Social Psychology

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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: MOHAMMAD HARRIS BIN HAJI ABDUL AZIZ
STUDENT ID NO: 0323219
CONCEPTS SELECTED: (Pages)
1. Social Facilitation (2 – 3)
2. Counterfactual Thinking (4 – 5)
3. Self-fulfilling Prophecy (6 – 7)
4. Stereotypes (8 – 9)
5. Persuasion and Cialdini's 6 Weapons ofInfluence (10 – 12)
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY(PSY30203)
ASSIGNMENT 1: JOURNAL ENTRIES
LECTURER: SHANKARTHIRUCHELVAM
SUBMISSIONDATE: NOVEMBER 30TH
2015

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Journal Entry #1 - Social Facilitation
Social facilitation to my understanding based on the definitions and examples given in class on 15th
October 2015, is the concept of people’s presence or absence affecting individuals’ performance on a
giventask.Thisconceptcanbe appliedtoproduce positiveornegativeeffectsonindividuals’performance
depending on their self attributes and the circumstance that the individuals are in.
From this concept, there are underlying factors that play in order to produce certain outcomes,such as
the ‘Co-action’effectwherebythereisanincrease intaskperformancewhenthereisapresence of other
individuals doing the same task. These individuals are called Co-actors. For instance, studies carried out
in 1937 by Chen on worker ants, where the ants dug more than 3 times as much sand per ant when
workingnon-cooperatively,andin1967 by Yaksh andDarby, theyfoundthat animalsconsumedmore of
their food in the presence of others of the same species.
Anotherunderlyingfactoris calledthe ‘Audience Effect’where insteadof havingotherindividualsdoing
the same task as the monitoredsubjects,the individualsare involvedpassivelyi.e.justsimplyspectating.
Such as in1935, Dashiell carriedoutanexperimentonsubjectstosolve multiplicationproblemswiththe
presence of spectator audience and the result showed that with the audience, individuals were able to
solve the problems more efficiently. These spectators are known as ‘Non-actors’
Asformy ownexamples,Iwill onlyuse the onesthatare giventome andthose thatmade the mostsense
as they aided me in understanding the concept. Such as from the book ‘THINK Social Psychology, 2012
edition’ stated that “in 1898, Norman Triplett noted that competitive cyclists performed better during
races than during solo rides”.
Fromhere Ican relate tomyownexperiencesjusttogive alittledepthtothe understanding,forexample,
between2001 – 2006, I was undergoinga5 year course of Musical Arts and Music Technology,whereby
at the end of every 3 months students do performances as part of their assessment schemes. Naturally
prior the assessment, students spent hours in perfecting their techniques in executing given musical
compositions,andmyself wasnoexception.Fromhere Inoticedthatduringmyearlyyearsinthe course,
I findin ratherdifficulttoperforminfront of an audience asoppose to performinginsolopractices.The
basicskill setssuchastime keeping,handmovements,bodyposturesandevenconsistentbreathingwere
all rendereduselesstome duringperformancesandinsteadreplacedwithfear,anxiety,lackof confidence
etc,simplyput,the difference inperformanceswere verysignificant.Despite the hoursspentonpractice
and preparations, my mind was not able to comprehend the effects that an audience can have on my
performance, hence in this case the audiences were the non-actors and the effects of social facilitation
on myself at the time were negative.
However towards end of the course, my view of audiences differ from how I first saw them. I started to
become eager and excited to perform, and when I do I tend to have a desire to perform at my best and
so the performances were executedsmoothly. In addition,mistakes were made whilst performing but I
was able to quickly regain my momentum. Compared to during my solo practice sessions, I was more

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complacentwithmyself andmyperformanceswere notuptopar. So inthiscontext,the audienceswere
still non-actors and social facilitation affected me in a positive way.
In a more recentand general example wouldbe if I was ina classroomcomparedto beingina domestic
environment. In a classroom, my level of focus and efficacy tend to be high due to the fact that I was
around my peers and tutors and this significantly increases my competitiveness in whatever task I was
doing.Asoppose tobeinginamore domesticenvironmentsuchasmyhome,Itendtoprocrastinate,laze
and do very little workif not at all.The same can alsobe said to the majorityof individuals.Inthiscase,
my surrounding peers were my co-actors and tutors were the non-actors, and in classrooms, social
facilitation affected me positively.
Basedon the examplesabove,taskperformancesof individualswere heavilydependentonthe presence
of othersforsocial facilitationtotake place butanothertheorysuggestsotherwise.AccordingtoCottrell
in 1968, “it is not the presence of other people that is important for social facilitation to occur but the
apprehension about being evaluated by them” (Mc Leod, S. A. [2011] Social Facilitation. Retrievedfrom
simplypsychology.org).Thismeansthatthe presence orabsence of otherpeopledoesnotdeterminethe
occurrence of social facilitation but it is the awareness of the individuals being monitored while
performingthe giventask.Forexample,studentsthattake onlinetestsmaynothavespectatingaudiences
but they are aware that their performance that will lead to their results are monitored and recorded,
hence this may boost their performance.
Though that conceptsconceivedbyNormanTriplettand Cottrell mayseemto contradict each otherbut
bothconceptscan merge andtake place simultaneously.Whichconcludesthe ideathatSocial Facilitation
is ultimatelyaconceptwhere individuals’taskperformance increase witheitherpresence orabsence of
others for as long that they are aware that they are being monitored.

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Journal Entry #2 - Counterfactual Thinking and its’ effect on decision making.
Counterfactual Thinking, by definition is when an individual attempts to imagine alternative outcomes
that couldhave unfoldedthatdiffersfromthe actual occurrence. Whetherthe imaginedalternativesare
positive or negative approaches. Counterfactual thinking are often associated with the occurrence of
negative events and hence affecting individuals’ mood.
Counterfactual thinking are categorised into 2 parts, which are Upward counterfactuals and Downward
counterfactuals. Upward counterfactuals are imagined outcomes that favour the individual’s
expectation(s) forexample,if astudentfailsto score a goal for an exam, scoringa grade of ‘B’ insteadof
an ‘A’ possible upward counterfactual thinking would be “if only I get 3 more correct answers, I would
have gotten a solid ‘A’” or “if only I practiced more of the questions, I would have scored an ‘A’”.
Downward counterfactuals on the other hand are imagined outcomes that resulted based on the
individuals’complacency.Usingthe samescenarioasthe above,downwardcounterfactual thinkingwould
be “I scoreda ‘B’for the exam,atleastIdidnotfail”or“I thoughtI wasgoingtoscore badlyforthe exam,
but thank goodness I got a ‘B’”.
Based on my own experiences,counterfactuals were often obvious to me during crucial events such as
car accidents,fights,bigdecisionmakingandsoon.In instancesof car accidents,hadmine inearly 2015,
where the main cause of the accident was that I shifted my fieldof view from the road and to the back
seatsof the car Iwasdrivingwhere myrelativeswere sitting.Before the accidentoccurred,Ikeptmyview
on the road until my relative called me to look behind to the back to what he/she claimed to be of
immediateimportanceatthe time (butitwasn’t)andwhenIcaughtaglance Ididnotnotice a car hadcut
into my lane and was about to take a turn into a near junction, hence the car slowed down causing its’
rear end to collide with the front of my car. My counterfactuals at the time were “If I had kept my view
onthe road,everythingwouldhavebeenfine”and“if Ihadnotlookedatthe backseat,Iwouldhaveseen
the car slowing down” – note that these are upward counterfactuals. My downward counterfactuals on
the otherhand were “I crashedthe car, but at leasteveryone isfine,includingthe otherdriver”and“itis
a car accidentbut at leastI didn’tdestroyanything,bothcars are just dentedat worst”.In thisscenario,
my upwardcounterfactualsworsenedmymood;because Icouldhave avoidedthe accident,whereasmy
downwardcounterfactualsreinforcedmysense complacencyof those thatare externalfromtheaccident;
whichis the well-beingandsafetyof the individualsinvolved,alongside the mainoutcome;whichisthe
collision.
A lesssevere case of mycounterfactual thinkingoccurrence wouldbe whenthereare assignmentssetto
due ina fewweeksbutIchoose toprocrastinate due toknowingthe factthat I have an ample amountof
time, and when the deadlines are closing in I ended up spending sleepless nights trying to finish up an
alreadyrushedworkandwill eventuallybe gradedpoormarksdue tothe lackof qualityandeffortputin.
In this case, my upward counterfactual would have been “I should have started the assignments the
minute it was assigned, that way I could have spent the last few days just polishing my work” and my
downwardcounterfactualwouldhavebeen“thatwasalastminutejob,butatleastIhave submittedmine
rather than not”.

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A use of counterfactualsthatIfoundtobe veryhelpfulintermsof decisionmakingisthatinthe instances
of beingable to realise the counterfactualsantecedenttoan event,I was able to relate betweenevents
andmake predictionsof differentoutcomesdependingontheimaginedscenariosbasedonmyforecasted
counterfactuals. For example, at the age of 18, right after finishing college I chose to work instead of
continuing my studies to universitylevel. Here, I imagined 2 different outcomes based on (A) if I had
continuedmystudiesrightaftercollege and(B) if I had workedfirst.Inthe case of scenario(A),Iwill not
be able to earn my ownincome,norlearnbasicreal life skillssuchasoffice duties,billings,andtaxations
and so on,thoughI will be continuingmystudiesata relativelyyoungage.Whereasinscenario(B),Iwill
be able tolearnhowtoworkinofficesandhave earnedsubstantialamountof incometoperhapssupport
for myacademicendeavours,compromisingtime andmoneythatIcouldhave spenton pursuingfurther
studies. With all the counterfactuals carefullyevaluated, I chose to go with option (B), which ledme to
where I am now.
Inconclusionbasedonmyunderstanding,one use of counterfactuals istoaffectorchange anindividual’s
mood,whetheritbe toworsenorimprove.The change of one’smoodcanhave an impactas to whatthe
individualplanstodowiththe factual occurrence,whethertolearn,adaptand amendwiththe situation
that ispresentedtohimorher,or to dwell andgetstuckwithbackwardsthinkingthatwouldonlyleadto
the individual’sdemise.Anotheruseof counterfactualsistohelpindecisionmakingbycarefullyassessing
the viable options, then figuring out the possible outcomes and depending on whether the outcomes
favourthe individual orotherwise,onlythencounterfactualsdevelop.Itwill be uptothe individualtoact
upon them.

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Journal Entry #3 - Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and the Pygmalion Effect.
Self-fulfillingprophecyisthe conceptof makinga predictionthatcausesitself tobecome true due tothe
fact that the prediction is made, and to put it in a different aspect, it is “..when a person ‘becomes’the
stereotype that is held about them” – THINK Social Psyhology,2012. Stereotyping is when individuals
generalise all members of a group to possess some common and specific attributes. Examples of
stereotypeswouldbe “Muslimsare terrorists”or“Asiansare goodat math” etc.Thoughdo keepinmind
that stereotypes can be associated with either negative or positive connotations.
Back to self-fulfillingprophecy,anexample wouldbe,‘awomanthinksthatherhusbandwillleave herfor
another woman, and so he did, but only because of her own actions that was guidedby the prediction.
This may seem unclear at first but it makes sense when broken down. First is the prediction that is the
seedof the prophecy;whichis whenthe womanstarted to thinkthat herhusband will leave her,thisin
itself would manifest subtlythrough her actions led by the prediction. Manifestations such as jealousy,
causing her to behave irrationally and would eventually lead to the stress on her marriage. This
manifestation would be the secondary cause of what eventually be the end of the marriage.And hence
the prophecy came true.
AnotherexamplebutbasedonmyownexperiencewaswhenIwasinhighschool betweenthe agesof 12
to 14 yearsold.AtfirstIstartedoff fromthe lowestgradedclass,andforthe sake of easyreferencing,the
classis called‘C’class.Overthe years,I movedupto classes‘B’and then‘A’respectivelyandthroughout
the transfer I noticed a significant difference in the way that the classes behave and the way that the
teacherswere treatingandexpectingof the studentsatthe time.Startingwithclass‘C’,the studentswere
out of control, rowdy and noisy despite the presence of an authority figure i.e. teacher or principal. In
addition,the teacherspresentatthe time couldnot care any lessof what wasgoingon. Thenmovingon
to class ‘B’, the students here were behaving like how normal children students would in a class, like
speaking up when needed to, and stayed quite when the lesson was going on. And the teachers here
seemed quite content withthe students. And finally class ‘A’. What I understood of the class were that
the studentswere the elitesamongstthe eliteshence comingfromaclass‘C’itseemedveryintimidating.
Here the studentsbehavedfarmore in conduct to the school’srules, were more active in termsof class
lessons;suchasansweringquestionsandevenquestioningthe teachers(whichseemedquite peculiarto
me at the time).Andthe teacherswerealwaysconstantlyexpectingthe highestcalibre of work,discipline
and ethics from the students.
In additiontothe studentandteacherconduct,the more significantandvisibleresultof suchdifferences
inclassesisthe student’sperformancesinexams.Class‘C’gotanaverage of ‘D’sandseldom‘C’s,class‘B’
got an average of ‘B’s and class ‘A’ got an average of ‘A’s and ‘A*’s.
In this scenario, the predictions were first seeded from the teachers. They have predicted that certain
classeshave certainattributestoproduce certainresults.Andhence the examperformances.Forinstance
in class ‘C’, the teachers treated students as though they belong in a class ‘C’ environment and nothing
more, hence their expectations of the students were nothing more than mere low grades, which
consequentlyresultedtothe poorexamperformance.Sothe studentswere fulfillingthe stereotype that

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was setbythe teacherswhichisthe prophecy.Inthisthe prophecyisself-fulfilled,by2co-actingfactors;
whichare the studentsandthe teachers.Thisis calledthe Pygmalioneffect,where positive expectations
influence individual’s performance positively and negative expectations influence individual’s
performance negatively.
In conclusion,self-fulfillingpropheciesisthe happeningresultedfromitself.Itisaprofoundconceptthat
I found to be very interesting because it begs the question, “how many occurrences that led to the
advances of the modern day man that were self-fulfilled?” And “can self-fulfilling prophecies somehow
be used to the benefit of society?” Based on my research, about 90 percent examples of self-fulfilling
prophecieswereassociatednegatively,hence Iwasrighttoassume thatself-fulfillingprophecieshave led
to mostly negative results thus far. What of the 10 percent? And can the concept be utilised to invoke
improvements and development of human kind?

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Journal Entry #4 - Stereotypes – Racism, Sexism and Discrimination.
Stereotype by definition is the generalising of a group of people to a shared or common attribute. For
example,“Asiansare goodatmath”.Thisisderivedduetothe rumoursthatAsianstudents,whetherthey
are from South-east Asia or European countries seem to score well in Mathematics. I proclaimed this
rumourto be no more than justa rumourmainlydue tothe fact that I myself amanAsianandproudlyto
admitthat I am notan expertinmathematics,asoppose toBiology,LiteratureandGeography,whichare
my preferredstudies.Thoughthatthe commentaboutAsiansandmathematicsseemtobe negative but
not all stereotypesare like that,there are positive stereotypesaswell,buthere I will coverthe negative
aspects of stereotyping.
The example above isa'racial' for of racism, whichmeansthat the stereotypesrevolve aroundagroup's
race or ethnic background such as Asian, Caucasian, African-American etc. Other forms of stereotypes
revolve aroundGenderandAge. Some examplesgenderstereotypesorSexismare“Girlspreferthe colour
pinkand Boypreferthe colour Blue”or “Boysare strongerthan Girls”,where the basisof the stereotype
revolvesaroundgenderandto discriminate betweenmale andfemale.Basedonthe contextabove,itis
easyto relate whyboyswouldpreferthe colourblue because Imyself wouldpreferthe colourblue than
pink.
The examples for age stereotypes or Ageism is a little more complex,but can be seen more clearly in a
script,for example,Ben:“ohhi nancy, gladto see you're still upand around” and Nancyresponded with
“yeah well, you won't be soon enough if you don't shut your trap”. In this scenario, Nancy is being
condescending towards Ben's comment that seemed like he is undermining Nancy due to her old age.
Ben'scommentimpliesthatatNancy'soldage, she shouldnotbe alive or at the very least be outdoors.
Basically, negative stereotyping exhibits negative connotationsthat revolves the subject matter such as
race, gender or age.
Note that I will only extensively cover racism and sexism as they are the most that I have been exposed
to in mylife time.Inthe instance of sexism, itbeganwhenIwassmall,aroundthe age of 7, whichwasin
the year 2000. Around that time was when I remember to be given a form of responsibility such as
houseworks,farmduties andetc.basicallyphysicallydemandinglabour.Forthe longestperiodthatIwas
giventhe responsibilities,onlyseldomdidIsee myoldersistersto helparoundwithsome.Veryseldom.
So I became curiousas to whyand askedmy father aboutit, to which he explainedsomewhatalongthe
linesof “girlsshouldnotdo much physical workand boysare suppose todo it for them”.Up till thisday,
I donotbelieveinthatconceptandneverwillbecauseIbelieve thatforaslongasindividualsare able and
capable to carry out tasks, despite their gender, should not be limited to the constraints of social or
cultural normsunlessthe individualsconformtosuchconstraints.Anotherformof sexismIencountered
around that age as well wasat a local governmentschool.Accordingtowhat I had observedthen,itwas
apparent that girls score well in exams than boys. So this was the norm that the teachers were well
acquainted with and such norms were definitely put into effect in classrooms.

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For example,inlate 2000, in my englishclasswhere at the time we were leaningaboutthe applications
of past and presenttensesthenwe were toldtowrite ouranswersinanswersheetsandwhencalled,we
would write our answer onto a black board. Surely enough, the teacher at the time only picked out girl
studentsoutof the proportionatelybalancedstudentpopulous,inotherwords,1:1boy-girl ratioinaclass
of 24 students. Despite however many times and however quick I put my hand up to be chosen to give
my answers,itwas to no avail.Then I came up witha solutiontojustkeepmy handup until the teacher
notices me, and she did. Yet she disregarded my attempts and proceeded to choose yet another girl
student. Hence I concluded that this was no mere coincidence, it was definitely a scheme.
As for racism, I noticed the trend during my high school years in an international school when I was
between10-15 yearsof age.During thattime,the studentswere more vulnerabletowardsracismdue to
the increasing population of foreign students than locals. I was a local there but I did not pay much
attention to the change because there was no reason to. It was then in the afternoon,after classes had
finished students often go out to the fields to play football. Usually each teams comprised of students
from various ethnic backgrounds but that day, the teams were categorised by the colour of their skin,
either'black'and'dark' or 'white'and'light'(Idoapologise forthe referencesof skintones –butthatwas
how it was back then). I was not very sure as to why it became to be but it happened. I did not feel
comfortable tochoose sidesthatare solelybasedonthe tone of theirskinso I steppedoutof the game
and just watched. Here I observed that the game were more aggressive than usual, there were a
substantial amountof hate thatwasfeltinthe atmosphere throughthe toneof theirvoices,the waythey
talked, screamed and even throwing offensive cuss words to each other.
In conclusion,stereotypescanoccuranywhere andat any time,butitis difficulttodistinguishwhetherit
is acceptable or unacceptable dependingonthe societal norm.Fortunatelyforme,I was not part of the
norm to practice negative stereotyping amongst my culture as I have made friends from many different
countrieswitheachof theirownunique ethnicandcultural backgroundsandtraditions,whichledme to
be more open minded and more prepared on what is left to come. Whether they seem strange and
peculiaror simplyfamiliar,Iwill notallow myself tocriticise othersbasedonwhatismere superficial.So
I encourage for the youngergenerationstobreakdown the mental wallsof fear that surroundsa group,
whether they are based on gender, race or age. By keeping an open mind and an open heart through
establishingfriendshipsorjustmere connectionsthatrevolvesaroundunderstandingandmutual respect.

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Journal Entry #5 - Persuasion and Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence.
“Persuasion is the attempt(s) to influence others’ attitudes or behaviours” – THINK Social Psychology
“Process aimed at changing a person's (or a group's) attitude or behaviour toward some event, idea,
object,orother person(s),by using written orspoken wordsto convey information,feelings,orreasoning,
or a combination of them.” – BusinessDicitonary.com
To my own understanding based on the examples given to me in class, persuasion is the attempt to
influenceothers’cognitive approachof asubjectandchangingitto favourthe persuaderorspeaker.And
there are 2 routes to persuasion, they are Central Route; which consists careful and thoughtful
considerationstodetailsandfactsof the message whichinturncreatesthe individuals’ownopinionsand
arguments that are resistant to change. And Peripheral Route on the other hand; is when the listener
decides to either agree or di sagree based on other cues besides the argument of the message
because the individual is incapable to attend to the message so he or she is less resistant to change.
A personal exampleof central routepersuasioniswhenIwentouttoshopforalaptopinearlyApril 2015,
wentto a mall that comprisedof retailersthatspecialisesinelectronicsandgadgetssuch as computers,
handheldsandetc.SoIhadtobrowsethroughabout5 –6differentstoresto findanaffordablebutquality
laptop,and in everyconversationIhad with the seller,I made sure that the featuresI was lookingforis
present, featuressuch as the latest processer, substantial amount of RAM, storage memory and so on.
But the keyfactor that woulddeterminewhetherIwouldmake the purchase or notis the price due to a
limitonmybudgetatthe time.Basically,Iwasveryparticulartothe detailsof whatIamabouttopurchase
and this is because I wanted to get the best performing platform that I can get for the best price I can
afford.The particularitythatIwaslookingforhadbuiltaresistance againstpersuasionfromsellers,which
made me less vulnerable to persuasions.
On the other hand,theoretically,if myfocuswere basedon the peripheral route,Iwouldbe focusingon
othercues such as the speaker’svoice,the speaker’sattractivenessoranythingthat isexternal fromthe
message itself, which likely cause me to make a purchase at the first store I go to without hesitation or
even an argument. The lack of focus to the message content will lead to my vulnerability against
persuasion due to lack of resistance.
Aside from the above, as mentioned before that the idea of persuasionis to influence and to influence
there are underlying factors that affect or invoke influence to others, such as Cialdini’s 6 weapons of
influence. They are, 1) Reciprocation, 2) Commitment and Consistency, 3) Social Proof, 4) Liking, 5)
Authorityand6) Scarcity.Belowwill be the definitionsof each termfromwhatIunderstoodandeachwill
be given an example based on my own experiences or from what I have observed.

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1) ‘Reciprocation’istorespondtoa gesture or an act bymakinga correspondentone,inthiscontextitis
to either repay a favour in order to avoid the obligation of being indebted or to have someone (debtor)
owe you a favour so that you can use it as a leverage of influence over the debtor.
For example:InearlyApril2015, before goingtoMalaysiaformystudiesIaskedforsome assistancefrom
my relativestohelpme pack and decide onwhat thingsshouldI buyto prepare myself before livingina
foreign country. After all the work was done, on the day of my flight,right before entering the terminal
my relatives said something along lines “Hey we helped you packed the other day, mind helping us buy
some stuff whenyou getthere?”.So in that context,myrelativeswere expectingsome sortof a gesture
corresponding to theirs. But my response at the time was of course, “No”.
2) ‘CommitmentandConsistency’istoobtainandutiliseanindividual’ssenseof commitmenttoinvokea
sense of obligation over something, this will somewhat subtly push the individual to act or make the
individual feel obligated to act in order to fulfil that commitment.
Forexample:Before leavingforMalaysia,myfathertoldme tospendmymoneyprudentlyandtobe more
responsible withmyspending.AndsoIdid.Thisisapractice thatIhave kepteversince Iwasyounghence
such practice is not at all difficultforme to adapt and it is alreadyconsistentwithmyI had planned.But
with the reinforcement from my father, more so ensured me to commit to the practice.
3) ‘Social Proof’ which coincides withthe concept of Social Learning perspective, where both concept is
based the individual’s indication of what is right or wrong and true or false is influence by others,more
likely a role model or an figure that he or she looks up to.
For example: This is more so based on my experience with my mother.She told me stories on how she
worked hard to earn money and saved up to spend on her travel and studies abroad. The stories
themselveswere veryinspiringwhichmade heramodelthatIlookupto.SoI usedhervaluestomotivate
me into working hard. In this context, my mother is the role model whom influencedme to somewhat
follow her ideals of hard work and earning my own gain.
4) ‘Liking’ is when we generally agree or disagree to the message due to the attributes exhibited by the
speaker.Attributessuchasthe speakers’attractiveness,attitude (rudeorpolite),personality,behaviour
and etc. Similar to the peripheral route of persuasion.
For example: In almost every forums that I have attended, the figures that went on stage to give their
speechesare dividedinto2of my owncategories,andtheyare ‘Attractive’or ‘Unattractive’ – not based
on howtheylook,butbasedontheiroverallstage performance.Despitewhethertheircontentwasutter
nonsense,foraslongas the way theywere presentedisattractive thenthe audience wouldconform.An
attractive performance would be; good use of speech intonations, engaging the audiences, a sufficient
amountof entertainmentmaterial butnottoomuch,inspiringandmotivatingandsoon.Anunattractive
performance wouldbe;speechdone monotonously,boringcontent,anticlimactic,predictable andsoon.

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5) ‘Authority’iswhenindividualsconformto what authorityfiguresdecide ondue to the mere fact that
they are the authority.
For example:Inclassrooms,students were toldtoremainseatedandstayquietthroughoutalecture and
the majority intend to do so due to the fact that the lecturers are present. Here the lecturers are the
authority figures by which the students conform to.
6) ‘Scarcity’ when “individuals want what they think they can’t have” – THINK Social Psychology.
For example: In holiday seasons such as Deepavali, Hari Raya, Christmas, Chinese New Year and so on,
there are oftenannual salesofferedbystores.Back inmy hometownIhave noticedthatas the years go
by (between2009 – 2014), that despite the annual occurrences of such festivities and sales, there signs
statingalongthe linesof “Hurry!It’sNow orNever!Buy2Get1 forFree”or “LimitedtimeOnly!50%Off!”
whichseemedpeculiarto me,and evenmore so whenthe itemsthat were advertisedforsaidsaleshad
beenon sale overthe course of the years.Whichmeansthat customerscouldhave made the purchases
at any given year for as long as it is during a certain festival. But without knowing that fact, customers
were still underthe illusionthatthe itemson sale were scarce and that theyhad to make that purchase
right then and there. In this context,the signsput up by the seller were tactics to attract the customers
into believe the scarcity of the items or products.
In conclusion, persuasion and influence goes hand in hand in order to have a grasp on the target
individuals,whetheritbe an audience orcustomers.Because in orderto persuade individuals,youneed
some sortof influence onthemandtoenforce achange onindividualsthroughinfluenceisinturnknown
as persuasion.