1b. Social control theory posits that the absence of social control causes deviance in our society. This theory claims that social control encourages conformity, in which those who do not conform will be deemed deviant. Social controls indicate how integrated a person is into the society, usually in terms of attachments to conventional norms and rules. Many would not want to break normative rules or laws because doing so may lead others to punish them through the use of informal or formal social controls. Informal social control includes spreading rumors and/or gossiping about the person breaking these rules or shaming and banishing the person who breaks certain norms. Formal social control is usually enforced by law enforcers and our …show more content…
For this social experiment, I hypothesized that the public display of affection from a same-sex couple will elicit a higher frequency of strong and negative reactions from the public than that of a male-female couple when they show PDA. I predicted that the public reactions from seeing a gay couple hold hands, hug, or kiss will primarily consist of weird stares or secret conversations with other surrounding people since this is not a common sight in the location where the experiment was held. I believe some might even vocally express their annoyance or anger towards me. However, I believe that many will ignore my girlfriend and I, or at least they will pretend