Critical Observation Paper

Term Paper Title	Critical Observation Paper
# of Words	890
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.56

Critical Observation Paper

The study of social psychology in the behavioral observation of a crying infant.

Abstract

An infant crying is a behavioral trait of all new born babies. An infant�s first instinct when born is to cry. Why do infants cry? When infants cry it can be for a various amount of reasons. As a parent it is their responsibility to figure out what is wrong and keep the infant from crying. The research method used is naturalistic observation. The subject is observed in its natural setting, so there is no influence on its behavior. This paper provides awareness of why infants may cry and what one can do to prevent this.

Critical Observation Paper

Subject A being the parent was observing subject B being the infant.  Subject A observes that subject B cries for various reasons.  When an infant expresses a need to cry it is the parents responsibility to find out why they are crying.  A primary trait of infants is to cry when they want to communicate their needs and discomforts that require some attention.   The parent primarily needs to make sure the infant is not in any pain or discomfort that requires any medical attention.  Once that is accomplished its all about trial and error.

Infants who cry excessively may have gastrointestinal problems which, is a form of abdominal pain (Illingworth 1954).  This form of abdominal pain is called �colic� which is a crying behavior in infants (Illingworth 1954).  During these crying episodes parents need to be more attentive and loving to the infant.  Calmly acknowledging and accepting their feelings may be what the infant needs.

When infants cry it may be difficult to know why they are crying.  There are many ways to find out why the infant is indeed crying.  For example, subject B is crying and subject A feeds the infant.  The infant is not crying anymore.  Now subject A realizes the reason the infants was crying was because it was hungry.  Some methods to try when an infant is crying is to rock or simply try to distract the infant with singing or talking etc.

Method

Naturalistic Observation is the best method used in this situation since the subject is an infant.  This observation method operates well when using it on infants because it prevents any abuse or forcing them to cry for an observation.  Using this method for the reason that researchers can observe how infants react in the natural setting.  For instance, an infant�s reaction to their mother leaving the room in their own home would be different to a mother leaving the room in a stranger�s home.

Gathering information on why infants cry, the researcher chooses to study...

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