Infant observation essays

Infant observation essays On Wednesday, July 19th, I had a chance to observe carefully an infant for about half an hour in my psychology class at Santa Monica College. The infant, Ali Osman is a healthy, playfull boy, appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin. He is 15.5 months old, 32" tall and weighs about 24 lbs with brown curly hair, dark brown eyes and fairly tanned skin. 1. There were several kinds of toys like blocks, dolls, automobiles... in the room. However, when he just came in, he was immediately drawn to the dolls with intense focus. Eventhough there wasn't any way to measure his heart rate or brain wave, I could easily tell how interested he was by the way he gazed, touched and played with the dolls. This could be explained by the fact that "the perception of an unfamiliar stimulus usually elicits physiological responses" (Berger, p. 156). Later, this explanation of mine for his behavior was confirmed to be correct by his mother that he had never seen a doll before. Clearly, he was sensing the strange object and trying to perceive it. And exactly as the text said, "eventually, habituation occurs, in which the stimulus becomes so familiar and uninteresting that these responses slow down." (Berger, p. 156), he got tired of the dolls and began to pay attention to other toys and people around. 2. According to table 5.2, the Age Norms for Motor Skills in Berger, p. 153, for his age of 15.5 months, 90% of all babies master the skill of walking. Beside being able to walk, just like the majority of infants at his age (from 1-2 years old), Ali is quite a toddler, "for the characteristic way they move their bodies, toddling from side to side." (Berger, p. 151). Still toddling but Ali obviously belongs to the upper half of the population in mastering his gross motorskill since he is also able to walk backward, a skill that only 50% of infant could master at his age according to again table 5.2. 3. Ali is quite a friendly kid, he is not ...