2. 17th October 2015, 5pm
It has been my second semester as a student of Taylor’s University, and it struck to
me how fast time went by while pursuing my foundation here. As I went through my
memories of the first semester, the concepts of social facilitation and social loathing became
apparent through every one of my course mates when faced with a given assignment,
especially while carrying out group projects. That did not mean that I was limiting it to only
group projects, as it was clearly shown during individual assignments as well. One example
would be during assignments that required us to make a presentation in front of the whole
class of 124 people. I was very comfortable with presenting the different topics given by our
lecturers to the class because public speaking was a skill that I had already acquired through
several experiences. Bigger scale presentations exhibited social facilitation in my case as I
felt much more confident and motivated to speak when standing in front of a large crowd. In
contrast, social loathing is noticeable in me when presenting in front of a smaller crowd. My
public speaking performance would decline drastically as I looked into the eyes of everybody
in the room and feel their judgement upon me. It makes me nervous and I would forget my
points constantly, wavering uncontrollably and mumbling throughout the whole presentation.
In this context, social facilitation meant that the performance of a person would improve in
the presence of others while social loathing denoted the contrary that the performance of a
person would decline in the presence of others. I believe that the amount of people present
could be the deciding factor on the performance of a person, as well as that person’s skills
and mind set.
Moving on to a person’s performance while carrying out assignments in a group, it
took me some time but I slowly observed which groupmates had their performance to fall
under the social loafing category and which fell under social facilitation. There are some
people who feel the pressure to perform better when put in groups. The main reason for most
of them doing so was because they did not want to let the whole team down, and if by chance
they are skilled in the particular field explored by the assignment, social facilitation would
occur as their performance in the group exceeds their usual performance as an individual.
There were some who had different reasons, for instance they did not trust the capabilities or
ideas of everybody in the group except themselves, which led them to putting more effort and
taking up most of the responsibilities present in the assignment. They would end up doing
most part of the project, resulting in having their individual contributions much more clearly
identified compared to other members in the group. There are some people who already have
the set of skills required by the group project. Their performance would be better in the
presence of other groupmates as they have the confidence to carry out the assignment while
their impressing their groupmates. There was one assignment where we had to carry out a
musical performance with instruments made out of daily items. Those who had knowledge on
music performed very well for that assignment. Some of them stated that their performance in
front of the whole class on that day was even better than when they performed at home, even
though instruments were vastly dissimilar qualities.
3. Another category of people that I mentioned earlier were those who fell under the
category of social loathing. The most common and obvious example would be those that we
call lazy groupmates. Those people not only display social loathing, but are also usually
loathed by their groupmates for their lack of contribution. They would appear to be not
interested during group meetings and rarely show up when asked to. I did not understand
fully as to why they would behave this way as their individual assignments were well done.
According to the concept of social loathing, some people tend to make less effort in a group
as compared to when they were trying to achieve the same goal as an individual. It could be
that they felt more relaxed in a group project because there were other people present to help
them with the workload. In a more serious case, some people just push the responsibility to
all the other groupmates, leaving themselves with minimal work. Another example is people
who have a timid personality which goes to the extent where it disrupts communication with
other teammates. They might be skilled in something but too shy to do it in front of other
people. Lastly, social loathing is displayed when one’s contributions in a group is not
identified. They may have made an effort but it is not enough to be noticed.
( 808 words )
4. 9th October2015, 8.30pm
I noticed my friend acting strangely recently. We used to hang out very often together
as a group with other close friends but lately she has been declining us whenever we ask her
to join us. We never knew the reason why and nobody really bothered to ask her about it, so
everyone just characterized her recent behaviour to dispositional attributes. Dispositional
attributes explains a person’s behaviour or actions to be cause by their own internal
characteristics. My friends assumed that she declined us because she was bored of hanging
out with the same group of friends all the time and wanted a change in friends. The reason of
the assumption was based on her personality that liked mixing around with many people
instead of sticking with the same group of friends. This process took on the course of the
three stage model of attribution but what it lacked in was the consideration of situational
factors to take part in her constant rejection. As they were all caught up in their own lives,
nobody had the time or energy to overcome their automatic dispositional attribution towards
my friend’s behaviour lately. They did not have the motivation to do so as well because the
dispositional attribution made was logical enough to be accepted as the real reason. That was
the cognitive capacity of almost all of us in the group in this given situation.
As the friend was really close to me, I had the need of cognition to analyse what was
going through her mind and weigh in every possible attribute to her behaviour, be it
dispositional or situational. I noticed that most of us had the actor-observer bias, which was a
bias that led us to making situational attributes for our own behaviour while making
dispositional attributes for the behaviour of others. My friends would always come out with a
reason for themselves whenever they declined hanging out, making it known that it was not
that they did not want to, but it was because they could not at that moment. They would say
that they were loaded with assignments or some other activity as situational attributes, so it
would not seem that their internal characteristics had anything to do with it. But whenever
anybody else declined, they would automatically presume that the person was not interested
with joining them. All the reasoning I did in my mind helped me reduce correspondence bias
towards my friend which is caused by lack of cognition and information.
After believing that there was more to her behaviour than just the dispositional
attributes we believed, I decided to meet her up at her home and get her to talk about it. Her
parents were at home. We chose to talk inside her room where there was privacy. She
appeared very down when I mentioned the reason I stopped by. She brought me to a room by
the kitchen downstairs. In there was a frail old man, who she introduced as her grandfather. I
then realized that the fundamental attribution error made by our group of friends were too
unfair to her. In front of me lay the very reason for her recent behaviour. She could not hang
out with us because her grandfather was deathly ill, and she had to take care of him at home,
which was a situational attribution. Even though it was apparent that her grandfather had little
amount of days left ahead of her, she still believed strongly in a just world, that good things
happen to good people. She believed her grandfather would get better soon because he was a
good person to her even though the truth was clear. She told me later that her grandfather had
gotten cancer from smoking. Even though it was a dispositional factor that attributed to this
outcome, her grandfather condemned cigarettes for causing him to be in this position,
5. blaming it on the situational attribution. He showed self-serving bias, which is what most
people tend to do. They are prone to attributing negative effects to situational factors while
attributing positive factors to dispositional factors. It was known that her grandfather was
addicted to smoking since his teenage life, which showed that his internal characteristics were
related to his current situation. Apart from condemning cigarettes, her grandfather blamed his
friends as well, who he believed influenced him into the habit of smoking due to peer
pressure. It is from hearing what my friend said that I realized a person’s cognitive capability
had great impact on the way they viewed a situation. I bid my friend farewell and wished her
grandfather a speedy recovery, as well as urging her to take care of herself. I told our group
of friends what had really happened, and they realized that they had made a fundamental
attribution error. I hoped it was able to prompt them into having more need for cognition in
the future, but all of that really comes down to their cognitive capacities.
( 830 words )
6. 3rd NOVEMBER 2015, 2pm
Our semester break has started and I have been trying to lose weight. What have I
done to do about it? I did everything else that did not help me achieve my goal. I’ve been
looking at pictures of beautiful models online, admiring their lean curves and thigh gaps but
all I have done was to sit around eating whatever food was in sight. That certainly did not
help with my aim. I was clear that I was having a dissonant relationship between my
behaviour and attitude. My attitude valued the notion of losing weight fully. It was in my
opinion, something that I needed to do to get a healthier lifestyle and more confidence.
However, my behaviour showed inconsistency with my attitude, as my actions resulted in the
opposite way of what my attitude desires. I laze around, not doing any exercise, stocking up
so many snacks in the pantry so I can eat them when I feel bored. All these actions contribute
to weight gain, which is different from what my goal was. This scenario happens quite often
in human life. When their actions contradict with their beliefs or value, it could cause mental
discomfort to them as humans strive for internal consistency. Wanting to reduce the degree of
cognitive dissonance, I knew I had to include a third consonant element.
There were several ways to do so, namely changing my attitude to fit in my current
behaviour. This would require me to change my belief that losing weight is something that I
needed to do, and to believe that it is not something compulsory. Adding an extra consonant
element in, new beliefs are added, such as thinking that I could still survive being overweight,
and I do not mind looking overweight, as well as thinking that the ideal body weight in
subjective, and accepting me for who I currently am. This consonant element reduces the
significance of my original values, and may alter them completely in a gradual manner.
Another method to reducing cognitive dissonance would be identified as selective exposure.
This method requires one to actively seek out for exposure to consistent attitudes. For
example, I can choose to hang out more often with friends that are enthusiastic about fitness
and sports. Their passion for fitness will be displayed through their topics of conversation and
their daily routines. They may be able to turn exercising into an appealing activity for me,
and I will be more likely to exercise under their influence. Apart from that, selective exposure
also suggests that one would selectively avoid exposure that contradicts with attitude. I can
choose to reduce my chances of exposure to snacks by avoiding hypermarkets, where snacks
are arranged in rows of irresistible temptations. By avoiding to do so, I would not be able to
buy as much snacks as I used to, and this will balance out my diet gradually as I would have
more appetite to eat other much more nutritious food. Selective exposure creates behaviour
that reinforces my current attitude. By exposing myself to people and places that encourage
weight loss, I will come up with new behaviour by exercising and eating healthy. My free
time would not be spent lazing around, rather it will mostly be consumed by activities such as
sports. This is not something that can happen instantly, but could take a certain period of
continuous exposure to bring out new behaviours.
7. Social support that favours a certain attitude is also something that a person will seek
out when faced with cognitive dissonance. It can help reduce the degree of dissonance
depending on the source of support and method of support. In my case, having a group of
fitness enthusiast as friends will pose as great social support for me. But if I am unable to find
such friends, I may have to find other means of social support, with an example being my
own parents. Parents can be the greatest support to their child if what the child believes is
consistent with their beliefs. If my parents do not value weight loss the way that I do, it might
cause me to have a much higher degree of cognitive dissonance if I seek out their social
support. This is because they will come up with opinions that contradict with my attitude and
potentially confuse me as I consider their judgement alongside with my own beliefs. If my
parents value weight loss like me, they would give out encouragement that can motivate me
to do something about it, hence reducing cognitive dissonance. It is clear now that selective
exposure and social support is what I needed to reduce the degree of cognitive dissonance
without changing my attitude on the matter. In conclusion, I need to get myself exposure and
seek support from people that motivate me to lose weight.
( 807 words )
8. 5th November 2015, 8am
People tend to control the way they interact with other people in an effort to manage
the impressions that form around them. We all want to represent ourselves based on what we
believe we should be towards the world and take conscious means in order to achieve that
goal. When I first started my foundation in university, I was determined to change the way I
represented myself to other people. In high school, I was this very shy and awkward person. I
made bad friends and people had their impression formed on me based on the personality I
showed them as well as my choice in friendships. In result, not many people wanted to be
friends with me. I lived my whole high school life feeling inferior. Stepping into university, I
had a good start as there was nobody from my high school pursuing the same course as I am.
It was a splendid start for me to change my whole image when there was no one from my
past to remind me of who I was. During orientation, every interaction I had with anybody I
ran across was controlled consciously to in an attempt to influence how my course mates
would think of me. I talked confidently to hide the fact from people that I was terrified and
incredibly shy but refrained from being too confident in case it comes across as cocky. I
smiled and laughed at every chance to exude traits of friendliness, warmth and cheerfulness.
These traits were what I wanted people to perceive me as having and what I believe would
make them form a good impression on me. Impression management for me came with the
ultimate motive of rebranding myself for a better social experience. I was tired of being the
weird girl in class. I wanted to be accepted and liked by people in my course. By the end of
orientation, I had made an impression on people I met as well as making many new friends,
which was something I never did in high school. Yet, impression management did not stop at
orientation.
When our classes started officially and teacher put us in groups with people we never
met for assignment, I felt the need to control my new group mates’ perception on me. The
goals of forming a particular image towards my groupmates were different. This time, not
only did I want to make friends, I wanted to give them the impression that I was passionate
about assignments. I always appeared to be interested during group meetings, as well as
showing excitement occasionally. Soon enough my group mates had the impression that I
loved working with them and loved the assignment. They started to show more interest in the
project as well and we all communicated very smoothly. That is how impression management
comes into importance during daily situations. People can manage their image to gain
influence over other people. My group mates were influenced into doing their assignment
with enthusiasm because they caught on the excitement that I exhibited, making them believe
that I enjoyed doing the project and they should too.
9. During some interactions I had in university, I used ingratiation to prime my
impression. I would compliment someone with the constraint that it had to be sincere. My
intentions were to make myself appear as a likeable person as well as letting them know that I
was paying attention to them. Ingratiation could be used in many situations, for example the
countless number of times I praised my groupmates for any contributions they made to the
team and made them feel appreciated. There are also the times I praised someone for how
they looked or what they were wearing, boosting their confidence. All these in turn, gives
people a good impression of me if not used excessively, as that would make me come off as
insincere.
Managing my impression too much brought one downside to my life. It was known as
the spotlight effect. I believed that I was in the centre of attention and believed that I was
being noticed more than I actually was. It is believed that many people are influenced by this
effect, so I was not the only one. It led me to thinking that all my internal thoughts, physical
appearances and little changes in behaviour were obvious to other people. In turn, I became
wary of my own thoughts, trying controlling what went through my mind because I was
afraid that people would notice and judge me on what I was thinking. I spent a lot of time
focused on my outfit and hair as well as monitoring my every movement because I felt that
people were scrutinizing my behaviour. It became mentally exhausting but I learnt to manage
my impression in moderation when I realized the impacts of the spotlight effect on me.
( 812 words )
10. 25th November 2015, 10am
Cognitive ability is known as the emergence of the ability to think and understand. It
is believed by Jean Piaget that a person would have to undergo four processes countless of
times in their lifetime to achieve the cognitive ability that they have right now. These
processes were named assimilation, accommodation, equilibrium and equilibration. Cognitive
frameworks known as schemas are the fundamentals to the development of one’s cognition.
My childhood had a large impact on the formation of my current cognitive ability. It was the
accumulation of many experiences that helped me form a huge amount of schemas and
required me to undergo the four stated processes repeatedly to mould these schemas into what
was deemed suitable in my perception of the world. Schemas actually started to form when I
was a toddler without me even knowing. Ever since I started to be conscious to my
surroundings, the schema for a building was already automatically formed in my mind. At
that time, I did not even know how to form words in my mind so I did not have a word for
that schema. Even so, that schema was still available to me every day as I based it off the
house that I was living in, because that was where I was at for the most part of my toddler
life. My schema at that point for a building was something that had walls, something that
blocked the sunlight. I knew I was inside a building when I did not feel the heat of the sun on
my body. As I grew a little older, I learnt how to form words. I learnt that there were names
for everything. It didn’t take long before I learnt that the building I was living in was called a
house. This new piece of information caused me to undergo the process of assimilation.
Assimilation is the process where a new schema is classified under an existing schema. My
schema for buildings did not change, it was still the walls of the house that let me know it
was a building, but now I identified the building as a house.
As I grew older, my parents brought me outdoor more often. Outside, I was exposed
to many more different types of buildings namely skyscrapers, shopping malls and factories.
These new information confused me initially as they looked nothing like my house, but my
parents taught me to call all of them buildings. My mind had to go through the process of
accommodation for my schema to adapt to all these new information. Accommodation is the
process that requires one to modify an existing schema to accommodate a new stimulus. I
tweaked my schema for buildings for me to understand that houses are not the only buildings
in the world, but are only one of many different buildings that come in various shapes,
structure and size. One factor that helped me undergo this process of accommodation was the
fact that all these buildings had the same concrete and solid look to them, and I related all
these traits to my schema for buildings. At this point, my mind had reached the comfortable
state of equilibrium as the processes of assimilation and accommodation worked together
rapidly to make my schema for buildings more adequate. My mind could now work
automatically to assimilate every new building that I came across under my schema for
buildings.
11. There was this time where I went on a 3 week cruise when I was 4 years old. I
mistook the cruise ship I was on for a building as the interior related so much to many
buildings I have been in. It had walls, a ceiling and plenty of furniture inside. There were
facilities there that one would find in normal buildings such as a swimming pool and a
cafeteria. My mother told me that the structure I was in was called a ship. Automatically I
assimilated ships under the schema for buildings. I kept calling the cruise ship a building but
my parents kept correcting me. They would say: “No dear, this is not a building you are on, it
is a ship. Do not call it a building.” I became very confused. My mind was in a very
uncomfortable state as I tried to understand what my parents meant. They probably noticed
my confusion and gave me a thorough explanation a few days later. My mother explained
that a ship was a structure that floated on water. It can move on water but buildings cannot.
There are many kinds of ships in this world. The ship we were on was for people to go on
vacation, which is why the interior looks so much like a building. I was starting to understand
the whole ship concept. My father took the effort to search online for pictures of ships to
show me. As I looked at the pictures, I noticed that there were some differences that set the
ships apart from any buildings I have been in. The ships have a streamlined shape and looked
metallic compared to buildings. I removed ships from my schema for buildings and made a
new schema for it. My mind was comfortable now that I had reached equilibration.
( 875 words )
