The subjects I observed were a group of three men standing at an entrance of a park. In my own understanding, the three men were working as security officers at the gate entrance where seemingly there was a party going on inside the park. The men were almost equally tall almost 5 feet and 7 inches. They had no security uniform although they acted as security officers as they screened everyone before entering the park, as well as gave direction to the quests. They were well-built middle-aged men.
While watching the subjects carry out their responsibilities, I was able to observe a number of recurrent behaviors where most of the behaviors were relative to what they were doing. During the 30 minutes that I observed the subjects, I saw the following behaviors: chatting and laughing loudly, yawned about 3 times each, occasionally held their hands akimbo and sat down at a plastic chair stationed beside the entrance among other behaviors. Nevertheless, I decided to concentrate on subjects laughing behavior. As I keenly watched the three men, each man laughed loudly about 10 times for the half an hour that I was observing them. The behaviors can be measured by writing down the number of times a certain behavior being observed occurs within a given period of time. This enables the observer to count the number of times an action is repeated within a specific period of time. In this case, the number of times the subjects laughed as they chatted was noted down and counted after 30 minutes which was the stipulated period of time to observe the subject.
Cognitive development theory can be developed from naturalistic observation. Although it is hard to link physical development to individual behaviors, it is possible to get some insight on the cognitive development of the three subjects According to Broderick and Blewitt, cognitive abilities of an individual develop with age. The working intelligence or memory of an individual at the middle age is high as compared to those at their old age. As it was earlier stated, the three men were middle-aged and had build up muscles probably in their early thirties. For instance, the three men were in charge of screening the people entering the park. They did this one at a time. They were also able to chat to each other sometimes laughing loudly. Watching the subjects showed that they clearly understood their roles. This is because they were able to chat, screen quests, as well as respond to the queries from the visitors. For example, one man was asked a question by a visitor about the park, probably direction to somewhere inside since I could not hear well from the distance I was standing. I observed the confidence in the mans body language as the lady who was enquiring left the man seemingly satisfied by the answer she was given. The men continued with their conversation. Although I could not hear well, I come to understand they were talking about a particular artist who had a misfortunate.
The cognitive ability of the subjects was seen in the way they interacted with the quests. One man even offered to speak to the quests and enquired whether they needed any assistant and where they were specifically going inside the park. After about 20 minutes, one man seemed like he was requesting permission from the two to leave. This is when it occurred to me that one man was not a security officer but he was just visiting the two other men. The cognitive ability of the two was also evident in the way they warmly permitted their friend to leave. They were able to let him to go and still continue with their work without being affected. However, at this moment, the amount of talking and laughter reseeded as it seemed the man who had left was the one telling the story. This showed that the subjects were aware of their surrounding as they continued to attend to the quests without any form of interaction. They were able to check multiple passengers, as well as direct the quests, thus, responding to their needs. Hence, cognitive development theory is applicable in the way the three subjects behaved.
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