Naturalistic Observation

Learning Goal: I’m working on a philosophy discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Are you a natural people watcher? If so, you have discovered that human beings are a humorous species. (We can do some very funny things, especially when we don’t realize that someone is observing our behavior). This assignment involves you ” going undercover” to explore the intriguing nature of human behavior.

Directions: Spend time observing the behavior of a person, or people, or animals in their natural setting. For example, this can be a setting at home, at work, or if the pandemic is under control and you have received your COVID vaccination then you may consider observing behavior in a public setting such as the mall, a soccer game, the theatre, the airport, or at a sports bar (if you are over 21 years of age). Attempt your observation without others realizing that they are the topic of your psychology homework assignment. Take note of their behavior, their reactions, and the possible motivations for the behavior you see. (Note: Make sure that you select an observation with action-oriented behavior. Observing someone alone studying, watching television, or playing video games doesn’t reveal too much.)

In your discussion forum answer the following observation and evaluation questions:

*State your name. (Duygu)

(1)Title your observation with a creative title. Indicate the number of the response as you address each question.

(2) Describe the setting. Set the stage of your observation. Provide a good description of the setting and location. (Where are you… and be specific.)

(3) Describe the observable behavior. What about the people or the situation that initially attracted your attention to make this observation?

What behaviors did you see people/animals doing? Provide specifics.

(4) What reasons do you suppose are motivating the behaviors you observed?

(Make an educated guess. Now is your opportunity to “play” amateur psychologist.)

(5) Evaluate the accuracy of the observation. Did the subject(s) realize you were observing their behavior? If so, how did their behavior change when they discovered they were being watched?

(6) Critical Thinking: What conclusions would you draw about human behavior from this observation?

(7) Identify a theorist (founder) from the perspectives mentioned in Chapter 1 of the textbook and apply one of their principles to your observation. Explain how the theory applies.

You must conduct your observation and answer the observation questions by Tuesday, April 26 (11:00 pm). You will need to read, respond and post your responses to at least two others classmates by Thursday April 28 (11:00 pm).

When you peer post to your classmates be sure to number your responses while responding to these specific questions (1-4). To facilitate our class discussion your response posts must include

Hello _____________

1. Discuss what you enjoyed most about their “observational” post and why. What makes you say that?

2. Discuss what similar experiences you’ve had with your classmate’s posted observation (have you previously observed what they discovered?)
3. Provide a comment (feedback) about their choice of theorist and perspective.

4. Provide a comment about how well they explained the theory and the application of the theory to their observation.

• Your peer post to a classmate should reflect intellectual thoughts and explanations based upon your personal experiences, readings, or research. For shorter responses, communicate with more than 2 students in order to maximize your points earned. For example, if you agree or disagree with a statement by a classmate, explain your reasons and support your response.
• 1-Melissa
• Examination of Amazonian machines
• We are located at an Amazon sorting center. Me and my spouse work sorting through boxes and scanning them onto pallets every day. All day long we stand by a gigantic belt waiting for boxes to go down. On the sides of the belt are three rows of pallets with larger container boxes called gaylords. People tend to walk around also putting boxes up or moving the massive gaylords out to place new ones on pallets.
• People tend to stare a lot when they either wait for boxes, or when they are tired, they stare. This tends to happen all the time because I notice, when I put boxes away or walk around people stare and its either they are looking at you or the things around you. They look like machines and never blink.
• With the people staring it is not just because they are bored, maybe they are deep in their mind thinking of things. Or maybe they are bored, it’s a weird feeling when you turn around and someone is there staring at you.
• They do realize and they either keep starring or turn away looking at something else. For the most part people tend to keep starring, so I assume they are looking at the things near me or around.
• It is crazy that when someone stares for a very long time they do not tend to blink. They fidget with their fingers and keep starring no matter if you are looking right back at them or not. The human behavior indicates they are in deep thought, or the mind is completely empty and void only starring into an abyss of people and boxes.
• Behavioral because objective wise I am examining the behavior of how others at the workplace act most of the time. They seem to be in deep thought or have an empty mind.
• 2-Estela
• Staring contest in Japan2. My husband and I are on a train in Japan. It is a pretty big size, super easy to get confused with if you can’t read Japanese like us. Not too packed and has lots of areas to stand or sit. There is a view of each small city and town out of each window.3. The people around us tend to stare more than others in the states, but we can’t really blame them, we are foreigners. It is quite funny though, because they will not break their stare just because you caught them. My husband seems to have a fun time having full-on stares with them, but they don’t really do anything besides that.4. They obviously see us as foreigners in their country, so I assume they are just curious to see how we look and dress. 5. They did realize after breaking their stares after no longer than a minute that each time they came back for another glance my husband and I would just stare back. It kind of just became a little game of staring between us. They didn’t really react to it much, just shrugged it off.6. The conclusion I drew was that they are curious about us just as much as we are about them. Personally, I love the way they dress and do their makeup, which is why I look back at them sometimes. Overall, they just see us as travelers who are trying to get around even though we have no idea where we are going.7. I think this is a good example of Sociocultural. We are learning from one another by staring, whether we realize it or not. We see the difference in the things we might have and take note like, “So that’s what they use it for”, or “Wow they have a nice way of dressing.