The methodology of the breaching experiment is very simple and straightforward, but it teaches a rich lesson about social norms, social order, and the unseen rules of society that people take granted. The …show more content…
The experiment took place outside a popular shopping centre, Capitol at Queen Street Cardiff. Before the experiment began as student we all dispersed around the area, to begin standing still. Yes standing still. Our breaching experiment was to stand still in a public place emotionless and see how people reacted to it, simple as that. Dropped anything that would seem normal in day to day lives. Before we went out we received 2 small pieces of paper saying, “ I am standing still” and “ I am a Cardiff University student doing an Experiment. If you have any concerns about the experiment please contact my supervisor Dr Steven Stanley on (029) 2087 4853. These pieces of paper were given to us to hand them out if someone asked us questions. As participants and researches we had to stand still for 10 minutes. Some voice recorded the experiment, took videos in hope of having some evidence of people’s reaction. After the 10 minutes were over our lecturer walk past with a black coat and a black umbrella. Then we all went back to normality.
The reaction to the break is the crucial point of the experiment. So after performing the break as ‘researchers’ we then had to observe and record the reactions of the people who witnessed the break. If a breach is done correctly and the social norm is cooperated, the reaction that people show is the mechanism by which they try to make sense of the odd behaviour or how they deal with the