Watch someone for 3-4 minutes. Record everything you "see." The person should not know you are observing them for information. Be as objective as possible, avoiding any value judgments or inferences about their physical appearance or behavior. Click on the comment link below to post what you observed. Give us a brief description of the setting in which the observation took place.
Remember to tag your post with your first name and last name initial. For example, Britney Spears would be BritneyS.
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Okay, some of you may need an example, so here's what I did during my observation...
I observed someone while I was at the park with my son. It was a mother, and she walked to the park with her son (about a year old) in a stroller. She seemed a little on the heavy side, and she was breathing pretty heavily when she arrived. She took her baby out and kissed him. Immediately after, she looked around to see who witnessed this show of affection. She caught my eye, nodded and then smiled. She then seemed to grow self-conscious. She tugged at her shorts, pulling them down as they were a bit tight and started riding up. She developed a pattern of walking withe her son, tugging at her shorts, and looking around. That's when my 3-4 minutes ended.
Okay so here we go:
I observed a specimen wile in a group of people. They thought I was drawing...what a retard.
Okay so at first the subject was very relaxed, laid back and almost depressed looking. After about 30 seconds, the subject puilled out his/her ipod and started to listen to screamo music. And even enentually started to bob their head up and down. We made eye contact a few times, but i continued to "draw". Than the subject got up, and floated to another group of people. And i followed. Not like a stalker, i just went with them. They are very ADD.
THus, my 3-4 minutes ended.
I observed the subject while in the cafeteria before school started. The girl sat at a table alone waiting for her friends to arrive. She first pulled out her cell phone and dialed a few numbers while looking around. Then she pretended to work on homework while still self-conciously looking around her. She seemed uncomfortable and was obviously trying to act busy. This pattern continued for my entire 3-4 minutes.
I observed someone while in class. He was walking around the room at first, holding his hands up to his nose, which was red. He then blew his nose quietly, almost to the point of not being heard, even though the teacher and me were the only ones in the room. After he sat down he signed onto the computer, immediately started typing and googled CERN, the largest particle physics laboratory. On this site he looked at the LHC milestones and exclaimed "Oh my goodness" twice. Then my time ended.
Okay,
So I observed a nearby lunch table yesterday... a lunch table of boys. One boy had 3 bags of chips piled on top of his already huge pile of food. Then, following him, was another boy with a similar tray. Then one of the boys had nothing but a soda, and then three of them had an average amount of food. Out of he boys that were eating, I noticed, that they all talked (and laughed) with their mouths full... May I add... ew. One of the boys hadn't even finished what they were chewing, but drank an entire thing of milk. The boy with just the soda finished it and tried to shoot it in a nearby trashcan. One of the other boys mimicked him. Then one of the boys burped really loud, and didn't say "excuse me". By then I estimated that my 3-4 minutes were up.
I observed this person during class two days ago (note this will be stream of consciousness). Bouncing his foot, leaning on hand, watching teacher, bouncing other leg, looking at board, writing, closly attentive to teacher, writing attentively, leaning on hand again, cracking knuckles, biting vail, talking to teacher, vehemently gesticulating, fooling around with pen, bouncing leg again, talking with person behing him, acting out an eccentric character, biting nail, talking, laughing. Then my time ended.
Today I observed a girl sitting outside a restaurant. She tapped her foot nervously and checked her cellphone frequently, implying that she was uncomfortable and waiting on a second party to arrive. When the waiter came by for her order she asked for herbal tea and resumed tapping her foot. My 4 minutes were up just as she got her tea.
Okay, I observed someone in my home and this is what they did in 3-4 minutes:
This person dropped their school books on the table and sat down to say hello to the dogs. He began to happily pet the dogs. He was also talking to his uncle about the school day while doing so. After he was done petting the dogs he went into the kitchen and fixed himself a snack. He was asking me help with his english homework while he was eating his snack.
And this is where my 3-4 minutes ended.
I observed someone while I was at church with my family. It was a teenage girl, who was sitting with her parents. She first pulled out a piece of paper and started to draw something, while doing this she looked around to see if anyone was looking at her. Then she pretended to be listening to the pastor, while drawing on the piece of paper. She seemed bored and was trying to act as if she was listening.
Then, my 3-4 minutes ended.
Yesterday I observed someone at the mall food court. I pretended to be eating while she walked back and forth to each fast food restaurant, obviously trying to decide which place to order from. She was very aware that she was overweight, sucking in her stomach and flattening out her shirt, and seemed to have an internal conflict on whether or not she should eat at Sbarro's or not. This is where my 3-4 minutes ended.
I observed this one lady in my break room earlier today. She was an older lady sitting at a table next to mine, reading some scattered newspaper ads. She seemed to passively scan through them rather than actually focus on words. She rested her chin in her hand as she read. Then, another old lady joined her, and she grew a bit more lively. She still seemed passive, acknowledging and listening to her companion rather than leading the conversation.
I watched someone while I was at Wall-Mart. She was walking around very quickly. She seemed to be looking to see if anyone was watching what she was doing and then went back to her very rapidly paced shopping, never really looking or comparing what she was getting. Once she got what she wanted in that section she moved to another part in the store and by that time the time was up.
i observed someone at home while sitting in my living room. At first he was just sitting on the couch fully focused on the show he was watching, then he got up, walked to the kitchen and came back with a bowl of choco pebbles. Then he seemed extremely bored, his face was long and dreary. He suddenly got up and sprinted to his room, came back with a 360 console and hooked it all up and began to play halo rather instensely. Then my time ended.
I was watching a young girl at youth group when we were having a meal at my church. After getting her food, she joined a table with a bunch of other girls her age. She talked and laughed loudly for a while. She ate only a small portion of her meal and then had to go to the bathroom. She didn't want to go alone so she had two of her friends go with her which then all of the girls at the table had to go to the bathroom. My 4 minutes then ended.
I observed the subject while I was at lunch. It was a freshman girl, waiting at the microwave for her food to heat. She awkwardly stood there crossing and uncrossing her arms scanning the cafeteria for someone to talk to. I tried to avoid eye contact, but she kept looking over at me. She smiled to avoid further awkwardness, and then pretended to look at a poster. She heard the microwave beep and hurriedly took her food out and sat down at her table. She seemed much relived. That is when my 4 minutes ended.
The above comment was posted by "Sarah P"... I don't know why the "P" didn't show up.
I observed someone while i was at the doctors office this morning. It was an older lady around the age of 60. She walked in the door and greeted everyone with a loud hello. She then began to complain about the traffic, and suddenly tossed the receptionist her belongings saying she had to use the restroom. She quickly ran to the bathroom, and when she returned, knocked over 3 or 4 things on the receptionists desk. That is when my 4 minutes ended.
Today while i was at the DNV i observed a little boy with his mom they were waiting for his sister who was in line. This mom was sitting in a chair and the little boy who was about 5 years old was sitting on her lap. She was keeping him entertained by playing games with him. He would try to cheat and she would let him some times he was laughing and giggling. He looked like he was having so much fun it made me smile just watching him laugh and he was so cute. That was my 3-4 minutes of observation.
I observed a guy while on a visit this weekend at UNT.
The group I was with were in my hosts dorm room. We were all talking, either within our own groups or as one big group and I noticed this one guy wasn't really saying anything. He simply sat there and observed people. We caught each other's eyes for a moment, but he quickly tore his away. For the rest of my time he continued his silent surveillance of everyone, as did I.
I observed my subject while they were playin the Xbox. He seemed to spazz every so often when he would have a close incounter to be defeated. He would yell at the television as to get some sort of response from it. He seemed to get angry when he lost and he would yell a lot. He jumped out of his seat a couple of times. He even talked to himself tellin himself what to do or what he had done wrong. He seemed not to notice anything else but what he was playing. This just repeated itself over and over. Thus my 3-4 minutes were up.
I observed my subject while she was searching the Internet. She looked carefully at the computer's screen while she sings and stops singing everytime somethings catches her eye and reads it out laud. After she finishes with the reading she goes back to singing and then stops to say "this is getting boring" twice. The subject also fips her hair constantly, she sits back in the chair to make herself more comfortable and goes back to singing, and that is when my four minutes were up.
Today I was watching my mother drive to Dallas. She had asked me to come with her so she wouldn't be alone. She was focused entirely on the road with a tight grip on the steering wheel when something had caught her eye for a split second. While she turned to look at that object are little green car moved into our lane. When the object my mother had been looking at disappered she turned her attention back onto the road and realized she was getting entirely too close to the car in front of us and she panicked, pushed the brakes rather hard, and yelled at the car for getting in although it was her fault for being distracted by the view. After that she gripped the steering wheel tighter and totally focused on the road determined not to get distracted by the objects being passed on the road. Now the four minutes were up.
I was watching a busboy while eating at Gloria's. The guy was waiting around the bar area. A girl waitrees/busgirl began talking to him. He had his hand on his hip and turned slightly towards her. They laughed at something and then he began inching away from her but she tried to keep the conversation going. He saw me "observing" him and started to stare back at me. I looked away. Then he started talking to our waiter. They shook hands and began laughing. He occasionaly glanced at me. Busboy left to fill someone's water. Then my 3-4 minutes ended. Through out the meal the busboy would stare back at me. Maybe he had the same assignment.lol.
i observed a kid while he was playing the xbox. he was gettin mad everytime the reciever dropped the ball. he yelled alot and almost cussed. he ended up losing like 30-17. then he tried to force me to play with him. thats when my time ended. i couldve beaten him anyways though
i realy agreed on what you say about the lady that she is selfconscouis.
From HELENR
Saturday 15, 2007. i went to the mall and started to observe three tenns that were at Foever 21. They were about 14 and 15 years old. They were trying clothes. bi\ut i capture that one of the girls was trying on some dark blue jeans and look and look and look at herself in the mirrow and i thought to myself that she was unsure of her body because she was looking at her and then at her friends and look that they look better then her. This tells about her that she is unsure of herself, this was h\when my 3-4 minutes ended.
When I was at Starbucks there were two gentlemen who were probably discussing business. However every time a female walked in one of the guys seemed to check her out then signal to the other man to look at her. At one point two young girls left probably about 19 and one of the gentlemen who was leaning forward at the time proceeded to watch them walk across the store out the door then leaned back and watched them walk to their car through the window. I became disgust and quickly stopped watching. However this was not before the gentleman and I made eye contact. He never went 5 minutes without looking at me……almost watching my every move. I left shortly after this.
I know mine took probably longer than four minutes but i was curious to see if the behavior could be patterened or only for those two girls.
Okay,
I observed a group of freshmen girls at a lunch table that was right next to ours. There were about five girls at the table..and they were all voicing their opinions on who were the cutest boys in their grade. One of the girls laughed really loud as if she wanted people around her to hear her. She then noticed that some people were staring at her so she kind of sunk back into her chair. Meanwhile the other girls were busy eating their chips. They all piled their chip bags into the middle of the table and made one of the girls throw all of thetrash away. This was when the three minutes was up.
Today at the Texas State Fair I observed an older man who was probably in his early 50s. He was sitting at a shady picnic table across from the picnic table i was sitting at. The man was eating a delicious corndog but his attention seemed to be focused on the people that passed by our picnic tables. As a family passed by he smiled at the little kids and nodded to the parents. This action showed me that he had respect for the nice family. But soon after the family passed a group of loud teenagers walked by with no respect towards there surroundings and immediately the joy expressed on his face became disgusted with the frown on his face. Then a young couple passed and he paused from eating to remember of his younger days. shortly after that he began eating again. this is when my 4 minutes ended.
I observed my basketball coach while we were in the weight room. At the beginning of our work out she seemed "in control" and giving us our assignments for the day. But as we started to lift weights we started to goof off and laugh at the littlest things. My coach seemed to just dissapear into the corner/ She looked really uncomfortable and didn't say much untill we were done with our work out.
I'm sitting here in my 1st period physics class and there's this one girl in the middle of the front row who seems to be very confused. She is sitting by herself and continuously looks around the room trying to listen in on people's conversations. Maybe she's just really nosy or maybe she feels left out; I don't know. Anyways, she often joins in on people's conversations and doesn't seem to notice that people are thrown off gaurd whe she does this. For atleast 30 seconds she has been staring at the group of people that I am sitting with but the odd thing is that even when I look back at her, even keeping eye contact with her for up to 5 seconds, she doesn't turn away or try to hide the fact that she's eavesdropping. Either she doesn't notice that people notice her watching them or she just doesn't care. Either way my 3-4 minutes are up.
I observed a lady at the mall while I was sitting in the Food court. She was at a table by herself and she was constantly checking her phone. When she wasn't checking her phone, she would start looking around the food court as if she were looking for someone, but no one ever showed up. Eventually she pulled out a book and started reading, looking around to see if people were watching. That's when my 4 minutes were up.
I observed my waiter while a group of friend's and I dined at Chili's. When he asked if we wanted chips and salsa he addressed the whole table, and naturally no one answered. I eventually spoke up and said we would like some. For the rest of the night, instead of fearing an awkward silence by addressing the group with a question, he slowly began directing all of his questions at me such as "how is everything tasting?" and "are you all ready for your checks?"
I observed someone while I was at church this morning. She was a teen-aged girl and about every 20 seconds she would curl her hair around her finger as she continuously wrote her name down in different fonts, trying to see how many different ways she could write her name. Every once in a while she would look up at the pastor and pretend to be closely listening to his message, then she would quickly glance at her mom and then get back to her name drawing. Thats when my 4 minutes ended.
I went to the grocery store. I observed a mother and her daughter as they walked around the store. As the mother busied herself with shopping I watch the daughter move her hands as if she were playing patty cake with herself. When we came to the macaroni aisle the girl suddenly became interested and scanned the boxes to choose which one she wanted. That's when my 3 minuted ended.
while i was at work, i observed a kid(about 7 or 8) who was trying to entertain himself while his parents were shopping. At first he was causious and walked around quietly but then, after his first lap, he started to fidgeting and picked up a red paperweight to play with. He would lok around every once in a while to see if enyone was watched(or to see if he would get in trouble)but he didnt seem to care where his parents had gone. Then my time was up.
While working in best buy i observed a very skittish and paranoid woman. She was holdering her three children tightly close and darted her eyes back and forth as if there was a kidnapper lurking behind her. As the chilldren also clung to her oversized dress one began to break away and walk towards the game aisle. She grabbed him before he could get a foot away and scolded him telling him it is a very dangerous world. This overprtectivness is a sign of agoraphobia and paranoia
Before school started i watched a kid who came in early with a lot of books. He sat down and began to look through his things, then he got out a piece of paper and a book and began to do homework. As people walked in he looked around to see who it was and continued working on his homework the rest of the time.
So while out eating I observed someone that sitting at another table eating by themselves. This person was a middle-aged man seemed to be healthy. But as he was enjoying his appetizer, he was somewhat just looking into space, thinking about things I guess. This went on for some time and in way I was wondering what he was thinking about, and why he was by himself. Then my time ended.
I was at a resturant in frisco watching a waiter while eating my lunch and i noticed he always tried to agreee with what people were saying even though you could tell by his body language that all he wanted was the big tip but the one time I saw him dissagree with anyone it was with another waiter over a drink spill that was his fault and thats when my 4 minutes ended
I observed a man at starbucks after school while I did my homework. He sat calmly at his laptop, seemingly working on something very important and crucial to his carreer. He was drinking a vente hot coffee drink. A girl walked in with her boyfriend and ordered drinks. When the couple left, the man turned and watched them out the window until they were completely out of site, and then returned to his work. Righ before my 3-4 minutes concluded, I finished my coffee and headed out the door, walking past the man at his laptop. In passing, I caught a glipse at his screen which did not portay an important businesslike project at all, but instead was just the homepage of his myspace account.
Hi
On Sunday i went to the park with my sisters and my dog my sisters started to play with the dog when i started to watch this lady no older then 45 when she was talking to her dog and giving him kisses and pading him with the care like the dog was a baby, this is when it came to my head that she is a very loving person but there was a little thing that i realise, the woman was blinde and did not realy seem like she was this says about her that she is a very indepedent woman, and this is when my three to four minutes ended.
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