Examples Of Social Observation

There are an unfathomable amount of social settings that if given the opportunity allow individuals to gain an insight into the lives of others based solely off of observations. My first observation took place at Panera Bread in Crestview Hills on Sunday February 25th at around the time 5:30pm. I decided to pick this place because of the vast amount of individuals coming and going allowing a suitable place to observe social behaviors. One individual that caught my eye was a young adult, I would say around the age of 22, who was enjoying his lunch when I noticed his behaviors and became intrigued. The boy would hardly look up from his phone nor would he look around which I believed was interesting. From my interpretation he felt awkward sitting by himself so therefore he didn’t want to make eye contact with other people.

Later on during the observation he started to loosen up slightly and become more comfortable in his setting. At first the boy was using his cellphone as a barrier around him, giving himself a sense of false comfort. I also analyzed how he was sitting at his table. His legs were crossed at the ankles, which can be relative to being uncomfortable or being fearful with his surroundings. A time went on he began looking up from his phone and would go back to eating his sandwich without playing on his cellphone. Furthermore, my thoughts on this situation concur that he can be confident and feel content in his surroundings when he embraces sitting alone. Based off the observation, I conclude that although in the beginning the boy seemed uncomfortable at first as his dinner went on, he slowly became more comfortable being alone. This shows that when people stray from their norm their fears become less evident and uncomfortable situations become