University Psychology: Learning Journal 2 - Key Concepts Explored

This Learning Journal 2 explores key concepts in social psychology, including self and identity, prejudice and discrimination, and attraction and close relationships. The student reflects on the previous assignments, highlighting the importance of understanding social psychology for better comprehension of societal behaviors. The journal delves into self-esteem, narcissism, and their impact on individuals, and also discusses prejudice, racism, and the role of bystander intervention. Furthermore, the journal examines the factors that contribute to friendship and attraction, as well as the role of online love in contemporary society. The student emphasizes the significance of these concepts for emotional and mental growth, and their role in resolving conflicts and promoting peace within society. The journal concludes by reiterating the importance of social support, love, and friendship for human well-being.

Learning Journal 2
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:
NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2- WORD COUNT:

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Reflection.........................................................................................................................................2
Self and Identity...............................................................................................................................3
Prejudice and Discrimination..........................................................................................................5
Attraction and Close Relationships.................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9
1 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

Introduction
Human beings are social animals and they feel emotions like love, attraction, hate, and
various others (Griffin, Passer, & Myers, 2005). The human beings often question the nature of
their identity as well as self and they often feel dissatisfied if they do not get satisfactory answers
as regards to the nature of their identity and self (Griffin, Passer, & Myers, 2005). Prejudice and
discrimination is another common feature of the human race. The concept of prejudice is a very
broad one and can be related to various aspects of the day-day life of the various individuals. It is
to be noted that discrimination is a result of the prejudice, which people normally have as regards
to the other people. Therefore, it can be said that discrimination as well as prejudice are the two
sides of the same coin. Human beings by virtue of their existence in the society sometimes feel
attraction towards other members of the society and therefore, the social bond of friendship often
develops among them. The concept of friendship as well as love therefore, are the two sides of
the same coin just like prejudice as well as discrimination are the two sides of the same coin.
Reflection
I would like to say that when I initially started doing my “Learning Journal 1”, I was not
much sure as to how I should go about the assignment and whether the assignment completed by
me would be as per quality standard requirements of our professor or not. However, the
feedback, which I got from our professor after the submission of the learning journal at least
made me sure that I was heading in the right direction. The previous assignments like the ones on
“Self and Identity”, “Prejudice and Discrimination”, “Attraction and Close Relationships” gave
me a lot of relevant information and help me understand our society in a much better manner. It
also provided me with some insight into the various behavioral aspects of the people in our
2 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

society and the reasons for the way people normally act and why they act in such a manner.
Therefore, the exercises in my previous assignments have provided me with a better outlook of
our present society and I would definitely like to use those concepts in my day-day life. The
previous assignments made me realize that social psychology is an important aspect of every life
and a proper understanding of the various factors related to the various process of psychology is
essential for a proper as well as effective understanding of the present society. Therefore, I can
say that previous assignments not only added to my intellectual understanding of our present but
also to the psychological understanding of the same.
Self and Identity
Individuals, often tend to create an identity for themselves not for the purpose of their
representation to the world not only in front of the world but also for themselves (Griffin, Passer,
& Myers, 2005). It is seen that people often choose certain things, which they like and which
they do not and based on that they try to create an identity or a self for the purposes of
representation (Myers, & Twenge, 2017). However, it is often seen that the lines between the
actual self and the self created by the individual for the purposes of representation often gets
blurred and the two converge to become a single entity (Myers, & Twenge, 2017). Self esteem is
an important part of the entire concept of “Self and identity”. It provides the individuals with a
ground or platform on which they can judge themselves (Jenkins, 2014). In other words, it can
also be said to be the kind of opinion that each person holds not for others but for themselves
(Jenkins, 2014).
I find the concept of self esteem to be a very interesting as it allows each and every
individual to hold some particular opinion about themselves or to form a basic idea about
3 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

themselves about their capabilities, qualities, talents and various other attributes (Jenkins, 2014).
It is interesting to note that these opinion of the individual can be negative as well as positive and
they can either be similar to the opinion about them held by the other individuals or they can be
radically different from them (Rosenberg, 1989).
It is often seen that having a good self esteem of themselves is a good but it should not
lead to narcissism which is often considered to be extreme form of positive self esteem
(Rosenberg, 1989). Narcissism can lead to serious problems as was seen in the case of Adolf
Hitler, who had too much of positive self esteem or more appropriately narcissism (Jenkins,
2014). An interesting point to note is that the present society is witnessing an increase in amount
of narcissism, which people generally have for themselves (Lawson et al., 2010). It is a reflection
of this that even around ourselves we find that the number of narcissist people have increased. A
few days while I was walking backing back home from shopping I noticed a man trying to fix the
chain of his bicycle in the incorrect manner. I noticed that and offered to help, but the person was
so narcissist that he refused even to accept the little fact that he could not fix properly.
The concept of self esteem is very much relevant to the present day world as well as
society. It is to be noted that having a positive self esteem is a very good as it helps in boosting
the confidence level of an individual and helps him or her to do things in a better manner.
Negative self esteem often de-motivates individuals and does not allow them to perform as well
as do things as per their normal standards or capabilities. Therefore, having the right kind of self
esteem is very essential for effective performance. However, having too much of positive self
esteem can even lead to negative effects as it leads to narcissism (Quenqua, 2013). It is often
noticed that the people around ourselves because of various reasons like the technological
4 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

advancements, better standards of life and various other factors have become narcissists and that
is indirectly affecting the society.
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice can be defined as an adverse opinion or judgement formed by an individual
beforehand or without the prior knowledge of the actual or the proper facts. It is to be noted that
the prejudice often leads to the various acts of discrimination which people from various diverse
ethnic groups, different cultural backgrounds, skin color, caste and on other diverse aspects face
from the others (Lawson et al., 2010). Racism can be defined as the injustice or the unethical as
well as the immoral acts, which are committed by one set of people, who generally consider
themselves to be superior to the other kinds of people to whom the various acts of injustices is
committed. It is to be noted that the acts of racism are ethically as well as morally unjust and
they have been declared illegal by the constitutions of the majority of the nations. Therefore, the
prevention of such acts of racism is very important as they often entail acts of violence along
with them.
Racism is a social evil, which many the governments of various nations have already
banned with a view to reduce this social evil (Nelson, Dunn & Paradies, 2011). However, the
active participation as well as the co-operation of the other members of the society is also
important for reducing the amount of racism faced by the victims (Plous, 2000). One process by
means of which the social evil of racism can be reduced is by-stander racism, which involves the
process of active protests as well as actions against the acts of racism on the part of the
surrounding people (Nelson, Dunn & Paradies, 2011). This process can help to reduce the
amount of racism that is being faced by thousands of people from all over the world (Nelson,
5 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

Dunn & Paradies, 2011). It is interesting to note that recently there was an incidence of racism in
Australia, where some Asian tourists had to face discrimination in a moving bus (Elder, 2015).
The process of effective bystander racism could have helped the Asian tourists.
This particular topic is important to the present world as well as the society in which I
live in, as even in the present age it is seen that many people still believe in the concept of
racism. The result of this is the fact that the various innocent people had to face the cruel effects
of racism and the violence, which is closely associated with the process. Therefore, a reduction
in amount of racism, which is being faced by the innocent individuals is of paramount
importance. It must be noted that the government alone is not responsible for the control of the
racism faced by the innocent people, the people also should take some responsibility for the
control of the process by taking active part in the process of bystander racism.
Attraction and Close Relationships
Human beings are social animals and therefore they need to form effective social bonds
for the process of surviving in the social environment of the society. It is here that the concepts
of love, friendship, relationships and various other entities become very important. Many people
consider friendship to be one of very basic needs of an individual and an essential necessity for
the proper emotional growth as well as development of the individual. Similarly, love is another
basic emotional requirement of the various individuals in the society (Sternberg, 2017). In this
particular section, I would like to discuss the sub-topic “What leads to friendship and
attraction?”. This sub-topic provides many answers to the common questions that rises in the
mind of many individuals regarding the various aspects of friendship and attraction.
6 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

This sub-topic mentions four essential features that are the primary requirements of the
process of friendship. They are- proximity, mere exposure, similarity and interaction This section
deals with the various features related to the process of love and then moves on the various
aspects of love, in particular love over the internet (Finkel et al., 2012). In the present age, online
love is one of the most common aspects of our day-day life and there are more people who
consider the process of finding love over the various internet sources to be much better than
finding love through the normal and traditional way (Sternberg, 2017).
This sub-topic is particularly relevant to our present our society as both the concepts of
friendship as well as attraction are one of the very basic emotional requirements of the
individuals living in the society. These concepts are very important for the overall growth as well
as the development of the emotional as well as the mental capabilities of the individuals. The
present world is a world, which is full of various human as well as environmental conflicts and
only friendship as well as love possesses the adequate amount of power to resolve the various
conflicts faced by the individuals as well as the society at large. Therefore, in this context the
concept of love as well as friendship becomes very important as they not only help in the
emotional as well as mental growth of the individuals but they also help in upholding the peace
of the world.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it becomes clear that the human beings along with
the food as well as the physical requirements which they have, they also require the active
support, love, friendship, respects and various other attributes from the other members of the
society for the effective growth as well as the development of emotional and intellectual
7 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

faculties. It is to be noted that psychology plays an important role in the overall growth as well as
the development of the individual and if any one of the psychological conditions necessary for
the overall growth as well as the development of the individual is removed then the individual
would not be able to attain the maximum amount of emotional and intellectual growth.
8 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

References
Elder, J. (2015). United Patriots Front and No Room for Racism clash in central Melbourne. The Age:
Victoria. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/united-patriots-front-and-no-room-
for-racism-clash-in-central-melbourne-20151128-glaebb.html
Finkel, E., Eastwick, P., Karney, B., Reis, H., & Sprecher, S. (2012). Online Dating. Psychological
Science In The Public Interest, 13(1), 3-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1529100612436522
Griffin, T., Passer, M., & Myers, D.(2005). The individual in society. USA:Pearson.
Jenkins, R. (2014). Social identity. Routledge.
Lawson, T. J., McDonough, T. A., & Bodle, J. H. (2010). Confronting prejudiced comments:
Effectiveness of a role-playing exercise. Teaching of Psychology, 37(4)257-261.
Myers, D., & Twenge, J. (2017). Social psychology. NY: McGraw-Hill.
Nelson, J. K., Dunn, K. M. & Paradies, Y. (2011). Bystander anti-racism: A review of the literature.
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 11(1), 263-284. doi:10.1111/j.1530-
2415.2011.01274.x
Plous, S. (2000). Responding to overt displays of prejudice: A role-playing exercise. Teaching
Psychology, 27, (3),198 – 200.
Quenqua, D. (2013). Seeing narcissists everywhere. The New York Times: Science. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/science-narcissists everywhere.html?
pagewanted=all&_r=1
9 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT:

Rosenberg, M. (1989). Society and the Adolescent Self-Image (Rev. ed.). Hanover, NH: University Press
of New England.
Sternberg, R. (2017). Love. Robert J. Sternberg. Retrieved 20 January 2018, from
http://www.robertjsternberg.com/love/.
10 NAME: ID: LEARNING JOURNAL 2-WORD
COUNT: