Breaking Social Norms: Classroom Mischief

As students, we are expected to act in certain ways. Coming to class, taking notes, and being attentive are just some of the obligatory behaviors of a students. Many choose to take a deviant but not uncommon route: skipping class and just looking at the notes online. But what happens when a student decides to create his or her own rules about the classroom setting, ignoring the implicit standards that are already set? How will peers react in response to the deviance?


I did an experiment to find out. I called it 'Classroom Mischief.'

Precisely three minutes after noon struck, I strolled into the auditorium where my Monday class was being held. Rather than sitting in the empty side of the room like I normally do, I forcefully slid into the heavily populated middle section and planted myself in the second row directly in front of the professor. As she spoke, I pulled out my large Asus laptop and turned it on. Because I didn't have my headphones plugged in, the start up sound was loud,echoing throughout the auditorium and interrupting the professor. Oops. The people around me snickered, and my professor smiled kindly at me to let me know that it was alright. Perhaps she thought that I would be embarrassed for calling attention to myself. I wasn't, but she didn't need to know that.

The wheels of my social experiment really began turning when I made my next move; rather than paying attention to the dry (honestly) lecture, I focused my attention to my computer screen. I'd borrowed my roommate's copy of the 2004 blockbuster hit Mean Girls and decided that watching the movie during class would be the perfect way to observe social norms as well as responses to deviance. As soon as the main menu appeared on the screen, I could hear gasps around me. "Mean Girls! I love this movie!" "Is she serious?" "I hope she knows the screen's reflecting on her glasses." I ignored the comments and continued watching. As the movie progressed, the impression management began. The guy on my left paid me no mind; he was too busy Facebook-stalking some girl on his Macbook to notice what I was doing. Beside him, another boy attentively copied down the notes on the powerppoint, completely ignoring my poor performance as a student. On my right, three girls eagerly leaned over each other to watch the cult classic, even quoting some epic lines right along with the actors ("I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me...but I can't help it that I'm so popular.") before bursting into a fit of giggles. The only negative reaction I received came from the front of the room, where my professor stood. Her speech slowed every time my neighbors laughed, and whenever she would ask questions, my professor would intentionally peer over her glasses to gaze intently at me or even clear her throat in my direction.

The different reactions were all part of Erving Goffman's theory of impression management. The concept is based on the idea of self-conception and actions to influence the perception others have of an individual. Norms and deviance tie into impression management by setting the standard for how one should act and therefore be perceived. When an individual steps deviates from the norms, it's up to peers to remedy the situation. In my experiment, I deviated from the expected role of a responsible student. I came to class with no intention of learning anything and watching a movie instead. The people around me utilized impression management. The boys to my left engaged in studied nonobservance by not acknowledging that I was breaking norms. The girls to my left seemed to promote and even enjoy my deviance as they joined me in watching the movie. And not surprisingly, my professor unsuccessfully to embarrass me into a corrective process through use of facial expressions and eye contact.

It's important to note that even her attempts to discretely influence my behavior were part of the social norms concerning professors. In high school, if there was someone off task and distracting his or her peers, it was the teacher's responsibility to put them in line. Verbal warning, write-ups, as well trips to the principal's office were available tactics that teachers put to use. But in college, the standard is different. In a class of over 200, is it appropriate to zone in on one off task student and put that person in line when there are surely at least twenty other students not paying attention? Shouldn't the student be allowed to do what she wants because she's taking money out of her pocket? And is it really necessary to stop in the middle of the forty-five minute lecture that hundreds of other students are paying for to influence only one?

Be it in the classroom, the library, or the food court, norms exists. And where norms are, deviance must be also. Impression management helps to rein in deviant behavior. What is considered 'appropriate' or 'inappropriate' is shaped greatly by the things we do (or don't do) in reaction.


Ineye Komonibo