People's view on 'abnormal behaviors'

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I've had abnormal behavior my whole life & am oblivious to others reactions as a result. I guess I'm too much in my own world & am too used to others noticing my abnormal behavior to notice when others are treating me negatively because of it since that's how I've been treated by lots of others my whole entire life.

Grown men on Craig's List asking for babysitters to care for their "baby".

On the day of the drop-off, the babysitter's doorbell rings, and there's a grown man in baby clothes sucking his thumb.

I think there's a British American difference too. I lived in a very judgemental village for years but people never said anything to anyone's face. One young woman (in her mid twenties) got drunk once. Once was all it took for the locals to gossip about her being an alcoholic. But nobody ever said anything to her.

There was a bloke in the city where I worked who wore his late mother's (very obviously female) coat wherever he went. Fur coat he didn't even take off in summer. Talking to him, we just kept things normal. Talking about him, there was a lot of gossip but everyone was trying to be liberal so they said things like 'isn't it sad' instead of 'it's a bit like Norman Bates' which is what I thought of it.

British people tend to act normal to people's faces, at least English middle class ones do. No matter how much the gossip mill is going on behind someone's back.

I think being around that is a big part of why I got social anxiety, I was never sure what the gossip about me was.

Seems about right. An American visitor once told me "I'm sure I could really hurt people over here and never be told I'd done it."

Yeahh....I currently live in a small southern town lol
Its a partner thing. One person does something weird while the other carefully observes the people watching for signs of discomfort or disgust or whatever. These are the questions we're supposed to answer:
What did you do differently from the norm?
How did it feel to do it?
What were the reactions of the people around you?
How are social norms taught?
How are they enforced?
What are the consequences of behaving differently than a social norm?
What do you think happens to someone when they behave abnormally?
What did your 2nd observer see/hear after you left the scene?

I dont think I can get away with faking it, especially if I we dont get to choose partners. We're supposed to pick a really public place and do something pretty bizarre so Im sure we'll get some sort of reaction. Its supposed to be a fun assignment. Its essentially giving teenagers the opportunity to do something silly or stupid in public. Most kids probably just have fun and laugh about it. (Although personally Im probably gonna have a much harder time...)

-Maybe you could watch some episodes of SNL and pick a character to imitate. They're usually weird and over the top.
-Yes, I find your teacher's view of "abnormal" behaviors uncomfortable because I tend to do a lot of things like that anyway.
At least I know why I always feel uncomfortable in public.

I don't know how verbal you are, but you could try just talking to people too much. I had this the other day in a shop. Some lady commented on everything in my purchase and followed me around the shop giving me anecdotes from her life. It was very annoying especially when I don't speak a lot myself (mutism) and I'm anxious in public places (agoraphobia).

You could just go up to people like "Hi! How are you?" "I like your shirt!" at the bus stop or something. Your friend will be there to make sure you don't have any issues from speaking to the wrong sorts. That way you don't have to ruminate about having done something visually memorable (e.g., doing unusual antics).

I don't know. I still find the assignment patronising and ignorant toward many people's daily struggle.
I would email the prof and ask for a written assignment on my own about my own struggles, without a partner.

If you are self-aware and self-conscious, you may feel uncomfortable not adhering to the social norm. But you should never be made to feel wrong, suffer consequences, or be publicly ridiculed. That should be reserved for breaking social RULES, like lying, bullying, or abusing special accommodations.

People who judge others without regard for whether they might have something debilitating that prevents them from being able to follow social norms, or people who complain about others despite knowing full well that they are disabled, thinking, "they should not allow people like that in pubic places", are ableist. Unfortunately, many feel righteous and justified in judging others because they think that they are defending 'real' (i.e. visibly) disabled people. When, in reality, they are judging people who have their own, invisible disabilities. Unfortunately, most people do not realize how many people are discriminatory and aggressive to even visibly disabled people.

Personally, I think society, and even the field of psychology, focusing on behavior is wrong. Many times, it is not even 'abnormal behavior'; the behavior is often a reasonable response to abnormal EXPERIENCES. Why is recoiling from touch acceptable if it is painful due to a common sunburn, but recoiling from touch is not acceptable if it is painful due to tactile hypersensitivity? Recoiling from pain is a reasonable response, therefor normal behavior. Tactile hypersensitivity is just not a common experience.

We should teach all people to be more accepting of others differences and reserve judgment because there may be something they cannot see or understand.
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I am not very aware of what I am doing at any given moment, so I pay very little attention to how 'abnormal' it is, how other people are reacting, what they might be thinking, if they are even watching, or whether I should change my behavior to 'fit in'.

I am also not very aware of what is going on around me at any given moment, so people's actions are always disconnected from the situation and therefore confusing and impossible to judge.

Thats not a bad one. Although its gonna take some serious guts on my part to be willing to just walk up and start talking to someone.
Im starting to lean more towards the more openly weird and crazy things. I think one of my classmates ideas was to like wear a Halloween costume all day or something? I just feel weird doing any of the subtle ones because I dont want to feel like Im mocking people with actual disorders that really act that way. I overheard one person say they were going to imitate someone with Tourettes but I would feel really uncomfortable pretending like I have something I dont.
(The worst part is if I ever run into these people again and they think Im a total freak)

I know you guys are only about 18 but that's really ableist in this day and age and I hope whoever does that gets into trouble or at least guided out of why that's wrong.

Although tbh they could be doing what I did at 18 when I did a 'study about why people think some swear words are worse than others and if it has to do with social groups' and went around reading a list of slurs. Still, this is more like a 12 yo's behaviour than an 18 yo's.

WTH -- I didn't write that. I might even have Tourettes myself, as I do make a lot of random sounds in public that are either Tourettes or echolalia. Also I don't know what you meant about 18. Maybe you meant grace is 18, but I've been graduated from Uni for .... ? ... almost 30 years. I'm not 18.

Also, define "abnormal psychology"? Tourettes is not abnormal psychology, nor is wearing a costume in public. I'm so confused by this assignment. I can't believe there isn't more of a backlash from the students. Everyone will have the same conclusions about how their behaviour was received, so I don't even understand the research value of what you've been asked to do. (Boo, hiss). Furthermore, the assignment is presumptive that all of the random strangers you approach have "normal psychology". Do you factor standard deviations? How reliable is this method? When do you have to do this? I'm sorry but I'm just flummoxed by the whole concept.

All you need do is sit beside someone and start rocking.

Agreed, although I don't know if people would react to that. They might be uncomfortable but (I should hope) they would try their best to ignore it. I'm trying to picture me stimming in public with my Tickle. That would really freak people out, but I wouldn't do it for the assignment because I'd be insulted to have my stim considered "abnormal".

"This course is a historical overview of the services provided to individuals with mental illness and theories of personality development. We will cover assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of the major mental disorders as well as the biological, psychological, and sociological contributing causation factors are discussed." (From my syllabus)

'Abnormal' in the context of this assignment is simply something outside the 'socially accepted norm' that will get us some weird looks from other people. The assignment is used primarily to answer these two questions:
How does society decide what is abnormal?
What are the consequences for acting outside the social norm?
"Identify the social context, and consequences for not following the norm. For this assignment, you must do something different, which is not a social norm. Pick something that is safe, but likely to get strong reactions from the people observing. Behave differently than the norm, and then write it up. Papers should be 1 to 2 pages in length. A 2nd observer who can record what happens after you “leave the scene” is required for this assignment. Take pictures for evidence."

Honestly, I cant decide what would be more uncomfortable: acting weird in a way that other people do, or acting weird in a way that I sometimes do. Im either getting made fun of for something someone else deals with on a daily basis, or Im essentially just getting myself made fun of. Which.....ouch.
Thats why I want to try and find a relatively "safe" thing that I can do but Im turning up blank on ideas. You want to know what the absolute worst part of this project is though? I have to present it to the entire class in an oral and visual presentation. Im a literally going to die. As if it isnt going to be hard enough humiliating myself in public now Ive got to talk about it to a class full of strangers...

Interesting topic:-)

Talking too much about ones special interest (of the moment) and hogging other people's attention in a self-centered way while completely ignoring that oneself is doing this, even though it is blatantly obvious that one is, would be considered abnormal behavior.

This should be an easy experiment for you to pull off without people suspecting you have some form of autism, but if a person is functioning from aspergers or whatever then people familiar with that person probably already suspect there is something 'off' or different about that person, though they may not have a label for it, which is just as well.