“Need Money for iPhone 6” Experiment

Group 3- Solidum, Santiago, Ortega, Risos, Pascual

1.   What norm did you violate?

This experiment was intended to perform acts that deviate from the expectations of the society that the people who solicit or ask for donations. Normally, people solicit and beg for money for survival purposes or for charity. This breaching experiment was deviant in a sense that instead of asking for necessities or for a good cause, the proponents asked for “first-world problems”.

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

This was a breaching experiment wherein the proponents acted like solicitors and beggars asking for donations for “first-world problems” such as funds for the new iPhone 6 instead of the typical type of begging like asking money for survival or charity. The proponents actually used props such as envelops, cardboard notes, iPads and speeches for the solicitations. It tested bystanders’ reactions when they encounter the unusual solicitors.

The objective is to see how people, the commuters and bystanders, react to deviant people, which, in this experiment, are the not-so-ordinary solicitors. The second objective is to relate the reactions to demographics such age groups and social class.

The proponents of the experiment approached random people in various establishments in the Katipunan area and solicit for donations to raise funds to buy the newly released iPhone 6. In the process, some of the researchers used an iPad app instead of a cardboard sign saying “Need Money 4 iPhone 6”.

The experiment was conducted in the Katipunan area like the Regis Center and the Gate 3.5 of the Ateneo de Manila University. This area was chosen because of demographics. In Katipunan, there are a lot of people from different social classes and age groups that spend time there.

3.   Aside from the norms, what sociological themes are 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 & the poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group, etc.).

Most of the subjects of the experiment ridiculed the proponents as solicitors and that they did not take the solicitations seriously. This stems from the “first-world problem” nature of the solicitation. Because the Philippines is a third-world country, Filipinos usually do not entertain problems that are not practical. Some of the subjects even guessed that the activity was an experiment for school.

Social class actually has the greatest impact on people’s reactions. Most of the people that the proponents encountered who were from the lower class of the society actually felt a bit offended. The respondents who were AB and C classes did not take the solicitation properly. Other than that, age also has a great impact on the people’s reactions. Most of the people who are around the same age as the proponents found it funny and most of them did not actually take it seriously. The older respondents took the solicitation seriously and actually expressed bad reactions because of how shallow it was.

4.   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 re-affirm/reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?

Most of the subjects that are students were quick to guess that the activity was an experiment. This might be because the students were exposed to the subject of sociology. However, some of the subjects were visibly offended by the experiment because of how it made the researchers seem insensitive to the different problems of the people who come from lower economic classes. It reaffirmed the norm that only those who actually need the money for more relevant issues are “allowed” to approach people for donations. People around the same age as the researchers actually just smiled because of how unusual it was and most of them did not take the solicitation seriously. The older subjects, however, were kind of judgemental to the researchers probably because they thought the solicitation was too shallow.

As what was mentioned before, the social class, age groups and occupations had an impact on people’s reactions. Students especially from UP and Ateneo figured that it was for Sociology and Anthropology class. People around our age just laughed and did not take us seriously. The older people were annoyed and actually thought we were being serious. The people from the lower class were a bit offended because of how superficial the proponent’s “problem” was. An example was the person from the sari-sari store saying “Ate, ito na nga lang cellphone ko hihingian mo pa kami para niyan?”

The reactions definitely re-affirmed norms because the subjects’ reactions were similar to what the proponents envisioned. The fact that people were just laughing at the proponents and that the subjects did not actually give money to the proponents shows that there are certain “problems in the society” wherein people are actually willing to give money to and that there are some problems that are not really important.

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?

At first, some of the proponents were hesitant because of how the randomly chosen lower class people would take the solicitation. The researchers actually realized that it was easy to deviate from norms knowing that they can explain to the respondents that it is for academic purposes. Some of the respondents felt embarrassed after doing the breaching experiment on certain respondents like the older respondents and respondents from the lower class.

6.   Other concerns.

The nature of the experiment was very prone to offending the subjects because of its relation to the subjects’ social classes. Also, one of the subjects approached the researchers to ask for permission to use the idea of the experiment for his future art performance. Aside from that, the proponents had to do the activity in establishments where solicitations are not supposed to be done just so they can get people from most classes and ages.