Violation of a Social Norm

Recently I laughed in church. It took me two attempts to do so before I could successfully break down my inner inhibitions regarding this particular, very public breach of a social norm. Indeed, when I finally accomplished it, my intent at the time was not to laugh but to commit a somewhat milder faux pas--namely, to express religious emotion in a way that would be appropriate in many churches, though not in the one I was attending at the time. Once I had succeed (against my intent) in laughing, I was as embarrassed as I have been in my life, and have not yet worked up the courage to call the minister and explain that it was all done in the name of gaining insight into the nature of social conventions and interactions.

Perhaps it is better that I not do so. It could well be argued that it would be a further violation of a social norm to admit to a minister that I used his church and congregation as laboratory for this particular experiement. As it is, I fervently hope that I do not confront, in the near future, any social occasion (e.g., a friend's wedding) that might require me to go back to the church in question.

In discussing this experiment and its outcome, I will first sketch in the circumstances that led me to choose this particular social norm as the one to be violated, then the difficulties I encountered in carrying out my transgression, and finally the reactions it evoked from those around me and from myself. In conclusion, I will discuss some of the reasons

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isinhibition from laughing was too strong to overcome, however. I tried to dwell on the humor of my very situation, but this too could not crack through my inhibitions. In the end I stayed through the service, never having accomplished my objective. I concluded that I was too inhibited to bring myself to deliberate outright laughter in the midst of a church service. On my second attempt, I therefore settled for what I thought would be a more modest and attainable goal. Not all churches follow so solemn a style of worship as the Episcopal Church. In Evangelical and Pentacostal churches, spontaneous outbursts of faith on the part of congregants are an accepted part of worship. (It is worth noting that even some Episcopalian churches are "charismatic." I do not know whether their services include such expressions; in any case, St. Paul's was not a charismatic congregation.) My internal inhibitions against such an outburst, indeed, proved just enough weaker than my inhibitions against laughing. On my second experimental effort, I must managed to work up the nerve to shour "Hallelulah!" at the end of a prayer. Silence fell through the church for a moment, and a good many people glanced over at me, then hastily looked away ag

Category: Misc - V