SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TAN JIA SAN .docx

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE , BUILDING AND DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURE AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT
(FNBE)
ASSIGNMENT 1 : INDIVIDUAL JOURNAL
NAME : TAN JIA SAN
STUDENT ID : 0322406
SESSION : MONDAY (8-10am)
SUBJECT : SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
INTAKE : MARCH 2015
LECTURER : MR. SHANKAR THIRUCHELVAM
SUBMISSION DATE : 30th
November2015

FNBE 0315 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL TAN JIA SAN 0322406
ENTRY 01 : SOCIAL FACILITATION
JOURNAL 01 : SOCIAL FACILITATION
DATE : 5th November 2015
Social facilitation is the idea that you will likely to do better on a simple task
when other people are watching you .This is when motivation is formed. The word
“motivation” bring about many meanings. According to psychologist, motivation is
defined as the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors.
Social facilitation occurs when people are performing in the presence of others yet
their individual contributions can be identified.
Throughout my 17 years of life experience in kindergarten , primary school,
high school and my 18th year doing foundation semester 2 now , I have applied
social facilitation in many experiences this 18 years . My hobby is drawing , I started
to draw when I was 5 . When I was 8 years old , I tended to join drawing competition
or even digital drawing competition . I met friends who share the same hobby with
me during competitions . We learned together , compete together and play together.
I got nervous everytime I went for competition. Before the competition day , I can feel
the pressure . My mum will bring me to my art tutor to train me on drawing skills. I

practice everyday so that I can do well in competition. For me , I was afraid of failure,
Malaysian so called “kiasu”.I want others to see the best of me, I want to be the best.
I would work hard to show others that I can do very well . My art tutor encouraged
me to draw as usual just like what I did during practice . He taught me to treat the
audiences as my family and friends. They come to support me , they watch me draw.
So I should perform well. That’s where I got my motivation. In the last year of my
primary school , I got 2nd place in the competition and everybody praise me for doing
well in the competition .
Then during my secondary school , I became more afraid of failure and also
kind of “kiasu”. I tended to work hard to perform well in education and co-curricular
activities. The memory of fierce competition in high school where the intellectual and
the “pro” would look down on those “ not so good “ and slaughtered them will always
vivid in my mind , that’s how I learn about society . Motivation is high when
performing an easy task that others observe . We should take task we are assigned
to as an easy task so that we would do well to complete it. I remembered during form
3 , we are assigned to give a speech in the class . I am a shy person and I am not
good in speaking . I chose to escape from the reality and ignored the task . When the
day came , I walked out and gave the speech by reading it from the paper. I got
scolded by my teacher and my classmates laughed at me . That was the worst day
ever. I felt offended, I think my classmates gave me the motivation to speak well by
laughing at me. Started from that day, I started to read more books and watch
English channel . I learned how to speak well and be confident while giving a
speech. I even started to speak English to my friends and family. I asked questions
during English class. After half year of hard-working , it finally paid off . I joined a
speech competition . At first , I never thought of joining speech competition in the

school . My teacher , she encouraged me to join so that I can gain experience . I still
get nervous . I didn’t sleep well for few nights thinking about how will my speech be
during the competition . I practice my speech everyday , in front of my friends , family
and teachers .
Finally , the day came . I went up to the stage confidently when I heard the
cheers from the audiences . I got motivated and I don’t feel nervous , I treated the
audiences as my family and friends . In the end , I got 2nd place in the competition .
My friends and family supported me and praised me . I feel so proud and happy .
The key to use social facilitation effectively is to assign tasks that you know will be
observed by others but they also match the actual skills of participants. My
motivation for this task should be high because I learned to see this as a relatively
easy task so that I can complete it . Never take any task as complicated task , this
will make your self-efficacy decreased and you wont get motivated .
Social facilitation brings us to success . Without this , we would not get
motivated to complete the task or even get rid of our fears . Society nowadays rely
more on successful people , we , human beings would think that we will get kick out
if we are not successful . By then we will get the motivation to achieve something
that can prove us a successful person . In a conclusion , motivation is high when
performing an easy task that we observe. We are likely to get positive feedback as a
result. In contrast , motivation is lower for more difficult tasks because we fear
making mistakes , and this could result in unfavorable comments from others.
(WORD COUNT: 856)

ENTRY 02 : THE SELF
JOURNAL 02 : SELF-DISCREPANCYTHEORY
DATE : 9th
NOVEMBER 2015
What is Self-discrepancy theory ? In the second class of social psychology ,
I learned about self-discrepancy theory , which is quite interesting and surprising for
me . I did not really understand the explanation about this theory at first . But then I
went back home and did some research about self-discrepancy theory .
The self-discrepancy theory is the idea of you taking on different selves.
According to this theory, our self-concept is influenced by how close we are to the
person we want to be . There are three types of selves , which are “ ideal self “,
“actual self” and “ ought self “ . The “ ideal self “ is what we want to ideally possess
and what we truly want to be . Our “ ought self “ is what our understanding of what
others want us to be – what we ought to be and do. The “actual self “ is the reality of
who we are . As if all these are line , we are supposed to be happy and content with
ourselves.

I can personally relate this self-discrepancy theory in my life . My ideal self is
someone who is fit , happy , and successful . My ought self is to be a good student ,
socially , fit , a good daughter and a loyal one . Well, back to the reality , which is my
actual self . My actual self is a chubby girl who is lack of determination and
confidence. I have been trying to be who I want , which is fit and successful . When
others want me to be fit and successful too . I was born fat which means I am fat
since I was young . Since primary school , everyone says that I am fat. I have
experienced “lower” times in during these 12 years of school life . People wants me
to be fit but when the actual self cannot fulfill the ought self and ideal self , I tended
to give up on being fit . I hate exercising, I didn’t play sports in primary school . I
wanted to go on diet and keep fit , but I never have the determination to do it . This is
when the self-fulfilling prophecy came up . I tended to think that I am fat, so I didn’t
try to be fit . I gave up on being fit . At that time, I thought I am still young to be fit as I
was only 10 years old , I want to be happy , I love foods.
Until I graduated from primary school , I tended to have low self-esteem as
all the new friends of mine think that I am very fat . Society nowadays judge us by
our looks. There is why I got judged by many people . Some people were not willing
to be friends with me just because I am fat. Its hard for me to lose weight to reach
my ideal self. Therefore, I got disappointed . I still have no determination to change
myself even though my ought self and ideal self were calling me to make a change
to achieve them.
In today’s society , we are all under extreme pressure to be perfect by
everyone’s standard . We want to be the best so we that we can have higher self-
esteem as we are proud of ourselves. I want to be happy , I literally forget that
striving to be my ideal self is more important that striving to be my ought self. Then , I

think of if I am happy for who I am , then it is okay to not meet everyone else’s ideal
standard. I tended to change my ideal self to be happy . But sometimes , I want to be
successful , I want others see my efforts and never look down on me . In 2013, I
decided to go for weight loss program. Everyone thinks that it is impossible to lose
weight. I started to exercise everyday and eat less. My motivation is fit girls who
teaches people how to workout to lose weight. I want to be successful like them . I
started to join sports . I started to be active. I found out that muay thai is quite
interesting but I have to be fit first then I can join muay-thai. That is where my
determination formed. In six months time , I lost 12 kg which impressed those who
had looked down on me . I got slimmer but not as fit as I want .
This is happy because I worked hard to be my ideal self and ought self. I did it
to prove those who looked down on me wrong. However, if we are able to have all
these in line , if it make sense that we would be much happier and satisfied with
ourselves and the people around us would be too . This is my experience on this
self-discrepancy theory. I found that motivation and determination are formed from
these three selves. Therefore , self-discrepancy theory is basically what we choose
to make of it . This also helps us to make an effort to be better and to be the ideal
self .
(WORD COUNT : 824)

ENTRY 03 : Social Cognition
Journal 03 : Counterfactual Thinking Theory
DATE : 11th
NOVEMBER 2015
Counterfactual thinking is thinking about a past that did not happen. This often
happens in “if only …” situations, where we wish something had or had not
happened. This can be so powerful we can change our own memories, adjusting the
facts and creating new memories. It also refers to thinking about “ what might have
been” , imagining what have happened .
These counterfactual thoughts of what could have happened can affect one’s
emotions, such as causing them pain, regret , relief or satisfaction . Throughout my
life, this happens always during my school life . For example. when I turned out
getting a bad result for my exam . I always have thoughts like “ If only I had studied
for the exam …” or “ If only I had join the extra class during weekends . This always
brings to the “lower” time which affect my mood . I will keep thinking about the test
and blaming myself for not trying to be the best. According to social psychology , this

is upward counterfactual . For my understanding , upward counterfactual thinking is
thinking about positive outcome of any bad event that had happened.
I had experienced upward counterfactual thinking during competition of my
primary school life. I used to join digital drawing competition during my primary
school life. I started to learn when I was 8 years old, I went for practice everyday to
achieve success and make my parents feel proud of me. In the second year, I aimed
to get first prize as I promised my mother . Unfortunately, things always don’t go
smoothly, I didn’t get first prize but second prize. The thoughts of “ If only I worked
hard , I would win …” or “ If I think more creative , I would have won the competition”
stuck in my mind for few weeks . I experienced stress and sad time. I thought I have
not put my effort fully to achieve success.
Besides that, I have been using this thinking in my daily life . I used to be very
fat in my past 16 years. I liked to eat and I was very lazy to exercise. For me ,
exercise was the hardest activity . Until form 4, people getting more on stereotyping
me as fat people and look down me . I had gone through low self-esteem , sad days .
That’s when my upward counterfactual thinking came up . I will have thoughts of “ If I
had been exercising when I was young . I would be fit now …” or “ If I eat less, I
would not become so fat and people would not laugh at my weight”
I started with jogging and eat less , I lost 12kg in six months . I achieved
something that could impress those who had looked down on me. I feel proud of it ,
even though im still not slim enough , at least I have lost weight . This literally
increase my self-esteem and then until form 5 I thought it was enough so I stopped
working out and focus on study . Unfortunately, I got fatter and fatter . I have no
control in my diet. People around me started to judge me again. Again , I have
thoughts of “ if I keep my diet going on , I would not get fatter but slimmer …” , “ if I

keep my determination in working out , I can be fit now …” Things do not go well
always in life . We will always have hard time in our life. I could not blame anyone
but myself.
However, there are those people who would not care so much. They are
easygoing and happy-go-lucky, they are less likely to worry about their lives. In
contrast, we often use downward counterfactual thinking to make us feel better. We
will imagine negative outcomes of an event. For example, we as a student, will
always have downward counterfactual thinking when we pass the test or exam. We
will always have a thought about “If I got a D on the test I will fail the semester, but
luckily I got C on the test..” For example , an athlete who won bronze medal would
undergo upward counterfactual thinking as he would think that he is lucky to win
bronze medal. They tend to be happier than the silver medalists because athlete
who won a silver medal would blame themselves for not giving the effort fully to win
a gold medal. I have had an experience about this during my primary school year , in
the first year of joining the digital drawing competition . I got third place , I was
overwhelmed with happiness and excitement. I felt so lucky that I won third place
because at least I did not come forth and miss out the third prize. This is kind of a
motivation for myself because I did not disappoint myself even though it’s the first
competition I have joined.
Few months ago, my friend got into an accident while fetching me to
somewhere. Fortunately , it was just a small accident which we were not injured . My
friend said that she was lucky enough because the car just slightly hit her car, no
serious damage had happened. This was a downward counterfactual thinking
possessed on my friend. Me too , I have a thought of “ Luckily we didn’t get injured in

the accident….” . Therefore , downward counterfactual thinking can be a powerful
tool which it can helps us to calm down and feel better when a bad event happened.
In conclusion , counterfactual thinking ,in which individuals reflect upon how
events might have unfolded differently , tends to instill a sense of meaning in life or
at work.
(WORD COUNT : 916)

ENTRY 04 : SOCIAL PERCEPTION
JOURNAL 04: THE HALO EFFECT
DATE : 13th
NOVEMBER 2015
Beautiful faces have a powerful effect on behavior. The halo effect is a type
of cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person influences how we feel
and think about his or her character. The halo effect is an important concept to
understand because it can create errors in analysis and decision-making. People
with handsome or pretty faces will say to be very polite , kind and nice person . It is
also known as the physical attractiveness stereotype and the "what is beautiful is
good" principle, the halo effect, at the most specific level, refers to the habitual
tendency of people to rate attractive individuals more favorably for their personality
traits or characteristics than those who are less attractive.
In this concept, we can say that people judge the books by its cover . For
example , if a girl is pretty , we would think that she is a good and kind person . We
would not expect a pretty girl doing a crime or anything bad. All the positive

behaviors will automatically possessed on a pretty girl which may or may not be true.
In contrary , people nowadays being so racist that they think “black man” are all
possessed with negative qualities like rapist , pervert and thieves.
After learning about the “ halo effect “ in social psychology class , I can
literally relate how I perceive others by using this concept in my daily life . For
example , my teachers are subject to the concept on how they evaluate their
students. My teacher sees a well-behaved student might tend to assume that they
are also intelligent and responsible. While in contrary , students who are noisy in the
class will being called the bad students and possess negative qualities like lazy ,
irresponsible and bad. Therefore , when these effect occurs , they can affect
students’ approval rating in certain areas or even students’ grades.
According to experience above , the halo effect can influence how teachers
treat students, but it can also impact how students perceive teachers. While in one
study , students tend to rate an instructor with warm and good attitudes as more
attractive and likeable instructor . Therefore , whenever the teacher teaches us
nicely , we will tend to pay more attention during class and we will follow the
teacher’s instruction . The first impression one gives is also a relevant point for the
halo effect. This effect is also related to stereotyping , people stereotype others
everyday . They tend to assume someone in any stereotype by judging their looks.
For more specifically , I experienced this on my own. I am a very active , talkative
and crazy person for my friends. But during class, I will become quiet and not active.
My teachers thought that I was a hardworking and clever person because I was quiet
during class .
Next , the halo effect also affected on how I choose my friend . For example ,
when I first met my best friend , Mun , her pretty face attributed me all of the positive

qualities such as clever , hardworking and sporty person . As time goes by , I found
out that she is not really hardworking person which is why we became best friends
now because I am also a lazy person . This effect also affected me to choose the
right one to be with. Some people are not worth for me to be friend with , which is
those who has bad habits and always skip class . These type of friends are who I
avoid to be with.
The halo effect definitely can affect the way we think whether or not we are
aware of it. I remembered I got labelled as fat people in high schools. That was a
terrible experience , my friends stereotyped me as overweight because I am fat .
They assumed that I was a lazy person and I like to eat that’s why I am fat . In the
end , I proved many people wrong by going on diet and exercising . My first
impression might made my friends think that im a lazy person , but I proved them I
am not . Besides that , this concept also literally affected my grades and behavior. I
have the potential to draw and colour. So, in my foundation semester 1 , my lecturer
graded me with an A over my assignments or even group work. My lecturer is
applying the halo effect she had upon people who knows how to draw and colour will
produce a nicer work than those who do not have the potential to draw.
It's well-known in the business world that certain brand names can use the
"halo" of their reputation in order to charge a premium for a basic product. Human
beings naturally make these perceptual adjustments—up with a halo, down with
horns—without even realizing it. And it shouldn't be surprising that our brains use
this cognitive shortcut. It makes living in a complicated world easier if we can just
paint people and things with the broad brush of "good" or "bad," which is why the
halo effect persists in humanity today.
(WORD COUNT : 831)

ENTRY 05 : ATTITUDE
JOURNAL 05 : OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
DATE : 16th
NOVEMBER 2015
Rememberthe first time you tried to cook scrambled eggs for
breakfast ? When there is no cookbookforyou to follow step-by-step
instructions. But there is a good chance that you thought back to a time
you watched your mum make them and just followed what you
rememberher doing . So , how did you successfullycookscrambled
eggs the first time without a cookbook? The answer to this question is
the focus of the theory, a processcalled observational learning .
Observational learning is the processof acquiring information by
observing others. For example, think of how a child watches his parents
wave at one another and then imitates these actions himself. A
tremendous amount of learning happens through this process of
watching and imitating others. Observational learning is sometimesalso
referred to as shaping, modeling,and vicarious reinforcement. While it
can take place at any point in life , it tends to be the mostcommon

during childhood as children learn from the authority figures and peers in
their lives. Therefore , observational learning plays an important role in
the socialization process ,as children learn how to behave and respond
to others by observing how their parents and other caregivers interact
with each other and with other people .
For my experience,I have been using this conceptsince I was
born . In the first few years, I learned how to walk like how my parents
did . First of all, I only know how to crawl. As time goes by, I learn how to
stand up by my feet.My parents are the role model.I observed how they
walk and learn the action. I learned how to wave at one another. As I
always saw my parents wave at others whom they know when they see
them. Therefore,now I wave at my friends when I see them . That is a
polite behavior in saying hello to someone you know.
It is an amazing process where I have paid close attention to how
my parents behave, but then it is my turn and I have got to remember
how to do it. We learn everyday, we learn from school , outside ,home .
We learn from watching how others do . When I was in kindergarten , I
learned how to draw. I attended art class and I learned how to draw , by
watching the way my tutor draw. I managed to draw a thing out , it might
not be 100 percent same as my tutor’s masterpiece because I have got
to practice more to draw betterbecause practice makes perfect.

Next, while growing up spending most of time in house . I learned
how to do housework like washing the laundry , cleaning the floor and
more . For example , me when I was young , watched my mother folding
the laundry . I later picked up some clothing and imitates folding the
clothes. I saw my mum mopping the floor with the mop, I later pick up
the mop and mop the floorwhen I want to help my mum to do some
housework. I learned how to wash my shoes,clothes , clean up the
room by watching my mum doing the housework. I observed how my
mum did them and imitate the behavior. It is very funny behavior
because we as a child tend to copy what our parents do.
This observational learning has advantages and disadvantages.
Observational learning is somehowsimilar to incidental learning , a
process where children improve their knowledge through interaction with
others in the environment. Through this learning ,students learn life skills
at a tender age. Observational learning not only helps promote
enjoyment in learning, but also creates a flexible environment , which
enable children to explore.As a result , we as a student, learn
observation skills , solving problems and completing tasks create an
amazing learning experience.
Besides that, observational learning also encourages social
interactions. I learned numerical, language and social skills through

observational learning. In school,teachers and friends are my
companion in learning . I learned through observationand imitation. I
learned to have fun through interaction, therefore I met friends in school
and have fun with them . I also learned how to respecteach other, just
like I will wave at my friend when I see them because it’s a way to greed
them . I also learned to bow when I meet teachers in the schoolas a
sign of respect.
However , observational learning could brings up negative
behaviors if it is not applied correctly. Parents nowadays have to pay
more attention on their children to prevent them from learning the bad
behaviors . For example , parents who smoke will automatically possess
children who smoke.As we know that , children like to copythe elder’s
behaviors. Therefore , parents should not attribute bad behaviors to
children which would ruin their life or mess up their mind. They would
think that those behaviors are right to copy and learn from. This could
make a child develops into bad student and not being successful.For
my experience , I also learned bad habit from my friends.Luckily I
managed to realize the bad habit very soonand changed my bad habit.
In conclusion,observational learning can be a powerful learning
tool . When we think about the conceptof learning, we oftentalk about
direct instruction or methods that rely on reinforcementand punishment.

But a great deal of learning takes place much more relies on watching
the people around us and modeling their actions. However , undesirable
models may reinforce behavior and poorrole models demonstrate poor
behavior. Role models like parents and teachers have to pay more
attention to children and students by giving them correctexamples. In
many cases,television is also a source of behavior modeling.A study
found that children who watched a higher amount of television of
television were almost 49 percentmore likely to becomeviolent
criminals. Therefore,parents should be alert and make sure their
children are learning the positive behaviors.
(WORD COUNT : 989)

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TAN JIA SAN .docx

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (16)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (14)

Similar to SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TAN JIA SAN .docx

Similar to SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TAN JIA SAN .docx (10)

More from Jia San Oljs

More from Jia San Oljs (20)

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TAN JIA SAN .docx