Social behaviour can be described as a set of actions that are performed by people when they communicate with one another. Social behaviour can also involve observable responses to something that triggers another person or makes them react. For instance, if someone from a foreign country came to a Western country, they might decide to observe the people in their surroundings for clues about how they should behave, and what behaviour is socially acceptable. Family and media are also two examples of major influences on an individuals social behaviour. The influence that a person’s family and technology can have on their social behaviour is connected to my social experiment. If a parent or guardian had taught their child from a young age to act appropriately in public, such as by responding to others, the child could possibly respond to my greeting because of their family values. Media can also influence social behaviour because people are constantly using their technology to interact with people over electronics, instead of in person.
In addition, while I was observing my participants I realized that the people who acknowledged my greeting, but ignored me, would typically walk past me with their head down, or be looking at their phone. This stood out to me because some of the participants that ignored me, knew that what they were doing was socially unacceptable. However, they attempted to defend themselves from breaking this social norm by pretending to be occupied, or that they had not noticed me.
The Power of Communication 