psychology journals

1. NAME: LAU CHIN SHENG
ID: 0317899
GROUP: MONDAY 4PM – 7PM
SUBJECT: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, FNBE
SUBMISSION DATE: 10TH NOVEMBER 2014

2. Entry 1
Sociocultural perspective : A perspective describing people’s behavior and mental processes as
shaped in part by their social and/or cultural contact, including race, gender, and nationality. Now,
the thing I would like to talk about is homosexuality in Malaysia. As you know that, in the past 50
years, homosexual or lesbian and gay are not allowed or disgust by the society , because of the
barrier created by the culture and religion in Malaysia(your great great great father told u that
becoming a gay/lesbian is a wrong thing} . Fortunately, the thing had changed. More and more
youngsters in Malaysia are starting to accept homosexual is not a shame thing to tell and nothing
wrong to become a gay or lesbian and It’s not a big deal whether your friend is a gay or
lesbian.(some of my friend are “homo”) . Now you might think I’m a pro-homo person or a gay(nope,
I’m not. lol ) the thing I’m trying to tell is instead of ignoring, bashing and hating the “special” one.
Why don’t we try to understand them? For example, my sibling is a gay. (his parents don’t know
that.) most of my other sibling couldn’t accept and try to council him back to ‘normal’ and keep it
as a secret, but here’s the thing, is it wrong to be a gay? In my opinion , everyone has their right to
do the thing they want to. Maybe one day, the culture in Malaysia is changed. Everyone takes
homosexual group as the same. (they are) Maybe one day, my sibling can admit to his parents he is
a gay without any culture burden. So we must be the one who stand out for their right, accept them,
understand them for creating a better society.

3. #ENTRY2
Confirmation bias: The confirmation bias refers to the tendency to selectively search for and
consider information that confirms one's beliefs.
Back in form 5, I’m one of the top students in Math. It is because I was taking Math tuition and I fully
followed the instruction and technique from my tutor. That makes me not paying attention when
there is chemistry period in school and I think that they school’s way is slow, not accurate and
starting became ego and stubborn but soon my math teacher prof me I’m wrong. Way too wrong.
Instead of solving the question I can’t solve, he recreated a more challenging with the basic thing he
taught us in class. I think this example is quite explaining the term. Don’t just believe what you
belief and selectively believe what should u belief.

4. #ENTRY3
Self-efficacy: is the extent or strength of one's belief in one's own ability to complete tasks and
reach goals.
Someone says the key to unlock the gate of luck is persistence. Then the gate stone for persistence is
self-efficacy, which believing themselves can achieve the goal. I was stay and grown up in my
hometown ,ayer tawar, which located at Manjung, perak before I study in Taylor’s University, my
parent is kind of worry me to study alone at KL without any siblings around me. However, for me it’s
not that hard for me, I believe that I can take care of myself and yet, after almost 2 semesters, I think
I’m already prof to my parent that I can survive in a place I didn’t stay more than 1 weeks before. It’s
because of my high self-efficacy, I’m forcing myself to discipline my life style.

5. # ENTRY 4
Intrinsic motivation: the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges, to analyse one's
capacity, to observe and to gain knowledge. It is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself,
and exists within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for reward.
I was one of the marching band members when I’m in my high school. We practice at least 3 hours
per day back in that time. Drilling, memorizing the score, teaching the newbie(freshmen), all without
earning a single penny. This is because we enjoy the moment that we sit together and perform on
the stage, we enjoy the moment when we drilling on the field and last, we enjoy the time that we
used to practice the new song, the excitement, the happiness. I miss that life.

6. # ENTRY 5
Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain a desired outcome and
it is the opposite of intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation comes from influences outside of the
individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards (for example money or grades) for showing
the desired behavior, and the threat of punishment following misbehavior.
I remembered when I was grade 6, before the upsr. My parent promise me if I get at least 4 As or
above, they will buy me a latest gaming console. Well , it is a powerful booster for a 12 years old kid.
Then I study as hard as I can, do as much exercise as I could. (Here showing the incentive or rewards
are pushing me to give more effect to my study.) but somehow I’m still screwed up the exam, I only
get 3 As. Despite of that, my parent still buy me gaming console but after a few months they broke it,
because I always skip class and stay at home playing my video game.

7. # ENTRY 6
Counterfactual Thinking: is a concept in psychology that involves the human tendency to create
possible alternatives to life events that have already occurred; something that is contrary to what
actually happened.
I like betting, but not involving money kind of betting. For example, I like to bet dota 2 item (virtual
item) on the betting site.
You will place your bet on one team. If the team u bet on it won, you will get ur item back and plus
the reward which depend on the item’s value you bet and the rate. So far the losing streak is
continuing, just like the Chinese pro words , once you bet, your chance to lose that bet is 9 out of 10.

8. This makes me think and think again if I bet on the opposite team, there will be different story, and
this counterfactual thinking made me more moody. So i better quite betting before I loss all my item.
# ENTRY 7
First impression: the event when one person first encounters another person and forms a mental
image of that person.
I remembered first time I met Kiing in Taylor’s, I thought he is a cool and quiet guy. but when the
time passed, I realised that he actually a funny kind of person,cause he sometimes likes to talk lame
joke. Other than that, he is actually kind of talk-active, we like everything just about gaming. So from
here we can know that, the first impression of he/she might not show all his characters, maybe just
some of it, but definitely not all.

9. # ENTRY 8
Common sense: sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.
In psychology, Common sense actually is subjective , and not uniform across all people. How to say
so? For example, I always thought scorpion is an insect but actually is not. It is an Arachnid. For other
example, I thought when you run in the rain the chance you get hit by rain drop is lower than walk,
but scientist prof that walking in the rain has a lower chance than running (in heavy windy rain)

10. # ENTRY 9
Observation learning: is a type of learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and
replicating novel behavior executed by others.
My dad is a filial piety kind of person. He looked after my grandmother until she passed away, he
treated my grandmother with love and care. This makes me know that how precious the family
bonding is. Appreciate the every family member. Look after each other.

11. # ENTRY 10
Self-serving Bias: is any cognitive or perceptual process that is distorted by the need to maintain and
enhance self-esteem. When individuals reject the validity of negative feedback, focus on their
strengths and achievements but overlook their faults and failures, or take more responsibility for
their group's work than they give to other members, they are protecting the ego from threat and
injury. These cognitive and perceptual tendencies perpetuate illusions and error, but they also serve
the self's need for esteem
For example, I’m always the blamer when I play a game. I always think that is the other team
members make the situation hard or even lost. And of cause, it is not my fault. Is those team
member neither making bad decision nor didn’t follow my instruction. I always think I’m the best
player in the team.