Social Norm Examples

The Effects of an Invasion of Personal Space in a Public Setting Social norms are a part of any culture. Each society constructs its own norms. In each society norms tell a person how it is normal to behave. If someone deviates from the norm they risk rejection by society. Azar (2004) theorizes that we follow social norms not only because of conformity but also because there are benefits for us as well. Some examples are the feeling of being kind and the feeling of impressing others. Every society has many norms with are followed without much thought. By following these norms there is less risk of being ostracized by your society. A more specific norm is the norm of personal space which is an invisible bubble we put around our bodies and
Subjects were studied at random from people at the mall on the particular day of the study. There were about 30 female subjects who were all adults looking to be between the ages of 18 and 50. After noting each person's reaction I informed them that I was doing a study about personal space for a research paper.
Procedure
The first half of the study was done in the women's restroom not long after the mall opened so it was not as crowded. While there was one woman washing her hands I walked up and started washing my hand less than six inches away from her. I did this about 15 times and tried to do it when there was only one woman washing her hands. The second half of the study was conducted in the food court. I waited about an hour between the first part of the experiment and the second part so that there was less of a chance the same people would be involved. As a person was ordering their food at one of the restaurants I went up and pretended to be trying to decide what I wanted to eat. Like the first part of the experiment I stood approximately six inches or closer to the subjects and I did this about 15
There was a noticeable difference between the restroom experimental and restroom control group. While in the restroom the majority of women washed their hands faster when I was intruding into their personal space than when I did not. With the exception of two people every woman quickly finished washing their hands and walked away without looking back. One woman rudely asked me to scoot over and the other took the time to wash her hands but gradually leaned farther away from me. For the food court group my hypothesis was not supported. The results from the food court were a little different from the restroom group although there was still a difference between the experimental food court and control food court groups. Since the women still had to wait to get the food they were not able to hurry and remove themselves from the situation. For the most part the women just continued to scoot over when I invaded their personal space. A couple of them cleared their throats, gave me dirty looks, and/or asked me to move. I noticed they were more vocal and outspoken than the women in the restroom were. I believe this is because there was no immediate way out of the situation because they were in the process of getting food and could not just walk away. I also noticed that women who were by themselves were less likely to speak up than the ones that had one or two friends with them