Taylor Dunaway

Dunaway 1

Professor Douglas
UWRT 1101
November 3, 2014
Social Behavior Ethnography
Social Habits are something that isnt mentioned regularly, however they can dictate
whether or not you will be accepted by a group of people. Everyone is different and thats
what makes human beings interesting and sociable. The way that different peoples
personalities click and they get along is very observable in the courtyard. Groups outside
of Sanford and Moore will be socialized with and subjective knowledge will be used
throughout the paper. The information gathered will be used to determine if the kind of
personality you have determines whether or not you will be socially accepted.
While conducting the study people were observed from a far and also up close and
in person. Outside of Sanford, habits were recorded of people who were conversing in the
courtyard within 100 feet of the observer. Later the observer joined and socialized with
many people from the courtyard, reporting their observations. The observer didnt take
part in smoking, which is something that is very common for the courtyard. No ones name
will be shared for the sake of confidentiality.
The very first day of the study, People were observed from afar while assessing the actions
and means of conversing that people used. In all, an astounding six shared cigarettes were
recorded while observing for 35 minutes. A.C. McKennel once stated that
Social smoking, as such, first increases in adolescence and then declines during
adulthood, but smoking for reasons of Social Confidence, at its highest in early
adolescence, declines consistently with age. (McKennel 8-22).

Dunaway 2
This is a sad thing that brings up health concerns and also the question of does
smoking make you more sociable? According to the very first day of study, yes. For some
people smoking makes you more sociable than those who sit around and do nothing. While
observing, there was a group of nine people sitting at and around a table covered with an
umbrella. Well call this Group A. In Group A, there were a total of nine people, six of them
male, the remaining three female. Out of this group, eight of them were smoking. As for the
person that wasnt smoking, they seemed to be left out from the rest of the crowd. This is a
perfect example of peer pressure. In an article by Kimberly Kobus, she emphasizes the
affect of the social learning theory. Which states that someone adapts a behavior after
socially observing someone else performing said behavior.
Youth are viewed as more likely to imitate the smoking or non-smoking behavior of
those with whom they have the greatest amount of contact, both in frequency and duration.
As well, relationships that are more intimate and that occur earlier in youths experiences
are considered to be more important in the social learning process than those that are less
intense and come later. (Kobus 37-55)
On the other side of the courtyard, there was a group of seven people sitting around
one square picnic table without an umbrella. This will be called Group B. In Group B, there
were zero people smoking. However this group didnt seem near as sociable as Group A.
Most of the time Group B was observed, they were all on their phone and very few
conversations were held. Meanwhile, Group A was a very lively group of people. Their
conversations were very loud and conversations were very easily interpreted from over
100 feet away. At around the time of 7:09p.m. it was reported that more people who
walked by Group A recognized a friend from that group. Making them seem more sociable

Dunaway 3
than that of Group B. At around the time of 7:11p.m, a cop pulled up in the parking lot. This
isnt an unnatural occurrence, however the reactions of the two groups were noticeably
different. Group A, seemed very interested in the actions of the police officer. They were
very aware of his actions and inspected what he was doing before they carried on any of
their conversations. This makes them seem suspicious. While on the other side of the
courtyard, Group B was completely oblivious to the cop that pulled up and parked. After
twelve minutes, the cop left. Group A went on with their conversations like they were
before the cop arrived. Group B had entered the Residential Dining Hall a few minutes prior
to the cops departure.
The following day, the observer conversed with both groups of people. At the same
time, 7:00p.m, the observer approached Group, A which, for the most part, consisted of the
same people. Upon arrival, a few different people greeted the observer. Then the observer
started talking to some of them about their plans for the night and received a variety of
different answers. Consisting of Getting drunk, Smoking Gas, and Setting up the
hookah. Casually, the observer went on to talk to one of them about the flavors of their
hookah and what time they were bringing it out. They then went on to talk about the social
aspect of a hookah. Most people can agree that a hookah is a very social thing. Many times
people you dont even know will walk up and ask about what it is and if they can try it, he
explained to me. The observer asked if he had any health concerns about that. Especially
since it would be very easy to contract some type of disease from someone else who used
the hookah prior to you. He stated that he doesnt really worry about it and that he trusts
people not to use it if they have some type of disease. Then the attention was turned to a
girl, she said that she was a freshman and was living in Moore. It wasnt long into the

Dunaway 4
conversation with her until she took out a cigarette and lit it. At this point there wasnt
much of an interest in talking to her. On this day there was no Group B, therefore the study
must wait until the following day.
This was the third night going into courtyard. It had been a couple days since going
out but the original Group B outside again. It is 8:13p.m. The approach was the same way
with Group A. Mostly all of them said hey. None of them seemed very interested in having a
conversation with a complete stranger until someone asked them what their plans for the
night were. A couple said that they didnt have any plans. While a couple other ones said
that they were going to study or do homework. In a study by Georgette K. Maroldo, he
found that a persons personality could have a direct correlation to their GPA,
Found shyness to be a common problem, often ignored by students, faculty, and
administrators alike, as a possible inhibitor of academic success. Traub found shy
students to have higher GPAs that nonshy students. (Maroldo 395-98)
This is interesting because no one in Group A said anything about doing work that
was related to school. The very clich memory about the group that your parents warns
you not to be around is one related to this study, group A may actually be that group. The
issue of smoking in public places like the courtyard was brought up and most of them
agreed that as long as it wasnt done around them, they didnt have a problem with it. While
talking to group B they seemed somewhat bored. No one seemed very interesting in any
form of conversation with the observer so he went and recorded his conversations.
In conclusion, It might not be smoking as the determining factor of whether or not
you are sociable or not. It is on a variety of things. Group A and Group B had many
differences. Not just smoking habits. For example, Group A all had plans that were mostly

Dunaway 5
illegal or frowned upon, while Group B had plans such as studying, or just hanging out.
Group A, the group more likely to cause trouble, were louder, smoking, and oddly enough,
slightly more accepting than Group B.

Dunaway 6
Works Cited

Kobus, Kimberly. "Peers And Adolescent Smoking." Addiction (2003): 37-55. Print.
Mckennell, A. C. "Smoking Motivation Factors." British Journal of Social and Clinical
Psychology: 8-22. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.
Maroldo, Georgette K. "Shyness, Boredom, And Grade Point Average Among College
Students." Psychological Reports 59.2 (1986): 395-98. Ammons Scientific. Web. 17
Nov. 2014.