The Effects of Social Norms on Society

Dr. Kenneth Hoffman Sociology 200-302 2 January 2013 The Effects of Social Norms on Society In a foundation where r bring outine is dominant and variegate is difficult to adhere by, social norms piddle work major assets for a smoothly functioning day. With the experiment of breaking normative behavior I wanted to do something acute yet startling. Sometimes the sm onlyest changes in behavior receive the toughest adjustments. First impressions have a strong baffle on a persons relationship with someone else. With that being said, I decided to change the way I went about address community.The opening tell aparting of shaking hands and smiling has become so common it has lost value and become routine. The subtle change I made to my greeting was that I decided to only say my name in a mo nonone voice and charge up hands with the wrong hand, leading to responses of surprise, unease, and sometimes anger. With most people being repair handed, I have made the assumption that this c ould be why the common greeting is to shake with ones right hand. The normal greeting is to smile, say hello, and shake with your right hand. People have interpreted what use to be excitement to seeing each other to going through common motions repeated multiple times.This greeting is a sign that one may have come from a proper upbringing and family, perhaps middle to upper class. It is similarly taken as a common sign of acceptance to strangers coming upon for the first time. My sample size of people ranged from people of each(prenominal) ages and relationships to me. I decided I would greet with a plain face and state my name and reach out with my left hand with all introductions. People who did not know me well believed I was unpleasant and felt awkward. My new greeting was taken with surprise, as people who know me well believed I was in a bad mood or having a bad day.If I dont do the norm Im considered overthrow and negative. From the experiment I learned that people commo nly receive me as joyful and energetic. In a way my own personal norm has evolved into me being upbeat whether my day has been good or bad. wholly people react to different stimuli in their own way. With that being said, I was surprised to find that out of the 20+ people I greeted against the norm, only one gave my greeting a normal response without interruption. The solitary person was a 12 year old boy I see regularly and he just continued what he was doing without a hint of awkwardness.The older people would teach and try to right what they took as my ignorance toward a common greeting. A few of these older experimentees actually refused to shake my hand unless it was a right handed shake. People around the same age as me were awkward with a grim manner, laughed, or just went ahead and shook my left hand after a moment of hesitation. With all the immediate responses having large variance, the most correlated response was that people thought there was something wrong with my social welfare and tried to cheer me up.The overall response to the experiment ended up being quite humorous. It also opened my eyes to how much the people in my life care about me. While I expected the awkward moments, I expected more people to just go along with it and not be startled. Even the slightest changes in ones actions can affect the response and mood of how people interact with one another. In this case, it was subtle yet changed the entire complexion of the exchanges between the people I intercepted. With responses ranging from laughter to confusion, the smallest changes in normative behavior can have most astonishing results.