Social Experiment: The Awkward Acoustic

Quique Garcia
Stumpf
AP Psychology
17 August 2014
Social Experiment
The Awkward Acoustic
Purpose and Problem: As suggested by the title of this page, this experiment was conducted using some form of acoustics. The intention was to create an awkward encounter for whoever was unfortunate enough to be approached by me.
Background Information: People in society do many different things depending on the situation they find themselves in. For each common situation that man has found themselves in during their daily lives a norm has developed. These norms have changed and or developed over time affecting not only the ways people act but in some cases shaping culture. While most people just automatically behave certain ways in regular situations, it’s important to understand why it has become what people except as normal. Explaining an example may help clarify this. Waiting in lines is something everyone has done many times from a very early age, but it’s important to see the behaviors that take place while going through a very simple everyday situation. The norm for waiting in line has become that people generally tend to stand patiently and orderly in line until it is there turn to do whatever it is they’re in line for. People have learned to do this from early ages, for example, in kindergarten many of us are taught to walk and form lines while being respectful and silent in the halls. We do this still as adults because we see it as the correct thing to or in other words normal. Some excepts can be found but are still seen as acceptable such as asking permission to cut in line when someone is in a hurry. People have accepted this as the norm. Now the next question would be, why is this considered the norm? Most people accept it as the norm because it demonstrates respect and consideration for those who find themselves in the same situation. Humans view this normal because it is what they have learned to expect from others, since they are comfortable believing nothing other than what is expected will happen. Even with this, from time to time, an aberrant or peculiar situation may appear; this can be pretty much anything, from someone doing something unexpected or an accident occurring etc. the possibilities are endless. People can react to it in many ways, such as trying to correct and or stop whatever the aberrant is or just trying to ignore it in hopes it stops. Humans can have many reasons for taking action, but it is usually just human nature to try to correct what they see as wrong or just not recognize it.
Hypothesis: If I create an awkward situation for an employee of a fast food restaurant, then the person working will try to avoid watching and the people around me will do their best to avoid me, because they will not be comfortable being in the middle of an uncomfortable situation.
Experiment: As it has been already said already, my plan is to create an awkward situation. Being that the title of this experiment is “The Awkward Acoustic” I would create his awkwardness by using an acoustic guitar. As I ordered at different food stands and restaurants I would play guitar to the employee serving me until a complete order and payment would be complete. Playing despite any conversation occurring about my order was important. In terms of where, I choose to conduct this experiment at the mall where there are many restaurants and small snack stands to make use of. I decided to do this experiment during the day at about 11:00. This time was chosen because it allowed me to perform the experiment with an average amount of people around as opposed to later in the day when it was more likely for me to be more overwhelmed by the amount of people around. By using this time I felt more comfortable and felt that at a later time there could be more of a chance to find people who would become upset by the experiment. Finally I am conducting this experiment because I found it as an exciting way to mix something new and different for me

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