SA21-M: Aquino, Calingasan, Caluag, Chua Lim, de Leon, Evangelista, Umali

Miguel Aquino              

Alexis Calingasan

Billy Caluag         

Audrey Chua Lim

Nicole de Leon

Danielle Evangelista

Mychel Umali

SA21-M Breaching Project

Link to the video

1. What norm did you violate?

The norm that we violated was the breaching of public space. We staged a public argument that should normally be done in private.

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

The group decided to the breaching experiment on a Friday night in different locations in UP Town Center. This is to ensure that the audience would be a considerable high amount, and different people (i.e, teenagers, retail workers, children, adults, etc.) from all classes would be present as we stage the act. We assigned two people, to act as a couple. They are tasked to create a scene in public spaces such as the department store, a milk tea shop, the garden, and the food court. Some members were present at the scene was happening in order to take note and document the reactions of the people around them.

3. What were the different reactions of 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?

Throughout all of the experiments, the common reaction of the people is to glance once or twice while the action is happening. Despite some of them not having a full-on facial reaction, sometimes their body language shifts toward and, in one case, away from the scene. In most of them, people tend to pretend that they are minding their own business. They do not want to get involved in the actual situation, but they find it rather difficult to unhear the whole conversation once the ball starts rolling.

This seemingly apathetic type of reaction is probably caused by our own Filipino culture. We like to indirectly involve ourselves in different types of scandalous stories. In simpler terms, we listen to provide ourselves with chismis or gossip that we can share with other people. Most of the people focused on our videos try their best to look as if they were not listening, but it is assumed that they were. An example of this would be one incident that the actors were making a scene next to a couple in the garden. One of the actors stood up while simultaneously raising his voice. One of them glanced, while the girl subtly put her hair behind the ear that was nearest to the arguing actors.

The couple by the garden beside the actors were also giggling and laughing as the actors were in a heated argument. This was an action, which can be perceived as a pretension of minding their own business. They used the laughing as a way to counteract the current situation. They didn’t want the actors to know that they were actively listening to the actors’ conversation.

However, chismis is not the case for two of our audiences. As stated earlier, some of them do not want to get involved or are uncomfortable with the situation. As the actors argued next to two girls waiting in line for a table, the girl dragged the other to another spot. According to one of our actors, she said “let’s move there” as she pulled on the other girl’s hand.

The results of the breaching project reassured the norm that exists behind public and private discourse. It is an unusual occurrence in public, that is why they look; however, they do not want to appear as nosy, so they listen discreetly.

4. Aside from the norms, what SA 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.)

The public argument took place in 3 different locations with different demographics in each location. We changed locations to increase our number of reactions but then we noticed that the way people reacted also varied in each location.

The garden of UP Town Center was mostly filled with adolescents. Their reactions to the stages drama were mostly acts of gossip and curiosity. As previously mentioned they tried to hide that they were actively listening.

While in Coco, a milk tea place frequented by college students the responses were different. They tried to avoid the conflict by moving to another table and pulling out of the environment.

Finally, in Metro Department Store, which was packed with adults, the reactions we received were the tamest and quiet. Most of the people there were salesmen and saleswomen who remained at their posts while witnessing the argument. When the argument occurred in front of a saleswoman, she smiled and laughed in the probable attempt to be professional. While the other employees would gossip behind the backs of the actors, they still were ready to entertain other customers.

There are varying levels of the maturity and physical movement in the actions of the 3 demographics. The common factor is that they all remained to gossip and talk about the ongoing incident. However done in varying volumes, and emotions.

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?

This experiment required confidence. Both these actors had to muster up the courage to do something like this, and in a setting as public as this.

They were initially very hesitant to perform this experiment because of the circumstances that they were placed in. They had to perform a supposed private conversation in public places such as the mall. They were both very embarrassed after the fact that they did not even want to go back to those places and be seen twice. They would go far as to avoid any form of contact with the people who were eavesdropping on their conversation. They knew that they needed a lot of confidence to do something like that which is why they had a lot of apprehensions going into this. They were constantly thinking of what the people around them would say and think about their actions so they would have a hard time concentrating on their “role.” They knew that they were deviating from norms so they knew that if they were in the same situation, and they would be on the listening end, they would also feel uncomfortable being around something like that.