Escalator Daze (Chupa Chups)

Ching, Cuartero, Enriquez, Gabriel, Jose Group 6 Chupa Chups Breaching Experiment

Ms. Emily Roque SA 21 B

1) What norm did you violate?

The norms that we violated was norm in which people try to get to their destination using the escalator going the same direction as the person. As well as the norm of using the handle on your escalator as supposed to the handle of the opposite escalator.

2) Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?

First we went to the Regis Center, the establishment right across Ateneo which is connected to the campus via the Blue Bridge. We then proceed by first breaking the norm of using the escalator with the right direction.

One of our members goes up from the ground floor to the second floor while using the escalator that goes downward. It is evident that it caught a lot of attention since most of the people’s reactions were either disgust or they were puzzled why anyone would do such a thing, some people also saw it as a dare and thus disregarded the deviancy.

Secondly, we broke the norm of using the handles of the escalator you are riding. Another member rode the escalator, while sporting a straight face or a emotionless face (as if it was a normal day), held on to the handles on the opposite escalator. On the first try it went well, people were disgusted, and thus, it shows their negative attitude towards deviance. On the second try, two people on the other side were infuriated and kept on looking on the experimenter. They probably saw it as “angas” or “kupal(scumbag)” of us to use their handles. In the end, we managed to gather video of the reactions of most of the people which we used to conclude that deviancies are frowned upon by society.

3) What were the different reactions of the people? List all possible reactions you observed. Why do you think they reacted this way? What caused these reactions? Did the deviant act reaffirm/reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?

In our first experiment (climbing the opposite direction of the escalator), we noticed that some people were laughing, but some people looked at us disapprovingly. We noticed that those who were laughing were college students and those who looked disapprovingly were those in uniforms (possibly teachers/professors/employees).

• We believe they reacted this way because it violates the norms. These reactions may be caused by “Innovation’ where the goal is acceptable (reaching the top floor) but the means is rejected (going up the opposite direction escalator). Differential Association may also have taken place because prior the experiment I (Joao) already did deviant acts (the poor-man-in-katipunan experiment), thus made my groupmates more comfortable in doing deviant acts. The deviant act did affirm the existing norm since there are those who reacted negatively.

In our second experiment (holding the escalator railing of the opposite escalator), one of them (female) looked as if she was going to cry when she reached the bottom, and the others (males) looked pissed/enraged when the hand of our experimenter hit theirs.

• We think that the people reacted this way because it is not the normal “deviance” you encounter each day. In our first experiment, the reaction was less severe since we see children run up the escalator going in the opposite direction everywhere, but is still against the norm. In our second, it’s rare or almost not existing in what we did. An added factor in the reactions are the gender of the people. The female reacted very differently from the boys (calm to aggressive). differential Association will be more reinforced now since more members of the group already did deviant acts. This is another form of innovation since the goal (to be comfortable by holding the railing) is acceptable but the means (holding the other escalator’s railing) is rejected. This act of deviance reaffirmed the norms strongly based on the more intense reactions from the people.

4)  Aside from the norms, what are the other sociological themes at play for people to react in a certain way? Is it a function of gender (gender, norms, roles) social class (norms of the rich and the poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group, etc.)

Gender and age bracket played a huge factor with the reaction of the people. When the victim of our breaching experiment is female, she felt violated because of a male stranger touching her. When the victim is male on the other hand, he is enraged. Also, the difference of the reaction of the younger group (college students) is not as negative as the older group (professionals).

5) How did you feel when you did this experiment? How does it feel to deviate from the norms? Were you hesitant to do the activity?

Breaching experiments make you feel a tinge of excitement mainly because it’s something new and unexpected. People like to entertain and get the attention of others and this experiment made us laugh. It is thrilling to deviate in simple tasks like these because it is quite dangerous and we might get in trouble and people are caught by our attention. There is only little hesitance in the activity because we were excited to see the results of the experiment.

6) Other observations and analysis that you may have on the activity and on deviance in general.

After learning about deviance in SA 21 and having experienced it first hand through the experiment, we now know why deviance is called deviance. Another way of putting it is that we now know why non-deviance or conformity is the norm. It is easier to conform to the norms than to go against it, because if you go against them you will have to put a conscious effort to, like in the experiment; when we conform sometimes we even do so unconsciously. We also tend to feel more secure when we conform because of the added reassurance from society that we aren't doing anything deviant and that we are being structurally functional members of society. While there is nothing "wrong" about breaking the norms, it is still more common to follow them and people are theoretically more likely to as well, that's why deviance is seen as deviance.