Summary: Among the entirety of our group, it is agreed upon that holding the door for another is the norm among the sample we observed. As the number of group members in an interaction increases, the responsibility of holding the door open decreases, as there is less effort required to keep the door open. Because there are more people in the interaction, it diminishes the requirement of setting a first impression. Setting a first impression was deemed as the biggest motivator for holding the door for strangers. With more people in an interaction, the blame of not holding the door is split among the number of people and is sequentially cancelled out. Ultimately, society enforces strict rules upon all of our actions in one way or another. Holding the door open is a reflection of your self-identity, and in fear of harming your identity, the door will most likely always be held.
In this assignment, we had to observe and analyze a sociological phenomenon of our choosing. We chose to observe and analyze the culture of holding the door open for someone among college students at CU. We explored both internal and external factors that contributed to the influences on this particular behavior.