Expected and Unexpected Behaviour

What is expected behaviour?  In short, it is the set of behaviours that are expected in a given situation.  When at a hockey game, it is expected that the audience cheers and yells and screams.  When walking down the hallway at school, it would be unexpected for the students to cheer and yell and scream!

It can be tricky to figure out what the expected behaviour is for a particular situation.  Should I take my shoes off at the door or leave them on?  Do I need to ask to go to the bathroom, or can I quietly slip out?

I have talked to the students about 2 strategies that can help you figure out what the expected behaviour is:  1.  observe other people who seem to know what they are doing  2. ask someone who is in charge.

The opposite of expected behaviour is unexpected behaviour.  It is usually easy to tell if behaviour is unexpected, because it  makes people feel uncomfortable.  Let’s take our example above:  how would you feel if the students were cheering and yelling and screaming as they walked down the hallway at school?

Unexpected behaviour is often the basis for comedy.  Below is a collection of video clips that include some comedy sketches.  These clips were selected because they show unexpected behaviour!

I wonder if you can pick out the unexpected things that Mr. Bean does?

 

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