Archive for office

When Violating, Don’t Stroke to Long.

Posted in Coffee, psychology, Sociology with tags , , , , , on January 30, 2008 by howsoonis08

I guess the only significance this might have to my usual theme for blog posts is that this could very well take place on coffee break at your office. Sooo good, please continue!

normsnewsign.jpg

In the sea of norms in which we live, many norms governing behavior are followed so automatically that we have no conscious knowledge of them.  The constraining nature of social norms is not perceived as long as one obeys.  Norms are not all equally strict, nor do they all carry the same kinds of sanctions.  It is only when one attempts to do otherwise — to be deviant — that we become very aware of the existence of social forces.  Some of the norms we take for granted are specific; for example, couples are expected to identify themselves as committed to one another, otherwise an unsuspecting single person might define the people as unattached and believe one of them is being flirtatious rather than just friendly.  Other norms are vaguely defined; for example, friends are expected to be friendly, but there are no clear rules about what and when they should be doing to demonstrate their friendliness. This video, which I thought to be pretty funny, would fall under the category of a vaguely defined norm. Please watch, and enjoy!