Breaking the Chains

Last year my friends and I received an assignment from our Psychology teachers to break a social norm, and see how people would react. Some of our classmates did crazy things like paying for things in the mall with monopoly money, wearing a banana suit to walk around the city, or pouring jugs of milk all over themselves as they walked across the street.

This assignment was without a doubt the most fun assignment I received during my high school tenure, but it also showed me just how judgmental people are. Students were laughed at, glared at, and gawked at. Instead of leaving people to their own business, no matter how strange that business is, my classmates and I were judged and criticized for our crazy stunts.

Some things were as simple as standing in a line backwards. Wearing a heavy winter coat in summer weather. Sitting with strangers and asking them how their day was. Even these simple deviances received dirty glares and rude comments.

Since when did deviating from societal norms warrant scrutiny and criticism?