Observing Human Habits

370 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: What are the consequences of breaking social norms

Observing Human Habits

People and their strange habits. Where does this strange behavior come from? During this past week, I was able to observe many of my peers. From this, I noticed some unusual habits of theirs.

While sitting in my speech class at Harbor College, I watched my classmates give introductory speeches in front of the class. Some of the students were swaying back and forth-, which made it difficult to view them. A few of them were tapping their fingers on the podium. As I can recall, one female continuously tapped her long nails on the table (to me this became a nuisance). What I noticed most was that many of them could not keep still-only 5 people out of the 30 produced smooth speeches, those that were confident and had previous experience. From my observation, it was evident that they were nervous and scared.

Last Saturday, I went out with a group of friends for dinner. While drinking a bottle of Corona, my attention was shifted to my close friend, Kenny. I caught Kenny tapping his mug of beer 3 consecutive times with his index finger before taking a drink. A few minutes surpassed and he repeated this act again. I also looked at my watch to discover that this habit of his occurred every 3 minutes. I was astounded. Kenny was not only tapping his beer but also repeated this action at the same time span. I wanted to question Kenny about this enigmatic tendency except I was afraid of offending him. Several nights later, I decided to question him about this unusual doing. Kenny had told me, "It's for good luck. My lucky number is 3 and so I must tap everything in my hand 3 times." Kenny believed it would bring him good luck, well so far nothing bad has happened to him.

My last observation took place the next day after the outing with Kenny. I invited a friend of mine to my house to watch a football game. While watching the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos play against each other, I caught sight of my friend, Paul, shaking his left leg while sitting on the sofa. Even when Paul and I conversed, he continued shaking his leg. I annoyingly asked him to keep his leg still- although, he continued to do so without realizing it. That is one of my pet peeves.

Show More
Related

  • Human Observation Project Paper

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    The problem behavior associated with individuals making bad food choices when presented with unhealthy food will need to be observed so that we may understand how to change this behavior as it is unhealthy and harmful to health overall. Are poor choices in different foods causing obesity? Making poor choices when it comes to food is an

    Read More

  • Psychology-Naturalistic Observation

    1769 Words  | 4 Pages

    Observing can be obtrusive and subjects may alter their behaviour due to the presence of an observer. Co operation of users is vital and so the interpersonal skills of the observer are important. Notes and video tape need to be analyzed by the note-taker which can be time consuming and prevents the task being split up for analysis by a number of people. If events or behaviours which occur at unpredictable intervals are of interest, this kind of observation can become extremely time-consuming.

    Read More

  • Emma Goldmans Speech

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    Few people are fearless speakers. As students, we generally feel the rumble of butterflies in our stomachs, but the most we have to lose is a good grade.

    Read More

  • The Behavioral Deviance of a Social Norm

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    I thought it would be funny and wanted to test the theory that they would stare at or slide away in order to maintain and take back their comfort zone. I did not expect that anyone would start a conversation with him or her or tell him or her to move out of the typical norm of courtesy. Getting video was a bit more of a challenge than I anticipated. My daughter is the bold one, however, because it is not the “norm” of society to sit with someone that closely given the other seating available she found it uncomfortable breaking the norm and making the initial approach. This is where bringing the boyfriend came in helpful as he had to lead the approach and sitting next to a stranger in an “out of norm” way. We selected two of our vid...

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Speech Self Critique

    355 Words  | 1 Pages

    During my demonstration speech, I was affected by my speech anxiety. Some of the viewable symptoms were the shaking of my hands and also the stuttering of speech. I was able to control myself and relax after I started getting into my information. I did use some of the suggested relaxation techniques to relieve my anxiety. Before I got up to speak I thought confident of myself to help give me courage and confidence.

    Read More

  • social norms

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    Performing this experiment and breaking the given social norm made me realize how much people value their personal space. Me included. It was as hard for me to keep staring people down as it was for them to allow me to keep doing it. Violating someone’s personal space is a common disruption we all have experienced before, because of the distinct boundaries in each person.

    Read More

  • Naturalistic Observation Essay

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    For the location of my naturalistic observational study I chose a public park with a splash pad which I frequently visit with my daughter. Since this site is quite popular with locals at any given time of the day there are at least over a dozen people present. As the park is designed for the entertainment of children the age group of the people varies. There are young children accompanied by their parents and grandparents as well as teenagers in groups. Therefore the above discussed park proved to be the greatest preference for me to observe the behavior of people in a natural setting.

    Read More

  • Final Reflection In Communication

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    I believe that, if I feel nervous in the future, I will not be afraid of this emotion like what I did before. This course provided me knowledge on how to make me relax. Little by little, I have gained the confidence of combating the fear of public speaking in this course. All these precious experience will continue benefiting me in the future. Thus, I am proud to say that I have fullfilled the course objectives and enhanced my public speaking

    Read More

  • Social Observation Essay

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thinking about normal social interactions and normal social behaviors, I think of comfortable. When I sit down with a friend, a usual routine is followed, “Hey, how are you, what’s new?” (e.g. My turn, your turn). These questions between my friend and I include eye contact, attention, and facial expression. Usually, I feel that I give my friend my undivided attention. Other normal characteristics include: remembering what the person has just said so a comment can be made, as well as each comment is appropriate and in relation to the current topic. Moreover, the duration between each question or comment is short.

    Read More

  • Social Observation on Human Interactions

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    By using observation method, a wide variety of behavior can be recorded. Picking through the garbage on the side of the road can reveal behaviors of fast-food customers, or sitting for only one hour in the university canteen can understand the gender differences in choosing (diet) meal, or even watching the customer’s behavior from deciding which yogurt to be taken off its store shelves in the supermarket can also answer the question: Are the customers be attracted by its appearance or flavor or price or brand or nutrition? The aim of this observation assignment is to evaluate and explain the different types of interactions between individual and groups present, as well as the environment in which these interactions take place. The field observation was conducted at the Vietnamese fast-food restaurant named “We love Banhmi” in Budapest, and the role adopted, was that of observer as a non-participant. Group structures as well as overall activity, patterns of behavior, and the duration and timing of such behaviors and interactions were observed and recorded. Sociological concepts pertaining to age, gender, and appearance were also noted and applied.

    Read More

  • Speech Reading Response Paper

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chapter sixteen of “A Concise Public Speaking Handbook”, is about the different methods of delivering a speech. There are four different methods that speakers can use to deliver their speech. These four methods are: manuscript speaking, memorized speaking, impromptu speaking, and extemporaneous speaking. Manuscript speaking is a method that has the speaker read from a manuscript to the audience. The problem with the manuscript method is that the speech may seem boring to the audience. Memorized speaking is a method that speakers use when they are using their memory rather than relying on notes. The problem with this method is that the speaker may have trouble recalling information when speaking. Impromptu speaking is a method in which a speaker has to speak on the spot. When doing an impromptu speech, speakers have to rely on their knowledge on the topic. Extemporaneous speaking is a method that speakers use when they

    Read More

  • Behavior Observation

    271 Words  | 1 Pages

    Samantha is a 1st grader that is actively engaged and participates in class activities. Prior to receiving handouts on pattern, the instructor read a short story on pattern while the students predicted the next sequence of the pattern. Following the reading, the students were given handouts to create patterns. At the same time, individual students were invited to come to the SMART board and create patterns using different colored geometric shapes.

    Read More

  • What I Learned In Public Speaking

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    I have also learned about different types of audiences and speeches including persuasive, informative, entertaining and delivering special occasion speeches. It came to my attention that whenever I was making these presentations or speeches, I needed to do so with confidence, consistence and practice before the actual presentation and completely eliminate the element of panic. It was also clear that capturing the attention of the audience and engaging them in the whole process, it was necessary to have a very strong introduction and also try and use visuals to deliver the message. It was therefore vital to respect each person’s diversity and cultural values (Lucas, 2011).

    Read More

  • Why Your Voice Is Heard

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    I can still remember how nervous I was to raise my hand for the first time in a hundred-people lecture hall. I tried to speak in front of my fellow American students. I did not raise my hand in the first class or the second one even though I knew all the answers to the questions. I said nothing, even though I had comments and opinions on the topics that we were discussing. In fact, back home in Taiwan, no one would ever raise their hands or say anything during class, even if they had something to say. This past habit of not speaking in class prevented me from raising my hand. In this third class, I knew that if I did not say something then, I would have never spoken up in any class here after. I knew I needed to do something,

    Read More

  • Oral Presentation Essay

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to successfully deliver an oral presentation such as a speech, the speaker must follow certain procedures to ensure his message can be conveyed clearly. Vast amounts of research are essential in order to acquire the knowledge necessary to be able to speak about a topic comfortably and answer any questions the audience might have during the course of the presentation. After acquiring such knowledge about the topic of the presentation the speaker will feel more confident, confidence is key in delivering speeches and other oral presentations because it makes the speaker look more credible and trustworthy. Lastly, the speaker must be fluid and eloquent with his words, the speaker must be able to sound clear and crisp while delivering their

    Read More

More about Observing Human Habits

Open Document