Comparing Behavior Responses for Two Children Essay

Total Length: 2244 words ( 7 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 7

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Human Behavior Social Environment

Child

This paper begins with an observation of a 4-year-old boy at the train station setting. The surrounding company is the family that consists of father, mother, a son, and three-daughters. The goal of the observation is to establish the boy's entire behavior together with his reaction to punishment and reinforcement. The method used was the Systematic Observation consisting of event sampling and specimen record that lasted for 53 minutes.

The report gathered information through "Systematic Observation." I formulated the design through the simple form of recording data through event sampling and specimen record. In most cases, researchers can record descriptions of the entire scope of behavior using this method (Hutchison, 2008). Further, the particular behavior instances of the specified period were recorded.

The Piaget Cognitive Development Theory was used in analyzing the behavior of the child. The child is at proportional stages of between two to seven years of age, and he has reasonable behavior. He was upset after his father left. The mother required him to sit in a chair next to the check-in area. The boy lay on an armchair and kept moving his hands and legs around. Next, he put his feet next to the chair's armrest next to him where the sister was sited. He continued with this disposition on several occasions while attempting to hit the sister. That prompted the mother condone him from such actions (Germaine & Bloom, 1999). Behavior of the child was impacted through various traits that affect the individual. Social norms affected the parent's behavioral responses. For the inherent conformity and human society nature, humans face pressures of following distinct rules and displaying acceptable behaviors in presences of other people. The conditions influence the way individuals behave. Certain behaviors are perceived to be either unacceptable or acceptable in different cultures and societies. On the other hand, he did not respond to the caution. He simply put the head across the seat while lifting his feet at the chair's back, and started stomping his feet. The boy later tried getting down on the ground headfirst.

The mother was quick to tell him off, but did not respond. This way, she sent one elder sister to drag him from the ground and position him in the chair rightly (Greene, 2008). The boy repeated same behavior and the mother was not successful in stopping him and her sister to position him again. However, this time the mother issued a warning that he was not to repeat the same. Behavioral principles researched emerge that peer groups focus on statuses. Research illustrates that different social skills engage different groups as compared to maintaining or building a certain status in the group. Research suggests that a neglected child is evasive and remains relatively unfamiliar to the group members. In the end, he stayed in the chair for several times without doing anything (Freeman 2000).

Apparently, he did not respond to the mother the first time but then, he responded through proper behavior for several minutes after she warned him (Hutchison, 2008). Children within the age do not hold up behavior for long without moving onto something else. According to maturational theory of Arnold Gesell (1925), parents and caregivers need to keep them occupied through telling stories and playing with them and maybe providing various toys for purposes of assuring continued interest and reduced boredom. When children are idle, they try attracting the adults' attention through engaging in such misbehavior.

The boy started making some movements again. He lay backwards once more while repeating similar dangerous actions. As the mother lacked positive reactions, she raised her voice at him. She later walked to him to pinch on his hand. He was quick to get up and sit quietly. The boy did not cry although his eyes were teary. He looked around to see is anyone saw what happened. Children having difficulties to address social problems see improvements of social skills through behavior modification and therapy. Modeling successfully uses an approach of increasing participation through withdrawn children. Shaping socially desirable dispositions through positive reinforcement has some most positive impacts on children facing such social problems. Further, he tried resisting crying although he did not want others to see. He sat in the chair for close to ten minutes, and he continued engaging in other dangerous dispositions. He went on to jump from of the chair (Germaine & Bloom, 1999). The ground was made of the concrete column next to the chair.

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The boy walked on to it and began making round spins. The mother asked him to spread back to the chair, and the boy responded affirmatively. His father later came and soon the boy sighted him and ran towards him clinging on his legs. The father raised him up from the as they left. The movement was clearly dangerous. According to behavioral theories of Skinner (1974) as well as children's milestones, observe that children of this age are not aware of the dangers they are prone. The mother employed punishment presentation to lower the undesirable behaviors (Freeman, 2000). Gender does not affect the behavior of the child.

The punishment and warning had positive responses even though for relatively shorter times. Parents use elements of positive reinforcement in encouraging their child on the best ways of decreasing such undesirable behavior and increasing desirable ones. Other than engaging punishment concepts, where the mother instructed the child to shun away from the dangerous movement and could fall and cause harm to him was precisely a better response. According to Freud's (1935) psychoanalytic theory, children within the stage are not able to differentiate between safe and dangerous movements and have to act under adult supervision (Hutchison, 2008). The motor activity development in behavioral models produces various techniques such as operant-based feedback aimed at facilitating success in the development. Child development behavior is engaged across the development stages and the entire lifetime. The concepts are inclusive of ways of acting based on various factors like genetics, core faith, attitude, and social norms.

I had a good time observing the boy that day. The guidelines on milestones facilitated my analysis and assessment of his behavior. On the other hand, I was upset and disappointed as the mother kept punishing him. From my view, better outcomes would have been achieved for the mother in explaining to the child the outcomes of his playful movements. Children are easily bored, and the mother needs to occupy the child through giving a toy or telling stories for the child to remain (Heward et al., 2005).

Child 2

The second observation was on a boy aged 12 months in the living room during neighborhood party. The boys name is Mike and is an infant according to the stages proposed in the Piaget Cognitive Development Theory (Michael, 2004). The atmosphere was comfortable and appeared to have furnishing of his comfort as well as safety in mind. The boy has fine and short blonde hair and blue eyes. His eyes are almond-shaped and have a light complexion. During the observation, he was sitting on the living room floor that was sparsely furnished with a television and three couches (Germaine & Bloom, 1999).

There were several adult interactions with the infant and various behavioral states affected the relationship between the infant and caregiver. Mike was seated on the living room floor surrounded by his toys. The mother and Mr. Kim, a neighbor sat on the same floor beside him. The boy started handing series of toys to his mother. Mike was interested in the mother's reaction as he handed her blocks one after the other. Mike also leans forward to grab a block for purposes of handing it to the mother. He can watch her face while sorting her drops with mouth open waiting for a reaction. The mother explained to him of the color and letter on each block. Mike nodded his head forward as a way of reaching for another one and proceeded picking up others.

Mike had much interest in the reaction of his mother towards him (Freeman, 2000). She continued watching him while he raised interests in the toy and moved from her. The boy checked to allude whether she could pay attention towards him while he played. After the boy picked close to five blocks and handed them to the mother, he crawled across the living room floor towards a toy car that he pushes for some time. He looks at the mother to see her current actions doing and continues to push the car to her. He puts on a smile at her while she smiles back and asks whether the car was his. The boy smiled again and nodded with his head forward. According to cultural approach of Vygotsky (1978), the fact that the actual physical emotions had physical reactions that caused changes for overall interpretation of the child, opportunities occurred for the mother to utilize the.....

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