Monday, June 10, 2013
Chapter 4 My Turn
I decided to talk to myself in public to experience the reactions of onlookers. I am a pretty outgoing person, so going into this experiment I wasn't nervous at all. I was feeling pretty excited to see how people would react to me. My brother and I went grocery shopping at Target. He walked about 20 feet behind me so people would know I was talking to myself. I was looking at bananas and saying stuff like, "this one's too yellow" and "this one is too green." The first reaction I got was a Target employee who asked me if I needed help with anything. This made me feel a little awkward. He was trying to normalize my behavior by asking me if I needed help. I then moved on to looking at lettuce and salad dressing. I contemplated out loud what kind of salad I wanted for dinner and what dressing would taste the best on different kinds of lettuce. One little girl looked at her mom and said, "Mommy who is she talking to?" The mom didn't respond to her daughter, but gave me a weird look. I could tell she was uncomfortable with her daughter's question. Throughout this experiment I received multiple odd looks. Most people tried to ignore me, but kept looking back at me. I felt uncomfortable and ashamed that people reacted to me in this way. Norms play a large role in society today. When someone does such a harmless thing, like talking to themselves, people think it is crazy. I enjoyed doing this experiment because I now have a larger understanding of how much cultural norms impact daily life.
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Good exercise, but a more thorough discussion of norms and culture would be a stronger response to the part of the assignment that says,"Then, discuss a bit about what you see as the role of culture and norms in society. Keep in mind that the end result is intended to be a thoughtful discussion of culture, norms, and the role that norms play in society." You say a bit, but it's far too brief to really demonstrate your understanding.
ReplyDeleteIt was very brave of you. I can never do what you did in Target as an introverted person. I can also imagine what kinds of gazes you got from the people in Target. I agree with you that even though I didn't hurt people or do harmful things to people, people would still treat me like a crazy person if what I did is out of standard social or cultural norms. I enjoyed reading your entry and imagining the situation you experienced in Target. Good reading!
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting exercise, good description. This could be stronger if you talked a little more about cultural norms.
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a good description of norms, just add a little bit more detail about societal expectations or behavior. I also think it would be interesting if you have to about how you felt when that little girl said "mommy why is that girl talking with yourself? "
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