The document contains entries from a psychology journal discussing various concepts learned by the student. It discusses social facilitation and how the presence of others can increase task performance. It also discusses the sociocultural perspective, which views personal development as heavily influenced by social and cultural factors. Self-concept and its components including self-image, self-esteem, and ideal self are described. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the difference between them is explained. The concept of self-fulfilling prophecy and how expectations can influence behaviors and outcomes is summarized. Counterfactual thinking, or imagining how the past could have been different, is also covered.

1. NAME : KHAIRUL JEFRI BIN KHAIRUL AZHAR NEO
ID NO : 0318237
SESSION : 12PM -3PM
COURSE : SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (PSYC0103)

2. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 1
DATE : 22th September 2014
TIME : 3PM
CONCEPT : SOCIAL FACILITATION
Through social psychology class, I learnt that social facilitation can be defined as an
improvement in performance produced by the mere presence of others. Well, there
are two types of social facilitation which is co-action effect and audience effect. I
found out that I work well in library than working at home because the mere
presence of others doing the same task as I do increase my task performance. The
presence of other people is a positive stimulus that increases my physiological
arousal such that my body become more energized and motivated me to do my
work. This situation is known as co-action effect. In the same time, I want to let my
friends see I am a hardworking person. The presence of my friends motivated me to
do work because I scared about how I am being evaluated by them. The presence of
my friends make me suspect their evaluation. Depending on how I forecast that
evaluation, I may look forward to either adulation or criticism and rejection. This is
known as the audience effect. Social facilitation occurs not only in the presence of a
co-actor but also in the presence of a passive audience. According to Cottrell (1968),
it’s not the presence of other people that is important for social facilitation to occur
but the apprehension about being evaluated by them. We know that approval and
disapproval are often dependent on others’ evaluations and so the presence of
others triggers an acquired arousal drive based on evaluation anxiety.

3. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 1
DATE : 14th October 2014
TIME : 7PM
CONCEPT : SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
Sociocultural perspective is a point of view that is built upon the idea that society
and culture are major factors influencing personal development. It is an outlook that
considers an individual through the lens of sociocultural theory, a psychological
theory that assumes a person's cognitive development is determined by a number of
social relations and environmental contexts. Fundamentally, the theory assumes
that people are heavily influenced by their social environment. Sociocultural
perspective is one approach to understanding why humans behave the way they do.
The sociocultural perspective seeks to understand human behavior and personality
development by examining the rules of the social groups and subgroups in which
the individual is a member. Race and ethnicity, religion, gender, social class, family
traditions, peer groups, and age are some of the subgroups that may influence
someone's behavior. For example, when I was in India for study trip , I found out
that in India a child between the ages of 6-14 is already working and making a living
while in Malaysia kids start working at 16. The difference of culture between this
two countries creates a different perspective.

4. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 2
DATE : 24th October 2014
TIME : 11AM
CONCEPT : SELF CONCEPT
Self-concept is our perception or image of our abilities and our uniqueness. At first
one's self-concept is very general and changeable. As we grow older, these self-perceptions
become much more organized, detailed, and specific. Self-concept is a
collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior.
Your self-concept is your mental picture of yourself. It is a collection of self-perceptions.
For example, a self-concept might include such beliefs as 'I am
easygoing' or 'I am pretty' or 'I am hardworking.’ According to humanist
psychologist Carl Rogers , there were three different parts of self concept : self-image,
self-esteem and ideal self. Nowadays , most of the girls with anorexia who is
thin have a self image in which they believes that they are fat. Even sometimes I
think that I am fat too even though I am skinny. Our self-image is affected by any
factors such as parental influences, friends , the media and vice versa. Next, when
people respond positively to our behavior , we are more likely to develop self
esteem such as optimism and confidence in our own abilities. Oppositely, we will
lack of confidence and pessimism when people respond negatively to our behavior.
For example, girls that have been told that they are pretty will boost up their
confidence and show their beauty to everyone; girls that been told that they are ugly
will lack of confidence and not dare to expose themselves to the public or even
worst suicide. Sometimes girls envy my waist because is way smaller than theirs,.
This boost up my confidence and keep showing off my waist to them. Even though
self-esteem might fluctuate, there are times when we continue to believe good
things about ourselves even when evidence to the contrary exists. This is known as
the perseverance effect. Our self-concepts are not always perfectly aligned with
reality. Some students might believe that they are great at academics, but their
school transcripts might tell a different story. The degree to which a person's self-concept
matches up to reality is known as congruence and incongruence. While we
all tend to distort reality to a certain degree, congruence occurs when self -concept is
fairly well aligned to reality. Incongruence happens when reality does not match up
to our self-concept. For example, I am a boy and I acting like it, but others thought I
was a girl from far view because I was too skinny like a girl.

5. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 2
DATE : 27th October 2014
TIME : 2PM
CONCEPT : MOTIVATION ( INTRINSIC & EXTRINSIC)
Motivation was characterized as the process that commences, express and upholds
objectively situated practices. It was a desire to a person willing to do things.
However it had two types of motivation that were intrinsic motivation and extrinsic
motivation. Intrinsic motivation involves engaging in a behavior because it is
personally rewarding; essentially, performing an activity for its own sake rather
than the desire for some external reward. For example, I participating Frisbee club
because I find the activity enjoyable. I attend all the practice with her own desire
just to have fun and relieve all the stress I had by playing Frisbee. As contrast ,
extrinsic motivation occurs when we are motivated to perform a behavior or engage
in an activity in order to earn a reward or avoid a punishment. For example, I was
informed that I have test for business subject tomorrow. The first thing that
appeared on my mind was “ I was screwed. I have no idea what I have been learned
since the beginning”. In order to get good result for the test , I study every slide and
memorize it. Even though I have no idea what the slides are talking about , I still
memorizing it just to make sure I could get a higher grade. The primary difference
between the two types of motivation is that extrinsic motivation arises from outside
of the individual while intrinsic motivation arises from within. a number of studies
have demonstrated that offering excessive external rewards for an already
internally rewarding behavior can actually lead to a reduction in intrinsic
motivation, a phenomenon known as overjustification effect. While most people
would suggest that intrinsic motivation is best, it is not always possible in each and
every situation. In some cases, people simply have no internal desire to engage in an
activity. Excessive rewards may be problematic, but when used appropriately,
extrinsic motivation can be a useful tool.

6. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 3
DATE : 19th October 2014
TIME : 9PM
CONCEPT : SELF FULFILLLING PROPHECY
Self fulfilling prophecy is defined as any expectation, positive or negative , about a
situation or event that affects an individual behavior in such a manner that it causes
that expectation to be fulfilled. The term self fulfilling prophecy was coined by
Robert Merton in 1948. “A false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior
which makes the originally false conception come true”. Self fulfilling prophecy is a
belief that comes true because we are acting as if it is already true. Our expectation
that we will see a particular outcomes changes our behavior, which shapes the way
others see us. In turn, others provide the feedback we’ve set ourselves up to get
which serves to reinforce the original belief. This is known as the Pygmalion effect.
For example, I going to a party where I don’t know many people. If I believe I don’ t
make a good first impression or worry nobody will talk to me, I will probably enter
the party acting awkward and anxious. In turn, people are likely to interact with me
with less enthusiasm, or they might just ignore me, which only reinforce my belief
that I’m not good with people I don’t know. As contrast, if I enter the party believing
that I’m good with people I don’t know and expecting to make new friend, I’m likely
to be outgoing. As a result, people will likely respond to amiably to my friendliness
and I may indeed make a new friend.

7. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 3
DATE : 28th October 2014
TIME : 3pm
CONCEPT : COUNTERFACTUAL THINKING
Counterfactual thinking is the process of mentally changing some aspect of the past
as a way of imagining what might have been (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2007). This
often happen in ‘if only …’situations, where we wish something had or had not
happened. This can be so powerful we can change our own memories, adjusting the
facts and creating new memories. I can happen to cover up trauma or may be just
excuses to avoid facing uncomfortable truths. It can also be to explain what is
otherwise unexplainable. During semester break , I participated a open volleyball
competition and I get runner up which is silver medal. I found that those who won
bronze medal are happier than me. This is because I were preoccupied by
counterfactual thinking, imagining alternative outcome of past events. I was
thinking about the crucial moments and I get second place by losing 2 points. My
mind was thinking “ if only I has pushed just a little harder, then I would have won
the gold”. Wish I can rewind the time and win it back.

8. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 4
DATE : 15th October 2014
TIME : 4pm
CONCEPT : ATTRIBUTION
Attributions are inferences that people make about the causes of events and
behavior. People make attributions in order to understand their experiences.
Attributions strongly influence the way people interact with others. Attributions
classified to two dimensions: internal vs. external and stable vs. unstable. By
combining these two dimensions of attributes, we can classify a particular
attribution as being internal-stable, internal-unstable, external-stable, or external-unstable.
Attribution theory proposes that the attributions people make about
events and behavior can be classed as either internal or external. In an internal, or
dispositional, attribution, people infer that an event or a person’s behavior is due to
personal factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings. In an external, or situational
attribution, people infer that a person’s behavior is due to situational factors. For
example , my car was suddenly breaks down on the freeway. I am so annoyed by the
hot weather and unable to start my car engine so I start to blame myself for not
checking the car before I take the journey and blaming the car for being problematic.
I am making a dispositional attribution because I blame on myself for not checking
on the car before I take the journey off. In the same time , I also make a situational
attribution by blaming the car for being problematic.

9. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 4
DATE : 4th November 2014
TIME : 4PM
CONCEPT : SELF SERVING BIAS
When we look for the causes of our own behaviors, such as why we received a good
or bad grade on a test, we may make errors because of the self serving bias. (
Sedikides et al., 1998). Self-serving bias refer to explaining our success by
attributing them to our dispositions or personality traits and explaining our failures
by attributing them to the situations. The self-serving bias can be considered as
another part of actor-observer bias. For example, I get B for my business test, I was
so sad and tend to attribute my failure to the situation such as difficult test and
unfair question. I don’t admit that I am stupid or I did not study for the test. Instead
of that, I blame on the test and business teacher. Just imagine if I get an A for that
test, I think I will tend to attribute my success to my personality traits which is
intelligence. According to self-serving bias, we tend to keep ourselves in the best
possible light by making different and even opposite attributions depending on
whether we have performed well or poorly.

10. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 5
DATE : 17th October 2014
TIME : 10pm
CONCEPT : ATTITUDE
Part of what makes each one of us unique is our combination of opinion about the
world around us. Everyday, our attitudes about ideas, events, objects or people help
determine the way we live and the choices we make. An attitude can differentiate to
two different levels. Explicit attitudes are attitudes that are at the conscious level,
are deliberately formed and are easy to self-report. Implicit attitude are attitudes
that are unconscious level, involuntarily formed and are typically unknown to us.
For example, I’m out with my friends and meet someone. This new acquaintance is
wearing a Chelsea jersey which is my favorite team of football in Barclays Premier
League. I decide I already like this person and start a friendly conversation. From an
attitude perspective, I’m consciously noticed the jersey and determined that this
was obviously someone which I would get along. My attitude is at the conscious
level, was deliberately formed and I’m able to tell someone else about my attitude.
Another example, I vaguely notice some of the strangers but I don’t meet them when
I’m out with my friends. I talk with my friend but I feel extremely uncomfortable. My
friend notice I’m uncomfortable and ask me what wrong but I have no idea and
unable to reply him. My attitude is at the unconscious level and I have no idea is
there so I cant explain it.

11. PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
CHAPTER 5
DATE : 7th November 2014
TIME : 5pm
CONCEPT : OPERANT CONDITIONING
Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and
punishments for behavior. Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist
B.F.Skinner. Skinner used the term operant to refer to any ”active behavior that
operates upon the environment to generate consequences”. Operant conditioning
relies on a fairly simple premise which is the actions that are followed by
reinforcement will be strengthened and more likely to occur again in the future.
Conversely, actions that result in punishment or undesirable consequences will be
weakness and less likely to occur again in the future. We can find examples of
operant conditioning at work all around us. For example, my sister told me that she
had lost her access card because she left it somewhere in campus so she went to
report this incidence at the management office . the management staff told her to fill
in a form to make a new access card and she had to pay rm100 again to get the
access card. There are no second chances as this punishment is written clearly in the
terms and condition at the form that she filled in. the payment for the access card is
a form of punishment to weaken the carelessness behavior and encourage others
student to be able to take responsible in keeping their access card safely to avoid
such incidence happen again.