Project 1: Individual Journal

Name

: Liew Cherng Qing

Student ID

: 0322613

Session

: Monday 1pm-3pm

Subject

: PSY30203 Social Psychology

Course

: FNBE Foundation in Natural & Built Environment [Jan 0115 Sem2]

School

: SABD

Submission date

: 16th January 2015

Entry 4
Date

: 4th November 2015

Time : 2100
This morning I woke up with a fairly good mood, but in the end of the day, I was at a
mixed mood of happy and sad. It was my first time experiencing this incident and so was my
group mate. This experience really helped shaping us and sharpened us for the future as well
as strengthening our relationship. However before that, Ill have to briefly explain with what
is currently ongoing.
My group mates and I are having a Business project. This project is given to have us
to donate all of our cash profit to a charity organization, in our case, Leo Club of SMK
Damansara Jaya. Leo Club of SMK Damansara Jaya is a non-profit organization that does a
lot of charity works and community works as well as develops leadership skills in youth at
the same time.
However, our team had a plan, which is to donate unsold food and beverages to
another charity organization, Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-kanak Cacat Taman Megah, by the end
of the sales week. Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-kanak Cacat Taman Megah is an organization that
takes cares of disabled children. We had our permission letter of donation request delivered to
Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-kanak Cacat Taman Megah yesterday and were to visit the place
again to collect their reply letter this morning.
My business group had discussed and agreed that one of my group mate (W for short)
and I will be in charge of delivering the permission letter of donation request to both of the
charity organizations. Thus, W came to my house and picked me up in the morning due to the
reason of me having transportation difficulties. However, there is a problem, W is not familiar
with my housing area. I had to guide her in my housing area. This leads to her multitasking
by receiving my instructions and driving on a new route at the same time. Which means not
only she had to undergo control processing in her mind but to be listening to my instructions
too. Ultimately, the unfortunate scenario took place.
We had an accident. W was definitely confused and we ended up driving out to a
secondary road from a tertiary road (small road) unconsciously. Without paying much
attention to the other drivers, and soon we were hit by a car and a loud crashing sound of
Bang was heard. We were shocked and soon realized we made a huge mistake. Luckily, no
one was injured in this accident. We got down from the car and quickly apologized to the

other driver and exchanged contact numbers and personal information with the other driver.
Then we began contacting anyone that can help us to settle things down.
Ws parents were not in the area, and my parents were having business meeting and
could not take leave. And at the same time, the other driver is in a hurry to pick up someone
to go to the airport. We were desperate for help at the moment and luckily my fathers friends
were free to take leave and came to help us out. W and I were relieved and finally had the
time to catch our breath.
After settling everything with the other driver and it took us around 45 minutes, we
thanked my fathers friends and got back into our car. I told W we could have avoided this if
she wasnt driving too fast on an unfamiliar road. She argued with me we couldve avoided
this incident if the road exit is not covered with obstacles (trees and shrubs) blocking her
view. And soon, without a doubt, our argument began to roll like a snowball down a hill. It
became a bigger argument and we unconsciously raised our voice.
We argued for a while, and suddenly I stopped and asked myself, Is this an actorobserver bias situation? I was an observer as I was a passenger. And because of that I had
Correspondence bias, with spontaneous trait inference stating it was her behavior that caused
this incident (Dispositional Attribution). However, on W point of view, she wondered if she
was being an actor, and because of self-serving bias, she assumed this accident was caused by
the surroundings (Situational Attribution), and she did this just to protect her self-esteem. We
began discussing on these and putting our blind arguments behind our head.
Never the less, both of us had made our mistakes and were at fault. Thanks to this
learning, W and I immediately dropped our arguments and apologized to each other, this also
bring us a stronger relationship and a better understanding of each other. We then had a little
bit of rest to recover from the incident and resumed with our journey to the house for disabled
children, to collect their reply.

Entry 3
Date

: 2nd November 2015

Time : 2030
It was sudden when this thought came to my mind. I was just sitting on my couch and
watching the television as usual. The television was broadcasting a program of
documentation on History Channel. It was about the life of the Shaolin monks of Shaolin
Monastery located in China. Shaolin monks are famous for their Shaolin martial arts, which
is a traditional martial art passed down for many generations. Monks in general however are
famous for their strong cultural impact and their teachings to achieve betterment in life.
I had the knowledge of the existence Shaolin Monks since a very young age, but I
never tried to understand them in depth, and I had learnt a lot from the broadcasted
documentation.
I realized all humans are targeting and walking in the same direction, which is
towards achieving the highest needs in life. Based on Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of Needs,
the highest needs in human life is Self-Actualization. Self-Actualization is the result of the
inner-directed drive of humans to grow, improve, and maximize their potential to the fullest.
To achieve Self-Actualization, humans had to first achieve Physiological needs are the
need of food, water, rest, which are necessary to basic survival. Normal human would have
achieved these needs easily; however there are some exceptions of lower class society
members who struggled to achieve Physiological needs. Monks in general had different
physiological needs than urban man where they take in less meat or go vegan to reduce
necessity of need of foods. They are also trained to live with less rest and endurance of pains
to reduce their physiological needs.
After Physiological needs, its the need of safety and security. Humans would achieve
this need by having an individual shelter of each families and a social structure where police
will monitor the safety and security of the society. Shaolin monks however had their Shaolin
Monastery located away from urban life to avoid harms. Shaolin monks also practice their
Shaolin martial arts to self-defense from any physical harm.
Next it will be the need of Love and Belonging. Normal societies achieve this need by
enhancing their love to their family members and showing affections to their friends and

relationship partner. However monks were taught to love every being of life where they treat
each other sincerely as family. Monks produce zero harm to other beings, and help them
whenever they have the ability.
The next need is the need of Self Esteem. Need of self-esteem is divided into the
lower level and upper level of self-esteem needs. The lower level of self-esteem need
involves the need of attention and recognition. The upper level of self-esteem need includes
self-respect and high self-confidence. Monks however achieve the upper level of self-esteem
need without the lower level of self-esteem need. This is all due to their teaching of not being
affected by the need of attention and recognition which are known as illusion of needs to
them.
After both self-esteem needs, the need of Intellectual is achieved by humans through
studies and judged by the advancement of their academics and knowledge. Monks have their
own learning too where most of them are based around their religious learning which is
Buddhism. However, modern monks are also learning the similar academic studies like most
of the common society members. They are more connected to the urban life, to gain
knowledge around the world, most of the time through social medias such as newspapers.
Aesthetic need is the next need after the fulfilling the need of Intellectual, which is the
desire to acquire and appreciation for the beauty nature of themselves. Modern societies are
confused and over emphasize on the aesthetic need. Many became materialistic just to satisfy
their aesthetic need. However, monks are trained to put aesthetic need behind their minds,
which means they do not desire any appreciation of their external beauty. Instead, monks are
taught to find the beauty in everything and appreciate them.
Finally, with all the needs above fulfilled, only humans can proceed to the next level
of need, which is the need of self-actualization. Most of the monks achieved selfactualization easier than common society, because they have their unique learning of
reducing some of their needs, creating a shorter path towards self-actualization. Monks who
had higher self-actualization will be ranked higher than other monks. However, common
society members who had finally achieved self-actualization are men with wisdom and
success in life, for example, President of United States of America, Barack Obama.
It is wonderful and amazing on how I was struck by these thoughts just after watching
a documentation of the Shaolin Monks daily life. And to learned nevertheless human in

general do require most of the needs in order, to achieve self-actualization and be a man who
contributes to the society as well as maximizing their potential.

Entry 1
Date

: 27th September 2015

Time : 0115
Today is Mid-Autumn festival, a day where Chinese celebrates by gathering around
with friends and family, an opportunity for many to see their beloved ones after a long time.
Yet this Mid-Autumn festival is different and had conflicts between a daughter, a mother, and
another young man.
I have these two friends, they are in a relationship. L and M were couples for the past
six months, and they still are. They were a lovely couple, but there is one problem, Ls mother
is a stereotypical Asian mother who is totally anti young romance. She couldnt resist her
daughter in a relationship at all. Of course when I say Ls mother being a stereotypical Asian
mother doesnt mean all Asian mothers are unavailable to accept and embrace their children
having a relationship at a young age. To prove that statement, my mother is an Asian mother,
but she always wanted me to have a partner in relationship and is willing to accept us
together.
However, back to the topic, Ls mother is always finding ways to break L and M apart,
and yesterday night, 2356, Ls mother used Ls phone to send a message into a group
conversation that includes L and M as well as many other friends of ours. Without a doubt, I
am in the group conversation too. The message conveys the message of asking M to leave her
daughter alone and tries to intimidate M to do so by stating she will make a police report and
a report to the University Administration. However, her intimidation did not work at all
because M knew himself well for not doing anything illegal.
Many of us tried to talk to Ls mother into accepting the fact that her daughter loves M
and as well as accepting M as an individual. Before this Ls mother also accused M to have
the intention to rape L. L herself never agreed on her mothers statement, and all of us
believed them too as we know M too well as he is a good man. M and L did have their
mistake once when M asked L to turn off her phone so that they can spend their time together
without any disruptions from external source. And this caused Ls driver unable to contact L
to pick her up, and somehow lead to Ls mother to interpret Ms action as an attempt to rape.

Ls mother also stated that when we look back at this moment 20 years later, we will
find friendship last better than relationship, thus stressing on the point of restricting L can
only build on friendship at this moment of time.
My first thought of it was, Ls mother was not open-minded. However, I immediately
stopped judging because that would be correspondence bias and making dispositional
attributions on Ls mothers behavior. She could have been emotionally and or physically hurt
before when she was at a younger age by another man.
Even though I do not want to guess or judge, I can observe the fact that Ls mother
had already formed a schema of young men that is in a relationship. And the schema states
that young men in relationships are not capable of taking care of the female in the
relationship. It is a fact that many young men made mistakes and hurt many young ladies,
however there are cases where true love are proven and lasted. It is still early to conclude
anything since they were only in a relationship together for half a year.
I thought of Ls mother being slightly overprotective too, since L is one year younger
than most of us and is the eldest child of her family. But, L is a mature lady and is learning to
take care of herself. I talked to Ls mother stating if this is a mistake meant to be made so that
L could learn, its a mistake Meant to be made. If its not a mistake from the start, why even
tries to break them apart? Ls mother however stand by her point where L should only
concentrate on her studies and not wasting time on a mistake, which in this case, M is a
mistake to her.
My point is, due to confirmation bias, Ls mother now only seek for any bad traits of
M to support her beliefs. And due to the schema formed, and perseverance effect, Ls mother
is difficult to change her schema formed on M, as an irresponsible and / or incapable young
men. And due to all of these resistant towards M, L had conflicts with her mother. L is also at
her rebellious phase, but she was a very well-behaved child. She may not agree with her
mother, but she still do her best in her academic as well as balancing her relationship with M.

Entry 2
Date

: 2nd October 2015

Time : 1905
This morning was the submission of the second project of subject Intro to Design. It
was a busy project; my group mates and I started the progress earlier than many people, yet
only finished it on the last few minutes before submission. It was stressful at the end, and
everyone else was tired and worn out.
We were to produce artworks using chosen materials and to follow a couple of design
principles. At first, our team was happy when we were given the material newspaper, because
newspaper is easy and less limited to be creative with making it into artworks. But then there
is an unpredictable catch, only after the materials were chosen, we were further informed that
we were not supposed to use any form of glues to support our artworks. This entirely turned
our world down, as it was a huge limitation to making artworks with newspaper.
Even though the restrictions were frustrating, our team had managed to come out with
solutions for the final products. We used no third party to help secure the newspaper onto
another base, which is wire mesh; instead we tied the newspapers onto the wire mesh. The
final products were less attractive than other artworks made by other groups with different
materials. And when we were graded after our presentation, our moods were falling down the
hill, and we were pretty disappointed with the grades, as we put in a lot of effort in making
the artworks from drawing boards into reality.
I tried to bring up the mood of my group mates stating our grade werent that bad too,
compared to a couple of other groups that did not put in much effort. I was argued that our
grades are still worse than other groups too who did not put in much effort. Even when we
were taking our group photos together, some of our group mates were too tired and not
amused to even bother to smile for the photo.
I thought if they were having the mood-congruence effects as they were in a bad
mood, thus only having the negativity bias? Was that the reasons for them only seek the
negative details of this event and only remember them and impacting future evaluations.
Because they seemed to be avoiding anything relating back to this project, for example,
newspaper.

However for other groups that did receive a lower grade than us, they still seemed
pretty happy for their final outcome. They received the material soft foam, and they used
sewing method to secure the soft foams onto a wire mesh.
I remember helping them during the progress, and I know pretty well that they did not
put in enough of effort into the project. They dont seem stressed even though they finished
their artworks only a day earlier than us.
Do they not see how they were at the end of the cliff as they barely passed the
required grade for advancing into Degree studies? Was this Bystander effect where they do
not notice the emergency they were facing, and further execution to solve it? They were
pluralistic ignorance when they were in a group where majority of them privately reject their
bad grades, but incorrectly assume that most of other group members accept it, and therefore
go along with it.
They mix with their friends and most of them do not receive good grades yet they
were happy, even though they still complain and blame the lecturers when they do not receive
good grades. I wondered if this was self-serving bias, where they blamed the lecturers for
siding on other group which are the teachers pets and providing unfair treatment to them.
And when they do receive good grades, they were shocked at first too, and then started
praising each other for doing well enough in that particular project.
Nevertheless, they were happy with their grades for this project. I heard two of them
agreeing on the phrase, We were graded C+, but at least we did better than last time! I
believed this was a downward counterfactual thinking, where they associate it with a bad
event and use it to improve their mood. They made themselves feel better about the outcome
because they realize that the situation could have been worse that it was. In this case, they
made themselves happy by thinking they could have got lower grades, but they got C+ with
the only amount of efforts they put in.
P.S: (10th November 2015) Both of our teams had worked harder for the project after the one
above, and both of our teams received a higher grade than the previous project. (Both of our
projects were graded on grade higher than the previous grading.) We also promised each
other to continue work harder for the upcoming projects.

Entry 5
Date

: 6th November 2015

Time : 2235
This afternoon, I visited my alma mater Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaaan Damansara
Jaya (SMK DJ) which is the high school that I attended. It was 9 months since I last visited
my alma mater and the same amount of time since I last had a gathering with my high school
friends. I saw this opportunity few days ago and invited my friends out again to have a
gathering today.
We met in a caf near our high school, Paparich. We started having a pleasant
conversations and chit chatting with each other. We had a long catch up with each other and
talked about our post high school life. One of us worked as part timer worker for half a year
until he started his form-6 education in Catholic high school. Others are similar with me who
went on Colleges or University for further studies.
I was impressed to hear one of my friends to say he wanted to further study his
Degree in Bio-tech. The reason I was impressed is that he used to score low grades in high
school. He was always lack of self-confidence and lazy to work for higher grades in high
school. He was always like this, and we were worried during our final year together in high
school. So all of us worked hard to change him and persuade him to work hard for his own
grades. He did change his mind on the final year, but it was a little too late for him to catch up
everything he missed during the previous years.
Now when I looked back, I found that he had low self efficacy in the past. He always
sees difficult tasks as something to be avoided. When he couldnt solve the questions, he
would procrastinate until the second morning only just to copy from others. When he was
asked to perform some tasks such as holding the job as an organizer he would have avoided
the job and passed it to someone else. When we invite him to join clubs and societies he
would avoided our invitation or refused to join them.
Now that he says he wanted to study Bio-tech in the future, it was a big surprise from
a young man who barely passed his Biology final test. I believed he now had a high self

efficacy and sees difficult tasks as challenges. He now became someone who is hardworking
and willing to work hard for his own future.
My other friend however, the one who went on worked as a part time worker, was one
of the smartest kid between us. He used to score higher grades than all of us, and worked
really hard in the past to achieve his ideal grading scores. He was a kid with high self
efficacy. He used to see difficult tasks as challenges. He told us today, that he is going to have
his own finals soon in weeks. And he mentioned that everything that we learned in high
school was just splashing water in the shallow waters, everything is difficult to him now.
He was really active in co-curriculum activities this year and he says he is regretting
now that he did not work hard right from the start and its difficult to catch up now. He joked
about giving up and play stock markets instead. Even though he was just joking, in my mind I
imagined him giving up and what is the reality that will actually happen.
And I imagined him being a man with low self efficacy, and start to have the tendency
to see difficult tasks as something to avoid. I started imagining him escaping from reality and
having a failure life. I knew I was having too many negative thoughts at the moment, but it
wasnt hard to imagine someone messing up his life, when there were so many real life
examples of young men behaving the same way.
I immediately stop the jokes and told him to work hard, and all the best in his finals. I
wished him luck with my most sincere and wanted to him to succeed in his future. He is like
one of my brother after all, just like any others of my friends who sat with us this afternoon,
talking about our lives and joking about everything like we used to.
And as I am typing this journal entry, I reflected on myself, and I realized I was too
someone with low self efficacy when I was younger until the last year of my high school life.
I did catch up quite a lot for what I had missed before, but I understood what I should have
done instead of slacking and procrastinating before, avoiding all the difficult tasks. Thus,
from the start of this year, I worked harder than I used to just to not leave any regrets in the
future. Thanks to this self-awareness, I did better and felt better in my foundation year in
university.