“Your Laws Can’t Contain Me”: 67 Times First-World Anarchists Broke The Rules Just For Fun (New Pics)

The world would be pretty chaotic if rules and laws didn't exist. They help to keep us safe, and ensure that things run smoothly. But often, in daily life, it's not the strict regulations that save us. It's the unspoken codes of conduct that we somehow know to follow, even if we aren't told to.

Social norms are unwritten expectations about how people should behave. From standing in a queue, to returning your shopping cart, or putting your litter in the trash can, these seemingly small things help society to function like a well-oiled machine.

Researchers have found that people tend to follow rules even when there is no punishment or reward involved.

In one study involving more than 14,000 participants, up to 70% of them followed an arbitrary rule even if breaking it wouldn't land them in hot water. The researchers concluded that rule-following is largely driven by social expectations and internal respect for the rules. Not fear...

It's a case of doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.

That’s not to say that people respect all the rules. There are some that are often broken by rebels and angels alike.

Let's call them "phantom rules." They’re widely known but inconsistently enforced. Think of things like speeding just a tiny bit, jaywalking, or joining the express checkout aisle with thirteen items instead of ten. People seldom get punished for breaking these rules is rare, so they begin to treat them as “optional.”

Then there are the rules where punishment is enforced but many break them anyway, just not enough to be labelled criminal or deviant. Psychologists refer to this as primary deviance.

"[It] refers to the everyday rule-breaking that nearly everyone engages in at some point -small, one-time, or harmless acts that don’t lead to serious consequences or identity changes," explains the Simply Psychology site.

In these cases, those breaking the rules don't consider themselves "rule-breakers." They're merely bending the rules to suit their circumstances as and when convenient.

The interesting thing about rule-breaking is that it's like the flu - it can be highly contagious. And that's because people often take their cue from others about what's acceptable and how to behave. If everyone around you follows a rule, you’re more likely to follow it too. But when you see a few people ignoring it, your brain may interpret that as permission.

Think about shopping carts, for example. If one or two people abandon theirs in the middle of the parking lot, instead of returning it to its rightful "parking spot," another person might feel less guilty doing the same thing. Before long, the entire parking lot looks like a cart graveyard.

Interestingly, studies conducted by Harvard Business School have shown that people who break minor social norms (like wearing board shorts in the boardroom) can sometimes be perceived as having higher status or confidence. It's something known as the “Red Sneakers Effect.”

Simply put: if someone feels comfortable ignoring a rule, others may assume they’re important enough that the rules don’t apply to them.

“We all have a desire to fit in. What this means, usually, is that we follow social norms and rules of appropriate conduct,” said study co-author of the study Francesca Gino. “Yet, in our research, we show that deviating from the accepted dress code or social norms has surprising benefits: It leads others to think we have greater status.”