Psychology human development - Essay Example

It would elaborate over the human development theories applied to the individual with respect to her interactions and behaviors observed. Location The subject is observed in a playground of a club that the family visits often. The playground has swings and other recreational equipment such as see-saw, slide, monkey bars and overhead ladder for children. The children found in the playground are usually between the ages of 3 to 11 years old. The subject visits the playground with her mother who usually sits on the benches with mothers of other children.

Subject The subject of this naturalistic observation is a girl between the age of four and six years old. She is the eldest child with a younger brother who is between three to five years in age. During the observation, the subject showed a variation in behavior and opened up gradually. The observation was for about half an hour during which the mother was present at the location and was looking over the subject. However, she was in close proximity throughout the observation. Interactions observed The observation initiated when the subject was brought to the playground early evening accompanied by her mother.

For some time, she stayed alongside her mother and observed the children who were playing on the swings and other activities. Finding comfort with her mother in a place where everyone else was unknown to her displayed her reliability over her mother. According to the development theory of Erik Erickson, this shows that the subject has overcome the stage of Trust Vs Mistrust. The subject was not reluctant to go play in the ground, but since she did not know any of the children she stayed with her mother and observed.

As the subject began to interact with the children, she started the conversation about the game that they were playing. She had been observing them and went to the group where she thought she would best fit. This decision was made by her own judgment and could prove that she was demonstrating Erickson's development theory stage of Initiative vs. Guilt. As the girls she approached were swinging, she found a common interest. She said to them that she could do it to and said "you know I can swing faster than that.

" The conversation did not involve asking names or any other information but they quickly started sharing their routines and talked about other games that they loved playing. The subject told them about the games that she played with her little brother and her cousins. Behaviors observed At first the child showed a shy behavior when she did not go to play with the children right away. Gradually, she moved on to the children who seemed the most similar to her. She chose to play with girls who were around her age instead of going towards boys.

As the subject moved on to play with the girls, the theory of Vygotsky's about principles of guided participation and zone of proximal development could be applied as her mom encouraged her to go play on the swings. Eventually, as the child interacted with the other children she opened up and became energetic and active. She showed a competitive behavior as she said that she could also play the game that they were playing. In just a few moments she had started running around, playing on different recreational equipment with her new friends.

It was noticed that within the span of ten minutes of interaction, the child had developed close bonds with her new friends and when her mother called her for supper, she did not want to leave her friends.