SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY JOURNALS

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT
NAME: ROSABELLA ZUNTIVAI MOBIJOHN
STUDENT I.D: 0322106
GROUP/SESSION: MONDAY (3.30-5.30PM)
SUBJECT: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
CODE: PSY 30203
INTAKE: MARCH 2015 (SEMESTER 2)
SUBMISSION DATE: 30TH NOVEMBER 2015
LECTURER: MR. SHANKAR TRIRUCHELVAM

2. 25th October 2015, 4:14pm
Journal 1: Social Psychology
Entry 1: Social Facilitation
It's a fact that winning makes people feel good. That is the core feeling I get. Winning makes
me feel superior and even if I don't want that feeling in my conscious mindset, it still triggers the
same brain chemicals to it's respective sites. In this world, males compete with each other to win
their females. Some develop weapons to gain advantage over others, like how a male peacock struts
and flaunts their feathers when they are females around. Of course, the most striking strut wins! But
what about human beings? Does the presence of others trigger our competitive nature? Do we
display our charms when faced with competition?
In the year 1898, Norman Triplett undertakes the study on the speed records of cyclists.
Triplett noticed that these cyclists performed better with speed in the presence of others rather than
racing against the clock alone, and that basically defines what social facilitation is all about.
Therefore, the complete definition of social facilitation is a "process whereby the presence of others
enhances performance on easy tasks but impairs the performance on difficult tasks”. Most people
perform a whole lot better with the presence of others, me included due to the fact that they have a
boost of confidence and motivation to do nothing else but be the best to create a good impression on
others. I am certain that everyone has included social facilitation into their lives on certain situations
to achieve a specific goal. I am not quite sure if it is something to be proud of but, I can honestly
say that the social facilitation effect has been effectively present in my 18 years of living. Since the
day that I first started school and rhythmic gymnastics at the age of 6, that was when social
facilitation became more and more effective in my life.

3. I studied under a Chinese education system for 9 years. It was a very stressful and
competitive education system to be in. Everyday single day, we are taught and trained to be as
hardworking and as independent as best as we can. Getting good grades during exams are highly
required and it is anomaly to achieve so. During these studying years of mine, Mathematics was my
most favourable subject to study. I have always loved solving mathematical equations. Everyday
after school, I would solve mathematical equations at home and well, I did alright. However, I
noticed that I have always solved it accurately and faster when I am asked to solve the same
equation in front of my entire class on the whiteboard by my teacher. Now when I thought of this
situation, I understand that this is happening due to the presence of an audience which are my
fellow classmates and as a result, inhabiting and facilitating my performance. This very concept is
known as social facilitation.
Furthermore, this is my next social facilitation encounter. I grew up in a sporty background.
Both my parents were athletes. My father was a football player, while my mother was and still is a
marathon runner. Both my brothers are in sports as well. My eldest brother is a golfer and my
youngest brother is a squash player. Well as for me I am a rhythmic gymnast. I’ve been training
ever since I was 6 years old. As an athlete, I’ve always disliked training alone in the gymnasium.
The reason to this is because I have noticed that when I am alone I tend to slack off. However, there
was this one time my coach could not have an one on one coaching with me and she had asked me
to join her other class which was a grouped class for a replacement. That was when I noticed, I did
trained better with the presence of my gymnastic mates. Other than that, I have also noticed that I
could perform well when there are audience presence in the gymnasium rather than when i’m
performing during rehearsals before the competition. This experience hammered home to me the
power of group influence and the role of social facilitation.
Unlike many other athletes I have known over the years, I like to believe that I have
approached rhythmic gymnastics in a way that I have purely, “because of my love for it”. For some

4. reason there is an inborn reservation for us to admit that we enjoy doing things for the audience or
out of being influenced by one. What is quite interesting about social facilitation is that it has effects
upon us that we may not necessarily like to admit and that it is bred very deeply in evolution. Some
of it’s effects are positive and some can be negative. In a nutshell, learning about social facilitation
has helped me in understanding motivation from a new perspective. However, social facilitation has
also helped me to appreciate that our motivation for doing a task is also influenced by how good we
perceive ourselves to be at the task and whether we are being evaluated by others. Motivation is
high when performing an easy task that others observe. We are likely to get a positive feedback as a
result. Though motivation is lower for more difficult tasks because we fear making mistakes, and
this could lead to a result in an unfavourable comments by others.

5. 26th October 2015, 8:10am
Journal 2: The Self
Entry 2: Self-awareness
I believe that self-awareness is the most important thing in life despite fame and fortune.
Self-awareness is the first building block of emotional intelligence. 'WHO am I, and what do I stand
for?'' The answer to this question seems to elude my mind everyday. It is for this reason that I
believe the discovery of one's true ''self'' is one of the most difficult issues , myself and also as a
student, has to face in these times of increasing pressure. What is self-awareness? Self-awareness is
having a clear understanding of your personality, strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs,
motivation, emotions and your own capabilities as well as limitations and knowing what you truly
enjoy and hope to get out of life. Self-awareness allows you to understand other people, how they
perceive you as well as your attitude and your responses to them in the moment. It is useful to have
a relative scale for awareness even though at times we might quickly assume that we are self aware.
Nowadays, it is quite difficult to find the time to think about who we are, what are our
strengths as well as weaknesses,personalities, our habits and our values. Besides, many of us are not
just inclined to spend much time on self-reflection. However, the more you know about yourself,
the better you are at adapting life changes that suits your needs. Essentially, the more you pay
attention to your emotions and how you work, the better you will understand why you do the things
you do. The more you know about your own habits, the easier it is to improve on those habits. In
most cases, this takes a little experimentation. According to what I have learnt, the key areas for
self-awareness include our personality traits,personal values,habits,emotions, and psychological
needs.
First thing I will write about on my self-awareness are my personal values. What are my
values in life? As said by Dalai Lama, “open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values”.

6. I don't know about you, but I want everything. I don't want any contradictions or forced choices. I
want the freedom and flexibility of a single life and all the rewards of a loving spouse and children.
I want to live in a small, intimate, low pressure, humble and academic town and have all the
challenges, money, love and most of all happiness. And I don't think I'm unusual in this. I think
most people, reasonable or not, want just about everything. It is said that it is important that we
know our personal values. Hence, when we focus on them, we are more likely to accomplish what
we consider most important. Next stage of my self-awareness identification, would be habits. Our
habits are the behaviour that we repeat on a daily basis and often automatically. However, a habit
can be many things, some good, some not so good. For starters, my good habit would be that I
exercise 6 days a week despite my busy schedule as a student. If I don't get to go to the gym, I
would work out in my room. I have this good determination habit to always keep fit and healthy no
matter what. Another of my irritating and potentially harmful habits is my ability to let anger build
up inside and redirect it to another source. The main reason that I say that this is potentially harmful
is when I let my anger build up over an extended length of time I eventually becomes a bomb, ready
to explode at any time. This anger could show up at any time and be redirected towards anything.
Moving on, psychological needs. Maslow and other scholars have identified a variety of
psychological needs that drive our behaviours such as needs for esteem, affection, belongingness,
achievement, self-actualisation, power and control (Gale,2002). To be honest, I do need all the
needs mentioned above. But most of all i’m in most need of belongingness. Nothing feels as good
as the knowledge that others need us and want our help. My self-esteem gets a tremendous boost
when I feel that others value my areas of strength as essential for their own success. Conversely,
when we feel that our work or skills lack value, that no one else's life would be affected much even
if we ceased to exist, we are likely to internalise a sense of uselessness. As a student, when I
experience school this way, I find little reason to care. Last but not least, my emotional needs.
Emotions and feelings are central to my life. They allow us to exist and achieve the fullness of our

7. personality by motivating us towards that which is good. However, because of past incidents and
accidents as a result of traumatic experiences, my emotional life can be sometimes disordered. I
believe that they are only two basic emotions that we all experience, love and fear. All other
emotions are variations of these two emotions. Thoughts and behaviour come from either a place of
love, or a place of fear. Anxiety, anger, control, sadness, depression, inadequacy, confusion, hurt,
lonely, guilt, shame, these are all fear-based emotions. Emotions such as joy, happiness, caring,
trust, compassion, truth, contentment, satisfaction, these are love-based emotions.
In a nutshell, it’s easy to fall for the idea that if you know yourself well enough you'll be
able to fix all your problems, but that's not how it works. Knowing yourself completely can be hard
at times, and it's impossible to solve for every single cognitive bias you have. But just because we
suck at it doesn't mean we shouldn't try. After learning about the self-awareness theory, I have come
to know that they are a few ways to solve every problem in your life. For example, learn to look at
yourself objectively. Next, is to keep a journal with you. Other than that, write your own manifesto.
Lastly, perform a self-review. Someone once told me that making changes in your behaviour is
much easier to do when you catch them early in the dynamic, before the momentum of thought and
emotion has gathered steam. Therefore, Self-absorption and overthinking doesn't get you anywhere,
but being aware of your needs and acting on them can help you improve.

8. 28th October 2015, 1:00pm
Journal 3: Social Cognition
Entry 3: Stereotyping
Stereotypes are part of our everyday life. You can’t either live with or without them.
Unfortunately, we hear stereotypes everyday and everywhere. Stereotypes are widely held but fixed
and oversimplified by an image or an idea of a particular type of person or thing. Many people can
be stereotyped in ways that sometimes are correct or incorrect as well as have an enormous impact
of how an individual feels. Stereotypes are a big problem in our society. It puts labels about how a
person should act or live according to their sex, race, personality, and other facts. We can find
ourselves in a situation where we make stereotypes for a large group of people. Every person,
young or old, is labelled with either positive or negative stereotypes. Stereotypes affects people’s
emotions, social lives and how people interact with their environment. However, there are various
types of stereotyping happening all over the globe. One of the few are, gender stereotyping, religion
stereotyping and racial stereotyping.
There are times when I get really uncomfortable to the idea of meeting new people, and
making new friends. The reason to this is because I know that I’ll get criticised about what I wear,
criticised in which music I listen to, how I look like, how I act, and who I hang out with. Other than
that, criticised on every other personal trait and imperfection I have. I might have put the bar way
up high, maybe too high for my potentials. I just can’t handle all the stereotyping that is going on in
this world. After all, people come and say to others to just be who they really are. It was said that all
africans are giants with huge bodies and masculine physique, that is just weird and equally absurd.
The african continent is home to people of all sizes, both big and small and devoid of any special
feature worth looking at. Those were an example of racial stereotypes that were held against the
people of Africa but happen to be far from the truth.

9. As much as I hate being stereotyped and hate all the stereotypes in general, I’ve been in a
situations where I have been stereotyped by friends. The main stereotype that I will be writing on in
this journal is the stereotypes of being a gymnast as well as being in gymnastics itself. For and as a
gymnast, fighting stereotypes is an all-too-common occurrence .The first would be that I have been
stereotyped as the rhythmic gymnast that has “eating disorders”. It was stereotypically said that “all
gymnasts have eating disorders”. Although yes, there have been many gymnasts throughout time
who have suffered from eating disorders, this does not mean that every gymnast does. I read this
article the other day and it lists off 10 famous athletes who have gone through eating disorders. Four
of them were gymnasts. Every single time this health issue is brought up, the gymnast is always the
victim in the story. Overall, this type of media is what gives gymnastics this stereotype. This
stereotype is unfair to those in the gymnastics community. By the media just using one or two
examples to stereotype an entire group of people, that is just not right. So when the media is only
exposing audiences to this narrow narrative about gymnasts, it creates a false image on gymnasts all
around the world.
Stereotype number two would be “Gymnastics is not a real sport”. If it is pretty, it is not a
sport. This is because people are uninformed. The media does not cover gymnastics. As an example,
on any given day you can find a football or a tennis match being played on TV. How often is it that
you will catch a gymnastics competition on your channel? Well, I would say, probably once every
four years in the olympics. Being a state athlete in my secondary school, I can also add to this
stereotype. People will see me wearing a t-shirt that says “Sabah rhythmic gymnastics team”, and
they will ask if I am an athlete. Also, a frequently asked question, "Sabah has a gymnastics team?!”.
This is because in gymnastics, it's all about the performance. In a competition, for example the
olympics, it only televises the one routine they get to show. It does not broadcast the practice and
hard work that goes into that one routine. So mocked has this sport been that most people have no
idea how much strength, training, handwork and talent is required of these athletes that goes into

10. that one routine performance. People do not understand the dangers and difficulties of each
apparatus in gymnastics. Sometimes the smallest error can lead to a life ending injury. I spend about
20-30 hours a week training and don't you dare say it is not a real sport! Also, when people say
"Gymnastics is life", this is a literal statement. Most successful gymnasts started this sport in their
early childhood from ages between 3 to 6 years old. I started when I was 6 years old. Starting any
later than that is almost a waste of time. The reason to that is because it takes so many years to
perfect and master the sport.
To sum things up, stereotypes create a misconception of how people are. This misconception
could cause problems such as discrimination. It would affect individuals harshly who perhaps like
different things or do different activities, but feel ashamed of doing so because of stereotypes. As
the new generation, we should do something to avoid this problem. We should start changing our
perception of stereotypes. We should be aware that all stereotypes are bad regardless if they are
good or bad because it causes prejudgment. We should keep stereotypes out of the picture, even
though sometimes we can be victims ourselves. Stop judging people before you even get to know
them.

11. 29th October 2015, 5:30pm
Journal 4: Social Perception
Entry 4: First Impressions
First impressions strikes like a lightning and before you hear the thunder, you have formed a
first opinion. Whether we like it or not, the moment you walk into a room full of people, you
undoubtedly judge a person or get get judged by the way you look, talk, walk, dress and so on. They
say that you should never judge a book by its cover and especially regarding people, it’s true. In this
case, the “cover” is not necessarily meaning the appearance, but the first impression of another
person. Like the cover of a book, first impressions are not always as appealing as what is really
there. It’s not until after you start “reading”, or get to know someone, when you really find out that
what you see is not always what you get. In First Impressions Matter, “According to New York
University, Graduate School of Business, people make eleven decisions about us in the first seven
seconds of contact. The first would be your education level. Second, your economic level. Third,
your perceived creditability and believability. Fourth, trustworthiness. Fifth, your level of
sophistication. Sixth, sexual identification. Last of all, your level of success.
Everybody is different, we all have different personalities. When it comes down to it, first
impressions are really based off of whether you’re shy or not. I strongly believe that every single
human being that encounters someone else for the first time will instantaneously create a mental
image of that specific person. As for myself, I have made a fair amount of friends and formed my
own first impression on them. One of which that I can remember the most about my first impression
experiences was when I first moved to a new high school at the age of 15 and met my friend whom
initially seemed sweet,caring and nice. I would like to refer this friend of mine using the pronoun
‘she’. At that time I already had a few close friends and as days went by, ‘she’ and I talked and got
to know each other more and more everyday. Eventually, we became best friends! I thought to

12. myself, my first impression was right. As for that time. Senior year had passed and we are now
studying in the same university. We did not plan to go to the same university but somehow we did.
Months passed, her true colours slowly started to show. At first, I was ignorant of this problem that
my best friend of 3 years is starting to change into a totally different person, or maybe it was hidden
inside of her after all and only after 3 years, that it is slowly trying to escape from her inner self.
On the 26th of September this year, my father had passed away. It happened so fast.
Sometimes I feel like its just a bad dream. It is very hard for any child to accept the death of his or
her father, especially when it was unexpected and everyone was so young. Everyone deals with
death differently; my family is a prime example. We all grieved in different ways. As for me, my
way of grieving is by talking to a trusted friend . My best-friend had totally bailed out on me during
this very difficult time. She never called and asked how I was doing. I really needed that phone call
from my best friend to make me feel less alone. A day after my dad had passed, I found out she
went out clubbing with her “new found friends”. She seemed like she didn't care at all. It is so
hurtful when we are already mourning a loved one, and people that we need the most, abandon us in
our darkest hour. Turns out my first impression of her so called caring,sweet and nice personality
turned out to be completely wrong. She turned out to be an arrogant, uncaring, bitter and the list
goes on..person.
I particularly resented this ‘friend’s failure to call as she is always going on about what a
wonderful friend I am and how important I am to her and how much she loves me. Yet at a time like
that she couldn’t even ring. I now don’t feel that I want to be friends with her any more as I feel she
let me down when I needed her most. She keeps texting me and asking if she can come see me. I
have no desire to see her yet I am not sure if I am right to throw away a friendship. I am very lonely
in general. Yet I am not sure if a friend like that really assuages the loneliness. Till this very day, I
still wonder why did she not call me.

13. From that day onwards, I always give myself time to discover the real person in a safe
environment. First impressions are not always accurate. Some individuals are good actors. As an
example, my ‘ex’ best-friend was a really good one. I tend to be very forthright, I sometimes
assume others are like me. But often, they are not. Thus, I can be fooled initially. However, I've also
learned that the people reveal themselves in time and that makes your first impression of people a
big mistake.

14. 6th November 2015, 1:20pm
Journal 5: Attitudes
Entry 5: Post-Decision Dissonance
Life is full of choices. Should I go to college? If so,which college do I go? Should I study in
Malaysia or in the UK? What major shall I take up? I’ve always dreamed to be an architect or a
veterinarian. Should I take up architecture? or, should I take up veterinary? Should I study for
tomorrow’s test or go out for a movie tonight? Should I eat that chocolate cake? but I don't wan’t to
gain weight! Should I go to the saloon today? If so, should I get a new haircut? or should I just
wash and dry? Should I get a tattoo? I have always wanted a pet, should I get a dog? Making
decisions has always been an unavoidable part of my life. Some choices are hard to make,
especially when the options we are faced with are nearly equivalent. Rarely I do face a situation in
which one option is without a doubt the only reasonable choice. Most choices have both pros and
cons, advantages and disadvantages, benefits as well as costs. Once we make a choice, however, we
accept the disadvantages of that option and give up the advantages of other unchosen, options.
Therefore, realisation of these consequences leads to Post-Decision dissonance that arises
after we make a decision. For an example, I chose option A, which has downside; I rejected Option
B, which had its own benefits. Thus, post-decisional dissonance is a feeling for anxiety or whether
the correct decision was made. So I think everyone has had a little trouble when deciding between
two equally desirable choices. Well according to Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, the choice
you make is the right one. This particular part of Festinger's theory is called post-decision
dissonance. It basically states that 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.
Specifically, the closer the choices are in their attractiveness, the more the dissonance.

15. As college student myself, I went through this post-decision dissonance when I was
applying to get into college. I had two choices of college which were Taylor’s University or Lim
Kok Wing University of Creative Technology to take up my love in Architecture. These two schools
had amazing qualities, look equally attractive with good reputation and affordable tuition cost.
These two colleges had more things that I would love than hate, that pertained my interests and
likes. However, I found out the flaws that Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology had.
Unfortunately, architecture is not recognised by the board of Architecture in Malaysia in that
university and their campus is far away from the city which would be harder for me to go to the
city. This is because I had planned to go to my aunt’s place which is in KL every weekend and If I
were to take a taxi it would cost quite a lot especially when I have a budget to stick to. On the other
hand, I chose Taylor’s University and clearly it was way better than the one I rejected. So basically,
the more important the decision, the more dissonance we should experience. Important decisions
like mine usually have more serious consequences that trivial decisions. This means we would
experience more dissonance after an important decision like what I have experienced. But as of
now, I have minimal doubts concerning my path in architectural studies and eventually career,
because what I’m learning inspire me to continue every time I fail.
When I was about 8 years old my parents and I took the whole family for a trip to Disney
Land in Hong Kong. We spent about a week there. 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 8 year olds would love. This was a tough for me then. 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 another example of post-decision dissonance in action that I have experienced. I

16. 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 Disney.
Thus, making a decision can cause dissonance, especially if the chosen and unchosen
alternates have similar net benefits and if the decision is important. According to what I have
studied, there are a few ways to reduce the dissonance we experience. What we can do is revoke the
decision. Other than that, increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative. Last but not least, we
can decrease the attractiveness of the unchosen option, or reduce the importance of the decision.