People-watching or crowd watching is the act of observing people and their interactions in public.[1][2] It involves picking up on idiosyncrasies to try to interpret or guess at another person's story, interactions, and relationships with the limited details they have.[3] This includes speech in action, relationship interactions, body language, expressions, clothing, activities and crowd behaviours. Eavesdropping may accompany the activity, as documented by the humorous blog Overheard in New York, though is not required.[4]
For some people, it is considered a hobby, but for many others, it is a subconscious activity they partake in every day without even realizing it.[citation needed] People-watching is distinguished from naturalistic observation, 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 their own creative works.[5] It can also be distinguished from street photography; 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.[6]
- ^ Davis, Candace (September 6, 2014). "People Watching: Harmless or Perverted?". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- ^ Burton, Tara Isabella (October 2015). "People-Watching in Paris". National Geographic. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- ^ Quadflieg, Susanne; Koldewyn, Kami (2017-04-12). "The neuroscience of people watching: how the human brain makes sense of other people's encounters". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1396 (1): 166–182. doi:10.1111/nyas.13331. hdl:1983/1e73b5d8-848d-40e0-a5c1-80392dcfae20. ISSN 0077-8923. PMID 28405964. S2CID 24422967.
- ^ "People-Watching: Here’s Looking at You" New York Times 15 October 2006
- ^ "How to Begin People Watching". eHow. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ^ Coomes, Phil (4 October 2010). "Street photography now". BBC News. Retrieved 6 April 2016.