FOUNDATION IN NATURAL & BUILT ENVIRONMENT (FNBE)

NAME: HIRENDRAN

STUDENT ID: 0319894

SUBJECT: SOCIAL PSYCOLOGY

LECTURER: MR SHANKAR

TUTORIAL GROUP: MONDAY 2PM-4PM

SUBMISSION DATE: 27TH APRIL 2015

JOURNAL 1

ENTRY 1: SOCIAL LOAFING

28TH MARCH 2015

Being a student of architecture, a lot of our assignments or projects consist of group work, which

leads to one of the most common problems faced by architecture students which is the “Free-Rider’

problem. This phenomena can be tied to the social psychology theory of social loafing. Social loafing

is a phenomenon when individuals exerts less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group

than when they work alone. In social loafing, the individual effort cannot be identified. In 1883, Max

Ringelmann conducted a study from which he concluded that an individual’s performance actually

gets worse in the presence of others. This theory occurs in the everyday life of an architecture

student. One of my own personal experience of social loafing is among my group members. During

our recent Culture and Civilization project, we were to separate ourselves into groups of 10. Thus me

some of my friends formed a group. Almost everyone in that group were standout performers

individually. Thus, the reason why we decided to form a group together. Being a group with a lot of

standout performers, we thought our project would go smoothly but it did not. I noticed that some

of the members who were really talented individuals, did not perform to their standard.

JOURNAL 2

ENTRY 1: INDIVIDUALISTIC AND COLLECTIVE CULTURE

3RD APRIL 2015

“...If there is no risk, there is no reward.” This saying perfectly expresses my supportive views on

practicing individualistic culture. Individualistic culture is the focus of independence over collective

goals, whereas collective culture is the focus on interdependence and group goals. As a Malaysian of

Indian heritage, collective culture is observed and practiced in my family and community. Growing

up as a child, I always knew that I had to study and work hard so that I could obtain a professional

degree and hold a respected job. Most of my family members are either doctors, lawyers, or

engineers, therefore, there was always this pressure to have a highly respected career. But as I

reached towards the end of my teenage years, I realized that life isn’t just about being wealthy. At

the age of 17, I was really passionate about a career in film. I wanted to leave the country and chase

a dream that I was passionate about. Thus, accepting the individualistic culture of the westerners in

the process. I did not really think about what my family would think of the idea or what society’s

perception would be of my personal goals. All I wanted was to do something I loved for the rest of

my life. I realized this after watching this a film, Rushmore by Wes Anderson which consisted of one

of my favourite dialogs.

Herman Blume: What's the secret, Max?

Max Fischer: The secret?

Herman Blume: Yeah, you seem to have it pretty figured out.

Max Fischer: The secret, I don't know... I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and

then... do it for the rest of your life.

My parents were against it my career choice. They felt it was too risky and they were not too

comfortable with the idea of a career in film. It was out of the norm and many of my aunts and

uncles advised against it. They wanted me to have a professional degree whilst lifting the family

name in the process. This shows that they practiced collective culture and were more concerned

with the goals of the family instead of my own personal goals. Thus, as the result of collective

culture, here I am pursuing a degree in architecture. Hopefully once I’ve obtained my degree I will be

able to pursue the dream I’m most passionate about.

JOURNAL 3

ENTRY 1: STEREOTYPING

8TH APRIL 2015

In a multi-cultural country like Malaysia, racial stereotyping is a common phenomenon. A stereotype

assumes that all members of a group share some common feature. This is caused through the

perseverance effect where once a schema is formed, it is hard to change or ‘let go’ of these schemas.

One of my personal experience of stereotyping begins with a car ride. Myself and 4 other friends, all

of Indian race, were driving at 2am, coming back from my friend’s house after a game of FIFA. We

came to a roadblock where we were stopped by the police. The policer officer shined the torch light

into our car and even though everything was intact. Eg: we were all wearing our seatbelt, the car had

a “P” sticker and we did not break any rules, we were stilled pulled over. After checking our license

and registration, we were still held at the roadside and they asked us to open the booth. The

ransacked through the booth and found nothing. All 5 of us were then subjected to a body check

before they checked the car itself. One of my friends insisted to know the reason why we were being

heavily checked. Their answer was “ Lima budak India keluar rumah pukul 2 pagi mesti nak buat

hal ni” ( Five Indian boys out at 2am are sure to cause trouble). This took us aback as all of us were

good students who were just out to play a football video game. The police were stereotyping us as

trouble causing Indians just because we were out late at night. We ended up being held at the

roadblock for about half an hour only to be released innocent.

JOURNAL 4

ENTRY 1: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

16TH APRIL 2015

When I was younger, I used to play this game we called “Shoe-Face” with some of my friends in the

LRT where we would look at other people’s shoes and try to guess what they would look like and

what type of person they could be just based on their shoes. This was one of my fondest memories

of first impressions. People say you only have one opportunity to make a first impression which is

true no doubt. First impressions are not deliberate, they are not formed by watching others actions

they are almost instantaneous. According to research, first impressions can be formed within 10

seconds of meeting an individual. A more detailed experience of my encounter with first impressions

happened when I met one of my closest friends in college. During our very first encounter, she

wasn’t dressed appropriately but she was very friendly and upfront about things. This made me form

an immediate first impression that she was one of those girls who loved late night partying and

socializing. And of course she turned out to be the total opposite. I followed through by asking if she

liked going to raves or clubbing and she simply answered “No”. I was a bit taken aback by the

answer, but after getting to know her over the past 9 months I can totally believe it. Turns out, she

hates clubs because of the smell of cigarettes, she’s hardly ever been to a rave and she’s a staunch

Christian. In conclusion, my first impression of my friend was invalid. Also, I should’ve mentioned this

earlier but I was terrible at the “Shoe-Face” game.

JOURNAL 5

ENTRY 1: POST-DECISION DISSONANCE

23RD APRIL 2015

Post-decision dissonance basically states that after we make a decision between two equal options,

we get uncomfortable and start to wonder if we made the right decision. This discomfort causes us

to pinpoint all the positives of our chosen option and all the negatives of the unchosen one. Being

someone who is always indecisive, I am able to relate to this theory very well. Ever since I was young

I always felt a sense of regret after buying a new toy and finding out there was a better toy out

there. Until this age, I still experience post decision dissonance. In the year 2013, I spent a year

saving up money to buy a camera and by December 2013 I got my first ever DSLR camera. Before

making my decision on which model I should purchase, I had done research on different models and

it came down between the Canon 700D and the Canon 60D. I knew for a fact that the Canon 60D

was a much more capable camera but it was a bit pricy. So I settled for the Canon 700D. After a few

months of exploring and using my camera, I realized it was not very efficient or as good as I hoped it

would be. I felt a slight bit of regret knowing that I should have bought the Canon 60D instead. I

started experiencing post-decision dissonance by telling myself that I made the right decision. As

much as I hate to admit it, I did think of all the additional qualities my camera had over the Canon

60D. I also looked into what I could have done with the extra money I saved. Thus, I’ve decided to let

the post-decision dissonance take over my thoughts even though I still prefer the Canon 60D.