Chapter 1:

What Is Social Psychology?

Entry 1

In chapter 1, it mentioned that people actually perform better in the presence of others,

called social facilitation. I, too, agree with the findings. Whenever I’m at the gym, or I play

basketball, I have a mindset to not lose to people or get left behind. So whenever I practice

basketball myself, I will not feel that enthusiastic compared to when I’m playing friendly

matches with other people. I want people to remember me as the guy that can play

basketball well. However when I’m practicing alone, there’s no one there to witness my

moments. I tend to feel that there’s no point in giving in all my 100% effort when there are

no recognition since I’m not playing for the school or state. Another experience would be at

the gym. Whenever I gym alone, I take the easy way out, by lifting weights that I feel

comfortable with. However if one wishes to achieve something, he or she has to come out

from their comfort zone, which in this scenario, lifting weights that are of your limits. Let me

explain further. Like for example, I can lift weights of 50lbs, but whenever I gym alone, I will

lift about 30lbs and giving myself an excuse of “toning my muscles” which is obviously a lie

because I’m just lazy. But whenever I gym with my friends, I do not want to lose to them of

getting left far behind so I do my best, literally squeezing out all the energy left in my body,

just to impress my friends.

Entry 2

When I was in my first year of secondary school, most of the guys in my school wear their

pants as low as possible and expose half of their underwear to people. Apparently, people

see this as “Cool” back when I was in secondary 1, so I followed the trend because it was

acceptable by everyone and everyone was doing it. Another experience would be the use of

vulgarities. At home, I would get slapped for saying any vulgar words at all. However when I

was in school, people are cursed and swore everywhere. After I blend in with my

classmates or school mates, I started saying vulgar words as well because to them, it is just

normal to use such foul language. This is my experience of social learning.

Chapter 2:

The Self: Who Am I and How Do Other

Individuals See Me?

Entry 1

In chapter 2, it mentioned that we imagine how we look to others and then we imagine how

people judge the appearance that we think we present. Few months ago, wearing long

socks was a trend. My girlfriend suggested me to try following this trend. So, I bought a few

pair of long socks. 5 pair to be exact. Personally I don’t quite like the idea of wearing long

socks as fashion, I imagined myself to look like a nerd, and I thought that people would

judge me for wearing so. However, people started telling me that my socks are nice and

stuff like that. And I thought to myself “Wow, I never knew I would get positive feedback

from my friends”, and it kind of enhanced my self-confidence.

Entry 2

Then, chapter 2 also mentioned about the different types of biasness and social comparison.

I remember when I went for my secondary school’s basketball team trials, there were a lot

of people. I was one of the lucky ones who managed to join the team. Then I compared

myself to the others who went for the trials as well. I felt great the fact that I got selected

but they did not. It kind of enhanced my self-esteem. Throughout the trials, only 12 people

were selected to join the school’s basketball team, and I feel proud to be one of them. And

this relates me to self-serving bias. When I got home, I proudly announced to my whole

family that I got into the basketball team. At the same time, I have prepared a “backup plan”

which was to blame my height if I did not manage to get into the team.

Chapter 3:

Social Cognition: Thinking About the

Social World

Entry 1

I remember back when I was still staying in Singapore 3 years for my O levels. Every time I

went out, I see workers from Bangladesh, India, China and all sorts. The impression of them

to me isn’t that good, because of certain incident happened when I was younger. My

grandmother died because she got robbed by some foreign workers back in Malaysia. So,

whenever they board the same MRT as me, I kind of moved away from them a little. The

stereotype I had for them was bad, inhuman thieves. I always think that foreign workers

have no manners. Until one day, during one of the Social Studies school field trip, we were

brought to a construction site full of foreign workers. We were tasked to interact with them

as an activity and then pass them food and drinks that the school provided as a sign of

appreciation. From this activity, I found out that not all foreign workers are as bad as the

ones who commit crimes. In fact, most of the workers are kind-hearted and hard-working.

They work hard to earn money to and then send it back to their hometown for their family.

And then, all of them are very polite and said thank you when they received the food and

beverage. Few weeks after, I even witnessed a foreign worker giving up his seat in the MRT

for an old lady when Singaporeans beside just ignored. From there, I changed my stereotype

for the foreign workers. Not all foreign workers are bad, they are actually very good in a lot

of ways, you just have to discover it.

Entry 2

Every Chinese New Year, I go to my cousin or my friend’s house to visit and celebrate

together, and another reason is to gamble. So every time when we were playing black-jack ,

there are situations where I thought to myself like “I should have taken the card and I might

have won the game” and also “Luckily I didn’t took the card”. I will feel happy, or a sense of

relief, when I know that my decisions are correct. However sometimes, I will feel that it’s a

pity because I didn’t draw the next card. These are counterfactual thinking.

Chapter 4:

Social Perception: How Do We Perceive

Others?

Entry 1

I remember how I met a very good friend of mine. When I first saw Darren back in semester

1, he had his hair “spiked” to the side and he wore a T-shirt with a huge leopard printed at

the front. Also, he was shouting across the lecture theater to his friends. Moreover, some

of his old classmates from his high school told me that he was a wild and crazy kind of a

person. Instantly, my impression for him was not good, like I thought to myself that I should

avoid making friends with such people as they are kind of an imbecile to me. However as I

get to know him, he is actually a very nice person and we actually got along quite well.

Entry 2

3 years ago when I first started playing handball, my handball coach sent our team to

participate in competitions outside of school. Me, as the play maker for my school team, I

know that I play an important role and I have to be calm and steady to call for plays. First

time participating in a handball competition, I felt excited but worried. I was worried that if I

screwed up, my team mates will look down on me and it will really affect the team

chemistry. So, the night before the first match, I couldn’t sleep at all feeling anxious and

excited for the match. During the match, I was so tired due to lack of sleep, that my stamina

fell drastically. I had difficulties breathing normally when I was out on the court. And then,

my mistake passes led to a few turnovers. After the incident, I gained my experience and for

upcoming competitions, I told myself not to worry and get rested for the upcoming match.

This is my experience of the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Chapter 5:

Attitudes: Making Evaluations About The

World

Entry 1

When I was young, like about 7 or 8, my mom would force my siblings and I to take

afternoon naps after school. Sometimes, we would be rebellious and play wrestle on the

mattress instead. Then, every time my mom asks us to take a nap, she would bring my

father’s belt along to kind of scare us so that we would stop playing and just take our

afternoon naps. So after some time, whenever I see my mom taking out my father’s belt, I

know that it is time to take a nap.

Entry 2

When I was young, I saw my father taking out a packet of cigarette and started smoking. I do

not know what was smoking back then but I thought that it was cool and fascinating

because you can blow smoke from your mouth. My dad smokes in the backyard so one day

when I say him going to the backyard, I followed him. After he took out his packet of

cigarette, he started smoking one and left the rest of the box on the table. When I saw it, I

took out a cigarette and asked my father for a lighter and asked him to let me try. God I was

still very young that time. Another experience was that, I used my father’s shaver without

knowing how to even use it, and I accidentally cut myself on the chin for playing with my

father’s razor. These are my past experience of observational learning.