This document contains 6 journal entries by a student on various topics in social psychology, including schemata theory, social facilitation, social loafing, social identity theory, self-fulfilling prophecy, and confirmation bias. In each entry, the student provides personal examples and reflections on how they have experienced each concept in their own life and behaviors.

1. Schani Daniel Bharat
0318788
First Tutorial (8am class)
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN
Foundation of Natural Build Environment (FNBE)
Social Psychology [PSYC0103]
Prerequisite: None
Lecturers: T. Shankar
Submission date – 10th November 2014

2. Schemata theory journal 1
Schemata theory – focuses on "schemas" which are cognitive structures that organize
knowledge and guide information processing. They take the form of generalized beliefs that can
operate automatically and lead to biases in perception and memory.
Perception is the primary factor that leads to arbitrary denotation of stimuli’s and people. This
observation that we possess is based on our pre existing schemas. For instance, there was a
point in time while growing up I assumed that there was always one dominant race, and this is
possibly due to the influence of television, that somehow in order to become famous or
popular you’d have to be white, this in turn made me feel somewhat awkward in my own skin.
As you would expect this went on for a while and the obsession with the western culture
further embedded within the schemas. And as I grew older, and emigrated to countries such as
Taiwan and Dubai, the schema that white people ruled the world, would eventually reform to
deduce that actually its because of the media. The way in which they’re portrayed and hyped
up was exaggerated to the maximum. People are just people, and due to the exposure that
followed my teenage years, growing up in a international school and making new friends that
were ‘white’ skinned greatly altered the concept that they were all royalty or ‘lucky’ in fact I
realized they were just like me, and at times I was even better than them in various aspects of
life, so at point my as I look back, I would assume my schema was altered.

3. However I began to wonder how many other people around the world felt the way I did. Then I
began to prove to myself that, that greatness doesn’t have a color, it’s a combination of actions
that uplift oneself or the masses.

4. Social facilitation journal 2
Social facilitation is the tendency for people to do better on simple tasks when in the presence
of other people. This implies that whenever others are watching people, they will do well on
things that they are already good at doing.
As far as I can recall, the concept of doing better at a task when people were around as
compared to when I was doing it alone, with the absence of attention and motivation. Was
during my athletic meets or training sessions. I remember there during training sessions when I
first joined the athletics team I would try to impress my trainers and set a standard for the
other athletes to beat, so as to say I’m the best at this, so bring it.
However as time went on, that slowly died, once I established that, I guess I got bored of it and
it didn’t matter anymore, they already knew I was the best at certain distance, so I didn’t
bother putting effort into my training as much. However I began to seek a difference audience
to feed my ego. This was then carried forward to track time, and actual athletic meets, where
the crowds were in hundreds and the rewards were much higher in terms of praises and getting
the attention I’ve always demanded from people. Hence I then took my game to a new level, to
now target a larger audience to satisfy my ego, and so that how It worked, when it came to a
bigger stage to perform in, I would automatically try harder and that too I’ve realized has
shifted in time due to boredom and crave for attention directly or indirectly.
The need to perform better when others are around is something I was and am still guilty of, in
terms of projects when it comes down to presentation, I find that my input and effort in to the
work is much more focused, and fulfilling during the time when I actually have to present as
compared to when I have to build the model itself.

5. Social Loafing journal 3
Social loafing frequently occurs in groups because certain individuals exert less effort than
others and this can create an unhelpful group dynamic and individual response.
This particular theory was and is demonstrated all around myself. In fact I would probably
partake in such a phenomenon, during my first semester of Architecture, when out first project
was being distributed. I was elected project leader, and at first I became super enthusiastic
about the workload I slowly grew out of it very fast. In total it took me around 2 weeks to loose
interest in the physical aspect of work. This was because I realized my position as a leader and
began to delegate tasks, eventually I was just an ‘idea man’. Coming up with the idea after
which, they were then executed by my course mates. Sure I would lend a hand here and there,
just enough to make my self seem like I wasn’t neglecting them, and making them do it all.
This in turn actually wasn’t beneficial for the group whatsoever, as there was less efficiency and
work done, due to my lack of work ethic, and eventually others noticed me doing such a thing,
and began to mimic the same thing I had done, doing just enough to get by…
Another aspect of social loafing that I have experienced is during an ice breaking session, and
during this session we were split into groups and had to execute a particular task. I had
discovered that the more people that were added to the group, I felt like I had to do less work,
as there would be more minds to solve the problem. In addition if I had felt that way, I now
wonder, how many of the others did as well, and it would probably then be an infectious could
of negative and unproductive energy. So rather than each individual trying to achieve their own
level best excellence it then became an evaluation of how much work, each individual was
contributing.

6. Social Identity Theory journal 4
Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership(s).
We all have conceptual thoughts about who we are and what our own identity is. Those same
thoughts can apply to our self-concepts when we look at the groups we belong to and our own
internal self identity.
I guess I would have to say that, in term of my self-perception, I would like to think as my self as
being blessed. This in turn would allow me to excel certain areas more than areas than others,
at times becomes of my skills or sometimes just sheer determination or luck. Either way after
the lesson about social identity and collective identity, I realized I’m very picky about the type
of friends or people I’m surrounded with, mostly because of how they make me feel about my
self. Comfortableness is key to me in any aspect of my life, if I’m comfortable with people
or/and situations I would not really have any issues and I’d feel content with the outcome.
However the opposite happens if I’m not in my comfortable zone.
Recalling a time during the age of 16, during a sports class, a small indoor football match was
going on. The captains had selected their teams and I ended up being in a team with people I
wasn’t so fond of, however the game went on and we got trashed 4 – 0 . after the game had
ended I began to recall what I did wrong, and actually ended up putting a lot of the blame on
my self, and I didn’t feel so almighty anymore, despite football being my strong suite. I felt a
sense of disappointment and let down.
Another instance when I was on the winning team and we barely scrapped a win, however It
felt really good, the feeling was incomparable. I felt better about my self and about my abilities,

7. I didn’t feel worthless or doubt my skills or ability, the chemistry between the others and myself
was overflowing. Therefore I felt about my self on when I was in a better group of people, as
ignorant as that sounds, its true and undeniable.

8. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy journal 5
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true,
by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.
This is probably the most interesting theory to me, as it depicts mental strength and/or group
or individual consensus. My parents always told me that one day I would find the right girl, that
would make me the happiest ever, and even though It never really struck about what they had
said, at the age of 21, although I would say I’m rather youthful, I realized that the only thing
that I’ve been striving for is that, not anything else, its quite a cliché, however its something
that I realized a while ago, after getting my heart broken a few times. They directly instilled
within my mind that I needed someone like a girl a to make me happy, and so that’s what I’ve
been doing, until recently I’ve discovered that maybe they were wrong. Maybe happiness can
be found within myself and not through somebody else.
Another instance was the constant mentioning by various people that I would eventually always
let them down, be it may my parents, teachers, athletic coaches, friends. And Its been true, at
every point, I’ve not only let them down, but I’ve let myself down too, way too many times that
I would like to admit. This in turn has somewhat developed into a long term habit that’s as
much as I try, has been stuck in my head and has become difficult for me to overcome the fact
that at some point disappointment will follow everything good I do.

9. Confirmation bias journal 6
Confirmation bias, also called myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, or prioritize
information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias and
a systematic error of inductive reasoning.
I wasn’t always a Christian, and conversion to Christianity was probably the most significant
change in my life. I found the religion to be very free and open. However there are people such
as my dad (my parents are divorced) who would say differently. He would always think that
Christianity was something bad, that it wasn’t a good idea. However regardless of what he
thought, it didn’t or rather it couldn’t deviate my attention from the religion.
Apparently it actually helped me to search deeper and finds the true meaning of Christianity or
my self rather than actually listen to the priest or other religions authorities; I concluded that
before I believed anyone, I would need to understand it for my own. I didn’t see anything
wrong with the religion, sure there’s always pros and cons to everything in life.
To me the religion was serene and nothing could deviate my attention from it. Any attempts to
do so would result in me being ignorant or stubborn to listen to any depiction of my religion
mostly because I’ve discovered for my self its what right for me. However I am open mined to
criticism to the religion or such, and that I’m willing to evaluate the argument, but only to a
certain extent and that’s a about it.

10. Cognitive dissonance journal 7
Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.
This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or
behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance.
I don’t smoke and have never taken fondly of cigarettes, mostly due to my schemas preinstalled
in my mind; I don’t think I ever will. However the girl I’m currently dating is a constant smoker,
and due to this I find it quite uncomfortable when she asks me to go out and smoke with her
and her friends. I’m guessing I’m able to tolerate to an extent however at times when she does
ask me to join her to smoke, although I’m not really interested, I would either way. And
succumbing to such peer pressure isn’t healthy both mentally and physically for my self.
At times I wish would be able to tell her off as easily, but I’m too concerned to ‘easy going’ as
the relationship Is still fresh, at times I wish I could just tell her off and her to quit smoking.
However I then begin to reason with my self and put my self in her shoes and think about how
hard it must be to quite and influences are everywhere, so maybe I need to slowly but surely let
her know, and with my self, I should set a good example, and hopefully it would rub off against
her.
Rather than being sour or quiet after the smoke session or when I see her going out to smoke,
and letting it get to me, I should rather just let her know my views of it, or let my actions speak
louder than my words, that’s my dilemma. Either way in due time I’m sure she’ll come around,
as just last night, she told me she would like to stop smoking, as happy it made, at the back of
my head I was like, bullshit…But I’ve got to be supportive.

11. By stander effect journal 8
The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to
cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are
present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders.
This particular observation was made by when I was much younger, during a time when was
with my family and we were about to cross the road and there was an elderly European man
crossing and he dropped on the spot, at first I’m assuming people had thought he had tripped,
because that’s what I thought had happened. However a few minutes passed by without
anyone really wondering what had happened, so I looked up at my mum and dad, wondering
what they weren’t doing anything. Today I understand that maybe due to having kids with
them, they probably were reluctant to charge forwards. But didn’t other people immediately go
and help him, even if he tripped?
I deducted that night people are always constantly depending on each other, even if we do not
know each, the expectation for someone to do good is much stronger than the will to do go
good itself. This is also enhanced by the number of people present, the more people
apparently, the more we look to depends on others, however if were we solitary, it would feel
as though the responsibility is then ours.

12. Social comparison journal 9
Social comparison theory gravitates the centers on the belief that there is a drive within
individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. The theory explains how individuals evaluate their
own opinions and abilities by comparing themselves to others in order to reduce uncertainty in
these domains, and learn how to define the self.
Guilty as charged, I have become who I am today, due to constant and tiring comparison of my
self to people around me, people I see on TV, fictional and non-fictional characters as well. I
would have to say, growing up as nobody and finding sport to elevate and change my life has
been the most crucial part of my self-discovery. In due time I realized that I’m not as original as
I think I am. In fact I’m not original at all, I would say I have become who I am by comparing my
self and then picking out what I do not possess in terms of qualities, and trying to implement it
into my self.
This type of comparison was positive more than negative as it allowed me to grow, both in
good and bad ways, in which the outcomes were always a lesson learned. Being able to
compare yourself to someone else requires a lot of effort and can be demoralizing at times,
however comparison for the right reasons would benefit you greatly in the long run.