In the field of social psychology, a breaching experiment is an experiment that seeks to examine peoples' reactions to violations of commonly accepted social rules or norms. Erving Goffman's seminal study Behavior in Public Places gives some classic examples of behavioral norms, such as "it is inconsiderate to litter - put your garbage in the trash can". The breaching experiment studies people's reaction to an experimenter who breaks this rule. Breaching experiments are most commonly associated with ethnomethodology, in particular the work of Harold Garfinkel. Social psychology is the study of the nature and causes of human social behavior, with an emphasis on how people think towards each other and how they relate to each other. ... From Latin ex- + -periri (akin to periculum attempt). ... Erving Goffman (June 11, 1922 - November 19, 1982), was a Canadian sociologist and writer. ... Ethnomethodology (literally, the study of peoples methods) is a sociological discipline which focuses on the way people make sense of the world and display their understandings of it. ... Harold Garfinkel is Professor Emeritus in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. ...

Other examples include:

• A common breaching experiment is to stand, in an elevator, facing the wall rather than door. While there is no "official" policy against standing that way in an elevator, most react to it as bizarre, and some will react as if the person is mentally retarded or ill.
• "The inexplicable do-gooder": Social science researcher Earl R. Babbie writes that "it is a social rule that ordinary citizens should not pick up garbage from the street, or mend street signs, or otherwise fix problems." Babbie claims that people have negative reactions when they see somebody fixing something that is not "their job" to fix; in some cases, altruistic actions are viewed as personal intrusions.
• "The literalist". Instead of responding normally to questions like "how are you" according to common standards, the experimenter responds as if they didn't know there was a social rule for how to respond (i.e. "I'm fine, how are you?"). In most countries, this may occur naturally because the question "How are you?" is taken as an inquiry into personal well-being and emotional health; some people will answer candidly.

The MTV show Boiling Points is a breaching experiment-based reality program where actors will subject people, chosen randomly, to absurd and often discomforting behavior. If the "subject" endures throughout a pre-set period of time without losing control of his or her temper, they are given US$100. Mental retardation (also called mental handicap and, as defined by the UK Mental Health Act (1983), mental impairment and severe mental impairment) is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as... The Scream, the famous painting commonly thought of as depicting the experience of mental illness. ... Look up Literal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Literal (from Latin litteralis, from littera, letter); taken in a non-figurative sense. ... MTV (abbreviation for Music Television) is a cable television network which was originally devoted to music videos, especially popular rock music. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Alternate use: Boiling Point, English title of Kitano Takeshis film 3-4X Jūgatsu; Boiling Point (TV series) The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which it can change state from a liquid to a gas throughout the bulk of the liquid. ... Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of real life people (as opposed to fictional characters played by actors) are followed. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

Rarely, breaching experiments are conducted on job or educational interviews, particularly of candidates for medical school admission. These are used to verify that the interviewee can handle high-stress, interpersonal situations where one party behaves in a clearly inappropriate manner. For example, physicians are often asked inappropriate questions by patients, but must keep a calm temper even when this happens. Sometimes these interview devices are considered inappropriate and may constitute harassment. interview An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked to obtain information about the interviewee. ... Medical school generally refers to a tertiary educational institution (or part of such an institution) which is involved in the education of future medical practitioners (medical doctors). ... A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... Harassment is a term defined by law to refer to many types of behaviour that are found threatening or disturbing, and beyond those that are sanctioned by society. ...

Some breaching experiments conducted in the past would be considered unethical today because of their intrusive nature. Such experiments have contributed to the rise of human subjects review of social science research, often based on the principle of informed consent. Informed consent is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon a full appreciation and understanding of the facts and implications of any actions (as far as humanly possible), with the individual being in possession of all of his faculties (not mentally retarded...