A complete stranger
offers to buy your gas, what would you do? An OSU class looks to find out
Victoria
Peterson walked in to Dutch Bros. at Northwest
Kings Boulevard Monroe Avenue
With no
line of customers in her way, the Oregon
State University
As
Peterson reached into her wallet, she heard a voice behind her:
“Can I
pay for her drink, too?” asked Caitlin Hendricks.
Peterson
was pleasantly surprised but still taken aback; she and Hendricks didn’t know
each other.
“That’s
so nice of you! Thank you,” Peterson told Hendricks.
After a
brief chat, the two parted ways.
Hendricks’
random act of kindness wasn’t entirely random: She was completing an assignment
for sociology professor Michelle Inderbitzin’s deviant behavior and social
control class at OSU, which studies the concept of social deviance and how it
can vary based on history and context.
Inderbitzin
has assigned the “positive deviance” exercise in her social deviance class at OSU
for six years. She asks students to simply do something nice for a stranger —
bag someone else’s groceries, for example, or hold an umbrella over someone’s
head while it’s raining. Students then write a page-long recap of their
experience, focusing on the recipient’s reactions as well as their own feelings
before and after the act and discuss their experience in class.
Sociologists
define deviance as an act or behavior that falls outside social norms; deviance
ranges from criminal acts to interrupting someone who’s speaking.
Most
consider deviance to be negative, but Inderbitzin uses this exercise to show
how deviance can actually be positive.
“It
stretches our (definition) of deviance a little further,” she said.
She’s
said students have discovered a wide range of reactions while conducting the
act, both on and off campus.
And just
because Corvallis by most counts is fairly special — it’s the U.S. city with
the largest percentage of bike commuters and most patents per capita, for
example — doesn’t mean its population acts differently when it’s put in
an abnormal, albeit brief, situation.
Some
recipients in the positive deviance flee: They refuse the free coffee, for
example, or run from an outstretched umbrella.
“People
at times just get really uncomfortable when something out of the ordinary
happens,” Inderbitzin said. “It’s hard to accept just pure random kindness from
strangers.”
And that
discomfort isn’t isolated to the recipient; the students often feel nervous
immediately before the act. This feeling convinces many students that even
positive acts can be deviant.
“They
realize they’re going to be breaking a norm, even though it’s going to be
positive,” Inderbitzin said. “There’s still a real discomfort in doing it.”
But not
all people react uncomfortably; Inderbitzin said many react very positively —
like Peterson with her coffee drink — and added that a few students over the
years have scored dates with the recipients.
Before
leaving Peterson at Dutch Bros., Hendricks said the act felt a little unnerving.
But Peterson’s grateful reaction made her day.
“I’m
glad she was happy,” Hendricks said.
Not-so-deviant
random acts of kindness
1. Grab
a couple dozen sweets or bagels for coworkers
2. Help
someone load groceries into his car
3. Hand
a $10 bill to a gas attendant pumping a stranger’s car to put toward the final
bill
4. Leave
a hefty tip for friendly service at your favorite restaurant
5.
Donate unused books to the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library or Albany
Public Library
6. Leave
change in a person’s parking meter
7. Let
someone who appears in a rush step in front of you in line at a cash register
8. Rake
your neighbor’s yard, if you know he’ll appreciate it
9. Say
“good morning” or “hello” to everyone you encounter in a given day
10.
Compliment a stranger
Have you
encountered deviance?
Have you encountered a random act of deviance - positive or
negative - giving or receiving? Share it with us. In 300 words or fewer, send
your story to wendy.kieffer@lee.net along with
your name and address.