FNBE PROJECT 1

1. Assignment 1 (Journal)
Name: Kong Xhiang Lynn
Student ID: 0317730
Group/Session: Monday 4pm-7pm
Subject: Social Psychology (PSYC0103)
Submission Date: 10th November 2014

2. Concept: Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is when a person only pays attention to the information that support the
belief and disregarding information that contradict the belief.
Entry #1: 5/10/2014
It was a Sunday but yet I and my group mates have to come to Taylor’s University to
continue our project as it is due on the coming Thursday. Me and the two other group mates
have had a bad experience with one of the group mate, Jeff, before as we find him lazy and
ignorant. He hardly participate in group works and would always produce work with poor
workmanship. From then on, we stopped taking him into our group whenever we need to
form a group and we also stopped hanging out with him.
We were working on the fake clay pots for the play and we decided to let Jeff do the
cover of the pots. We were not hoping or expecting for a good outcome from him due to our
past experiences. In the end, he managed to produce an acceptable outcome and he did
prove us wrong. We were amazed by how much he has improved in the past few months as
we had given up on him.
This bias has caused me and my friends to assume that Jeff is the person that we
think he is due to his bad past performances in group work. If we had only given him more
ways to prove himself then our friendship could have become better and stronger.

3. Entry #2: 25/10/2014
I decided to go to the saloon today as I felt that it’s time to trim my long hair after a
few months. I went there with my brother and both of us has always preferred the male
hairstylist as he is more experienced compared to the other female hairstylist. We were also
told by our mother that she has had a bad experience with the female hairstylist as she is
inexperienced. Even though the male hairstylist is busy, we would always wait for our turns
rather than having the female stylist to have our hair cut.
But things were different today, the male hairstylist requested if I would allow the
female hairstylist to cut my hair as she was free and also to speed things up a little. I agreed
to the idea as I am curious if she is as bad as how my mother described. When she finished
cutting my hair, my brother said that it looked okay but I do not feel so, as I am always aware
that my hair was being cut by an inexperienced hairstylist and it should turn out bad. I keep
looking for flaws like, over trimming and uneven hair lengths. I did manage to realize that she
had some parts of my hair over trimmed, making it look uneven and messy, especially after
having my hair washed and dried.
Because of this bias, I have caused many irrelevant discomfort to myself and
everyday felt like a bad hair day. Also, this bias have caused me to constantly disregard the
idea that she have done quite a good job in cutting my hair even though my friends keep
telling me it looked okay.

4. Concept: Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is using reinforcement or punishment to strengthen or weaken a
particular behaviour.
Entry #1: 15/10/2014
I own a Shih Tzu breed dog and he has always been in a good behaviour. Since the
day we bought him, we have taught him the Dos and Don’ts in the house, such as no
defecating around the house except in the toilet and also no entry in the car porch.
Things have always been well and good until recently when he became really
aggressive. He bit me out of sudden when I tried to approach him and it left a big wound on
my left hand. I was in pain and I quickly ran to the basin to wash my wound with running
water. After that, I patched my wound up with some Chinese medicine and a wool. I then
walked to my dog with a roll of newspaper to scare and also to scold him, this is to ensure
that he does not repeat the same mistakes again in the future to ensure the safety of my
family members.
I have used positive punishment, which is scolding, against my dog in order to
decrease its behaviour of biting someone without appropriate reason.

5. Entry #2: 3/6/2014
My brother has always been a gamer, he could sit in front of his computer for hours
and not move a single muscle unless he needed to go to the toilet or to get food. His 4
months long holiday has been his opportunity to not do anything but stay in his room to play
online games while waiting to get accepted into a college. Since then, he has gotten lazier
and more ignorant towards what is happening around him.
But even after he got accepted into a college, he still continues to practice his old
lifestyle. He would run up to his room to play his game right after he came home from
college. My mother did not take any action towards him as she believes that he is old
enough to know what his priorities are.
Things were odd today as he came home looking fatigue and did not ran up to his
room like usual. My brother showed a piece of paper to my mother, when suddenly, her face
became blush red. She started yelling at him and from the conversation, I found out that my
brother scored a rather low mark for his test recently. She also mentioned that, from then
onwards, my brother is not allowed to use his computer unless for assignment purposes so
that he can focus on his studies.
My mother has used both positive and negative punishment towards my brother to
decrease his behaviour of neglecting his studies. The positive punishment used in the yelling
or scolding whereas the negative punishment is limiting the usage of the computer.

6. Concept: The illusion of control
Illusion of control is the perception that uncontrollable events are somehow controllable.
Entry #1: 8/2/2014
It’s Chinese New Year and most of the children or teenagers are busy collecting red
packets from the elders and relatives, whereas the elders are busy preparing food and
beverage for the visitors. During this festival, laughter and chatters are found in every corner
of the neighbourhood as it is one of the greatest chance for the family or friends to gather
together to have a good catch up session.
Other than that, Chinese New Year is also an excuse for the Chinese people to
gamble. As believed, red will bring good luck to us. My grandmother will wear a red shirt
when she gambles as she assume that red will bring her great luck and fortune. While
gambling, we are also not allowed to mention the word ‘book’ as it sounds similar to the word
‘lose’ in Mandarin which eventually will affect our luck. Even though my grandmother did not
win all of the game, but she still believes that her red shirt had helped her in winning back
some money.
My grandmother beliefs on the colour red which would bring her good luck shows the
concept of the illusion of control.

7. Entry #2: 7/6/2014
Since I was thirteen years old, I have always carried my lucky charm along, which is
a keychain given by my mother, whenever I sat for an examination. I have always believed
that the keychain have brought me good luck as I always scored in my examination and
lucky enough to guess the correct answer for the questions that I was unsure.
Today was my first ever English examination in a university, I was very nervous and
anxious even days before the day of examination. Although I had prepared myself days
before, I still feel insecure as I was afraid that the exam paper is going to be too difficult for
me to answer. As usual, I brought my lucky charm with me when I sat for the English paper
as I believed that it would help me on my paper.
The concept, illusion of control was portrayed as I believe that the lucky charm will
bring me luck and help me during examinations.

8. Concept: Motivation
Motivation is a process that makes a person move toward a goal. Motivation can be broken
down into two categories, which is intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic
motivation is taking a certain action for the sake of enjoyment without any obvious external
awards, whereas extrinsic motivation is taking a certain action in response to external
pressure or obligation.
Entry #1: 30/10/2014
Supernatural events have always caught my attention as I am constantly curious
about it especially towards topic like aliens and UFO. Although it does not have any relation
to what I am currently studying now, but I am always motivated to do my own personal
research about alien and UFO during my free time.
Today while I was scrolling through Facebook news feed, I came across to this article
about Boyd Bushman, who claimed he was a retired senior research engineer with
Lockheed Martin Skunk Work. He just passed away recently in the month of August but
before that, he left a shocking death bed confession about the existence of UFOs and aliens
at the New Mexico compound. The article was very brief and did not show much evidence,
therefore, I searched for Boyd Bushman’s video confession on Google as I was very curious
about his confession. In the confession video, Boyd Bushman showed various pictures he
had taken of UFOs and aliens during his time at Area 51 and shed some light on Roswell
and communication between extra-terrestrial creatures. Other than that, he also manage to
have a photo of the planet that the alien came from, known as Quintumnia, which is 65 light
years away.
These information are very rewarding to me as I have learned a lot about the aliens.
My action shows intrinsic motivation as I simply enjoy doing so and I see it as an opportunity
to explore and learn.

9. Entry #2: 30/5/2014
My mother has always been very strict on our academic results as she believes that
good results will lead to a better future. If we do not do well in our examination, she will
punish and scold us, such as forbidding us from using the computer and restricting us from
going out with friends. Due to her actions, it has lead us to become extrinsically motivated.
There were few more days to my English examinations but I was already motivated
to prepare for it. I kept looking for exercises and essay examples online in order to prepare
myself well for the upcoming exam. Although I did not intend to do so, but in order to score
well in my exam, I had to study hard to avoid punishment from my mother. As my best
friend’s birthday celebration is on the coming Friday, I do not want to miss it since I had
prepared a lot for her birthday surprise.
I believe that most of the students nowadays are extrinsically motivated as we do not
want to be punished and be embarrassed for performing badly in our academic.

10. Concept: Attribution Theory
Attribution theory focuses on the methods we use to interpret another person’s behaviour or
event and to infer its sources. Like motivation, attribution theory also consist of two distinct
categories, that is, dispositional (internal) attribution and situational (external) attribution.
Dispositional attribution is assuming that the cause of an action is due to a person’s internal
characteristics whereas situational attribution is assuming that the cause of an action is due
to external or environmental factors.
Entry #1: 12/2/2014
It was the first day of orientation for all the February intake students of Taylors
University Lakeside Campus. Everyone was well dressed and groomed as it was an
important day for everyone. Also, I see a lot of people has already started making friends
even before the orientation.
When the orientation started, I sat next to a Chinese girl. She was extremely quiet
during the whole orientation whereas I tried to maintain a conversation with her whenever we
were given a toilet break. She always tried to cut me off on every conversation I made with
her by replying shortly with either a yes or no, or with a really brief answer. It was difficult for
me to break the ice between us as she did not seem to be interested to maintain the
conversation with me. By observing her actions, I assume that she was quiet due to her
shyness. I did not blame her for treating me that way as I understand that everyone has
different personality.
My action on assuming that her quietness was due to her shyness shows
dispositional attribution, in which I suggest that the girl’s action was due to her internal
characteristic.

11. Entry #2: 17/5/2014
Due to heavy load of assignments, we are required to meet up with our fellow group
mates at university even it was a Saturday. Every minute was gold to us and we have to use
every minute of it efficiently. My group leader asked us to meet up at the campus at around
9:00 a.m. in the morning so that we have ample time to finish up our work.
Most of us had already reached the campus even before 9am except for one, which
is A. He did not answer any of our calls or messages even though his last online time was
just a few minutes ago. We gave up on contacting him and deciding to carry on the
assignment without him. A then turned up an hour later saying that the traffic was bad and
also stating that he had left his house at 7:30a.m. We questioned him on why he did not
answer any of our call or messages if he was stuck in the traffic congestion, but he claims
that he did not want to text or answer any calls while he is driving as it is dangerous and he
is also new in driving. We did not further question him as we do not want to waste time
anymore.
A’s action shows situational attribution as he blames the traffic for his unpunctuality
even though he could have left earlier in order to avoid the bad traffic.