Naturalistic Observation of a Child

Naturalistic observation is a way of observing participants on their own natural environment without realizing the observers present. My observation took me to a playing field in one of the elementary schools in the federal states. I observed the participants in the field but my focus was based on the single participant who I had identified before. The participant was outside the field playing with others because it was break time and they had free time to relax. In my observation, I used video recorder in capturing the participant without realizing since I could zoom and capture all that took place. I decided to use a video camera to carry out naturalistic observation because it could capture every aspect of the participant behavior and the body language. In addition, I chose to observe the participant in the field because it is in the field where he can freely express himself without restriction hence minimizing biases.

Summary

As I was in the field seeing how the participant was playing, I observed several factors, which are critical in influencing a child development. I was observing the participant from a distance not far away from where he was, and he could not be interested in whatever it is that I was doing. This gave me an opportunity to observe the participant in his natural behavior which minimized biases in my observation. The participant interaction with other children was not that much as he moved away when a group of children came to join him in the game. The participant at all time did not welcome playing with a group of children but instead continuously played alone. At the same time, the participant attempted to lie down in dissatisfaction when another child came to ask him to join in his game. At some point in the course of playing, the participant became tired and bored and could not play longer hence he stood on the field watching as others play from a distance.

The naturalistic observation led to seeing how the participant was reacting to other children who approached him to play together; he could continuously cross his fingers as a sign of not accepting the offer. At the same time, the participant came to be rebellious as he was approached by another team of children and chased them. The participant could no longer entertain any more invitations from his fellows as he had resorted to playing alone.

Comments

From the above observation, it is evident that the child development is influenced by the environmental factors. A child’s interaction with the environment is intensely critical in his development as they learn from what they see. The observable behavior of others influences how a child will behave leading to personality development (Kail P. 45). Many child developments theories have the assumptions that children’s behavior is affected by the outcome of the displayed behavior, and the outcome will determines its re-occurrence. For instance, the participant behavior has been shaped by the environment of children in which he interacts with, and they determine how he reacts with other outside the school set-up.

Behaviors of children are developed by the reward and punishments they get from others. Incase of reward, they will persist is displaying that behavior in order to get more rewards, and with time, the behavior will be built. On the other hand, punishments lead to the change of behavior as witnessed in the case of my observation. The frequent punishment inform of rejection leads to the change of behavior to the desired in order to be socially accepted by others.

As I have read before how environmental factors affect the individual’s behavior, it was witnessed in my observation on studying how the participant interacted with his environment. Other children too had to learn from the way the participant rejected their request to play with them. Mannuti (P. 49) expanded on how individuals have to undergo crisis and conflicts before understanding themselves better. Children were undergoing an identity crisis in getting somebody to play with which is not coming automatically. The crisis one undergoes will also help him or her in understanding others which intern help in self development and getting to know one’s self.

The observation I did was a surprise because I had not known how children react on their own as they shape their behaviors. Most of the observations came out of my expectation as I did not expect to see children reject themselves or one to play alone. It became as a surprise on realizing the way the children are engaging in different activities shaping their developments without their knowledge. This perhaps gives justification how environment shapes people’s behavior without realizing as one may not expect.

From the first observation, there is a need to change the approach in the second case study. As I managed to capture the participant observable behavior, I need to change the location and give it a different approach. The next observation will be outside the school set-up away from the children influence to get the validity conclusion. A similar test needs to be carried out in a different way to give justifications on today’s findings if there is consistency of the results. The only reason for the next observation is to observe the participant interaction with a different environment and observe his interaction with the environment. Perhaps the best place to carry the second observation is at the park where children of different background and schools are involved. This will eliminate biases which might be caused by the friendly environment that my participant was used.