Alyssa Cooperman

September 25, 2018

Interview with Child

1. “Tell me about yourself.”

When I first asked Joseph to tell me about himself, he slowly moved his eyes around the

room and then looked up at me, moving his lips to the side of his mouth is such a way that

suggested he was unsure of how to respond. After offering that he was 10 years old, he quickly

said, “I spend time with my family.” This response of stating his age and then immediately

describing himself in terms of his family, suggests that he is in Piaget’s concrete-operational

stage. Within this stage, it is common for children to stick to ‘concrete’ information (his age). It

can also be assumed that he is in early childhood. Piaget also suggests that describing ones self-

concept through a living situation is indicative of early childhood. This is unusual because,

“according to Piaget, middle childhood coincides with the stage of concrete operations” (Rathus,

Page 421). This is an example of how typical development is not the solidified way in which all

children develop.

Joseph leaned back and looked at me without any expression, suggesting that he was

done with his answer. I gave him a few more seconds to think if he wanted to tell me anything

else about himself. He looked around at his peers, checking to see if they were watching him

during the interview. His eyes darted around, mainly back and forth between a few of the boys I

know he is friendly with. I believe that Noah is in Erikson’s fourth life stage of Industry vs.

Inferiority due to the way he was checking to see if his friends were watching. It is during this
time that the thoughts and opinions of the peers in a child’s life gain importance in their effect of

the child’s self esteem.

2. “Tell me about your friendships.”


Joseph, again, was slow to answer. He shrugged in such a way that made he seem

smaller, his body language suggesting that this question made him uncomfortable. He sat back

up but kept his gaze on the floor and said, “I don’t know.” He looked at me with strong eye

contact, and waited for me to respond. I told him that that was okay and then inquired, “Do you

play with your friends?” He shrugged again and said, “We play sometimes.” I gave him a

moment to think and then asked if there were any specific games or things he liked to do with his

friends and all he said was, “we play sometimes.” I did not pry any further.

Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences rang in my head during this

conversation, proposing that Joseph will probably show more strengths in some intelligences

than in others. Gardner refers to interpersonal intelligence as, “the capacity to understand and

interact effectively with others” (Gardner, Handout). Joseph exhibited a low interpersonal

intelligence in the way that he was unable to fully explain a concept to me, as well as struggling

to describe his friendships.

3. “Tell me about your family.”

This question received a different reaction from Joseph than the one regarding his friends.

Rather than taking a moment to think and shrugging in such a way that made him smaller, he

immediately told me that they “play board games and watch movies.” He watched me write
down what he said and then looked at me with his eyebrows a bit raised, as though he was ready

for the next question. I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to tell me about his

family. He shook his head no at a calm/steady pace. I asked him if he had any siblings. He tilted

his head and look slightly to the ceiling, indicating that he was thinking and then said, “I have

two brothers and two sisters.” I tried not to talk too much because I did not want to ask any

leading questions that would affect his answers.

Joseph’s description of his family based on what he does with his family suggests that he

is still experiencing pre operational egocentrism. Egocentrism usually appears along side the lack

of awareness of “oneself from other people’s perspectives” (Rathus, Page 421). In this case,

Joseph was not thinking about who he is to the people in his family, a brother and a son; rather,

he was thinking about what his family does when in his presence, which is play board games and

watch movies.

4. “Tell me about school.”


As I begin my fourth question, Joseph is leaned back on the couch in a comfortable

position, not too far relaxed in a way that would make him seem unengaged. When I ask Joseph

about school, his body springs forward, such that the pillows are no longer supporting his back.

His eyes get wide as he smiles and makes eye contact with me. He eagerly says, “fun!” And then

adds, “fantastic!” His body language made it obvious that he was excited before he even started

to speak. He bounced a bit in his spot as he told me that he “really loves” math and science. He

mentioned in a monotone voice that he had other classes, and then raised the pitch and volume of

his voice when he reiterated that he loved math and science.

 Human beings tend to enjoy what they are good at, which would suggest that

mathematical/logical intelligence is one of Joseph’s greatest intelligences according to Gardner’s

theory of Multiple Intelligences. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological System Theory states that the

microsystem (school, family, neighborhood, etc.) has the strongest effect on a child. The

confidence I have seen in Joseph stemmed from the discussion of school, which shows a positive

way in which his microsystem affects how he feels about himself as an individual. Joseph’s

microsystem appears to be uneven, in that certain aspects of his microsystem result in him acting

differently. The topic of family did not seem to move Joseph emotionally, but the topic of school

positively changed his demeanor.

Outside of my interview with Joseph, I was previously informed that his home life was

slightly unpredictable and hectic. In the same way that this might negatively affect the

individual’s mesosystem, a good relationship with school/education can work to positively affect

other aspects of the mesosystem. If Joseph’s parents are preoccupied (microsystem), it might be

less likely for him to have playdates (mesosystem), which could explain his reactions towards

being asked about friends and family.

5. “What do you like to do for fun.”

When I asked Joseph what he likes to do for fun, he tilted his head and looked slightly

upward, indicating that he was taking a moment to think about his answer. He told me that he

liked the swings, to bike, and shoot basketball baskets. Joseph shrugged after his answer, which

was his way of letting me know he was done with his answer.
 A similarity shared between these activities is that can be done with other people, but do

not require anyone except the individual. It is also worth noting that none of these activities

Joseph enjoys require parent involvement, such as signing up for a team, club, or class. This

raises the question of the parenting style Joseph is receiving from his parents. Based on his

activities for fun and lack of discussed engagement with friends, it should be questioned in

Joseph is receiving the rejecting-neglecting parenting style discussed by Diana Baumrind.

Children who receive this parenting style are also often the “least socially competent,” which

would explain the solo activities and difficultly with effectively communicating with me

(Baumrind, Handout).

6. “What are your jobs/responsibilities at home and at school?”

Instead of shrugging as he had done before when unsure of what to say, Joseph’s face

lacked any positive or negative emotion as he told me that he did not have any. I gave him

examples of what some home responsibilities might be (chores, cooking, cleaning) as well as

school responsibilities (line leader, homework collector). Joseph understood what I was asking

him, he just did not have any school or home responsibilities to his knowledge.

The structure of Joseph’s home with no personal responsibilities suggests Baumrind’s

rejecting-neglecting parenting style. This parenting style is one “in which parents are not

demanding” (Baumrind, Handout). His answer to this question left me with more questions. Why

was it that a fourth grader, 10 year old, had been given no responsibilities; or why did he think

that this was the case if he had in fact been expected to uphold certain responsibilities? Was he

really without any responsibilities, or was he unaware of what was expected from him? Since his
home and school life were absent of jobs/responsibilites, I was not able to ask him if he actually

followed through with what was expected of him, which made me unable to gage Joseph’s moral

development in relation to Kohlberg as I had hoped.

7. “What are your dreams? What are your goals?”

Joseph was able to answer this question more quickly that the questions about his friends

and family. He told me that his dream was to “drive a car.” I asked him why and if there was

somewhere he wanted to drive. He told me that he wanted to drive to Arizona. Again, I asked

why this was. He made eye contact with me to make sure I was ready to hear his answer, he

explained, “I want to drive to Arizona because it never rains or snows there.”

Thinking that it “never” rains in Arizona falls under Piaget’s pre-operational stage. He

does not yet understand that even though it might not rain very often, it can still rain sometimes.

This notion would be an abstract way of thinking which is in Piaget’s concrete operational

development. Joseph is not yet at this stage.

8. “What are you proud of?”

Joseph look up and me and slightly wrinkled his forehead, looking for me to further

explain the question. I asked him if he had done anything he was proud of, maybe in school he

learned something or helped someone do something. He said that he was proud of when he

“taught someone to shoot basket.”

Rather than being proud of something he did to better himself, he was proud of

something he had done to better/help someone else. In Selman’s five stages of perspective-
taking, this interaction suggests that Joseph is at the self-reflective perspective-taking stage. In

this stage, the child is able to view feelings “from the other person’s perspective” (Selman,

Handout). Joseph was proud of what he was able to do for someone else. This is developmentally

on par, as the self-reflective perspective-taking stage occurs between ages seven to ten.

9. “What is important to you?”

When I asked Joseph what was important to him, he immediately said “my family.” He

said this to me with an attitude, as though he couldn’t believe that I had to ask what was

important to him and I should have just known his family was important to him. He also told me

that his pets are important to him. He then paused, looked at me, and said “homework.” He said

this slightly shrugging with a tilted head, as though he was unsure of why he said homework was

important to him.

Before conducting this interview, Joseph and I were working on his homework together,

so he might have said that was important to him because he felt like he had to. This type of

thinking falls into Kohlberg’s Level 2 Stage 4 of Moral Development. In this stage, “moral

behavior is doing one’s duty and showing respect for authority” (Rathus, Page 383). His teacher

had assigned the homework and I helped him with it, showing him that we valued the work. By

saying that homework was important to him, he was showing that he does what he is told and

respects the authority of both myself and his teacher.

10. “Is there anything else you would like to talk about?”
 Joseph sat for a moment. He moved his lips to the side of his face and looked up, as he

really tried to think about if there was anything else he wanted to address. Ultimately, he shook

his head ‘no,’ and the interview was over.