I am a huge people watcher, I do it all the time especially at airports or amusement parks. I think that no human is the same even and to understand a different human you must sit and watch them when they are unaware of it. This may sound a little stalkerish but the difference is you do not follow them around you just watch what they do for a certain amount of time then move on to a new stranger. When I normally people watch I try not to judge people by their appearance but rather their mannerisms or their decision making process so when asked to look at a person and not judge them but draw conclusions based on their appearance or how they wear their clothes can make me uncomfortable but I gained some insight of myself because of it.
The first person i observed was who I believed to be an athlete at our school solely based on the fact that she had one of those highlighter backpacks on. But when I continued to observe I noticed that she had the whole nike outfit on from head to foot, The ducks sweatshirt and sweatpants and some green nike shoes (she was too far for me to be more specific with the shoes). If I was new to this school I would assume that this person was trying to stand out by wearing only oregon apparel with the athletes backpack, but now i would assume that this person’s closet has a lot of free sweats and sweatshirts so it is only fair to assume that this person just grabbed whatever sweats were clean at that time. I am assuming she either had practice earlier in the day or just woke up because her hair is in a ponytail and is slightly damp (no rain at this time). But overall what I believe about her is that she is just another student either going to or coming from class in comfortable clothes.
The next person I observed is a (sorority) girl at starbucks. I say this with confidence because she is wearing her letters on her sweatshirt. She is also wearing yoga pants and uggs, or as I like to think about it the sorority girl uniform. I say this because I can look around the room and see 4-5 of the same exact outfits around the room. This particular girl is sitting with her laptop open drinking her coffee and doing what I assume is homework. I have a hard time studying in a place like starbucks so when I see people studying there I assume that they are only have studying and half people watching, so I am assuming that this particular girl is not really studying. The values I see in her though just from this quick encounter is that she likes (or pretends to like) the other girls in her sorority (there are a couple other girls right next to her with the same letters on) but more importantly I assume that she is probably older than 21, studying journalism, in good health but a little stressed about something, and most likely from California (just one of those feelings).
The last person I observe is a man who I would say is 40-50 and most likely a teacher, I say this because he is carrying a cup of coffee, a computer, a book and an envelop with a bunch of papers. The book appears to be a math book so I am going to assume that he is a math teacher. I am concerned because of how much stuff he has with him but he seems to manage just fine. He is wearing a button down shirt and khakis that are a little bit too big for him so I am assuming that he either just lost a bunch of weight or that he likes baggy clothing. He doesnt look sick so I will finally assume that he just likes baggy clothing. his hair is a little messy and he has a stressed look about him so I am going to assume that he is either late to class or that his research is stressing him out. Lastly I would think that he is Russian, this has no real bases but I just have that feeling about him.
I found your post interesting for two reasons. One is that you didn’t give physical aspects of the people you observed. Hair color, stature etc. could have helped to visualize them better and may have helped to explain the other thing I noticed. For two of the people, sorority girl and math teacher, you included vague feelings of their place of origin. I wish you would have included a hint as to why you thought that. Physical features probably played a role more so then their clothing. Overall well done and thought out observations.
I like what you describe about last person, your description is so precise that make me remember my math 231 professor on last summer. He is Russian and received both his Master Degree and Ph.D. on Russia. He liked to hold many stuffs on his one hand and a coffee cup with his another hand when he walked into classroom. He also liked to wear button down shit with long sleeve so he always complained too hot in class at summer.
Hey I liked your keen observations on the people you chose to watch for this assignment. I am interested in knowing more about why you got the “feeling” that the second girl you watched was from California and the third person was Russian? What do you think triggered that feeling in your mind? I totally understand where you are coming from when you say it because I have done that before too. However, I want to know what, in particular, about their body language or clothing made you feel that way. Also, what did you learn about yourself and the way you view society by doing this assignment?
I really like the way you observe people and the age differences between three people is huge. I saw a lot of people in our group the people they observed is always the same generation. I think when you observe the same generation as us you could guess more about why he or she is wearing this and you could know him or her better by just observe. The last person you observed is a man that is 40-50 years old. And i believe you get all the information right about him. Really great observation that you did. I have a question for you. What you think that if you find out what you think about people by first impression is mostly wrong about him?