In order to have the greatest effect, the author chose to engage in an activity that is completely out of the realm of "normal" for not only society, but also one that he would never engage in himself. The author determined the best social norm to violate would be the unrequested embrace. This experiment would be perfect because all of those who are familiar with the author know that he is as far from the "warm and cuddly" sort as is humanly possible. The author believed that it would be interesting to learn what the various reactions would be to his violation. To obtain the greatest variety of subjects, the author chose to conduct the research at his place of employment. A coworker positioned nearby, whom the author informed prior to watch silently, measured the facial characteristics of the subjects since the author had limited capabilities to do so due to his positioning.

There were 30 hugs given out to various customers and employees. The author chose the employees at times when they had not interacted with any of those who had already received a hug so that there reaction was authentic and so that they had no idea what to expect. Of those, there were three general reactions received from the experiment. The first was an active response consisting of a mutual squeeze. Frequently, this was the reaction received from those of the female persuasion, most notably exhibited by the all-female staff at said workplace. Occasionally, males felt the proper response was to return the hug but they predominately responded in the next manner. The second most common answer received was that the subject briskly pushed away the author. When determining the parameters of this experiment, the author believed this to be the most likely response, but failed to take into account the fact that a large portion of his staff enjoys a warm embrace. The only member unwilling to reciprocate was his boss, who reacted in the third general manner: confusion. The confused response consisted mainly of the subject standing in whatever position they stood in prior to the hug with a somewhat bewildered look on their face. Due to this being against a social norm, the author attributed this finding to the subject not knowing what reaction to have to the hug.

The author did not feel particularly comfortable with hugging so many unknown individuals. Unfortunately, the awkward feelings he had performing this experiment may have soured some of the results because the subjects may have reacted differently to receiving a hug from somebody who was more "into" the hug. He believes that his feelings only affected a small portion of the hugged population. As the experiment continued past the first three or four subjects, the author felt dwindling hesitation as he embraced the subjects.

The author learned that most people would go along with most anything. Complete strangers seemed to have little problem with hugging the author with no reason as to why. In addition, there were employees who have had minimal contact with the author who saw no problem with cuddling up with him just because he began to hug them.

The author definitely follows the norm of not hugging random individuals due to normative influence. There is no way that he would ever choose to violate the norm if it were not for an assignment. Even after violating the norm and feeling quite a bit more comfortable with committing the violation, there does not appear to a single reason that would cause him to choose to violate this norm again.