This document contains 7 entries from a student submission on social psychology. The entries discuss topics like first impressions, individualism versus collectivism, self-concept, confirmation bias, prosocial behavior, persuasion, and aggression. The student provides personal examples for many of the concepts. Overall, the submission reflects on key ideas in social psychology and how they relate to the student's own experiences.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: TAN REE HAN
STUDENT ID NO: 0315978
GROUP / SESSION: MONDAY 8-10
SUBJECT: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
SUBMISSION DATE: 12th
MAY 2014

2. ENTRY 1
Everyone has different impressions displayed during different times. But the first impression is
considered the most important of all. First impressions are like schemas, they are the blueprints of
someone, of how we view them as a person.
As an example, i would use one of my friend. That friend of mine comes off quite timid and shy, but
after getting to know him for awhile,i started to see different sides of him. He could come of goofy
and funny to sarcastic and back to being the timid guy all of a sudden. At first sight, when i got to
know him as a friend, i would have thought that he would be a quiet guy, but then as it turns out, he
was the wildest of us all.
At first my friend gave the impression of being a shy and timid guy, but then a different times he
would be the noisiest. This made me understood the concept of Social Impressions. Charles’
argument states that impression management is the process which we send out versions of
ourselves based on the environment in which we are in.

3. ENTRY 2
Sociocultural perspective focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture. Social
behavior is not only influenced by the presence of others but also cultural norms will have a
significant influence. There are two kinds of sociocultural perspective, which is the individualistic
culture and collectivistic culture.
I’m a more of a individualistic cultural person. I do things by myself for myself. I only think about the
welfare of my being and not other, you could say I'm selfish. This trait kind of runs in the family. My
father being an individualistic person perhaps influenced me into becoming an individualistic
person.
ENTRY 3

4. Self-concept is an overall sense of you, a mental representation of you. It is the way how you see
yourself and who you think you are. This also includes a large part of how you would describe
yourself and may be thought of as a collection of self-schemata. The self is a symbol-using, self-
reflective and social being.It is also a reflection of the qualities of you and occupies your social
existence.
By understanding Charles Horton Cooley and the looking-glass self concept, self-concept can be
described as how we imagine we look to others. We shape ourself through what other people
perceive us as.
I would say i am a shy and introverted person, but then there are times where courages and
bravery needs to be applied such as during presentation. During presentations i try my best not to
freak out and slur my words caused by nervousness. I guess that i am also a lazy person, kept on
procrastinate during assignments. A lot of people told me that I'm kinda smart but lazy, i guess
thats true.
ENTRY 4

5. Confirmation bias is an best described as we actively seek out data that support our beliefs while
disregarding the data that refute our beliefs. Persevering our original belief even though there is
proof and evidence against it. In confirmation bias there’s self-fulfilling prophecy. Self-fulfilling
prophecy is that we actually cause beliefs about us to become true by behaving in a manner
consistent with those beliefs.
An example of confirmation bias that i can relate to is when i have an argument with a friend. When
we were doing a group assignment, we didn't chose a group leader. We decide to do it the
democratic way, discussing all aspect and the best way to complete it. My friend, was alright with
all the discussion at first. Later on, he tried to command us to do it his way even though we’ve
found a better way to complete it. He disregards all the proof and evidence provided and keeps on
emphasising that his opinion is the best way to do it.
ENTRY 5

6. Prosocial behaviour is a positive social action intended to help others. It includes Egoistic model
which are done for selfish reasons and Altruistic model which are done for selfless reasons.
Most of the times, i’m prone towards the egoistic model of prosocial behaviour. This is when my
mom asks me to help her out with household chores. I would only respond to her requests when i
know I'm getting a reward for it, such as an increase in allowance and so on. But occasionally, i
would help her without wanting anything in return. This is due to the workload i see she’s coping
with. In a way its an empathy-altruism models of prosocial behaviour shown.
ENTRY 6

7. Persuasion is an attempt to influence others attitudes or behaviours. There are two routes to
persuasion, which are central and peripheral. Central route is where a person is present and
evaluating a given message, while peripheral route is the person’s attention isn’t given to the
message given by the speaker but is directed towards the speaker’s attractiveness.
A person or an organisation who delivers a persuasive message or the source is what influences
which route we take. We are prone to be influenced by the attractiveness, credibility, similarities
and likability of the source.
For example, i was going to buy a phone, i’ve searched everywhere for the perfect phone. But all
of the shopkeeper aren’t really “selling” it to me. Until there’s one shop where the shopkeeper and i
talk for bit. That invoked the likability towards the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper also introduced me
the type of phone he was using and thus contributing to the credibility. At the end of the day i got
the phone similar to the shopkeeper’s.
ENTRY 7

8. Aggression is a behaviour that is intended to harm an individual verbally or physically. There is
hostile aggression and instrumental aggression. The goal of hostile aggression is to hurt the victim
physically, while in instrumental aggression the goal is “non-injurious” but it serves a different
purpose. Males are prone towards hostile aggression while females are more towards relational
aggression.
As a guy, my temper is quite bad, and thus I'm prone towards hostile aggression. There was a time
where i was so pissed off, i hit the bonnet of my car and dented it. I tend to be more direct in
expression my emotions and tempers, letting everything out not soon after a conflict or argument.