Capistrano, Laluces, Llorin, Padilla, Villanueva SA21 - A Breaching Experiment
1) What norm did you violate?
The norm that we violated from was the norm that people have to be friends or close friends before they open up to someone. In the Philippine society, the norm is that you should never talk to strangers especially in an outside environment. This is because you never know what those strangers are planning. They could be part of a modus operandi group, a thief, a rapist, a kidnapper, a serial killer, or some other criminal. It is also a norm that we should not talk about private or intimate things with people that we just met because we do not know each other that well. Since personal questions concern us more than first impressions, they are generally asked with a context of personal background. In our experiment, we tested if people would first, talk to us, then, open up to us and answer our personal questions even if we only just met them.
2) Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?
The breaching experiment that we performed was to go up to random strangers and pretended to know them. We then proceeded to ask personal and private questions as well as ask for advice from them. We performed the breaching experiment in establishments in Katipunan. We chose the Katipunan area so that we would increase the diversity of people that we would talk to. This is because if we did the experiment in school, we would talk to mostly Ateneans and these Ateneans would be more open to talk to us due to the fact that they assume that we are both students as well as the fact that people are less open in a public environment compared to inside school grounds. Also, if we performed the experiment in school, people would automatically assume that what we are doing is a breaching experiment.
Personal and private questions were asked during the experiment. These were questions that you would only typically ask a friend. Such questions included: “How is your love life?”, “How are your grades in school?”, “Kamusta ka na?” and “How is tito or tita?”.
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 re-affirm/reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?
People reacted in different manners. Some people blatantly ignored us, not answering any of our questions. They would just walk away or turn their backs, pretending not to have heard us, sometimes even rolling their eyes as they leave or turn. They could have reacted this way thinking we were not talking to them, or had them confused with someone else. Others were weirded out and gave judging faces with no response, while others politely refused to answer our questions. One person just laughed and ignored us for the rest of the time. A few answered the questions, but only limited their answers to obvious replies such as “okay naman” or “wala eh”, without further elaboration.
Having unfriendly reactions from most of our participants only re-affirms the existing norms of small talk and not talking to strangers without careful consideration. Living in Metro Manila, we are aware of the dangers of trusting strangers. Since kidnapping, holdup, snatching, are only among the crimes that are present or even common along public places, we are more cautious and careful of the people we talk to.
4) 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 rich & the poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group, etc.).
Aside from deviating norms, there was also the factor of gender that affected the way people reacted. For instance, girls seemed more comfortable talking to fellow girls as well. The men of the group found it easier to talk to other guys, like saying “Bro” before approaching them, so one can try to be friendly right away. It was especially awkward for different genders to interact with each other
Age was also a factor during the experiment. We approached more people we think are of the same age than us than those we think are older than us. We thought that talking to people of our same age would be easier since we already have something in common with them. Asking older people these personal questions might be disrespectful for them. When we asked the questions, some people, probably the same age as us, actually jokingly answered our questions.
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?
Keith: I felt very awkward doing this experiment because I am not used to walking up to random people and talking to them. Personally, if this experiment was done to me I would not even talk to the person because I grew up commuting everyday and I’ve learned to always be cautious of everyone and to not talk to random people outside. It feels weird and awkward deviating from the norms especially the norms that I follow very seriously. At the start of the experiment I was very hesitant to do it because I felt that I would not be able to do it “normally” and would end up ruining the experiment. After a few tries, I was able to do it a bit better but I still felt awkward inside.
Alex: I’m the type of person that doesn’t really talk to other people unless they are the first to approach and strike up a conversation. Due to this, I felt really uncomfortable approaching people and acting as if I knew them. While I was talking to the people, I could feel that they felt the awkwardness. For me, doing something that isn’t considered a norm is weird because it’s not something that we are used to.
Camille: I don’t usually talk to strangers unless it’s just about saying “excuse me”, “is this seat taken”, etc that’s why this experiment was kind of challenging for me. I’m not good with having small talks with strangers more so with asking them personal things. I think I wasn’t able to execute it naturally. The person must have felt that I was just acting and that could have been the reason why he had no reaction at first but eventually happily answered my question. I think he is the type of person that is really friendly and has no problem with talking to strangers. Doing things that deviate from the norm, such as this experiment, makes me feel that I am not part of the society because what I have done is not common. It feels like I am out of place and that feeling makes me uncomfortable. I was hesitant to do the experiment especially because I’m a shy person,but at the same time I wanted to experience doing things out of the norm.
Leanne: I would usually small talk guards, personnel, cashiers, or other people we encounter with everyday. However, I only converse with them on a shallow level for I find it strange to ask questions too personal. I think personal questions are more for friends or relatives than people I just met. This experiment challenged me to have a deeper conversation with people immediately without having any sort of glass to break. Deviating from the norms of small talk made me feel like I was stepping over the line between being creepy and friendly. I felt hesitant to ask personal questions for even I would not be comfortable with a stranger asking me questions about my life. Skipping small talk made me feel rude for small talk is a courteous norm for beginning a conversation.
Reyo: I usually try to keep to myself, and the only times I meet other people is during class or when I’m doing org work. And even then all I ever talk about is just smalltalk, and I generally consider anything further than that to talked about only among close friends. The first time I tried to do this experiment, I could barely say anything, and I kept laughing to myself so it wouldn’t be awkward. Eventually, though, after trying to talk to the first couple of people and ask them questions, I gained more confidence and started talking more casually. It still felt a lot more awkward, though.
6.) Other observations and analysis that you may have on the activity and on deviance in general
The culture of small talk and immediately asking personal questions in the Philippines is not normally done by everyone unlike for example in the United States. We have this notion in our country that a person trying to talk to us might be a modus operandi or might harm us in a way. That could be the reason why most of the people we asked were either hesitant to answer or they completely ignored us. However, there were still some who answered us maybe because we are of the same age as them, or the ones who asked them were of the same gender as them. We observed that people are more comfortable when they are approached by people of their same age and same gender. Also, the fact that we asked them around a location (Katipunan area) that seems comfortable because people are mostly students, made them feel less weirded out or scared compared when we just ask them along crowded streets or someplace sketchy or creepy.
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