Schani Daniel Bharat

0318788

First Tutorial (8am class)

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN

Foundation of Natural Build Environment (FNBE)

Social Psychology [PSYC0103]

Prerequisite: None

Lecturers: T. Shankar

Submission date – 10th November 2014

Schemata theory journal 1

Schemata theory – focuses on "schemas" which are cognitive structures that organize

knowledge and guide information processing. They take the form of generalized beliefs that can

operate automatically and lead to biases in perception and memory.

Perception is the primary factor that leads to arbitrary denotation of stimuli’s and people. This

observation that we possess is based on our pre existing schemas. For instance, there was a

point in time while growing up I assumed that there was always one dominant race, and this is

possibly due to the influence of television, that somehow in order to become famous or

popular you’d have to be white, this in turn made me feel somewhat awkward in my own skin.

As you would expect this went on for a while and the obsession with the western culture

further embedded within the schemas. And as I grew older, and emigrated to countries such as

Taiwan and Dubai, the schema that white people ruled the world, would eventually reform to

deduce that actually its because of the media. The way in which they’re portrayed and hyped

up was exaggerated to the maximum. People are just people, and due to the exposure that

followed my teenage years, growing up in a international school and making new friends that

were ‘white’ skinned greatly altered the concept that they were all royalty or ‘lucky’ in fact I

realized they were just like me, and at times I was even better than them in various aspects of

life, so at point my as I look back, I would assume my schema was altered.

However I began to wonder how many other people around the world felt the way I did. Then I

began to prove to myself that, that greatness doesn’t have a color, it’s a combination of actions

that uplift oneself or the masses.

Social facilitation journal 2

Social facilitation is the tendency for people to do better on simple tasks when in the presence

of other people. This implies that whenever others are watching people, they will do well on

things that they are already good at doing.

As far as I can recall, the concept of doing better at a task when people were around as

compared to when I was doing it alone, with the absence of attention and motivation. Was

during my athletic meets or training sessions. I remember there during training sessions when I

first joined the athletics team I would try to impress my trainers and set a standard for the

other athletes to beat, so as to say I’m the best at this, so bring it.

However as time went on, that slowly died, once I established that, I guess I got bored of it and

it didn’t matter anymore, they already knew I was the best at certain distance, so I didn’t

bother putting effort into my training as much. However I began to seek a difference audience

to feed my ego. This was then carried forward to track time, and actual athletic meets, where

the crowds were in hundreds and the rewards were much higher in terms of praises and getting

the attention I’ve always demanded from people. Hence I then took my game to a new level, to

now target a larger audience to satisfy my ego, and so that how It worked, when it came to a

bigger stage to perform in, I would automatically try harder and that too I’ve realized has

shifted in time due to boredom and crave for attention directly or indirectly.

The need to perform better when others are around is something I was and am still guilty of, in

terms of projects when it comes down to presentation, I find that my input and effort in to the

work is much more focused, and fulfilling during the time when I actually have to present as

compared to when I have to build the model itself.

Social Loafing journal 3

Social loafing frequently occurs in groups because certain individuals exert less effort than

others and this can create an unhelpful group dynamic and individual response.

This particular theory was and is demonstrated all around myself. In fact I would probably

partake in such a phenomenon, during my first semester of Architecture, when out first project

was being distributed. I was elected project leader, and at first I became super enthusiastic

about the workload I slowly grew out of it very fast. In total it took me around 2 weeks to loose

interest in the physical aspect of work. This was because I realized my position as a leader and

began to delegate tasks, eventually I was just an ‘idea man’. Coming up with the idea after

which, they were then executed by my course mates. Sure I would lend a hand here and there,

just enough to make my self seem like I wasn’t neglecting them, and making them do it all.

This in turn actually wasn’t beneficial for the group whatsoever, as there was less efficiency and

work done, due to my lack of work ethic, and eventually others noticed me doing such a thing,

and began to mimic the same thing I had done, doing just enough to get by…

Another aspect of social loafing that I have experienced is during an ice breaking session, and

during this session we were split into groups and had to execute a particular task. I had

discovered that the more people that were added to the group, I felt like I had to do less work,

as there would be more minds to solve the problem. In addition if I had felt that way, I now

wonder, how many of the others did as well, and it would probably then be an infectious could

of negative and unproductive energy. So rather than each individual trying to achieve their own

level best excellence it then became an evaluation of how much work, each individual was

contributing.

Social Identity Theory journal 4

Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership(s).

We all have conceptual thoughts about who we are and what our own identity is. Those same

thoughts can apply to our self-concepts when we look at the groups we belong to and our own

internal self identity.

I guess I would have to say that, in term of my self-perception, I would like to think as my self as

being blessed. This in turn would allow me to excel certain areas more than areas than others,

at times becomes of my skills or sometimes just sheer determination or luck. Either way after

the lesson about social identity and collective identity, I realized I’m very picky about the type

of friends or people I’m surrounded with, mostly because of how they make me feel about my

self. Comfortableness is key to me in any aspect of my life, if I’m comfortable with people

or/and situations I would not really have any issues and I’d feel content with the outcome.

However the opposite happens if I’m not in my comfortable zone.

Recalling a time during the age of 16, during a sports class, a small indoor football match was

going on. The captains had selected their teams and I ended up being in a team with people I

wasn’t so fond of, however the game went on and we got trashed 4 – 0 . after the game had

ended I began to recall what I did wrong, and actually ended up putting a lot of the blame on

my self, and I didn’t feel so almighty anymore, despite football being my strong suite. I felt a

sense of disappointment and let down.

Another instance when I was on the winning team and we barely scrapped a win, however It

felt really good, the feeling was incomparable. I felt better about my self and about my abilities,

I didn’t feel worthless or doubt my skills or ability, the chemistry between the others and myself

was overflowing. Therefore I felt about my self on when I was in a better group of people, as

ignorant as that sounds, its true and undeniable.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy journal 5

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true,

by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.

This is probably the most interesting theory to me, as it depicts mental strength and/or group

or individual consensus. My parents always told me that one day I would find the right girl, that

would make me the happiest ever, and even though It never really struck about what they had

said, at the age of 21, although I would say I’m rather youthful, I realized that the only thing

that I’ve been striving for is that, not anything else, its quite a cliché, however its something

that I realized a while ago, after getting my heart broken a few times. They directly instilled

within my mind that I needed someone like a girl a to make me happy, and so that’s what I’ve

been doing, until recently I’ve discovered that maybe they were wrong. Maybe happiness can

be found within myself and not through somebody else.

Another instance was the constant mentioning by various people that I would eventually always

let them down, be it may my parents, teachers, athletic coaches, friends. And Its been true, at

every point, I’ve not only let them down, but I’ve let myself down too, way too many times that

I would like to admit. This in turn has somewhat developed into a long term habit that’s as

much as I try, has been stuck in my head and has become difficult for me to overcome the fact

that at some point disappointment will follow everything good I do.

Confirmation bias journal 6

Confirmation bias, also called myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, or prioritize

information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias and

a systematic error of inductive reasoning.

I wasn’t always a Christian, and conversion to Christianity was probably the most significant

change in my life. I found the religion to be very free and open. However there are people such

as my dad (my parents are divorced) who would say differently. He would always think that

Christianity was something bad, that it wasn’t a good idea. However regardless of what he

thought, it didn’t or rather it couldn’t deviate my attention from the religion.

Apparently it actually helped me to search deeper and finds the true meaning of Christianity or

my self rather than actually listen to the priest or other religions authorities; I concluded that

before I believed anyone, I would need to understand it for my own. I didn’t see anything

wrong with the religion, sure there’s always pros and cons to everything in life.

To me the religion was serene and nothing could deviate my attention from it. Any attempts to

do so would result in me being ignorant or stubborn to listen to any depiction of my religion

mostly because I’ve discovered for my self its what right for me. However I am open mined to

criticism to the religion or such, and that I’m willing to evaluate the argument, but only to a

certain extent and that’s a about it.

Cognitive dissonance journal 7

Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.

This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or

behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance.

I don’t smoke and have never taken fondly of cigarettes, mostly due to my schemas preinstalled

in my mind; I don’t think I ever will. However the girl I’m currently dating is a constant smoker,

and due to this I find it quite uncomfortable when she asks me to go out and smoke with her

and her friends. I’m guessing I’m able to tolerate to an extent however at times when she does

ask me to join her to smoke, although I’m not really interested, I would either way. And

succumbing to such peer pressure isn’t healthy both mentally and physically for my self.

At times I wish would be able to tell her off as easily, but I’m too concerned to ‘easy going’ as

the relationship Is still fresh, at times I wish I could just tell her off and her to quit smoking.

However I then begin to reason with my self and put my self in her shoes and think about how

hard it must be to quite and influences are everywhere, so maybe I need to slowly but surely let

her know, and with my self, I should set a good example, and hopefully it would rub off against

her.

Rather than being sour or quiet after the smoke session or when I see her going out to smoke,

and letting it get to me, I should rather just let her know my views of it, or let my actions speak

louder than my words, that’s my dilemma. Either way in due time I’m sure she’ll come around,

as just last night, she told me she would like to stop smoking, as happy it made, at the back of

my head I was like, bullshit…But I’ve got to be supportive.

By stander effect journal 8

The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to

cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are

present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders.

This particular observation was made by when I was much younger, during a time when was

with my family and we were about to cross the road and there was an elderly European man

crossing and he dropped on the spot, at first I’m assuming people had thought he had tripped,

because that’s what I thought had happened. However a few minutes passed by without

anyone really wondering what had happened, so I looked up at my mum and dad, wondering

what they weren’t doing anything. Today I understand that maybe due to having kids with

them, they probably were reluctant to charge forwards. But didn’t other people immediately go

and help him, even if he tripped?

I deducted that night people are always constantly depending on each other, even if we do not

know each, the expectation for someone to do good is much stronger than the will to do go

good itself. This is also enhanced by the number of people present, the more people

apparently, the more we look to depends on others, however if were we solitary, it would feel

as though the responsibility is then ours.

Social comparison journal 9

Social comparison theory gravitates the centers on the belief that there is a drive within

individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. The theory explains how individuals evaluate their

own opinions and abilities by comparing themselves to others in order to reduce uncertainty in

these domains, and learn how to define the self.

Guilty as charged, I have become who I am today, due to constant and tiring comparison of my

self to people around me, people I see on TV, fictional and non-fictional characters as well. I

would have to say, growing up as nobody and finding sport to elevate and change my life has

been the most crucial part of my self-discovery. In due time I realized that I’m not as original as

I think I am. In fact I’m not original at all, I would say I have become who I am by comparing my

self and then picking out what I do not possess in terms of qualities, and trying to implement it

into my self.

This type of comparison was positive more than negative as it allowed me to grow, both in

good and bad ways, in which the outcomes were always a lesson learned. Being able to

compare yourself to someone else requires a lot of effort and can be demoralizing at times,

however comparison for the right reasons would benefit you greatly in the long run.