Social norms are rules or behavioral models that are established and accepted by

individuals who belong to the same culture or group. The purpose of norms is to help the group
reach its objectives. As members share the same code of conduct the group's norms dictate the
responsibilities and obligations of each member. My objective is to find and observe these norms
in my own society. The best way to do this is to observe a well-defined public space, where
social interaction is prominent. At the University at Albany the best place to do this is at the
campus center, where students engage in social activities all the time, whether its eating or
conversing, students are always participating in these social norms that we are accustomed to.
Amongst college students, it can be seen that many tend to develop social circles with
those similar to themselves. It could be due to a sense of familiarity or due to some deep seated
need to be amongst those that are like themselves. What was expected was that when studied in
public, students would interact with people more closely resemble themselves. Interactions with
those with those more diverse or unique than each group would have been kept at a minimum or
avoided completely. But when studied in a social environment, these statements held fairly true.
The following observations took place on April 9, 2013 as well as April 19, 2013
between 8:20PM and 9:40PM inside the University at Albany campus center. At 8:28PM, a
group of four girls were sitting together enjoying their meals. Each of the girls seemed to be of
Italian decent, with tanned skin, medium to long brown hair and subtly angled features. Each of
the girls was wearing a shirt, sweatshirt or pants with the letters of their collective sorority.
Each of the girls was so genetically similar to each other that they could have been
related and the fact would not be questioned. Something surprising was that all four girls had
ordered a salad and each one of them seemed to be pretending to eat it. They would take a few

bites, push the food around and return to talking, but would never actually ingest the food. After
not eating each girl would throw out their respective box whenever they had felt when they had
eaten enough.
At 8:46PM, a group of Asiatic people entered the dining area and all were speaking
loudly. Strangely enough, as soon as they sat down, they all ceased the conversation they were
having and began eating. This continued until they were all finished eating and then stood up
together, threw out their food together and returned to their conversations.
The two groups in this instance both entered the campus center with the intention of
eating together however the methods in which this was executed varied incredibly. As expected
neither group really interacted with one another even though they both were in the location for
the same reason. The girls seemed to have come with more of an intention to talk and used the
food as a medium to bring them together. The group of Asian students seemed to have come with
an intention to eat and used the conversation as a method to spread the idea. Of course this was
to be expected due to race and culture differences among Asian students and Caucasian
American females.
The subsequent observations took place on the April 19, 2013 between 8:20PM and
9:40PM inside the University at Albany campus center. At 8:57PM various individuals were
sitting alone in different places within the campus center. However on individual, a Caucasian
female, had been sitting by herself for a significant amount of time while continuously staying on
her smart phone. With her headphones placed in her ears, the girl purposely avoided contact with
every person of every age, gender and race in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, at the same time a mixed group of black, white and a male of indiscernible
decent were all sitting together discussing music as a group. They each had their phones out and
were looking up songs for each other to listen to. Each male was completely distinct from one
another but were still linked to each other because of a mutual interest in music.
Aside from a few anomalies, the tendencies that were expected to be found were just that.
Each group of people had a few similarities and most likely exploited these similarities to
develop a friendship. Amongst the Asian students was a shared heritage and culture; they were
familiar with each others customs and cultures and were likely to be able to develop a friendship
because of such.
The group of sorority sisters may be one of the more clear examples of exploiting
similarities and each of the girls was a carbon copy of the other. Had these girls met each other
outside of Greek life it is very likely that a friendship amongst them would not have developed.
The main things anchoring the friendships are that the girls are sisters, not by blood but by
experience. Nothing else holds these girls for an initial friendship.
But the most interesting group was the males arguing over musical choices. Each male
was completely different from one another in terms of age and race as well as physically
features. This group was the most diverse group amongst those observed and yet they seemed the
most comfortable with each other. The reason for this may be because they knew each other
prior to meeting here or what have you, but the point was that they had a more realistic
friendship.
Now, not to say that the other groups did not have a real friendship because when all is
said and done they could have the best. What can be said is that the most evident friendship was

amongst the group of differing males. The other groups seemed too alike for there to be any
friction among themselves. With each person akin to each other, the friction would come as a
result of minor annoyances turning to major conflicts. Whereas the group that was already
different from each other would develop friction due to differences in their personalities,
histories and experiences.