SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT

NAME: OOI YIN JI

STUDENT ID NO: 0319962

TUTORIAL GROUP: MONDAY 4PM-6PM

SUBJECT: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE: FOUNDATION IN NATURLA AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT (FNBE)

LECTURER: MR SHANKAR

SUBMISSION DATE: APRIL 27TH 2015

Journal 1

Social Facilitation versus Social Loafing 12/3/2015 9.22PM

In the first lecture of Social Psychology, I learnt about Social Facilitation and Social

Loafing which are the concepts of Social Psychology. In the lecture, I learnt that Social

Facilitation is a concept where people tend to perform better than they think they could in the

presence of others. On the other hand, Social Loafing is a study which states that one’s

performance gets worse when performing as a part of group. I feel that I am in an agreement

with these concepts.

I remembered when I was in standard 6, I participated a national writing contest which

held at one of the primary schools at my hometown. My teacher suggested me to go for it as

from my homework; she knew that I can write quite well. However, I did not think myself

managed to get any prizes as I thought that my writing skills are poorer than others. I did not

focus too much on preparing the contest. I would say that it was not important to me at that time.

My teacher also suggested some friends of mine to get involved in the writing contest. I wasn’t

known that I would concern about the results until the day. When I was in the classroom, I

looked at the people around me. They were from different schools. I knew none of them except

some friends of mine. I believed all of them could write very well too. However, during that

time, I had a feeling that I wanted to get a prize. I tried my best to write well in the contest. The

presence of others triggered me in sense of to perform well. After the contest, I kept thinking of

it. I was curious if I managed to get a prize. And the answer is… yes, I managed to do that! From

that past experience, I would say that with or without the presence of others, our performance

will definitely get affected. And now, I learn that it is called as Social Facilitation.

I found that some of my past experiences are the examples of Social Loafing. For

example, when I was in previous semester, we were assigned to do a musical performance which

involved 10 people in a group. I did not learn music, I can’t sing, I did not know well about

music. I felt myself is very tiny in the group as I couldn’t provide any suggestion. What I’ve

done was I followed what the leader told me to do. Most of them could perform very well by

playing the instruments, singing, getting right on the tempo and others. However, I felt that I

wasn’t on the track. Since it was something that I’m not familiar with, I put less effort on it as I

knew my own limit. I knew that I couldn’t do well in a group where others are performing so

well except me. I was stress on that project. Although I managed to finish the performance, I did

some error on playing the instrument. I found that my individual effort on that project cannot be

identified.

Social Learning 24/3/2015 3.50pm

Social Learning is a cognitive process which argues that individuals learn something

from observing the behaviors of others. They observe modeled behaviors and then they behave

in a consistent manner. Their actions are similar as the person who they observed. It takes place

in a social context and occurs purely through observation or direct instruction even though

without direct reinforcement. It occurs naturally.

From my past experiences, I could recall something related to social learning. I

remembered when I was young; I did a lot of things similar as my mum by observing her actions.

I noticed that my mum wore make up and high heels to work every day. I thought every girl

should wear makeup and high heels and it is an acceptable behavior for everyone. Hence, I

wanted to give it a try. When my mum was out for work, I went to her room. I put on her

lipsticks, mascara, and others makeup accessories in order to make myself look like my mum. I

also wore her high heels, pretending I was her.

Till I entered university, social learning still occurred in my daily life. As a student, I

have to go for lecture on weekdays. I had been exposed to how should a lecture be like, and

normally how lecturers give lecture. Then, we have been assigned by our mathematics lecturers

that we are the ones who give lecture to our course mates. We are divided into groups and did

research on our own topics. We are required to give a proper lecture and we must ensure that our

course mates understand what we were trying to deliver. It wasn’t a difficult task for us as lecture

is actually a basic thing that all of us were familiar with. Hence, we prepared the presentation

slides like all the lecturers did. I noticed that the presentation slides prepared by the lecturers

weren’t too complicated; hence I did my slides in a minimalist way. Also, in order to ensure the

students understand about the concept, lecturers would give some examples. Hence, I added

some examples and explained it steps by steps to provide a better understanding to my course

mates. I behaved in a consistent manner as my lecturers.

Journal 2

Self-serving attribution 14/3/2015 2.46pm

I had learnt some new concepts and theories from the second lecture of Social

Psychology. I had a strong agreement with the self-serving biases which is self-serving

attribution. We make self-serving attribution is to protect our self-esteem. We always hope that

we or others think that we are good enough. So, we often make attributions that allow us to see

ourselves in the best position. We take credit for success but we refuse to take responsibility for

failure.

I found myself often made external attributions for negative outcomes, meaning that

blaming on others when we get bad results. For example, in my English final exam of previous

semester, I got B+ for it. I started to blame my lecturer by pointing her not teaching us well. To

be honest, her class is quite boring as the way she taught us was just reading the slides. Her voice

is soft and she didn’t manage to catch students’ attention. I was one of the students and I didn’t

manage to pay attention during her class and I believed that this was the main reason of why not

getting an A in my exam.

Besides, for a group assignment, when we showed our progression to lecturer during

tutorial and she rejected, I blamed on those group members who didn’t give any attributions to

the assignment. My thought was if all of the group members cooperate, we would do better and

speeded up the progression. I felt that I put all my efforts on the assignment but it didn’t get

lecturer’s approval was quite disappointing. Hence, I felt that assuming that it was caused by

others made me felt better.

Not only external attributions, there are also internal attributions where we make internal

attributions for positive outcomes. If the result is considered as good, then we tend to take credit

of it. In my past experiences, when I got good grades for individual assignments, I would say that

it was my hard work. However, sometimes, I completed my assignments with others’ help as

well. This is to make myself feel that I am good enough to get good grades on my own effort,

independently. Therefore, my self-esteem is enhanced.

Self-efficacy 20/4/2015 4.34pm

Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in his or her ability to achieve certain goals. It

reflects to one’s confident in the ability to produce a specific performance in a social

environment. Self-efficacy involves high self-efficacy and low self-efficacy. People with high

self-efficacy see difficult tasks as challenges while people with low self-efficacy see difficult

tasks as something to be avoided. However, self-efficacy doesn’t stay consistent all the time. It

may vary on different tasks. One’s self-efficacy will change depends on the nature of the tasks.

There are some examples from my past experiences. I had different self-efficacy on

different tasks. I had high self-efficacy on something I am interested. For example, I love doing

mathematics as I like calculation. I found there is an enjoyment doing the calculation and it made

me to be more engaged to it. When I was in Form 5, my tuition teacher gave us some high level

questions. He wanted us to try our best to solve. I was very excited and happy as I see it as a

challenge. It challenged where my limitation is. I spent a lot of time to solve the questions. I

wanted to get the answer and I enjoyed the happiness when I finally got the solutions. However,

at the same time, some of my friends gave up solving the questions as they think that the

standard is higher than SPM. The questions are too difficult. Hence, they wouldn’t give a try.

On the other hand, I had low self-efficacy on things that I am not interested in because I

knew that I can’t do well. I am not an artistic person. I can’t draw well and I really hate drawing.

However, in my previous semester, almost every subject of mine involved drawings. I need to

draw different type of drawings such as technical drawings or orthographic drawings and even

cute cartoons. It is really a difficult task for me. I see drawing as something I hate and something

I refused to do. I didn’t like to do something that I really hate. I had very less motivation to do

the projects. I didn’t put in much effort on the drawings. Hence, I didn’t manage to get good

results with this attitude. When I was allowed to print the images instead of draw, I would

definitely choose to print, unlike my other course mates who still insisted to draw.

Journal 3

Counterfactual Thinking 16/3/2015 5.20pm

In the third lecture of Social Psychology, I learnt about Counterfactual Thinking. It is a

concept where people refuse to accept the fact and start imagine different outcomes for

something that already occurred. This can be used to improve or worsen one’s mood. People

look for a better outcome by imagining. This might let them feel better. There are two types of

Counterfactual Thinking which are upward counterfactuals and downward counterfactuals.

Upward counterfactuals thinking usually worsen one’s mood. I had experiences of this.

As a student, I pay great attention on my results. I always want a better result than the current

one. And ended up, it worsens my mood by thinking of it. Throwback to my previous semester, I

got CGPA 3.63. I got 1 B+ and 1B while others A or A-. When I looked at my CGPA, I actually

felt quite happy as I never expect I can get into dean list. Since for a QS student, it was difficult

for me to survive in this course. However, I compared my results with the others and I started to

think: “What if I got an A instead of B+? It would definitely be better!” or “What if my CGPA

was 3.65? 3.7? Instead of 3.63” A lot of imaginations came into my mind, trying to change the

fact. It worsens my mood. I felt that I was worse than others and should have done better.

On the other hand, downward counterfactuals thinking improve one’s mood. This

concept reflected my experiences. I remembered I owned a dog when I was around 13 years old.

It accompanied me from a primary school student until a high school student. I love it very much

and I get used to its presence. My parents work from early morning until evening or even night,

both of my siblings studies at KL, so most of the time, there is only my maid and I was at home.

I felt very lucky as I had my dog as my companion. I enjoyed its existence.

However, after 5 years accompanied me, it died, because of sickness. I was really sad

because I treated it like it was my friend, my family. I missed it so much. However, soon, I felt

relieved; at least it did not need to suffer from disease anymore. My parents and I bought it

medicine when veterinarian told us it was sick. Every time we tried to feed it medicine, it refused

to eat to show its unwillingness. Hence, I guess it would be happier as it was free from sickness.

When I changed the way I thought of its death, I felt better and it did improve my mood.

Optimistic bias 22/4/2015 5.24pm

Optimistic bias is a cognitive bias that an individual believes that bad things happen to

other people and he or she is more likely to experience positive events in life. People tend to

think that they are less at risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others. People are in

an illusion of control that they think they can control over something which is uncontrollable.

They are over-confident that they think that their belief of their judgment and control is greater

than it truly is.

There are some examples of optimistic bias from my past experiences. When I was Form

2, there is an unpleasant experience of mine. I went to a tuition from 8pm to 10pm. The

surrounding area of the tuition center is quite dark and quiet at night as most of the shops were

closed. After I finished the tuition class, I waited for my dad’s arrival in front of the tuition

canter. I waited for about 20 minutes. Most of my friends went back already. At that time, only

one or two of us were waiting there. I wasn’t felt afraid that time. Although there are many cases

about robbing or kidnapping, I wasn’t felt scared. I thought I wouldn’t experience this negative

event in my life. For me, those negative events would probably happen to other people only. I

was over-confident and I wasn’t alert to mind my surrounding. I didn’t go to other places which

were more crowded and brighter. I thought I would be safe.

However, I was wrong. There were two men walked towards me and asked for my phone

number. I refused to give them as I didn’t know who they were. I thought I was safe when they

walked away. However, they drove their car towards the place where I stood with a high speed

and started honked at me. They even shouted at me. I started to feel that it wasn’t right. I felt

unsecure. However, luckily my dad arrived at that time. I was over-confident that I wouldn’t

experience the bad events in my life and it almost placed me at a dangerous situation.

Journal 4

Confirmation bias 07/04/2015 3.40pm

Confirmation bias is a concept where people actively seek out data that support and

match our own beliefs. We also disregard the data that refute our beliefs. People tend to maintain

their original belief, even in the face of contradictory data. People will not change their original

beliefs easily which they think it’s correct. People also make self-fulfilling prophecy which they

are the one who cause the beliefs about them to become true by behaving in a manner consistent

with those beliefs. In this way, people think that they are always correct.

From my own experiences, there are some examples of confirmation bias. In my previous

semester, there is a lecturer who is very irresponsible. As a main coordinator of two subjects, she

provided us the wrong project briefs which caused a large confusion to us. We didn’t know what

we should do as she didn’t brief us clearly. She didn’t give us clear instructions and always end

her lecture in only half an hour. So, we had to rely on seniors’ works to know what we should

do. We didn’t even know if we were in the right track. She often canceled her tutorials by stating

that she was busy / she had other important matter to handle / email her for online tutorial. But

guess what? She never replies our emails. It is very difficult for us to finish our projects without

correct project briefs and efficient tutorials. Hence, I had a very bad impression of her. I thought

she is a very lazy and irresponsible lecturer. Some of the seniors told us that they had the same

experiences like ours. However, one of the lecturers told us that she was a very good lecturer in

the past two years. She did her job well. However, I refused to believe that statement as it

contradicted to my belief.

I also made self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, in the past two years, I always couldn’t

finish my food. My dad eats his food very fast. He always finishes his food in a short time but we

weren’t in a rush. I couldn’t follow his speed in eating so he always got hot tempered on me. He

can’t wait for me to finish so he just left me in the restaurant and got back to the car. I was very

stressed and upset. I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t wait for me. His action caused a very

large tension on me. I was very stress when I had meal with him. Hence, I often can’t finish my

food. Before start eating, in my mind, I already thought that I can’t finish my food. And yeah, it

came true. I couldn’t finish it even though I was very hungry.

Halo Effect 23/4/2015 9.42pm

Halo effect is a cognitive bias in which an individual’s overall impression of a person. It

means that one positive attribute will cause people to attribute other positive qualities to an

individual. It normally occurs without our active awareness. Halo effect also speaks to the

importance of a good first impression which can develop other good impression as well.

For example from my past experiences, there is halo effect when I first met my friends.

During my first day of university, I had met some of my course mates. There was one of my

course mates who was very talkative and he could speak English fluently. Soon, I noticed other

good qualities of him as well such as attire, attitude, manner and others. When we had to

nominate someone as our class representative, quite a number of us including me nominated him

as our class representative. Then, I found out that he was very responsible in managing matters

regarding our class. He was a good leader as well. In a group assignment, he could notice every

one’s strengths and weaknesses and assigned us different tasks that we could best handle. All of

his projects were done nicely. I found out all of the good qualities stated above after I made a

good first impression on him.

Journal 5

Cognitive Dissonance and Selective Exposure 07/04/2015 4.40pm

Cognitive Dissonance and selective exposure is a concept which people’s desire to avoid

dissonance or imbalance of attitudes also creates behaviors that reinforce a given attitude. People

will selectively avoid exposure to contrary attitudes and seeking the exposure the consistent

attitude. To put it in another way, people will not get close to people whose attitudes are contrary

to theirs. They will only socialize with people who have the consistent attitudes as theirs. This is

to prevent conflict due to different attitudes among them. If there is cognitive dissonance, people

will find it uncomfortable with people who don’t share the same attitude.

Cognitive dissonance occurs when I am with my friends who don’t share the same

attitude with me. For example, I find myself can’t blend it into groups who are materialistic or

drugs-addicted or those don’t pay great attention on their studies. These attitudes are contrary to

mine. I feel uncomfortable when I hang out with them even though only once. I don’t behave

like the way they behaved as I think that’s not what I like to do. When hanging out, there is an

awkward situation where we have no topic to chat. There is no common interest among us.

On the other hand, my close friends share the same attitude as mine. They work hard on

their studies and distance themselves from the negative factors. We often discuss about

homework together. We have the same topic to discuss / chat / gossip. We have fun when we are

together. We always have a lot of topic and common interests to chat. We can spend hours on

chit-chatting. I prefer to hang out with my close friends as I find it more comfortable. So, I only

choose to expose myself to my close friends who share the same attitude, rather than people who

share the contrary attitude.

Classical Conditioning 24/4/2015 11.26pm

Classical Conditioning is a learning process when two stimuli are paired together; they

may trigger the same response. When the conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned

stimulus, it may develop into a stage where the conditioned stimulus alone is sufficient to elicit

the response.

When I was Form 4, I went to Taiwan with my family. I had never been there and I was

very excited to get to know about Taiwan. On the first two days of the vacation, I enjoyed myself

very much. I love the environment of Taiwan as it was very beautiful and the weather was just

nice. However, on the third of the vacation, we tried a new food there and then most of us got

sick. We were suffered from diarrhea and nausea all day long and it even continued to the last

day of our vacation. We couldn’t enjoy our trip as we were badly sick. I found myself disliked

for the food as it ruined my vacation. On the next few days of the vacation, whenever I smelt it, I

felt nauseated. I felt very uncomfortable even though I wasn’t eating it.