Breaking a Norm
Step one: Go into public and break a norm (please make sure it is NOT a formal norm, which is a law).
Step two: Write an essay, by answering each question . Each part should have it’s own 5 to 7 sentence paragraph
1. Describe the social norm you broke- be very descriptive with where, when and how.
2. Explain how people reacted to what you did- be very descriptive on how others reacted to you.
3. Describe your reaction to their reactions (i.e. how did their reactions make you feel)
4. Hypothesize how being treated as you were, would influence another person’s self-concept (how one thinks of self) and self-esteem (how one feels about self).Use the concepts to help you explain
5. Explain what you learned from this assignment.
Remember this assignment is about breaking a social norm (not a personal nor a formal norm). The intent is to have fun, but also teach you about how it feels to be treated as the “other”. Please THINK and plan before you carry out this assignment- you do not want to even appear to be breaking a law- I do not have bail money!
Purpose
For this assignment you will break an INFORMAL norm (please make sure it is NOT a formal norm, which is a law). Remember, norms guide our actions and reactions when we engage other people. Ideally we would do this in a face to face manner but given the current situation- think outside the box- Are there norms that influence how we answer the phone? How we text? What we put on social media? After you decide what you are going to do, you need to document in a paragraph for each part n Step two. Remember this is a short breaching experiment and the purpose is to write a short report on how “othering” occurs through breaking a norm during social interaction. This assignment helps students with the General education objectives 1,5 and 6
Each part of the assignment is worth 8 points. Make sure you are writing at a college level- 5 to 7 sentences for each paragraph.