During the Covid-19 pandemic, We start our first online class of this course using Cisco Webex. Our lecturer, Dr. Mohd Nasir Bin Masroom gave each one of us to do a brief introduction about ourselves so that we can know our classmates since we cannot meet face-to-face at university.

What is Psychology?

After the introduction of all students, Dr. Mohd Nasir starts his lecture by introducing the word "psychology". This word comes from the psyche which means soul & spirit, and logos which means study. For ancient definition, psychology refers to the study of the element of spirit. But for modern psychologists, they believe in something that can be observed and exist, so they remove spirit in the definition of psychology. Dr. Mohd Nasir explained that psychology defined as a scientific study of mind and behaviour. Psychology is the science that studies behaviour and the psychological and mental process that underlies it. 

For me, I think that psychology is a study about human's thinking through the observation of human's behaviour. We observe human's behaviour to understand the mental process (mind) behind it. Psychology helps human to understand the emotions and feelings of each other. Dr.Mohd Nasir also stated that human and animal have similar psychological aspects. Thus psychologists prefer to study animal because they can exert more control over the factors influencing the animal's behaviour. At the end of today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir concluded this lesson with 3 keywords, mind/ thinking, behaviour and feelings which are the trilogy of psychology.

Trilogy of Psychology

1. Mind / Thinking                                         

2. Behaviour                                       

3. Feeling

In conclusion, I have learned about psychology in more details as Dr. Mohd Nasir gave a lot of real-life examples when explaining the theory of psychology. It makes me look forward to the next lesson.

For the lesson of last week, we discussed both ancient and modern definitions of psychology. For today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Narir revised a little bit about last's lesson which is the differences between the ancient and modern definitions.

What is Adjustment?

This lesson began with an explanation of the definition of adjustment. The meaning of adjustment refers to the behavioral process by which humans and other animals maintain an equilibrium among their various needs or between their needs and the obstacles of their environments. Dr. Mohd Nasir said that the concept of adjustment was originally borrowed from biology, which is the biological term adaptation. Adaptation defined as an effort by a species to adjust to changes in its environment to fulfill the needs and maintain a balance between their needs. For example, a person who changes a new job makes an adjustment in his/her life to adapts to his/her new job environment. Besides, Dr. Mohd Nasir mentioned the adjustment processes which are motive, non-fulfillment, varied activities, and response.  

Moreover, Dr. Mohd Nasir explained the social and physiological adjustment. Social adjustment is the way of communicating with others while physiological adjustment refers to mind, behaviour and thinking. Dr. Mohd Nasir said that people strive to be comfortable in their surroundings and to have their psychological needs such as love and affirmation met through the social network they inhabit.

In conclusion, I think that adjustment is important for us to manage or cope with the demands and challenges of everyday life. We have to learn how to adjust to maintain a balance between the needs of the current state and adapt to the new environment, and between the self and others in the large community. Life is in continuous change, so adjusting is a constant finding balance process. 

What is Happiness?

For today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir discussed the meaning of happiness with us. He asked us what is happiness for us. Some of us said that money and food in life are happiness. While some of us said that have no worries in life is happiness. Dr. Mohd Nasir mentioned that real happiness does not only come from external factors such as money and food, it also comes from feelings of a deep heart. In fact, happiness is not necessarily an internal or external experience but can be both.

Based on research, we can know that overall happiness strongly related to love, relationship satisfaction, work and personality. Besides, there are a few factors moderately impact the overall happiness which are health, social activity, religious belief and culture. However, money, age and intelligence surprisingly have a weak association with overall happiness. 

Before we ended today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir asked us to do research on the definition of happiness from a religious perspective. I made a research on the definition of happiness from Buddha's perspective. Below is the summary from my study of an article (https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/buddha/) :

For Buddha, the path to happiness starts from an understanding of the root causes of suffering. To stay away from suffering, the Eightfold Path and Four Noble Truths are important to achieve happiness in life. The Eightfold Path is a practical and systematic way out of ignorance, eliminating dukkha (mental dysfunction) from minds and lifestyles through mindful thoughts and actions. It helps to achieve “tranquility” and “insight” as the mental qualities that would lead to Nirvana, the Ultimate Reality. 

Besides, Buddhism pursues happiness by using knowledge and practice to achieve mental equanimity. Equanimity or peace of mind is achieved by detaching oneself from the cycle of craving that produces dukkha. By achieving a mental state where detach from all the passions, needs, and wants of life, the way is to free yourself and achieve a state of transcendent bliss and well-being. In particular, the areas of mental cultivation, which include the right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, and compassion are the mental skills used for achieving happiness in life.

In conclusion, for buddha, happiness depends on what we have thought in daily life. Buddha stated that we can never be completely happy as permanent happiness comes from a deep equanimity from within.

Dr. Mohd Nasir began today's lesson by sharing the summaries from some of the students based on their research on the definition of happiness from a religious perspective. I concluded that real happiness comes from inner happiness, not come from the materials. Happiness depends on what you have thought.

What is Self-Concept?

After that, Dr. Mohd Nasir asked us to describe ourselves. I described myself as a person who always thinks positively. Dr. Modh Nasir explained the purpose of asking us to describe ourselves. He said that people will explain their inner characteristics, what and how they think, their weaknesses or strengths when someone asks them to describe themselves. In fact, people will not describe their physical looks because it is appearances that can be seen by everyone. Hence, he concluded that inner characteristics such as thinking are more important than external characteristics in life. 

From the activity of describing ourselves, Dr. Mohd Nasir makes a connection and then relates to self-concept. Self-concept is a single entity but a multifaceted structure. It refers to an organized collection of beliefs about the self. Beliefs refer to self-schemas (mindset), shape social perception is developed from past experiences and is concerned with personality. Dr. Mohd Nasir also explained that self-concept entails belief about personality, which refers to what you think and believe to be true about yourself. Self-concept included consciousness of weaknesses and strengths.

Besides, Dr. Mohd Nasir explained the self-concept from the perspectives of William James & Charles Cooley. William James has shown his perspective about self-concept in the Duality of Self while Charles Cooley mentioned the Social Self. In addition, Dr. Mohd Nasir explained about self-esteem. It is the way you look at yourself, feeling good about yourself, accepted and believe in yourself and it is also referred to as a personality trait.

In conclusion, I think that self-concept shown in traits, abilities, physical features, values, goals and social roles. People have self-schemas on dimensions that are important to them, including both strengths and weaknesses. Belief will deliver on behaviour, thus self-concept can be seen through the observation of behaviour. 

In today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir continued with the discussion of self-concept. He revised back about the last's lesson which is the definition and nature of the self.

What is Self-Discrepancy?

Self-discrepancy is an element of self-concept. It is the mismatch between the ideal self and actual self, and the mismatch between self-perceptions that make up the actual self, ideal self and ought self. Dr. Mohd Nasir explained that ideal and ought self serve as personal standards or self-guides that direct to the behaviour. The ideal self is the intention and assumptions about yourself. He said that some people may suffer from psychological problems if they cannot become the ideal self. For example, you intend to become a singer but you can't succeed in the end. Besides, Dr. Mohd Nasir shared some types of self-discrepancy, the effect on emotional state and the possible consequences. 

Besides, Dr. Mohd Nasir encouraged us to accept our whole self, which are the physical appearance, inner self, psychological emotions, thinking and spiritual aspects. He hoped that we can have awareness of the psychological problems when we can't accept ourselves sometimes and may suffer from depression. He suggested us to not make comparisons with others which will make us stress. He encouraged us to tell the problems to our family or friends to find a solution together if we face problems. He also asked us to develop inner confidence. It is important to improve self-esteem.

What is Self-Esteem?

Self-esteem refers to how you think about yourself. It is a global self-evaluation that blends many specific evaluations about one's adequacy. It is the result of self-evaluation. It shows one's overall assessment of one's worth as a person. Moreover, Dr. Mohd Narir discussed the differences between people with low and high self-esteem. People with high self-esteem will feel liked and accepted, they proud of what they do and believe in themselves. They are confident and taking credit for their successes in various ways while seeking a venue for demonstrating skills. At the same time, they create personal strategies for downplaying or ignoring negative criticism. In contrast, people with low self-esteem will feel bad about themselves, hard on themselves and they always think not good enough. They are more confused and tentative. 

In conclusion, I think that accept ourselves is important in terms of happiness. We have to learn how to adjust from the past mistakes and make changes to our thinking. Before the end of today's lesson,  Dr. Mohd Nasir suggested us to list down our positive and negative thoughts as a personal assessment to know about ourselves in more detail. From there, we may know the reasons of why we feel sad. He also explained the importance of reflection. It is important for us to realize who we are, what we do and think.  In this way, we can know our strengths and weaknesses, then we can manage ourselves.

In today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir revised back about the last lesson, which is self-esteem. He continued the discussion on self-esteem. After that, he broke all of us into each breakout session in Webex to automatically form groups and do the group discussion. The task is to discuss the specific topic in each group and prepares 5 slides based on the outcome of the group discussion.

Group Discussion

I am assigned to breakout session 1.  Below are my group members :

The topic of our group discussion is the symptoms and signs of a person who has low self-esteem.

Before starting our group discussion on the topic, we discuss and assign our group leader. As the result, Wan Nuraina Anisah is our group leader. After that, we start discussing our topic. We do research online and refer to some articles. Below are the outcomes of our group discussion :

Symptoms and signs of a person who has low self-esteem :

1. Negative Self Perception

• Negative thinking
• Tend to think of themselves negatively
• Think people would not like/accept them for who they are
• Feeling bad about what they do

2. Depression & Anxiety

• Depression leads to loss of interest and feeling upset suddenly without having any apparent reason for it.
• Depression can be caused by a number of things and low self-esteem is one of them.
• Cannot get happy with anything
• Worry about life, even things that have passed and things that are going to happen
• Anxiety can lead to excessive nervousness, fear and worry. Even though it's a healthy feeling if it's extreme it can negatively impact the individual.

3. Feeling guilty

• Not feeling deserving about their own value.
• Every fault is their responsibility.

4. Unconfident

• Self-doubt
• Do not proud of themselves

5. Confused

• Do not know the meaning of life
• No motivation in life
• Unsure of the way forward for his/her own life

6. Difficulty making their own choices

• People make decisions, but after they make them, they don't stick to their choices
• Feeling everything he/she made is a mistake.
• After making a choice and beginning to wonder if not being chosen by yourself is actually the right choice

Before the end of today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir asked a representative from each group to share the summaries based on their findings. Yee Zi Wei is the presenter of our group. She represents our group to present the outcome of our group discussion. After listening to the presentation from other groups, I know that their topic is also related to self-esteem, such as the factors of low self-esteem, how to develop healthy self-esteem, the characteristics of a person who has high self-esteem and how to build self-esteem. I gain some knowledge by listening to the presentation from other groups. Below are the summaries of presentation from other groups :

How to build self-esteem?
1. Celebrate every small matter and milestones.

2. Welcome our flaws and failure as part of growth.

3. It is okay to be not perfect, we can improve.

4. Get along with positive people.

5. Recognize that you control your self-image.

6. Learn more about yourself.

7. Don't let others set your goals.

8. Recognize unrealistic goals.

9. Modify negative self-talk.

10. Emphasize your strengths.

11. Approach others with a positive outlook.

The girl develops self-esteem later than boys because girls have more negative assessments of their physical characteristics and intellectual abilities than boys when they are younger. But when both genders grow up, both female and male can have the same self-esteem level, it just that the things that they have self-esteem is different for example female can do better in a verbal task while the male can do better in a spatial task.

In conclusion, we should avoid low self-esteem in our life. Since we are the manager of our life, we should put some effort into developing healthy self-esteem. To having a happy life, we should become a person who has high self-esteem.

In today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir began with a questionnaire session. We are asked to answer a set of questions that are related to self-efficacy. We have to answer with a scale, on which scale 1 represents strongly disagree while scale 4 represents strongly agree. This scale is a self-report measure of self-efficacy. The result is the total score ranges between 10 and 40, with a higher score indicating more self-efficacy. The General Self-Efficacy Scale is correlated to emotion, optimism, work satisfaction. Negative coefficients were found for depression, stress, health, complaints, burnout, and anxiety.

Self-Efficacy

After that, Dr. Mohd Nasir explained that self-efficacy has a close connection with self-esteem. Self-efficacy refers to self-confidence or the level of confidence in ourselves. It is the individual's belief in his/her capacity to execute behaviours necessary to produce specific performance attainments. These beliefs referred to cognitive self-evaluation, which is the power of the mind and how to control our thoughts. It also reflects confidence in the ability to apply control over one's own motivation, behaviour and social environment. Dr. Mohd Nasir said that general self-efficacy is the overall belief in your ability to succeed either in academic or sports area.

According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is "the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations. Self-efficacy is the determinant of how people think, behave and feel. It is also a person's belief in ability to succeed in a particular situation.

Moreover, Dr. Mohd Nasir explained about the locus of control. It is where you believe the power to alter your life events resides : within you (internal locus of control) or outside of you (external locus of control). It is the way on how you manage your thoughts. The people with an internal locus of control are independent and having belief in their own abilities. While the people with an external locus of control do not have a solid sense of belief in their own abilities and always depend on others.

I have found an article that helps me to get more understanding of self-efficacy : https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-efficacy-2795954. Below shown my findings.

People with a strong sense of self-efficacy :

• Develop a deeper interest in the activities in which they participate
• Form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities
• Recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments
• View challenging problems as tasks to be mastered

People with a weak sense of self-efficacy :

• Avoid challenging tasks
• Believe that difficult tasks and situations are beyond their capabilities
• Focus on personal failings and negative outcomes
• Quickly lose confidence in personal abilities

Some examples of strong self-efficacy include :

• A man who is struggling to manage his chronic illness but feels confident that he can get back on track and improve his health by working hard and following his doctor's recommendations.
• A student who feels confident that she will be able to learn the information and do well on a test.
• A woman who has just accepted a job position in a role she has never performed before but feels that she has the ability to learn and perform her job well.

After I do research online, I found that people with low self-efficacy will lead people to believe tasks to be harder than they actually are, which causes poor task planning and increased stress. They tend toward discouragement and giving up.  For people with high self-efficacy, they will attribute failure to external factors. They have greater efforts to face obstacles in their life. 

In addition, Dr. Mohd Nasir explained how to improve self-efficacy. According to Bandura, there are four main sources of self-efficacy beliefs.

1. Mastery experiences : the experiences we gain when we take on a new challenge and succeed. The best way to learn a skill or improve our performance by practice (capability of acquiring new skills)

2. Vicarious experiences : Observe, emulate and absorb the positive beliefs about the self from role models who display a healthy level of self-efficacy. Vicarious experiences come from a wide range of sources, including parents, teachers and friends.

3. Verbal persuasion : factor describes the positive impact that our words can have on someone's self-efficacy.

4. Emotional and Physiological states : the importance of context and overall health and well-being in the development and maintenance of self-efficacy. It is easier to boost your self-efficacy when you are healthy and well !

Dr. Mohd Nasir added on one more source, which is imaginal experiences. It is a visualization that allows you to imagine your future success in detail to help you for building the belief that succeeding is indeed possible. Dr. Mohd Nasir explained that visualization is important in overcoming the challenges in front of you so that you feel like you taste it in reality.

Furthermore, Dr. Mohd Nasir emphasized that we have to understand ourselves and know our self-awareness before determining our self-esteem and self-efficacy. If you feel your low self-efficacy harm or ruins your life, you have to immediately make some changes to adjust it, such as develop or increase self-confidence.

In conclusion, self-efficacy is the belief in your ability or capacity to meet challenges ahead of you and complete a task successfully. People with low self-efficacy tend to blame themselves whereas people with high self-efficacy will blame external factors. We have to ensure that we are happy all the time so that we can prevent ourselves from depression. We need to develop and increase our self-confidence, and we have to believe in our own ability to succeed. That's the importance of self-efficacy.

Middle Semester Break (Mid-Sem Break)

Finally have a week of holiday. Happy Holiday!

Today's lesson is the lesson after the middle semester break. Dr. Mohd Nasir began the lesson today with the revision about the self, self-esteem and self-efficacy. After that, he explained about the personality. He made a connection between the self and personality. 

Personality

Dr. Mohd Nasir explained that personality is the combination of thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Some of the scholars said that personality is our character, which includes our characteristics, attributes, thinking, thoughts, self-esteem and self-efficacy. 

Variables Influencing Individual Behaviour =  Person + Environment = Behaviour, B = f (P,E)

Propositions of Interactional Psychology

Person - active in the process

--> Changed by situations

--> Changes situations

People vary in many characteristics.

Two situational interpretations

--> The objective situation

--> Person's subjective view of the situation

Personality can be developed in the environment. Behaviour is the function of a continuous, multi-directional interaction between person and situation. In short, the behaviour is the outcome/result of the interactions between the inner self processes such as the personality, value and thinking, with the environment. Dr. Mohd Nasir mentioned that the behaviour which derived from the inner self and personality can remain for a long time compared to the behaviour which derived from the environment. 

So, what is personality?

Personality is a relatively stable set of characteristics that influences an individual's behaviour. Dr. Mohd Nasir clarified that personality refers to an individual's unique constellation. Personality is unique among people based on the different way of thinking. In summary, Dr. Mohd Nasir used the idea of personality to explain (1) the stability in a person's behaviour over time and across situations (consistency) and (2) the behaviour differences among people reacting to the same situation (distinctiveness). 

Personality Theories

1. Trait Theory - understand individuals by breaking down behaviour patterns into observable traits

2. Psychodynamic Theory - emphasizes the unconscious determinants of behaviour

3. Humanistic Theory - emphasizes individual growth and improvement

4. Integrative Approach - describes personality as a composite of an individual's psychological processes

Personality Characteristics in Organizations

Locus of Control: the forces which motivate us to do something

1. Internal - thoughts, feelings, own responsibilities

2. External - depends on behaviours, actions, decisions

A strong situation can overwhelm the effects of individual personalities by providing strong cues for appropriate behaviours. Strong personalities will dominate in a weak situation. 

Big Five Personality Traits

How is Personality Measured?

1. Projective Test - elicits an individual's response to abstract stimuli

2. Behavioral Measures - personality assessments that involve observing an individual's behaviour in a controlled situation

3. Self-Report Questionnaire - assessment involving an individual's responses to questions

At the end of today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir asked us to do a personality test related to the Big Five Personality Traits. (http://bit.do/Big5). It is a set of questions ready for us to give responses. From here, we can measure and understand our personality. Below is the result of my personality test.

In conclusion, personality is describing who am I in terms of character by observing the behaviours. It can affect by the environment and people around us such as parents and friends. Understanding our own personality can help us to clearly determine the goals either life goals or career goals without regret.

In today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nassir began with the revision of the lesson of last week. As we have done the personality test, Dr. Mohd Nassir asked some of us to share the result of our personality test.

From the sharing, I know that different personalities will result in different thinking and behaviours. In the same situation, everybody behaves differently based on their different personalities and thinking.

What are the Big Five Personality Traits ?

Personality is unique to everyone. It includes preferences, mannerisms and behaviour, which play an important role in friendships, relationships, career and hobbies. The Big Five model represents the five major personality traits. Dr. Mohd Nassir explained each of the personality traits with a high and low score.

1. Conscientiousness - describes a careful, detail-oriented nature

High score

- keep things in order

- come prepared to school or work

- goal-driven

- persistent

Low score

- less organized

- complete tasks in a less structured way

- take things as they come

- finish things at the last minute

- impulsive

2. Agreeableness - desire to keep things running smoothly

High score

- always ready to help out

- caring and honest

- interested in the people around them

- believe the best about others

Low score

- stubborn

- find it difficult to forgive mistakes

- self-centered

- have less compassion for others

3. Neuroticism - describes a tendency to have unsettling thoughts and feelings

High score

- often feel vulnerable or insecure

- get stressed easily

- struggle with difficult situations

- have mood swings

Low score

- keep calm in stressful situations

- more optimistic

- worry less

- more stable mood

4. Openness - a sense of curiosity about others and the world

High score

- enjoy trying new things

- be more creative

- have a good imagination

- be willing to consider new ideas

Low score

- prefer to do things in a familiar way

- avoid change

- more traditional in their thinking 

5. Extraversion - the energy draw from social interactions

High score

- seek excitement or adventure

- make friends easily

- speak without thinking

- enjoy being active with others

Low score

- have a hard time making small talk or introducing themselves

- feel worn out after socializing

- avoid large groups

- are more reserved

Moreover, Dr. Mohd Nassir reminded us that personality is incredibly complex. There are no right or wrong traits, each trait is linked to unique strength. These results are not any kind of definitive statement about our personality. They may even change based on a range of factors, from our mood that day to whether we have got an important, nerve-wracking event coming up in the near future.

In conclusion, I understand that conducting the personality test is the way of understanding our personality. The result of the personality test is not an official statement that determines and describes our real personality, it only gives us an idea about our personality, thinking and behaviours. We can make an adjustment to our personality, thinking and behaviours based on different environment.

Psychology Adjustment Quiz

PSYCHOLOGY ADJUSTMENT QUIZ (30%)

Time: 11.10am - 12.40pm

- This quiz uses the Google Form platform

- Open Notes Quiz

- Consist of Multi-Type Questions

> Multi-Choice Questions

> Short Essay (briefly)

> Long Essay (explain, describe)

Stress

In today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nassir began with the explanation about the individual assignment that he distributed to us last week since we have many inquiries regarding the individual assignment.  After that, he broke all of us into each breakout session in Webex to automatically form groups and do the group discussion. The task is to discuss the specific topic in each group and prepares 5 points based on the outcome of the group discussion.

Group Discussion

I am assigned to breakout session 3.  Below are my group members :

The topic of our group discussion is the emotional signs of stress.

Before starting our group discussion on the topic, we discuss and assign our group leader. As the result, Zuhair is our group leader. After that, we start discussing our topic. We do research online and refer to some articles. Below are the outcomes of our group discussion :

Emotional Signs of Stress:

1. Trouble of sleeping or sleeping too much

• Basically, if a person is too emotional over something or thinking a lot about the problem, he/she couldn’t sleep
• In other cases, to avoid thinking about the problem or avoid being emotional he/she sleeps for too long to take a break from all worries and problems

2. Depression & Anxiety

• When someone is facing stress, the person will fall into depression and anxiety.
• The person will constantly worry about everything that happened in his/her life.
• The person will feel confused about the target of his/her life and thus unmotivated and unfocused.
• The person is unable to achieve goals in his/her life.

3. Irritability

• Which is someone easily feels irritate with his or her surrounding.
• They feel like want to let go of their anger whenever this situation happens.
• They always feel that all the people around them are annoying which can easily make them irritated.

4. Memory and concentration problem

• Someone that easily gets distracted and hard to focus on something.
• Sometimes, they can easily forget something.
• For example, if students currently in stressful conditions, they often forget what did they just learn in class.

5. Making bad decisions

• When a person is too emotional, their minds and thoughts very clumsy and mostly their decision went wrong.
• Example: suicide, avoid make contacts with people

Before the end of today's lesson, Dr. Mohd Nasir asked a representative from each group to share the summaries based on their findings. Zuhair is the presenter of our group. He represents our group to present the outcome of our group discussion. After listening to the presentation from other groups, I know that their topic is also related to stress, such as the cognitive symptoms of stress, causes of stress, behavioral and physical signs of stress. I gain some knowledge by listening to the presentation from other groups. Below shown one of the topics from other groups :

How to manage stress?

• Exercise - Working out regularly is one of the best ways to relax your body and mind
• Eating Healthy - A healthy diet can lessen the effects of stress, build up your immune system, level your mood, and lower your blood pressure
• Take a break - Be kind to yourself
• Make time for hobbies - Try to do something every day that makes you feel good, and it will help relieve your stress
• Connect with People - Maintain connections with other people, Reach out to someone for help, Talk to a therapist

In conclusion, Dr. Mohd Nasir stated that stress sometimes can become motivation, it depends on how the person looks at stress. We cannot neglect and underestimate the stress which may impact our lives. It is important to manage the stress and find a way to release out the stress, then keep motivated to move on with life.