SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILD ENVIRONMENTS

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (PSYC 0103)

ASSIGNMENT 1: JOURNAL

NAME: ADELE LU KHAI SYN

STUDENT ID: 0323151

TUTORIAL: 1 (8am-10am)

LECTURER NAME: MR.SHANKAR

SUBMISSION DATE: 30th NOVEMBER 2015

INTAKE: MARCH 2015

Journal 01: What Is Social Psychology?

Entry 01: Social Facilitation

People seem to act differently when other people are around. Is there a

reason for this? Psychologist, Robert Zajonc (1965, 1980) thinks so. He discovered

that "the presence of others increases arousal, which can affect performance in

different ways, depending on the task at hand" (249). This is termed the Social

facilitation theory, which relates with how the presence of other people affects our

behaviour. When we are have tasks which we find relatively easy, we find the

presence of other people a positive stimulus such that we perform even better.

However, when the tasks are difficult, we find the audience unnerving and we are

more likely to put in a worse performance. When the task being performed is

relatively easy, we are likely to do it more quickly. When the task is difficult, then we

are likely to take more time to ensure we get it right (it is more embarrassing to be

seen to be wrong than be seen to be slow). Social facilitation occurs when people

are performing in the presence of others yet their individual contributions can be

identified. Social facilitation can be defined as ‘an improvement in performance

produced by the mere presence of others’.

In high school when I was just a freshman, I tried out for the volleyball team. I

never really played a real volleyball game before besides in gym class, but to my

surprise I made varsity. Practices were vigorous and stressful, yet after a few weeks

I had the basics of the sport. More importantly, my coach thought my powerful serve

was going to help the team a lot that season. The first home game the stands were

packed. Most of my friends and my parents are all there sitting waiting anxiously to

see me at my new game. Well, as we were huddling before the game I saw my

name on the starting roster. I was like, "you have to be kidding me." Not to mention, I

was the first player to serve and I was really nervous.

In a volleyball game normally everyone knows exactly who made the mistake.

In some other sports it is easy to mask who was at fault, but with volleyball everyone

knows exactly who lost the point for the team. When out on the volleyball court, I get

in the game and I hear people cheering for me in the bleachers. Smiling, I turn to

them and I begin to sweat feeling a wave of intense energy come over me

(physiological arousal). Now, I grab the ball throw it in the air and smack it real hard

as what I had learn during practices. The ball was really fast making it hard for my

opponent to catch the ball, for that I get to score the first point for my team with my

first serve.

After having a good start for the team, my team was consistently winning few

straight points. We were leading for the first game to 10 points ahead of our

opponent. Contrastingly, when it comes to the second game, I was struggling with

my serve points, I was losing points for my team. It was really hard for me when I lost

my focus and performing a task that is hard to makeover and control because I was

blaming myself although the same presence of peers was with me, I negatively

impact the performance to a point where it will increasingly worsen my teammates

spirit. The peer pressure, personal frustration and stress are factors that influence

such behaviour of me. My team lost the game and feel as if they are not performing

well, the pressure of being observed and pushed to win has render them even more

weak and unable to catch up to their original skills.

As a conclusion, social facilitation gives different consequences to both the

group and individuals in the group. As can be seen with the above experience, social

facilitation causes severe performance degradation. Although it will still exist no

matter what we do, I suggest a way of thinking that will bring this phenomenon from

happening down to a minimum level. It seems that the extent of social facilitation or

inhibition depends upon the nature of the interaction between the task and the

performer. 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. Social facilitation concerns the extent to which a given piece

of an individual's behaviour is affected by the real, imagined or implied presence of

others.

(800 words)

Journal 02: The Self: Who Am I and How Other Individuals See Me?

Entry 02: BIRGing

The theory BIRGing is an acronym for Basking in Reflected Glory. It is a self-

serving cognition where an individual feels good by identifying with others who are

successful. The individual is not really involved in the successful action but he/she

will associate him/herself with another successful individual such that another’s

success becomes their own to stimulate self-glory. An individual who engages in

BIRGing can improve self-esteem and self-evaluation even though they are not

personally involved in the successful action. It has both positive and negative effects

for people who are involved in BIRGing.

I remember when Adele’s 21 album first released on January 19, 2011, the

song “someone like you” gone wild, people all around the world was trending for it.

Radios, shops, cafes and also people will be covering her song. She then gained

worldwide attention and was nominated in numerous awards. That album 21 won the

2012 Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the Brit Award for British Album of

the Year. Winning the biggest selling musical released globally. She also sold 30

million copies worldwide for that album. So, for me, my name is Adele Lu so I have

literally the first same name as her, then I started to listen to her songs and

somehow was really obsessed with her music. I then began to get involved in

BIRGing and was really proud to be her fan.

I started to listen to all her songs and learnt to cover them with my guitar.

Before Adele’s album came out real hot, I actually knew her as an artist but she was

not that famous by that time. People started posting Adele’s music cover on their

Youtube channels and for the students in my high school, they started buying

expensive recording microphone or video camera to record their version of Adele’s

cover. Some even went overseas just to see Adele live singing and by signing on

their album with Adele’s own signature or merchandise. They sought to have the

success of their idols linked to themselves by owning the merchandise or signature

of Adele.

Apart from that, I was really proud of myself as I have the same name as her.

In times when I get to meet new people from somewhere else, they will definitely ask

what my name is and will exchange interest. So, when I said that my name is Adele,

they would start singing some part of her song to me. Then I would say “yaya” that is

my name. I was BIRGing and proud because sharing the same name as Adele was

special, coming with all those successful award and top hits that she had was really

amazing. Many of my friends was desperate to met Adele in person they would

rather spend money to buy tickets then I would tell them to come see me instead and

it’s free of charge why spend. As forBIRGing, I simply associated myself with the

success even though I was not personally involved in the successful action, I started

to bask in reflected glory. When Adele was named as the best album of the year to

win at the Grammy award, I shared this glory to my Facebook friends and Twitter

followers. I retweeted or shared the posts that were related to her just to let my

friends know that she has the same name as me and won numerous awards. I was

so proud of her as if I was the one who got the awards although I had nothing to do

with her victory.

People who are involved in BIRGing increased their self-esteem and

evaluation by the identification with their idols’ success. Although the victory of their

idols do not relate to them, they try to receive the glory to increase their image in

society. By getting involved in BIRGing, they think that society would accept them

more when they relate themselves with the successful individuals. When a person’s

public image is threatened, the tendency to be involved in BIRGing is heightened,

and BIRGing becomes an important impression management technique to counter

any threats to self-esteem. By basking in reflected glory, my self-esteem increased

as I felt like I was successful and proud too when my favourite singer had great

achievements.

As a conclusion, BIRGing has both positive and negative impacts on the

individuals. By engaging in BIRGing, my self-esteem had improved gradually as

compared to the past. However, we need to have proper impression management

techniques. We must be clear that we cannot be obsessed with BIRGing as we

might forget our true self and own achievements. Therefore, we must not bask in

reflected glory and associate ourselves in another individual’s achievements too

often. We must understand and know what our goals are so that we can know what

we need to achieve in our life.

(820 words)

Journal 03: Social Cognition: Thinking About the Social World

Entry 03: Counterfactual Thinking

Humans with counterfactual thinking will tend to imagine different outcomes

for an event that has already occurred. Counterfactual thinking is thinking about a

past that did not happen. This often happens 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. It 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.

I remembered when I was going for competition in Melaka representing my

state for a track and field competition, as for a Sabahan, an athlete far away from

home, I was really excited at the same time nervous too because I had trained so

hard for this competition. Right after my school’s exam, the competition will come

after that. I was struggling with my studies and my competition the same time. I will

go with my routine of training in the early morning then go for my normal lesson till

afternoon. At the afternoon I will train again till the sunsets. I was not really good in

my studies, since it’s my last year of high school so I decided to make the best out

of it to try my best to score in both sports and studies.

When each paper I took for exams are all over, I would imagined how the

outcome could have turned out differently, if I put more effort into some of those

subjects. I did not pay much attention to some of the topics and I skipped them.

Maybe if I had gone through those chapters I could answer those questions easily.

Somehow I had the chance of going through those topics but I was too tired after the

trainings. My mind turned blank and I was frustrated for not being able to get that

question. As a result, I maybe can get an A for my examination if I really paid

attention to those missing chapters. I started to accuse myself for my failure.

I started to think about what I could have done to change the situation so it

could have been better. For example ‘If I had studied that subject for a longer period

of time and put more effort into that subject rather than sleeping or watching some

TV series ’ , ‘ If I did not neglect that particular chapter, I could have answered that

question! ’ Or ‘ If I had started my revision earlier, I would have more time to focus on

that particular chapter. ’ These thoughts are categorized as Upward Counterfactual

Thinking as I was assuming different outcomes for the events that had already

happened to happen in a better way. My mood became really bad and I was

associated with negative thinking and I started to blame myself for my actions.

The day when my team and I were flying off for the competition after all the

exams, my heart was pounding I will start my event on first day of competition. My

coach was having high hopes on me for winning gold in my events. I competed in 3

events, long jump, triple jump and also 100m hurdles. For triple jump, I manage to

beg a gold and for long jump, I took a silver. It was really a close gap between me

and my opponent for those two events, I won just centimetre from her. I was really

confidence in the long jump and triple jump event, I was training hard for it. As for the

hurdle event I was not really confident in that because it wasn’t the event I was really

good at. I took the courage to do my best for, on the face of it I went into the finals.

Where all the top athletes were there to compete with me, I remember I was at the

last two line and beside me was the fasters runner in town. When the starter fired the

gun at the starting point, we will run as fast as we can to win. The athlete beside me

was so fast I wasn’t any near her, at the end I lost taking the last two placing in that

event.

I was devastated but at the same time I was okay with it because I knew that

my result could have been worse. At that time some thought came into my mind like

“I got 6th place in the event, at least it’s not at last place!”, “Some of my teammates

got no medal, but at least I got a gold and silver already.” And I lost in one event, but

at least it was a close game and not a blowout!” These thinking are actually

Downward Counterfactual Thinking as I focused how my event results could have

been worse. In this type of counterfactual thinking, I made myself feel better about

the outcomes as I realized the situation is not the worst it could be.

As a conclusion, counterfactual thinking has both negative and positive effects

that can worsen or improve our mood. Therefore, we should control our thinking and

try not to associate ourselves with negative thinking avoid the uncomfortable truth

and reality.

(893 words)

Journal 04: Social Perception: How Do We Perceive Others?

Entry 04: First Impression

First impression is the term applied to the initial impression we have of

another person when we meet them for the first time. It contains positive

and negative impressions and a sense of physical and psychological features. A first

impression is what a person thinks of you when they first meet you. It is the feeling

that they get or the initial evaluation that a person does of you when they first meet

you. It can be done during a glance, a conversation or even from a distance when

someone is looking at your body language. Eye contact or lack thereof can also have

an impact on a first impression. Have you ever heard the saying “It’s not what you

say but rather how you say it?” This statement alone speaks volumes and can make

or break a first impression. Sometimes the way in which a person delivers the

sentence or statements that they are saying is a complete deal breaker regarding the

first impression that they give. So you should definitely be mindful of how you deliver

your statements.

I remembered the first impression of one of my best friend was that she was

really pretty and very original. I was really attracted to her from the beginning. I

thought, "Wow, she's got quite cool style!" and someone that I admire. We meet in a

church special event, my church member was the one who bought her to that event

because she was classmate with her in high school. Like usually how new friends

meet they will exchange their names, hobbies, interests and also telephone number

maybe. Then she said that she plays the piano with a grade of 8 which is consider

the highest grade for me but there is actually higher grades. I was really impressed

when she said that because I always had been admiring those musicians who can

play really well piano since young.

After getting to know her, I had those thinking that we could be best friend in

such a short period of time, she gave me a really good impression of her as a whole

for the first time. When the event ended, we would call each other up for a catch up

session. In those session we would just talk about anything from our favourite food to

who do we admire the most in life. People say when best friends meet up, their

conversation will be as long as a scroll. Its true, we will meet not every day but when

we do our conversation will go from moon and back. Somehow it’s amazing for me to

have such a friend like her who got my back in everything I do. I never really had

someone that close to me except for my family. I somehow has trust issues in people

around because I don’t want people to get hurt or them hurting me.

For me a best friend has to first meet several qualifications and have many

outstanding characteristics to have the honour of holding such a prestigious title. To

me she is that best friend that you’ve just met, and similar to “love at first sight,” you

just click with. She is someone that knows me inside out and would go to the ends of

the earth for me. Through thick and thin, she has supported me and helped me

through tough times. She does not back away when I think I’ve lost it. Those are the

times that she is always there for me. She is also not afraid to tell me the truth, even

if it’s something that I don’t want to hear, because she knows that it’s best for me.

And the same I would do the same as for her. To be there for her no matter what. I’m

glad that I had met my best friend in such a unique way, although for now we went

separate ways in life but we still have our catch up session once in a while to just

see each other. I trust that we will be best friends until our hair grows white as snow.

My first impression of my best friend was not the typical bad impression of

someone. Some say the first impression is often misleading and superficial but I

don’t argue with that. First impression is something that you can take control of, for

example keep your body language open and smile to anyone you meet give them

the true and best side of you. Prepare a seven- to nine-second introduction about

yourself. Be nice to everyone you meet. Be kind to them for everyone is fighting a

harder battle compare to yours. For me almost everyone can make a good

impression of someone but only some will make a good lasting impression.

(812 words)

Journal 05: Attitudes: Making Evaluations About The World

Entry 05: Post Decision Dissonance

Post Decision Dissonance is a feeling of anxiety over whether the correct

decision was made. After we have made a decision, we will feel dissonance

regarding the possibility of it being wrong. We will often change our perceptions to

reduce this dissonance and make the decision seem more attractive. This is the

basis of the foot-in-the-door technique where people who are asked to make a

small commitment such as signing a petition will later change their views to align

with the action and consequently be more amenable to a more significant request. It

is also the basis of brainwashing. Basically this theory states that we feel some

discomfort when our actions do not represent our attitudes (Festinger 1957). After

we make a decision between two equal options, we get uncomfortable and start to

wonder if we made the right decision. This discomfort causes us to pinpoint all the

positives of our chosen option and all the negatives of the unchosen one. People

are most likely to experience post-decision dissonance if their decision is

irrevocable. That is, after you've made a decision, if you can't change your mind,

you are more likely to experience post-decision dissonance and, as a result, are

more likely to change your beliefs.

I remembered when I was about 12 years old my parents and the whole

family took a trip to Ocean Park in Hong Kong. It was my first time going overseas

apart from Malaysia. My brother, sister and I were really excited and we were

looking forward for it after my parents said that they would bring us overseas for

holiday after our school exams. They had been planning it for quite some time also

and had been keeping it a secret because they wanted me and my siblings to

concentrate in our school exam first before we go for holidays. It was my last year

in my secondary school, I’m graduating from secondary school. Apparently I missed

my graduation because my aunt bought the air tickets way too early before my

graduation even happen in time. She had mistaken the dates so we need to fly

even before the school holiday starts.

So we flew to Hong Kong and spent about a week there. On the first few

days of the trip, we were just shopping and eating around the shops, malls and also

on the stress. The last few days in Hong Kong we went to this theme park called

Ocean theme park where you can find just anything to play in the theme park from

indoor to outdoor and from water sports to roller coaster rides. Then on the last day

before we flew out my dad gave me the choice between riding Space Mountain and

a few other roller coasters that I liked a lot or going back to the water park which

was like a natural spring and had rope swings and all kinds of super fun stuff for

kids like me to play with. It was so tough for me. I had loved both equally, but for

different reasons. Inevitably I chose the roller coasters, even though I wanted to do

both. At the time, I can remember thinking, "Why would I go back to the water park,

when I can swim at home?" This is a perfect example of post decision dissonance

in action. I devalued the water park because I had chosen the roller coasters. The

"logical" decision I had made was only logical in that I rid myself of the discomfort

and enjoyed the rest of my day at the theme park.

Post decision dissonance is aroused after we make any important decision, it

is reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluing

the rejected alternative. Usually we can reduce post decision dissonance simply by

distorting our perceptions of likability of the chosen and non chosen alternatives.

Post decision dissonance is so called the “sour grapes”, it keeps you from

improving your life, so it’s important. Start with awareness, mainly knowing this

effect and when it happens. Then remember what you like or not and check if your

behaviour is consistent. When you recognize the conflict, take responsibility for

getting what you want. Figure out how to get the grapes. If you can’t get them, learn

to accept that you can’t. Find other things to enjoy. Your inability to reach the

grapes doesn’t make them sour. Calling them sour when you don’t know means if

something changes and you can get them, you won’t. Resolving a cognitive

dissonance by putting down others can make you feel better about not being better

yourself, but that feeling better comes at a major cost of hampering your ability to

improve yourself. The antidote is increasing awareness and taking responsibility for

your life.

(810 words)