SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT

NAME: NG WYN JANE

STUDENT ID NO: 0319440

TUTORIAL GROUP: MONDAY 9PM-11PM

SUBJECT: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE: FOUNDATION IN NATURLA AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT (FNBE)

LECTURER: MR SHANKAR

SUBMISSION DATE: APRIL 27TH 2015

The Roots of Social Psychology: Social Facilitation and Social Loafing 22/3/2015 9.00pm

In the first lecture of Social Psychology, I learnt about The Roots of Social Psychology. There

are two types of roots which are social facilitation and social loafing.

Social facilitation can be defined as an improvement in performance produced by the

mere presence of others which their individual contributions can be identified. This statement

was proved because I had experience of this. I have a cousin which is same age with me. She

lives next to me and we usually do every task together since we are young. During our

kindergarten, when teacher gave us homework and we have to submit it the next day, I will write

my homework faster in the presence of her instead of doing homework alone. I still remembered

that during our primary school, we will always compete to be the only representative to

participate the annual singing competition. Thus, I practiced frequently so that I could perform

better than her and be chosen as the representative. When we grow older, we also will compete

with each other to get a better result. For example, when our exam was around the corner, I’ll try

to know about how many chapters she had studied. If the chapters she had studied were more

than mine, I’ll panic and studied with a faster phase to keep up with the gap between us. In the

presence of her, my performances during those years were enhanced and I would like to thank

her to make me a better person.

On the other hand, social loafing occurs when people exerting less effort to achieve a

goal when they work in a group than when they work alone because their individual effort cannot

be identified. I had experience of this. During my primary school life, I joined group singing

with my fellow friends. We needed to perform as a group so all of us had to practice together

every day but one of our members always gave us some excuses not to join our training. She told

me that we didn’t need to practice much as this was a group singing, our voice wouldn’t be

recognize even though we sang very well. Besides, as a Foundation in Natural and Built

Environment (FNBE) student, we always received a lot of group work assignments. We had

several meeting after the project brief had given to us, some of our members didn’t show up

during the meeting and give some opinion for the group assignments. For example, in a group of

five, one of them will make less of an effort such as always went to restaurants and toilet because

he relied on our capabilities for doing all those works. On the other hand, he will try harder to

complete his individual work as his own effort can be identify.

Social Learning Perspective 22/03/2015 11.00pm

In the first lecture of Social Psychology, I also learned the theory of Social Learning.

Social Learning Perspective posits that people learn from one another through observation,

imitation and modeling. Through the observation of a model’s behaviors, one will also in turn to

behave in a similar manner.

Everyone says that I behaved like my mother. I guessed so because I always stick

together with my mum every second since I was young. My mother is a housewife. She always

keeps our house tidy and cooks good meals for us. I still remembered when I was 6 years old, my

mother was doing her housework such as swept the floor and dried the clothes, I will try to lend a

hand even though I am not tall enough to help her. When my mother was cooking, I always stood

beside her to observe how she cooked the dishes. When I am helping my mother, my aunties will

praise that I am a good and understanding girl. I felt happy because everyone praised me. Now, I

knew how to cook a lot of dishes and I became the one who cook for my family. Maybe the

praises towards me have reinforced my behavior and this made me more likely to repeat the

behavior.

Motivation 27/3/2015 9.30pm

In the second lecture of Social Psychology, I learnt about the topic of motivation.

Motivation is what drives us to take action. It's our inspiration for doing something. Without

motivation, we would accomplish very little. There are two types of motivation which are

intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation occurs when one’s taking a certain action for the sake of enjoyment.

My hobby is drawing since I was four years old. My mother told me that I can spend a whole day

on drawing and never get bored. When I was 6 years old, I decided to join the drawing classes

and I will go to the classes every weekend. I enjoyed the moment of drawing because it leads me

to be more fully engaged. After my secondary school life, and I knew that it was the time to

decide on my future. So, I choose the course which is Foundation in Natural and Built

Environment (FNBE) in Taylor’s University. The curiosity and pleasure of drawing motivated

me to choose this course and I felt that I had made a right choice. The processes of doing the

coursework were tiring, but I really enjoyed it because I had achieved my satisfaction towards

them. Without the enjoyment of drawing, I think I couldn’t probably stay alive in this sleepless

and tiring course.

Extrinsic motivation occurs when one’s taking certain action in response to external

pressure in order to avoid punishment or earn a specific reward. As a student, I pay great

attention on my studies to get a good grade. In order to get a good result for my SPM, I pay a lot

of hard work on it. I planned a study time table for myself so that I can manage my time well.

Besides, I also attended tuition classes and paid attention during the classes. After all of those

hard works, I got a satisfied result which is 10As. With the result that I had achieved, I can apply

scholarship for my future studies. The reward for getting a favorable scholarship motivated me to

study hard so that I can get a good grade. Without the desire to gain a reward, I think I will not

study harder to achieve the goal. The other example was cleaning my room to avoid being

reprimanded by my parents. My mother will natter on us if we didn’t clean our room after we

woke up. In order to avoid this happen, my brother and I will automatically tidy our room.

Self-efficacy 28/03/2015 12.30am

Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation.

These beliefs are the determinants of how people think, behave, and feel. The self-efficacy

divided into two categories which are high self-efficacy and low self-efficacy. People with high

self-efficacy views difficult problems as challenges, develops deeper interest in the participated

activities and recovers quickly from setbacks and disappointments. I have a friend named Kean

Hong. He is currently studying Bachelor in Interior Architecture. We knew each other for almost

6 years and I felt that he has a strong sense of self-efficacy. When he was facing a lot of difficult

problems, he will not give up on himself but will see them as challenges. For example, when all

of his artworks have been rejected by his lecturer, he will figure out the problems and solve it

without any complaints. Sometimes, he will lose his way towards the future, but after the

encouragement from others, he will recover from the failure and stood up among others again.

When I am losing my way, he will also ask me to think positively and view those tasks as

challenges.

Oppositely, people with low self-efficacy will avoid challenging tasks. They believed that

those difficult tasks and situations are beyond the capabilities. Besides, they will also focus on

personal negative outcomes and lose confidence in personal abilities. I have another friend which

named Seng Jie. We knew each other since we were in secondary school. Both of us are from

Chinese Society and we had a lot of activities to do during that time. He has a weak sense of self-

efficacy because he always says ‘NO’ towards any challenging tasks. For instance, when we

suggested him to be the leader to in charge of an activity, he will straightly reject us without

considering. All of us were wondering why he rejected us. After the discussion with my friends,

we have figured out that he don’t have confidence to handle it and not willing to handle the

negative outcomes. I hope that he will change his behavior so that he will step forward to achieve

more in his life.

Counterfactual Thinking 28/3/2015 8.20pm

In the third lecture of Social Psychology, I have defined and discussed the theory of

Counterfactual Thinking with my fellow friends. Counterfactual thinking is a concept where

people imagine different or possible outcomes for an event that has already occurred. This

concept can be used to improve or worsen one’s mood. There are two types of Counterfactual

Thinking which are upward counterfactuals and downward counterfactuals.

Upward counterfactuals thought are mental simulations of better possible outcomes and

these usually worsen one’s mood. This learning triggers the experience from being a student.

During college life, we have to communicate with others by using English language. My English

is very poor because I didn’t set the foundation well since I was young. When I have to

communicate with others by using English, I feel nervous and shameful towards them because I

can’t speak fluently. Besides, I don’t know how to write a good essay, and I always spent a lot of

time to finish it. These always worsen my mood by thinking of them. Throwback to my previous

semester, I got grade A- for my English exam. When I looked at my result, I felt quite happy as I

never expect I can get an A for my English exam. However, when I compared my results with

those who got an A and I started to think: “What if I got an A instead of A-? I could have done it

better if I study hard to improve my English language!” or “What if I got an A instead of A- , so

that I can get a better CGPA.” I was trying to change the truth when a lot of imaginations came

into my mind. This thinking worsens my mood and I felt that I was worse than others and should

have done better.

Downward counterfactual thoughts may benefit us simply by improving one’s mood.

Despite the lack of success, we can take solace in the thought that it's not as bad as it could be.

This concept reflected my experiences. I have a cousin named Hwei Shyn which is same age

with me. We have studied the same school since kindergarten to secondary school. She is more

intelligent than me because she can understand well the topics that have been taught easily and

she always got a better result than mine. So, my mother will compare the results of us and start to

ask me the reason of the gap between us. During the year of Form 5, she always got the third

rank and I always get the twentieth rank in the class. I felt upset because I’m always the one who

lose her. No matter how hard I tried, I’m always the loser. After the SPM results had released, I

got the same result with her which is full A. I started to think: “She got a higher ranking than me

in the class but at least we got the same result in SPM.” Soon, I felt relieved and these problems

didn’t bother me anymore. When I changed the way I thought of the results, I felt better and it

did improve my mood.

The Optimistic Bias 28/3/2015 11.35pm

In the third lecture of Social Psychology, I also learned the concept of Optimistic Bias.

Optimistic Bias is commonly defined as the mistaken belief that one’s chances of experiencing a

negative event are lower than that of one’s peers. It is also possible to be optimistically biased by

being overconfident about the objective chances of experiencing positive event or avoiding

negative event, irrespective of how one’s chances compare with those of one peers.

I have experienced of this. My eldest brother named Joe which is now 29 years old. I

don’t like his behavior because he is over confident on himself with everything. He always

believed that bad things will just happen on other people and he is more likely to experience

positive events in life. He started smoking since 20 years old. All of my family members told

him the consequences of smoking but he just ignored us. He thought that he can control the

number of cigarettes that he smoked everyday without any infection of disease. Besides, he also

thought that he can drive safely when he was drunk. I don’t like his attitude and behavior which

he was risking his life to death. When I asked him to drive carefully, he will always answer me

that he had driving experiences and car accident will not happen on him.

Luckily, he had became mature men compared to last time. He met a girl which can take

care of him well. I hope that he will not repeat those mistake again as it is a bad behavior.

Confirmation Bias 4/7/2015 11.15pm

There are a number of possible biases in judgment. In the fourth lecture of Social

Psychology, I have learnt about one of the biases which is the Confirmation Bias. Confirmation

Bias is a psychological phenomenon that explains why people tend to seek out information that

confirms their existing opinions and overlook or ignore information that refutes their beliefs.

People will maintain their original beliefs, even in the face of contradictory data.

I have experienced of this. I have a cousin which is four years younger than me. He is

lazy and fat. I had this bad impression of him since I was Form two. In the afternoon, he will

come to my house for lunch because his mother has to work. He eats three bowl of rice and only

eats the dishes that he likes. I still remembered that he ate all of my lunch and I had nothing to

eat. I was very angry about it as I had to cook Maggie mi for my lunch. He is now 75kg with the

age of 14. When I asked him to eat less because he I overweight, he don’t care at all and ignore

me. Moreover, he is a lazy boy. He always does his homework in the last minutes. Every

afternoon, he will spend his time on watching the television shows, playing computer games and

reading comics. When I asked him to finish his homework before watching the shows, he will

switch off the television and go to sleep. In addition, he will never tidy his room and school bag.

Every morning, his mum will help him to fold his blanket and tidy his room. As he never tidy his

school bag, he always forgot to bring his books to school. I was very mad with his attitude and

behavior.

After my secondary school life, I’m going to study in Selangor area. I felt relieved

because I don’t need to bear with his attitude anymore. One day, when I was talking phone with

my mum, my mum told me that my cousin had changed. He will exercise everyday in the

evening and start to control his diet. He eventually skipped his dinner. Besides, he is more

hardworking now compares to last time. He will finish his homework before the submission date

and tidy his school bag before he goes to school. When I heard all of his changes, I actively

laughed at him and disregarded it. I can’t believe that he can slim down and become a

hardworking people. After the call, I think that he would probably wants to chase a girl so he will

show all of these changes. To conclude, I still maintain my own original beliefs that he is a fat

and lazy boy, even though others told me that he had changed his attitudes and behaviors.

Operant Conditioning 4/10/2015 11.20pm

In the fifth lecture of Social Psychology, I have learnt the theory of Operant Conditioning and

this theory trigger a familiar experience from my past. Operant conditioning is a method of

learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. The reinforcement or

punishment is used to strengthen or weaken a particular behavior of a people.

Reinforcement is an event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows. There are

two kinds of reinforcement which are positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. The

positive reinforcement will strengthen a response or behavior by the addition of praises or a

direct reward. For example, my mother will always use reward as reinforcement towards us. In

order to achieve good results and rewards from family, my brother and I will pay attention in the

classes and study hard. My mother promised to buy me a laptop if I get a good result in my SPM.

After the hard work that I have paid off, I passed my exam with flying colors and got a new

laptop from my parent. I appreciated it so much. Oppositely, negative reinforcement is a

response that is strengthening by the removal of an unfavorable event. For instance, my mother

always asked me to finish the housework before hanging out with my friends. Even though I

don’t like to do the housework, but as a family member, I will always obey my mother’s

instruction.

On the other hand, punishment is the process where in a stimulus is presented after thr

display of behavior and causes the decline in the likelihood of behavior to reoccur. There are two

kinds of punishment which are positive punishment and negative punishment. Positive

punishment is the addition of something which causes the decrease in repeating the behavior that

was displayed. I still remembered that when I was standard six, I was a prefect in my primary

school. My duty is to keep order in my school. However, a boy always disobeyed the school’s

rules such as skipped classes and used vulgar words, so I listed down his name and passed it to

the discipline teacher. He was in anger and poured a bottle of water on my body after the school

had dismissed. My friends reported this incident to the discipline teacher and he got spanked on

his hand. After this, he did not repeat the same mistake again. Inversely, negative punishment ids

the removal of something favorable, in order to decrease the likelihood of the behavior to

reoccur. My brother is a lazy boy which doesn’t like to study. During the examination, he will

always bring small notes to the examination hall. Unluckily, he got caught cheating during the

final exam when he is Form one. My parents scolded him for his action and forbid him to use his

ipad and also reduced his allowance. My brother does not cheat in his present exams anymore.