Let’s start across the Atlantic with an experiment by the famed US psychologist Stanley Milgram. Milgram is best-known for his studies of obedience and control in the 1960s, in which participants were asked to deliver increasingly powerful electric shocks to a fellow subject (who was really an actor, pretending to be hurt). They were told that is was a necessary part of the experiment, and not to take notice of the apparent cries of pain. Milgram found that the participants were surprisingly willing to follow the scientists’ orders, with the majority agreeing to administer even the most powerful electric shock of 450 volts. The experiment was meant to illustrate how easily we will allow our morals to be dictated by a greater authority.

By the 1980s, however, Milgram’s interests had softened, as he turned to explore the taboo of queue-jumping. He sent his research team to New York’s train stations and betting shops, where they sidled up to the waiting customers and inserted themselves between the third and fourth person – then stayed for around a minute before departing.

The New Yorkers were far from happy to see someone pushing in front of them. In around 15% of cases, they managed to contain their feelings with dirty looks and hostile stares; 20% of the time, they were more vocal, calling out “No way! The line’s back there” or “Hey buddy, we’ve been waiting. Get off the line and go to the back.” In around 10% of the experiments, their outrage became physical, tugging at the intruders’ sleeves or forcibly shoving them out of the line.

But of even more interest were the feelings of the intruders themselves. Milgram noted that it often took half an hour for his US colleagues to work up the courage to enter the line, and their anxiety was often so great that they were visibly pale and suffered from nausea. (It is an interesting parallel with Milgram’s previous experiments – apparently, queue-jumping causes nearly as much soul-searching as electrocuting someone.) Although Milgram’s work does not offer a direct comparison, their discomfort would seem to suggest that New Yorkers are just as concerned about disrupting these social norms as any British person.