The findings of this study on the contagious nature of rule-breaking will come as no surprise to most of us. Anyone who’s had responsibility for a bunch of kids can tell you that, a) If one kid starts acting up, the behavior of the rest the group will likewise deteriorate. And, b) Most kids will not simply copy child A, but will find their own unique ways to express their disorder.
This is one reason rules should be carefully chosen so that they are practical and enforceable. The disorder equation above is true primarily when the first rule-breaker ‘gets away with it’. If rules are impractical, eventually they will be broken because they don’t make sense or are too difficult to keep. If they’re not enforceable the rule soon becomes the subject of jokes and this disregard of the rule spreads to other rule families.
