on the shoulder and ask me to quite down, this is public library and that I was disturbing others who was trying to read or concentrate. I felt stupid because I knew better than to do this. I apologized as if I didn’t know what I was doing. 4. What did you learn from this experience about violating a social norm? What I learned from this experience is that some people can give you some dirty looks that will make you feel so uncomfortable to the point if looks can kill, I’d be dead! Most people assume that we all should follow common curtesy while others can be disrespectful. I often look at people the same way when I am somewhere and someone does this in a different setting. I judge them and think they come from a bad background. We don’t have to judge all the time, have we considered they too are doing some type of experiment. However, my experience violating a social norm has taught me that the people who do this may be selfish or just don’t know any better. It made me feel very awkward and out of character. We all have different upbringings or backgrounds and what may be usual for some can be unusual for others.