Psych Experiment - Breaking Social Norms

[ckay87]

I think you don't want to do something that will make you look mentally ill. I'm serious, because then people will just ignore you. If I saw you talking to an imaginary friend, for example, I would just assume you had a mental deficiency of some sort and I would politely ignore you, as would most, I think.

 

[design_mom]

-- taking a seat next to someone you don't know when there are many empty seats

Just a story that I figured out about why some people do that (not for an assignment). When I was in college, I had a part-time job downtown. I took the bus to get there. When I got on the bus, it was nearly empty. Invariably, someone would "share" my seat even if there were still many empty seats. It used to bug me.

However, then I noticed that by the time I got *off* the bus, it was nearly full... and included a stop in front of the mental health center. There were some "interesting people" who got on. By sitting with someone who was already there, you got to pick your seat partner. If you sat in an empty seat, you gave up control of who was going to sit next to you (and *someone* was most assuredly going to sit next to you.)

After realizing that, when I got on the bus I had to take a mental survey of the current bus riders. Which was the safer bet: sitting next to a current passenger, or taking my chances with who would sit next to me. And sometimes I did end up sitting next to people when there were empty seats. I always felt weird doing it, but... I felt less weird when I saw some of the other people who got onto the bus.

 

[KimR]

Fill up an empty Jack Daniel's bottle with iced tea. Go someplace where you won't get arrested, pull it out and start chugging it.

 

[pooh4brains]

My roomies in college had to do this experiment. One was very extroverted, and she went to the grocery store dressed a little crazy (lots of layers, a funny hat, sweats tucked into socks, gloves in the late spring, etc) and she talked to a few few people in the store very politely, and was very chatty but kind with the cashier. We were in a small town, and the reactions to this were fabulous - a lot of raised eybrows and comments. But even though she LOOKED crazy, people were visibly surprised when she was actually very nice and normal in behavior.

My other roomie was a little less extroverted. She was on a weekend trip, and asked several people if she could borrow their toothbrush because she had left hers at home. Talking to individual people that you know and asking a question that invades personal space might be the way to go. She got wonderful reactions, and people thought it was hilarious when she explained to them that she had to do it for class.

 

[KimR]

Go to a restaurant and ask a stranger if you can have a bite of their entree.

Some of these are so funny I'm tempted to try a few of them just to see people's reactions and then claim it's for a class assignment.

 

[Gigi22]

Randomly purchase a coffee for the next person in line at a fast food place.

 

[t_daniels]

Randomly purchase a coffee for the next person in line at a fast food place.

I love doing this.

At the shop I work at....we had a chain reaction once.20 people bought a drink for the person behind them!

 

[Earstou]

I had this assignment when I was in college over 30 years ago!
I went to the student union into the lounge area where everyone would sit around and wait for their next class. I would find someone reading a newspaper, sit next to them and then start reading their paper over their shoulders.
The funniest reaction was the middle-aged guy who thought I was trying to pick him up!!!

 

[daughtersrus]

Fill up an empty Jack Daniel's bottle with iced tea. Go someplace where you won't get arrested, pull it out and start chugging it.

Similar to that, fill a mayo jar with vanilla pudding and eat it in public.

My daughter had to do this. She ordered one of those fake pregnancy bellies off the Internet ( not expensive) and went out for cocktails with girlfriends at the bar. Yikes!

Personally, I wouldn't do this. A very close friend of mine found out in her 8th month that the baby had died. The next day, she was going to be induced. They decided to go out to dinner that night. She ordered a glass of wine and someone went off on her asking her if she knew that she was harming her baby, telling her what a horrible mom she was going to be...No one knew that she was going through.

 

[Tralliam]

With so many people walking/sitting around staring at phones/tablets, you could peer over their shoulder and comment to them about what they are reading etc. My kids do this to my wife and I all the time and it drives us nuts.

I saw this on Youtube a few days ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6fcl-zFXzg it's actually a commercial for the monitor company. Not really feasible but fun to watch

 

[OceanAnnie]

I had something happen to me that was mildly annoying but not awful. Might be fun to try. I was at a warehouse and was checking out. I had a good number of things. Not huge. Anyway all the lanes were empty. This lady came up and stood in line behind me! I felt rushed and confused as to why she would choose to wait behind me when all lanes were empty! So I glanced her way and mentioned to her all the other lanes are empty. Turns out she was glad I told her and scooted over to an empty lane. She just wasn't paying attention.

Something like that would be harmless.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

I have one...why don't you stare at someone and when they say "WHAT!" you can say in a really suprised way, "You can see me?" and look around like you thought you were invisable!

That would be funny!

 

[yoopermom]

A simple one that I do just to be kind is to refuse the offer of a quarter from someone when you give them your cart at Aldis. Most people act like I've given them my first born child . It's worth a quarter, people, not a twenty!

Terri