BREACHING EXPERIMENT: THE ELEVATOR NORM

Abundo

Alog

Cimafranca

Morales

Tanbio

Yap

SA21 G

"Something is definitely wrong here"

1.) What norm did you violate?

One common unspoken norm followed practically everywhere in the world today involves facing the elevator door immediately after entering the elevator. It is only in rare occasions, such as when the elevator has a mirror on the side opposite the door, where people would have a reason to face the back of the elevator rather than the front. This is the norm we attempted to violate for our breaching experiment. We wanted to observe the different possible reactions of people who enter an elevator already filled with other people facing the back of the elevator.

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

The breaching experiment was conducted in Berkeley Residences, Katipunan. We chose this location because from our experience of visiting the location, we found that there are several types of people who live here - which we believe would make the results of experiment, to a degree, randomly sampled (and interesting). The experiment was conducted after our classes because we believed this would be the time where a lot of people would be returning to their condominiums.

The breaching experiment involved us group members entering an elevator before anyone else gets in; to achieve this, we entered the elevator from the top floor of the building. In order for nothing to seem out of place, we dressed casually and pretended not to know one another. After entering the elevator, we immediately faced the back of the elevator instead of the elevator door.

After we prepared ourselves inside the elevator, we simply waited for the elevator to go down and for someone to enter. Once a person entered the elevator, we pretended like nothing was out of the ordinary (casually texting with our phones; having a little chat) - all while still facing the back of the elevator. While doing this, all of us were carefully observing the different reactions of the people who enter - this included facial expression, body movement, and even what they said. Aside from the reactions, we also made sure to identify the types of people who entered the elevator. These observations included the person’s gender and estimated age among others. One member was also in charge of attempting to record the entire procedure with his cellphone without being caught.

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 the reactions? Did the deviant act reaffirm/reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?

The first few trials of the experiment were done around 4:30-5:00 PM. All these trials ended up with the people facing the door immediately after entering the elevator - which was the opposite of the reaction we thought we would get. One of the main reasons we believe this occurred was because only three members from the group were present at that time and the low number did not really have a major influence on the people who entered the elevator. Another reason we attribute to the reactions was the fact that the first people who entered the elevator after us always came in groups. Because the people who entered were not alone, they probably did not even notice any difference.

Aside from the number of people entering the elevator at a time, it should also be noted that Berkeley is composed of residential units. Because of this, the different people who we encountered during our experiment were undoubtedly familiar with the area. We believe that this imbibed in them a sense of confidence in their own personal actions because the setting was one which they were comfortable in; because of this, they seemingly ignored the outside influence that we introduced. It is possible that a totally different reaction would have occurred if the experiment was conducted in a setting such as a mall, where people using the elevator are not accustomed to the area.

          The next set of trials was conducted at around 8:00 PM. These trials were different from the previous ones because we noticed that less people were using the elevator at this time. This immediately showed a few changes because the first person who entered the elevator during this set of trials entered alone. In the trials we conducted, we noticed that this first person always tried to catch a glimpse of our faces as he entered the elevator. After selecting which floor he wanted to go to, we noticed that they did not face the elevator door like before. Instead they seemed to hesitate at first and ultimately ended up facing the side or the back of the elevator. We believe the difference in reactions between these trials and the ones conducted earlier was primarily because of the fact that the person was alone.

          After the first person however, when more people began entering the elevator, the reactions changed. Immediately after another person entered the elevator, the first person shifted and faced the elevator door. The succeeding people who entered also followed suit and faced the door. We believe these reactions point to the idea that the first person might have immediately found it awkward to be facing the back of the elevator and was actively searching for an opportunity to return to the norm which involved facing the front.

          These reactions lead us to believe that people ultimately, consciously or not, prefer to face the front of an elevator when inside it. Thus, our deviance act definitely reaffirms that there is a norm that does currently exist and it can create an awkward situation when broken or deviated from.

4.) Aside from 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 & poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group, etc.)

          One thing we noticed amongst the trials we conducted at around 8:00PM was that majority of the people who hesitated to face the elevator door were females. Although you can’t immediately conclude that males are more resistant to deviance than females, we believe gender definitely had something to do with the different reactions we encountered that night. One possible reason for the difference is that because all of the members of our group are males, it would definitely be more awkward inside the elevator for an isolated female than just another male.

          In terms of social class, we were luckily able to gather reactions from different social classes. Some of the people who entered the elevator were obviously students or professors who resided in the building. On the other hand, there were also laundry women and yayas. We believe this was very important because it enabled us to try and differentiate the reactions between the two social classes. Without looking at the data, one would suspect that people of lower social class may be more inclined to give in to the deviance from the norms. One may say that because these people are less immersed in an environment involving elevators, they probably are not aware of the norms that are present and will simply follow what they are immediately presented with. However, there did not seem to be any differences in their reactions. The group believes that this is because the laundry women and maids in this building can’t really represent the social class as a whole because they probably have already been inside the building many times before in order to fulfil their jobs.

          We also somehow noticed the presence of Social Conflict also played a significant role in our breaching experiment as every time someone who was alone entered the elevator, there was a somewhat imbalance as we, as a group, had strength in numbers placing us in a position of power over him or her. This “power” that we had of course pressured that person to conform and face the direction that we were facing as well.

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?

Honestly, none of us were hesitant to do the activity at all. The day we came up with the ideas for our proposals, we were all really excited to start doing the experiment. Most of us didn't even consider the activity as a hassle because we truly wanted to see the reactions of the people. We were legitimately curious whether people nowadays would give in to the awkwardness of being inside an elevator where everyone besides them were behaving in ways different from what they usually encounter.

          During the hours prior to conducting the activity however we began to feel a bit nervous. We don't think it was because we were afraid of breaking the norms. It was more of an anxious feeling that maybe no one would even notice our deviation from the norm. Coupled with this anxiety however was excitement because of the unique nature of the activity. Unlike most activities which are conducted inside the premises of the university, this activity actually allowed us to do some actual work outside with other people.

          When we actually performed the activity, it was really hard for us to keep a straight face and act like nothing strange was happening. During our first few trials, some members laughed inside the elevator the moment someone walked inside. Ultimately, the activity was very entertaining for us researchers yet also very informative.

          As mentioned above, for the first stop in each trial, that one person who was alone who would enter the elevator with us seemed confused and hesitant to follow what we were doing yet at the same time hesitant to go against the majority, which was, at that stop, us. However, once we got to the middle floors and people started coming in groups and all started to face the door again, we started to feel like we were the ones out of place with just the four of us facing the other direction. Those instances were probably the times when we felt most hesitant and apprehensive about the experiment and upon talking about it after each trial, we all actually started to want to go back to the norm of facing the door and not stand out and look like idiots (to put it bluntly).

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

        Considering what our group did for the activity, we learned that deviance or a deviant act may not always be that weird, different, taboo or controversial. A lot of is based on perception and how people acknowledge and react to it. So, the feeling of straying away from the norms really comes from people reacting and in a way validating it as something deviant. The power of the deviance stems from the fact that people will regard it as such. If the people in the elevator did not treat our activity as anything noteworthy, then it loses a lot of its weight. It’s not always a given that deviance is a bad thing. In the case of our activity, it didn’t have any negative repercussions on the group members or the people who were subject to it.  Deviance is something that becomes an issue in society but again, it all depends on the interactions which supersede it. In a perspective where societal constructs can change, acts which are considered deviant can always change, reflecting the current status quo.