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Reflection Paper On Conformity

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Between working at an after-school program, being a teacher’s assistant in a preschool classroom, babysitting, and working in a sunday school classroom, I have a lot of experience with children and their behaviors. To study conformity, I chose to observe the preschool classroom that I am a teacher’s assistant for. The classroom alternates children every-other day, so my group for this project was the Monday, Wednesday, and every-other Friday group. The class usually has about four girls and two boys. Overall, the children are very respectful, fun, and eager to learn. Over the course of one class period, I participate in a few different activities with the children. First, we stop at the bathrooms before breakfast. Being as far into the school year as we are, the class knows what is expected of them and what the schedule is. However, they do space out quite often. If a teacher is not standing by the bathroom door watching them wash their hands, then there is a good chance they will play in the sink. Once I or another teacher says their name or reminds them to hurry up, then they go back to following the rules. The children are obedient because they have respect for teachers and because they do not want a punishment. Once the class arrives at the cafeteria and sits down with their breakfast, then the children start making some of their own decisions. One of these decisions is what they should eat from their tray or lunchbox first. I noticed a small case of the validity effect when one of the girls was asking me what from her lunchbox she should eat for breakfast. When I asked her what she thought was a good breakfast food, she replied, “Not my chips, those are for lunch.” The other teacher and I have told this same student many times that she can not have her chips for breakfast because they are for lunch. However, there is no real reason, other than nutrition I suppose, that the girl could not have ate chips for breakfast. She just believes that statement is true because she has been told that “chips are for lunch” repeatedly. Had we told her that chips were a breakfast food instead, then she would have believed that statement to be valid. After breakfast, the group heads back to the classroom. Children

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