Team Breaching Experiment Assignment
Background
Sociologist Harold Garfinkel is credited with the idea that we can understand how our
social worlds are constructed by tearing down some of the social norms that shape our
lives. He called this "breaching experiments." According to Garfinkel, when norms are
broken down, we attempt to reconstruct a sense of order in our lives. We often act as if
the norms are still present.
Breaching has many "faces." It involves observing how others try to reconstruct a sense
of order in their social worlds, but it may also involve someone disrupting the sense of
order by violating social norms or expectations. This may cause discomfort on the part of
the person doing the breaching, as well as on the part of the person attempting to restore
order.
The breaching experiment is a classic activity in both deviance and social psychology. It
provides an opportunity to act upon harmless impulses that social norms and expectations
might have discouraged you from doing. Adult learners will disrupt some sort of social
reality. Each team will select a single social norm that each individual member will
disrupt individually (or, ideally, in pairs of rotating actors and observers). The team will
collaborate to write a full description and evaluation of their experiment called the Team
Breaching Experiment Final Report.
Assignment
1. From the list below, choose one social norm to violate (or negotiate an alternative with
the instructor): Must be submitted for approval by Tuesday September 4, 2012 if not
approved it must be resubmitted by Friday September 7, 2012.
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Walk backward around town or in a shopping mall
Board a bus and start singing out loud
Board a bus and ask another passenger for his/her seat
Face the rear of an elevator with passengers on it
Wear a winter coat on a nice, sunny, spring day
Wear a pair of Bermuda shorts and a tank top on a cold winter day
Go into a restaurant, order and PAY for a sandwich. Eat half of the sandwich and
leave it on the table. Leave the restaurant. Have an accomplice enter the
restaurant, sit down at the table, and eat the rest of the sandwich.
Sing to yourself as you walk through a museum or library
Maintain eye contact with someone's foot during an entire conversation
Go to any public place where there are many people you don't know and attempt
to get people to hug you.
Amish and What the Cluck examples
During a 24 hour period, every time someone asks, “how are you?” stop and
actually give an honest answer.
Personal Space Normas
Another norm to be negotiated with the instructor
A CAUTIONARY REMINDER: You are being asked to behave in a way that does not fit with an
implicit social norm; you are not being asked to break a law or other rules. Furthermore, in accord
with the principles of psychological research, you should not engage in any behavior that could harm
someone else or yourself.
Team Breaching Experiment Assignment
2. Conduct your Experiments. Each team member must conduct multiple experiments;
expect to spend at least 4-6 hours total on this task. A team may be a maximum of four
students and a minimum of 2. Experiment should be completed by Monday October
8, 2012
3. Individual Field Notes: As you conduct your experiment, keep careful and detailed
notes of all you observe. Each member of the team will need these notes when you write
your report:
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What were the social norms that you were trying to violate or breach?
Describe your norm-violating actions and the settings in which they occurred. For
instance, the location of the violations, and how much time elapsed between the
violation and their responses? When and where did you conduct your activities?
How did people react to you when you violated these particular norms? Describe
both their verbal and nonverbal responses. Discuss the patterns in the responses.
For instance, did males and females react differently or similarly? Did older and
younger people react differently or similarly? Explain.
Were you surprised by their responses? Explain.
How did you react when you violated these particular norms? Describe your
thoughts and feelings for each social norm violated. Were you surprised by your
responses?
4. Writing up your field notes into a narrative Field Report: In your reports to your team
you will explain to an implied reader who did not observe your experiment what you did,
what responses you received, and your own reactions. Be careful to use complete
sentences and standard narrative form; in other words, do not simply copy your field
notes verbatim. Report is due by Friday, October 12, 2012
From your field notes, describe each of the following:
 Norm that you violated and the settings in which they occurred
 Describe the verbal and nonverbal responses of observers for the violated norm
 Describe your reactions when you violated the selected social norm
 Discuss what you believe you learned from this project. Did you enjoy it? Why or
why not?
Submit your Field Report to your team.
5. Team Final Report Due by Monday October 22, 2012
1. All of the Team Member’s Individual Narrative Reports. 50 points per person
2. Minimum of a 2 page paper outlining your project and results. (50 points total) To
repeat, the report is the culmination of the team activities and discussions, and is
due Monday October 10, 2011. The Final Report should use the team members’
Field Reports and all relevant discussions to address the following.
a. Topic: What social norm(s) the experiment tried to expose
b. Context: What social psychology has to say about this norm or norms
A CAUTIONARY REMINDER: You are being asked to behave in a way that does not fit with an
implicit social norm; you are not being asked to break a law or other rules. Furthermore, in accord
with the principles of psychological research, you should not engage in any behavior that could harm
someone else or yourself.
Team Breaching Experiment Assignment
c. Expectations: How the team expected the public to respond to the
breaching activities
d. Findings: How the public actually responded to the breaching activities
e. Discussion: What these findings mean; what they say about human
behavior
f. Conclusion: What you learned from the experiment; what you would do
differently
3. An imovie or moviemaker video which documents the experiment and major
moments in it that you were able to catch on film. I do not want you to film
inside of locations but interviews with each of you before and after you enter the
location where you will carry out the experiment are required. This video should
be approximately 5 minutes long and will be used to share your results with your
peers. (50 points.) This must be submitted electronically.
Project Adapted from one created by:
MICHAEL STARENKO, INSTRUCTOR
Syllabus for PSY 333-1: Selected Topics in Social Psychology and Deviance
Charter Oak State College
FALL 2007 TERM 1
August 27 – October 20, 2007
A CAUTIONARY REMINDER: You are being asked to behave in a way that does not fit with an
implicit social norm; you are not being asked to break a law or other rules. Furthermore, in accord
with the principles of psychological research, you should not engage in any behavior that could harm
someone else or yourself.
Team Breaching Experiment Assignment
Names: _________________________________________________________
Please outline your experiment. 25 points: Due by February 8, 2012
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A CAUTIONARY REMINDER: You are being asked to behave in a way that does not fit with an
implicit social norm; you are not being asked to break a law or other rules. Furthermore, in accord
with the principles of psychological research, you should not engage in any behavior that could harm
someone else or yourself.