Observations and Analysis of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment

Introduction

The purpose of this assignment was to observe the behavior of a toddler and (a parent and a young child) in a social environment. To better understand how infants would behave in a social environment it is important to note that: Infants are born with an innate assertiveness or assertive system which motivates them to explore the environment in a manner that is focused and directed and not quickly prohibited or deflected from its goal (Stechler & Harlton 1987). The observation took place in a park on a weekend where activity levels are often at their highest. For objectivity purposes and in a bid to answer questions relating to class the observed parties were mostly Caucasian, Black and Asian. The gender factor was also considered, and fathers with their children were also observed.

How gender, culture and class influence social behaviour Gender

Gender influences social behaviour in the sense that even during outdoor activities a mothers role precedes everything else. So her focus will be on attending to the child’s need first and foremost, and so her fun may be substantially limited, but the joy of nurturing a child supersedes all else.  In the case of the young child, fathers are more likely to reprimand a child physically as opposed to mothers. This could be due to issues of expressing dominance and mothers’ preference to be subdued especially in public and the presence of their spouses. They are however more likely to issue verbal reprimand as opposed to physical but ethnicity again significantly determines how this is handled.

Culture

Of immediate concern was to determine how these individuals (Caucasian, Black and Asian) relate with their children. Upon observation of a Caucasian parent and her child, it became immediately apparent how different each of these ethnicities treat their young. The Caucasian mother pays a lot of attention to their infants, and this was characterized by response to even the slightest vocalizations of the baby with meaning and intentionality. There was also a lot of talking to the young infants and an emphasis on verbal learning for the children. A lot of face to face interactions with the kids was also observed.

The family set up involving black parents was very different. There was very minimal talking, and the emphasis here seems to be on non-verbal observational learning for infants. This behaviour is typically non-western and heavily borrows from Africa where children are often bred by learning language primarily through eavesdropping and observation. Other black families observed with young toddlers as opposed to infants revealed a lot of crawling, walking and playing.  According to (Ainsworth 1977, Geber & Dean 1957, Capute et al. 1985) African-American children display a lot of motor precocity compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Of all groups observed children of African descent are most like to exemplify the Social learning theory (Albert Bandura 1977). The Asian setup seemed to have the most creative toddler among those being studied. The child’s interest was not in playing but rather in sketching and drawing. This behavior largely corroborated a study whose findings indicated: (High advancement of pencil skills in Japanese children in comparison to British norms (Saida and Miyashita 1979).

Class/socio-Economic Status

Class stratification was evident from the observations made at the park. The Caucasians were mostly accompanied by nannies/babysitters who took care of the children most of the time, most of these Caucasian set ups also had expensive toys. The Asian set up tend to have children who are easily sociable because these kids are bred around ethnic, social support networks and thus raise children who tend to have high esteem. The African American set up exhibited most signs of co-parenting and their teamwork was impressive.

The class stratification indeed does affect the behaviour of children. Caucasian infants were likely to cry a lot as they are used to being showered with attention at the slightest vocalization and they are therefore likely to keep crying for repeated results. Toddlers in Caucasian setups are likely to be difficult as most are raised in set ups where their every need is satisfied financially and emotionally. Asian children are confident, and this is attributable to the social support networks often in play when these kids are being raised. In view of the three topological characterizations of infants: easy, difficult, slow to adapt (Chess and Thomas 1989, Thomas & Chess 1977) , the Caucasian infant is likely to grow up to be difficult as they are used to attention being lavished on them, the black baby may be slow to adapt because they are likely to desire to be within black circles due to seclusion behaviours exhibited at the park and  the Asian child is likely to grow up to be easy.  The above conclusion is however purely based on the observations pertaining those particular setups.

The ethnic groups in the park were many but for easier observation it was instructive to narrow down the scope. The similarities between the three groups observed were as follows:

• The parental instincts regarding the infants and young children in all were evident despite being executed in different ways.
• The young children found were all in their pre-operational phase (2-7) years.

If the behavior at the park were observed through a dynamic group lens, the comprehension aspect would be very different. For instance infant and toddlers who kept crying could be exhibiting early developmental signs of an attention seeker. Children who appeared reclusive and anti-social could in future become negotiators, meaning they are critical of everyone else’s ideas, and so they prefer to stay alone.

Observing the behavior at the park through a dynamic group lens would further seek to adjudge the parked behaviour based on the following parameters:

Race – Stereotyping and other forms of attribution based on culture influence human behaviour. Sometimes parents deter their children from interacting with kids of other races due to historical racial injustices and difficulties between the two races. Children socialized in such an environment exhibit those racial tendencies from a young age such as black children preferring to play with other black as opposed to white children.

Abilities – These can further be divided into mental abilities (one’s intelligence and deductive reasoning) and physical abilities (one’s stamina, body co-ordination and motor skills). For instance, as mentioned earlier studies have revealed African American children as having advanced motor precocity compared to their counterparts.

Personality – Infants and children share different psychological attributes and will react differently to situations. This can be used to explain why one toddler could be crying incessantly while another remains calm or even sleeps yet all factors that are exposed to remain constant.

Theories:

McClelland’s Theory of Needs

Psychologist David McClelland is of the view that humans acquire a relatively stable personality early on in life, which remains unchanged after an acquisition. Further, he contended that he did not consider motivation to be hierarchical. This theory attempts to explain the behavioural consequences of need.

The three needs are:

1. i) The need for power
2. ii) The need for affiliation

iii) The need for achievement

This theory contends that humans acquire a stable personality early on in life preferably childhood. This approach will help understand crying (an innate behaviour that generates a programmed response in other humans, both children and adults (Ainswart et al., 1978, Bowlby 1969, Lamb 1981). Infants and young children who are always crying are trying to satisfy their needs for power and needs for achievement. They know that by crying a certain pre-programmed response will come their way. These children are likely to retain that personality which they display in the infancy and early childhood days to become power seekers or high achievers. On the other hand, children who like to play with others or with their parents are developing their need for affiliation. These kids like others and yearn for a mutual response, be it from other kids at school, at the playground or wherever else they come into contact.

1. ii) Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura ((1977), states that Social Learning Theory brings to the forefront two important notions: mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses and that behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. Albert Bandura, those who were aggressive learned the behavior from other people or experiences they underwent. He claimed that the primary contributing factor to aggressiveness among kids was the act of involvement in violent actions by family members, friends or the media. In one of his studies, children watched a video of a model hitting an inflated clown doll. This was later referred to as the Bobo Doll experiment. Children who are angry and cry a lot could very well be reacting to an environment created by argumentative and discordant couples. When parents don’t get along very well their children are likely to emulate and model this very behaviour and become angry, violent or even bullies.

Conclusion

The results of this observational study prove that the behaviour of young children and infants about their social environment is determined by numerous factors. In a bid to be real parents it is not necessary to always let the child have their way as this will impact how they react to not just their social, but their emotional and intellectual environment as well and mostly the result isn’t always positive.

 

References

Bandura., A. (1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioural change.

Psychological Review , 84(2), 191-215

Bowlby J. (1969). Attachment. Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Loss. New York: Basic Books.

Capute, A.J. , Shapiro, B.K., Palmer, F.B, Ross, A., Wachtel, R.C (1985) ”Normal gross

motor development: the influences of race, sex and socio-economic status.             Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 27,625-643

Gerber, M., Dean, R.F.A (1957) Gesell Tests on African Children: Pediatrics, 20, 10055-

1065.

Hutchison, E. D., & Charlesworth, L. W. (2003). Theoretical perspectives on human

behavior. Hutchison (Ed.), Dimensions of human behavior: Person and

            environment, 2, 46-88.

Saida, Y, Miyashita, M (1979) Development of fine motor skills in children: Manipulation of

a pencil in young children aged 2-6 years old. Journal of Movement Studies, 5, 104-

113

Thomas., A. & Chess., S. (1977) Temperament and Development. New York. Brunner/Mazel