Social norms present standards of acceptable behavior set and followed by different groups. Social norms can often be informal, meaning they do not necessarily need to take the form of laws or written rules. However, even informal norms act as a mechanism of social control because they promote the development of shared expectations of normal human behavior. This essay will describe my experience breaking a social norm and analyze it to demonstrate the important role of social norms in human socialization.
Firstly, the social norms of behavior for movie theater visitors are known as cinema etiquette. The main purpose of visiting a movie theater for the general audience is to enjoy the entertainment, and for more advanced viewers, the main goal is to appreciate the art form. However, the movie screening process involves having a large number of people in one room. Thus, the social norms of behavior in movie theaters appeared as a result of attempts to eliminate potential distractions and ensure a comfortable viewing process for customers. Therefore, by respecting the rules and not disturbing viewers from the film, visitors expect others to behave similarly.
Therefore, cinema etiquette requires viewers to turn off cell phones or put them on silent mode and avoid talking and loudly rustling with food packaging. My initial plan to violate the social norm is to distract viewers from the film by turning on the sound of the call on my cellphone. Depending on the reaction from the public, I plan to play the ringing sound several times during the movie.
Next, considering the possible reactions others will have to the violation, I expect that people from nearby seats will immediately reprimand me. Next, as a major reaction, I expect someone from the audience to shout to ask the violator to turn off the phone. This specific reaction is sourced from my personal experience when I went to the movie theater, and someone else violated the cinema etiquette.
For the experiment on violating a social norm, I chose the nearest movie theater and a screening of a popular movie in the evening time to ensure that there were many viewers in the room. The presence of children in the audience can also distract viewers from the film because children generally do not adhere to social norms that much. Thus, the experiment audience was mainly comprised of adults and young adults, which fit the film’s target audience.
When I initially turned on the sound of the call during the process of audience gathering, nobody paid attention to me. Next, when I repeated the process during the film’s opening credits, the audience also ignored the violation. However, when I turned on the sound of the call in the middle of the film, some people from the front rows started looking back at me with annoyed expressions. Lastly, after a key plot segment in the film, a man from a couple sitting in nearby seats reached out to me and asked me to turn on the silent mode. Thus, I have not experienced sanctions after the experiment because I did not dare to violate the social norm harshly.
In conclusion, violating the social norm made me feel both fear and relief. I was uncomfortable with unpleasant glances from people from the front rows, and I was afraid they would consider me a bad person. However, I was surprised that the audience reacted differently than I expected. In my opinion, conforming to social norms plays a significant role in socialization because people avoid communication with those who deliberately violate social norms and attract negative attention from society. In the experiment context, I think that people who looked at me disapprovingly made the wrong first impression of me, and it will be more difficult for me to socialize with them.