People-watching or crowd watching is the act of observing people and their interactions in public. It involves picking up on

idiosyncrasies An idiosyncrasy is a unique feature of something. The term is often used to express peculiarity. Etymology The term "idiosyncrasy" originates from Greek ', "a peculiar temperament, habit of body" (from ', "one's own", ', "with" and ', "blend ...

to try to interpret or guess at another person's story, interactions, and relationships with the limited details they have. This includes speech in action, relationship interactions, body language, expressions, clothing, activities and

crowd A crowd is as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent. Examples are a Demonstration (people), demonstration, a Sport, sports event, or a looting (classified in sociology as an acting crowd). A crowd may also simply ...

behaviours.

Eavesdropping Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information. Etymology The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eave ...

may accompany the activity, as documented by the humor blog ''

Overheard in New York ''Overheard in New York'' is a humor blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically display ...

'', though is not required."People-Watching: Here’s Looking at You"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 15 October 2006 People-watching is distinguished from

naturalistic observation Naturalistic observation, sometimes referred to as fieldwork, is a research methodology in numerous fields of science including ethology, anthropology, linguistics, the social sciences, and psychology, in which data are collected as they occur in ...

, a process used for scientific purposes, compared to people-watching as a casual activity, used for relaxation or inspiration for characters or characters'

mannerisms In human behavior, a mannerism is a peculiar, distinctive habit of a person. In particular, the term refers to an affected or exaggerated speech or actions. Often mannerisms are subtle and subconscious. They may be expressed in body language, ...

in their own creative works. It can also be distinguished from

street photography Street photography is photography conducted for art or inquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within Public space, public places. It usually has the aim of capturing images at a decisive or poignant moment by caref ...

; while the street photographer necessarily undertakes a form of people-watching, they do so for the purpose of composing photographs for artistic and documentary purposes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:People Watching Anthropology Observation hobbies

See also

References