The Observation of Children Behavior - Essay Example

Observation analysis: Children interaction behavior Introduction The observation of children behavior occurred on a Sunday afternoon. It was a sunny afternoon and children from different families had just gotten from church and they were playing in a play ground at the neighborhood. There were children of different ages, ranging from approximately 2-14 years old. However, the observation concentrated more on a group of younger children between the ages of 2-5 years who were playing in different groups. The group consisted of both boys and girls, but the girls were more than the boys. The observation took approximately two-and-half hours, starting around 1:30 pm to 4 pm. The observation centered on both the interpersonal and group interactions between the children, as well as specific individual behavior for some children who were observed to be portraying unique behaviors. The children were observed to be full of energy especially during the first hour or so after they came running into the playfield. Thus, their initial games entailed running around, but as time progressed they seemed tired and started changing their games into less moving activities. The group of children immediately split into several groups after entering the playfield, with the younger children between the ages of 2-5 years concentrating on similar play activities, while the rest of the children engaged in different activities. Children interaction behavior Children between the ages of 2-5 years were found to be more cooperative in their games, since they played together in a group that did not demonstrate a high degree of conflict and disagreement. The child play in this age group majorly entailed role-playing, where the children were imitating the adults, parents and their elder siblings in turns. The Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura provides that the process of observing the environment shapes the behavior of individuals (Gibson, 429). In this respect, the imitation and role playing portrayed by the children of ages 2-3 years is a reflection of what they have learnt from their environment. However, the role playing would be interrupted at times, especially when two related children or siblings would disagree on the best imitation of their parents, causing the role-playing to stop and even some of the group members to split the group so they could play on their own. This too is a characteristic that has been shaped by the children observing and learning from the environment; that people can still be independent. According to Socio-cultural Theory established by Lev Vygotsky, an individual’s personal interaction with others and the tools that the culture provides for interaction eventually shapes the view of the world formed by the individuals (Murray, 23). This would explain the difference in the observation made between the orientation of boys and girls to different games and activities. Dances and music was a major game that the children were playing, often dancing together and at times selecting some of the children to compete in dancing and singing. Boys were more oriented to dancing, while girls were observed to be comfortable in singing. Thus according to the Socio-cultural Theory, culture has provided the boys with tools that orientate them to dancing, while the girls have been orientated to singing. Additionally, children of ages 4-5 demonstrated high level of selectiveness in the games and membership, where they chose friends and then changed them very frequently. They mostly chose 1 or 2 friends of the same sex, while demonstrating high level of sexual distinction awareness for the two genders. Their games were characterized by being too competitive, enlisting only few members and applying strict game rules. The games also changed too often. This observation can also be explained by Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory, which provides that personal interactions shape an individual’s view of the world (Murray, 356). Thus, the competitiveness of such children has been shaped by their interpersonal interactions, which has eventually made them perceive the world as characterized by competition. The Sigmund Freud’s Theory of Development provides that sexual awareness and tension between opposite sex increases with child’s growth (Campos-Castillo and Hitlin, 8). This theory found perfect application in explaining why the relationship between opposite sexes was different in terms of the age of those children. The interaction between the children of the ages 2-3 years had no element of shyness, even when the boys and girls were role-playing, dancing or singing together. On the contrary the interaction between children of ages 4-5 years demonstrated some shyness, especially when the play involved direct and close interaction between boys and girls. The shy ones displayed extreme shyness, while those who were not shy among the children of this age displayed extreme boldness and at times even arrogance. Such children would at times openly display anger bursts and become over-demanding. Since this theory argues that sexual awareness develops and causes tension as a child grows, the younger children had no such sexual tension or awareness thus they were not shy. On the other hand, the older ones had developed the sexual awareness, and thus the sexual tension caused shyness. Defensiveness was displayed at a high level for the children between 2-3 years, with the children who were dismissed for not dancing or singing well becoming defensive of their abilities through crying and even parting from the group. Warmth, friendliness and gentleness were highly observable amongst other children, with some of them volunteering to console and even give attention to the ones who were offended through supporting them and even giving them a chance to replay. The difference in the behavior of the two set of children can be traced back to the ecological systems theory that was formulated by Bronfenbrenner (Childs, 107). According to this theory, the immediate ecosystem of the child such as the immediate family (micro system) determines how the child responds to the environment, while defining their character and behavior. The defensive, possessive and less cooperative children must have originated from an immediate family (micro-system) that is either dysfunctional or less supportive, while the children displaying warmth, gentleness and responsibility emanated from a loving, tender and functional immediate family (Childs, 112). However, some of the children mostly between the ages of 2-3 who felt offended refused to cooperate with the rest henceforth. Such children would demonstrate easy frustrations and would scream loudly as they left the group when they were offended. Despite their cooperation in playing, high number of children was found to be very possessive with their toys and other play items, and only shared them with those who were found be very friendly and close. These characteristics as displayed by the children can be explained by the Piagets Theory of Cognitive development, which provides that between the age of 2-7 years, children are at their pre-operational stage of life, which is characterized by possessiveness and egocentrism (Charlesworth, 27). Thus, the children of ages 2-5 are expected to be selfish, and only open up and share with the friends they really love and trust. The Behaviorism & Language Learning Theory by BF Skinner provides that through the process of learning and then reinforcement, a behavior develops in a person and then becomes consistent (Murray, 29). This theory explains another notable distinction between the children interaction for those between the ages of 2-3 and the ones of ages 3-5; where the children between the ages of 2-3 years did not show much affection towards their siblings, while those of ages 4-5 demonstrated a high level of affection towards their younger siblings. This means that the children between the ages of 4-5 years have had time to learn and then get reinforcement to develop affection towards their younger siblings, while the young ones have not yet learnt the affectionate behavior (Childs, 121). The behavior of the 3-5 year olds was sometimes inconsistent, where they seemed to be self-willed and refused to obey the rule of the games at times. Some of the children between the ages of 3-5 were found to display some queer independent behaviors. This was especially an element demonstrated by a girl who was approximately 4 years old, who was found to sit alone and started playing with an imaginary companion. When joined by others she seemed to be anxious and insecure, while being bossy and ordering the other children around just like an adult would do. The concept of insecurity in children has been explored and explained by John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, which demonstrated that the early relationship between children and caregivers determines the future level of security or insecurity for such children (Campos-Castillo and Hitlin, 17). The children who were well catered for by their caregivers develops a sense of security and ability to explore the world, while those who were not adequately catered for develops a sense of anxiety and insecurity (Gibson, 430). Apart from this one, there were other such children who separated and played independently, but their character portrayed calmness and friendliness when they were approached by others. The girls mostly aged 4 or 5 years were found to be quick in interpreting other children’s emotional expression, and tended to be eager to please the boys. Such children demonstrate the concept of security under the Attachment Theory, which arises from suitable caretaking of such children by their caregivers Campos-Castillo and Hitlin, 24). The children between the ages of 4-5 were the most contradictory in character display, since they appeared to be highly cooperative at one point and then display a high level of rivalry at another point. They tended to be enjoying doing things for the self. Children at this age were also found to be curious in aspects of relating with the children of the opposite gender, where they wanted to explore the sex differences. The child play for the children of age 4-5 demonstrated close connection to reality, where they played adult games, while anything imaginative and new seemed to impress them. They seemed to favor small groups of play comprising of 2-5 members. This aspect of children play is related to the Socio-cultural Theory established by Lev Vygotsky which provides that collaborative learning is an important tool of human development, which enables people to learn to work together through understanding each other, a process that always creates interpersonal conflicts (Childs, 119). Children between the ages of 4-5 years seemed to border on the extremes, where they loved, sympathized and concerned about others a lot, yet seemed to hate and dislike the ones they opposed a lot, while taking responsibility where it deserved and expressing guilt when they were found wrong. Telling lies, boasting and taking charge was yet another characteristic demonstrated by children of this age. The children of this age also seemed consistently happy and able to express their emotions openly, which then made them quarrel frequently, although the quarrels lasted a short while and then they were easily forgotten. Anger and jealousy was highly portrayed between the children of the ages 4-5 years, who did not seem to like each other very much. All these traits can be explained by the Theory Of Psychosocial Development that was formulated by Erik Erikson, which provides that personality develops in a series of stages, with the social experience shaping the development of the ego identity (Charlesworth, 33). Therefore, the social experiences of the children aged 4-5 border the extremes of love and hate, because their stage of social experience has shaped their ego identity either to love or hate. However, as they continue to grow, intermediate feelings that do not entail extreme hating or extreme loving will develop and then shape their social interactions. Works Cited Campos-Castillo, Celeste, and Hitlin Steven. "Copresence: Revisiting A Building Block For Social Interaction Theories." Sociological Theory 31.2 (2013): 168-192. Print. Charlesworth, Rosalind. Understanding Child Development. Cengage Learning, 2013 . 8-52. Print. Childs, Carrie. "From Reading Minds To Social Interaction: Respecifying Theory Of Mind." Human Studies 37.1 (2014): 103-122. Print. Gibson, Will. "All The World Is A... Status/Power Play? A Reinvigorated Theory For The Study Of Social Interaction." Symbolic Interaction 37.3 (2014): 429-431. Print. Murray, Robert, T. Comparing Theories of Child Development. Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005. 23-522. Print. Read More