SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOLFOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: MOY CHIN HOONG

STUDENT ID NO: 0314014

MODULE: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (PSYC0103)

TITLE ASSIGNMENT: JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT 1

LECTURER: MISS PANG CHIA YEE

SUBMISSION DATE: 20TH NOVEMBER 2013

Entry 1

Self-Concept is the specific belief that we describe ourselves. We always see and

define ourselves at the center stage which this situation is called spotlight effect.

Furthermore, I have realized that people always mispredict their “true” feeling in this lecture.

So, we should have at least a best friend who we can share out everything to him or her, and

therefore they can help us in making decisions especially important decisions. This is to

prevent us from making wrong decisions and sometimes the decisions can bring us into

troubles.

Furthermore, the Power of Positive Thinking was also taught during the lecture. It is

very important that to have a positive thinking whenever we due with difficulties. This is to

prevent us from being depressed; and usually people with positive thinking will live healthier

and they are more successful.

Throughout the lecture of “Self-Concept”, I have a better understanding on my friends

and also myself. This is because we formed a group of 6 people and talked about this topic.

Each of us was given the task to write down 5 “I am…” and then share with the other group

members. The group discussion was a chance for us to sit together and chit-chat because all

of us are always busying with our assessments nowadays. In addition, it was a motivating

lecture because the lecture was fun and interesting. And, the most important parts are it made

all of us not falling asleep and thus paid more attention to the lecture.

Entry 2

After attending the lecture of The Powers and Perils of Intuition, I was finally realized

that our thinking is partially automatic and partially controlled. Automatic thinking is you

think unconsciously and without putting any effort. Automatic thinking is applied when we

do not need to analyze the situation because we have experienced that situation before. But,

controlled thinking is the way more different from the automatic thinking and it is used when

we first meet with the situation that we never experienced before. And, controlled thinking is

usually conscious and reflective.

Besides, a group activity was carried out at the beginning of this lecture. All of us

were asked to form a big circle and tell everyone about our first impressions and current

feelings towards our friends. I was mentioned by one of my friends and he said that my first

impression for him was “I am a hard working person”. But, seriously I do not feel so; maybe

I am just putting serious expression on my face? Moreover, it was my turn and is time for me

to say out my first impression to one of my Arabian friend, Parham. Unfortunately, the “gay”

word just popped out in my mind and I told him. Why? When I first met him in our first

lecture for Creative Thinking Skills in Semester 1, all his actions, the way he communicates

to others is a little sissy, for me. But, we became friends after few lessons and I found out that

he was a normal man! These two situations showed that first impressions are always

inaccurate.

Entry 3

It was the 5th lecture for social psychology and we learnt about the visual. This topic is

basically about the psychology of colors. Different colors do stand for different kind of

meanings. For instance, black is bad; and red has the meaning of romantics.

As black has the affective meaning of “bad”, I think I should make some changes on

the colors of my room. This is because my bedroom was painted in white and all the furniture

are in black color in order to have the simple and nice appearance. So, some changes of the

color should be made to make the bedroom looks more alive. The first change I would make

is to paint my bedroom into light green color. Why is that green color? This is due to green

color does have the good meaning such as tranquility and healthy. Therefore, it can make my

bedroom more alive and green color is good to our eyes as well.

Beside that, the furniture should have some other color instead of all in black. For

examples, some red color furniture like chair and dustbin should be added in, so that the room

will appear to look sharp and lively. In addition, the combination of red and black has the

affective meaning of strong.

On the other hand, I have learnt about visual illusions in this topic. Visual illusions is

the misinterpretation of the appearance of visual stimulants which actually having the same

physical reality. This reminds me that do not make any judgment by only looking on the

appearance. Let’s say if there are two lines on the paper, we cannot confirm that whether the

two lines are in similar length or not until we really go and measure it.