Day of Deviance:How do others view us when we act

differently or change our appearance?Understanding Abnormal and Deviant

BehaviorsLillian McMaster, Ph.D.

Mohawk Valley Community College

The Problem-Us and Them1)Abnormal Psychology is fun but students still just memorize and don’t apply.

2)How to get students to understand stigma or what it is like to be different? And understand deviance.

3) What hands on experience could I assign students to perhaps change their perceptions?

4) To see how misperceptions contribute to the stigma that surrounds mental illness

5) Although we are becoming more understanding there is still ridicule, we fear the unknown, sometimes mistreat those who are different, and view them as less than those who are “normal.”

Inspiration for Day of Deviance

In 2009 at the APA, while listening to Dr. Zimbardo describe his love of psychology, he discussed how he assigned a “A Day of Deviance” to help students learn about conformity and authority.

I thought this is IT, I could modify this assignment to help students understand stigma and how people react to change.

The Lecture-usually the first class of the semester

Describe abnormality and how we define it.

Ask students what behaviors they think are ‘abnormal’:◦Break from the norm, strange, talk to yourself,

dress or act differently, violent, clueless, paranoid, suicidal, lack morals, don’t think properly, bizarre, you smell, self centered, depressed, and substance abuse.

Ask students what behaviors are normal? ◦Don’t know, Happy, sad, angry, and usually silence. ◦Obviously this is much harder

The Lecture-usually the first class of the semester

Define Stigma -socially unacceptable behavior, and there is often shame or disgrace attached to something regarded as socially unacceptable (dictionary.com)

Discuss stigma’s affect on the mentally ill. Or when they are diagnosed many internalize the stigma and it deters their progress to wellness. So how do we start to understand stigma?

What is deviance? Behaviors that are often considered against the norm or society. Also look at if deviance has to be abnormal. For example, is dressing differently or choosing to dye your hair blue deviant or abnormal? At this point is when I introduce the assignment.

Has anyone here ever been deviant?

The Assignment

In order to feel the stigma that can be attached to being different do something you would not normally do. For example, if you never dress up, dress up for one day, if you never dress down, dress down for a day, if you wear contacts wear your glasses instead, or anything else you can think of. Do not tell anyone why you are different.

The Assignment

In a paper, answer the following questions after your day of deviance:1. How did you feel when you changed something about yourself for a day?

2. Did others react differently when they saw you? Did they continue to act differently after spending some time with you?

3. How about your family or anyone you see often did they act differently?

4. Why do you think people have reactions to changes in appearance?

5. How do you think someone with a mental illness feels?

6. Prepare to discuss your experience in class

Student Experiences

One student wore a red evening gown to class◦ She walked into a classroom and saying “Ta Da!” Most

people looked at her as strange and tried to avoid her. Her close friends talked to her like every other day, but when they walked away they asked what’s with the dress?

Another student is the mother of two sons, including one who drives. She normally is the one in her house that ‘freaks out’ and worries too much. ◦ So when her son was late with her car she decided she

wouldn’t react and stay calm. To her surprise her husband took over her role. He asked her why she was calm at a time like this. He even yelled at their son like she would normally do asking why she wasn’t chiming in.

Student Experiences

Another student wore a Halloween costume (dressed up as a big orange pumpkin) on the first of Oct. and people actually moved away from her on the bus.

One student didn’t speak all day ◦ her family asked at the end of the day if she was okay

and explained that they were going to take her to a local psychiatric emergency room.

Another student talked to a stuffed animal while traveling to school and while at school. ◦ People moved away from her and she could hear them

whisper “Man she’s crazy!”

Student Experiences

Lastly, looks can be deceiving here is how an honors student described herself- “I personally enjoy adorning myself with tattoos, piercings, unnatural hair colors and styles, as well as a clothing style that people in general tend to associate with nihilistic punk rockers, criminals or social outcasts.”

She also wrote that she was used to people judging her.

Student Experiences

This honors student decided to change her appearance dramatically by putting her dread locks under a wig, covered her tatooes, wore khakis and an a pink oxford shirt. She went dressed this way to a punk rock party.

What do you think happened?

Student Experiences

Only she can describe what happened, “Most of the people I did not know did not even bother speaking to me, most likely because I wasn’t dressed like what they thought a punk should be dressed like. It was all very strange because I always thought that punk rock should be about being free, living life to the fullest and the way you see fit, as well as dressing in clothes that you like, no matter what societal norms tell you. It turns out that they have a uniform too.”

Conclusions

This has been a great learning experience for me as well.

Students enjoy this assignment so much and are surprised by some of the reactions they experience.

They enjoy sharing with the class, great way to get students to participate at the beginning of the semester.

Students see first hand how understanding and prejudice people can be.

Mostly they can see that deviance isn’t always abnormal

New Assignments

Currently, I modified a ‘Homophobia’ assignment from Pearson’s ‘My Development lab’ where students are asked to be involved in homosexual clubs on campus, simply wear a rainbow flag, or count the number of Homophobia jokes they hear in one day. Interestingly, I found many students that did not want to complete this assignment. Other students were discouraged by how much prejudice they found.

I also have a similar assignment about prejudice where students count the number of prejudice jokes they hear and prejudice actions they see or attend a club that represents a nationality that is not their own. This is also effective.

Interested in any of these assignments or this powerpoint please email me at lmcmaster36@comcast.net or visit my website www.lillianmcmaster.com where these assignments are posted under the study-guides and assignments tab or the powerpoints tab.

Please feel free to contact me.