Adre, de Luna, Foronda, Manzana, Pollisco

SA 21 K

Breaching Experiment

1.                We aimed to break the clothing norm by wearing a gas mask in a mall

2.              The entire group went to UP Town Center at 3 PM, where one of our groupmates, Augusto Adre, wore a gas mask. He also looked extremely suspicious because he was wearing a black jacket coupled with the black gas mask. Knowing that this could be hazardous to us, especially to our groupmate who was dressed up for the breaching because people might react violently (i.e., do self-defense out of fear, report us to the guards for suspicious behavior, etc), we first asked the guard at the entrance if we could do a breaching activity. We explained that we are students from the Ateneo de Manila who are doing a breaching experiment wherein we try to defy and break the norms. The group told the guard that one of us would be wearing a gas mask around the mall. However, the guard asserted that we should go to the administrative office to confirm. We did as she told, and soon, we got the approval of the administrative office. The personnel told us, however, that we could only roam around with Augusto wearing a gas mask until 4 PM.

3.              Restriction from Administration

Prior to conducting the experiment itself, the group asked permission from the administration of the establishment. The administration reluctantly gave us permission to conduct the experiment but with heavy guidelines and regulations such as: a. always have someone accompany the deviant, as to not scare off the malls patrons. b. Only conduct the experiment up to 4:00PM (roughly 1 hour).

Stares

Several people, both employees and patrons of the mall were staring and looking at our deviant as they pass by, or as they were standing by. Several people also did what we call a “double take” wherein they saw our deviant as they were passing by, and then turn their heads again to get a closer look.

Not permitted inside some establishments

There are some establishments, such as FamilyMart, that did not allow the entry of our deviant. Although no established reason was given, it was assumed that it was for security purposes.

Questions from security

In the establishments that we were able to get into, security personnel asked the group several questions about our deviant, asking if he has a disease, or why he is wearing the mask. Questions that again pertain to security measures.

Followed by security

Inside the establishments (Aeropostale), security personnel followed our deviant as he was roaming around the store.

Salesperson

The sales person still offered their merchandise to be offered to the deviant, without questioning anything about the mask.

Children

One small girl roaming around the store went back to her mom when she saw the deviant.

4.              It is important to note the circumstances of which we were allowed to partake in the social experiment. Management only allowed us to execute the experiment under 2 conditions. The first of which was that we could only conduct the experiment for a time period of around 1 hour, and the second is that we have to go as a group at all times. These were primarily reasoned out to be due to security. The latter condition must thus signify the security commonly associated with number.

This may be rooted in our tendency to believe in safety in numbers. This is commonly known as herd mentality and is responsible for our tendency to act similarly to the surrounding people. Although this is related to the norms, it is not exactly the same. Norms are directed and reinforced by the institution, and due to that, we had to ask permission to partake in the experiment.

Group behavior, however, is determined by the actions of the members. It seems that breaching a norm in the context of a herd partially normalizes the behavior. It makes it a bit more of an acceptable sight as shown by the sales people who were still willing to sell to the group, or how we were still allowed to buy and stay in establishments such as Jamba Juice.  

However, this does not mean all people eventually accepted our behavior. It seems that their perceived role in the public mall also affected their behavior. The sales people still sold us food and clothes even when breaching the norm because they are expected to sell their products. Since their occupation is not in relation to perceived safety, the breach in the norms did not drastically affect their behavior. Their reaction is based on their perceived function.

On that same note, the guard at FamilyMart did not let us in. This may be due to the guards’ function to protect the shop. Since safety is associated with the norms, a breach of the norms is associated with risk. This may also be in lieu of current events. With the rise in crime rates and bomb threats on public places in Quezon City, people are becoming more and more restless. Their sensitivity to breaches in the norms are an effort to detect and avoid perilous situations.

5.              Augusto: I felt reluctant because of the security threat I posed to be. I felt both fear and confusion in the reactions of bystanders.

6.              Seeing the way people reacted to the deviance done by our group makes you see how people have grown to associate certain appearances with certain situations. For our case, seeing a person in a gas mask would make one think that there is either some kind of poisonous fume in the air, or the person behind the mask is a terrorist of some sort. While the mask alone should not have any meaning aside from its original use, which is for protection, putting it in a setting wherein the norm is to dress casually can cause alarm in unsuspecting people. Deviating from a norm can cause a lot of discomfort in a crowd, depending on the intensity of the deviance.

For things such as cross-dressing, while it isn’t too uncommon nowadays, people still usually do a double take when they realize that that person in the dress is actually a boy, or that the cool guy with the undercut and shades is actually a girl. It causes some commotion, but not enough to raise any extreme reactions (most of the time).

However, when you take the deviance to a higher step, like the gas mask, which is usually seen worn in a battlefield, being worn to a mall, the commotion it causes is a lot more than cross-dressing. There was one man we saw who was pointing at Augusto and elbowing his companion, telling him to look. There was another who took a double take, and then a triple take, until such a point that he was walking forward but looking backward to stare at Augusto.

Norms remind us that what we see as our “free” world is not as free as we think it is. In order to keep a certain standard of composure, certain measures need to be followed to ensure that people will maintain orderly and undisturbed.