This document contains journal entries from a student describing their group's fundraising event that did not go as planned. Their group was supposed to set up a booth at a concert to sell drinks but arrived late due to transportation issues caused by one group member not showing up on time. They had to set up their booth in a poor location and sales were lower than expected. The student reflects on how attribution theory and counterfactual thinking apply to the situation and their emotional response.
2. October 14, 2012 [PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT 1]]
Yam Yih Hwan (0305861) FNBE (Semester 2) July’12 Intake 2
Entry 2
On 10th
October 2012, my group mates and I had come up with a plan for our final
assessment, Run for Charity, for Introduction to Businessin order toraisefunds total of RM1500.
As mentioned, there will be a concert upcoming at Stadium Merdeka on 13th
October 2012.We
are scheduled to reach there in between 4pm to 5pm since the concert will began at 7.30pm. On
that day, one of our group mates suddenly informed us that, he couldn’t make it by that time
because he will be attending a Marathon in Kuala Lumpur, Nike We Run KL. He told us he can
only arrive there by 8pm. By that time, I was really mad at him as he is the only one with
transport that day. Now, I need to figure a way to transport those cans drink, ice box, tables to
the appointed place. I have no other options but to request my aunt to fetch me and my remaining
group mates there. As we were scheduled to reach there by 4-5pm to set up everything, the plan
was interrupted because there’s a complication in transport. We were able to make it by 6pm, but
we were hardly able to seek a spot for our booth since we are late and it’s raining on that day.
Finally, the booth had set by a sloppy roadside and there we began selling cans drink. After 4-5
hours of hard work trying to get people to buy our products, the sales isn’t what we expected, it’s
worse than what we imagined. Not to forget, the one that said he will arrive by 8pm didn’t show
up after all. End up; we have to call up a taxi to bring our stuffs back.
On that day, I had used the concept “Dispositional & Situational Attributions” and “Actor-
Observer Bias”. As the observer, I tend to attribute his behavior in a certain way because of
something about himself, known as internal attribution. I concluded that he’s being irresponsible
and lazy that day for not attending the event. Somehow, it could lead to making a Fundamental
Attribution Error. As he’s the actor, he tends to attribute himself for behaving in a certain way
3. October 14, 2012 [PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT 1]]
Yam Yih Hwan (0305861) FNBE (Semester 2) July’12 Intake 3
because of something about the situation he’s in, known as external attribution.The day after the
event, he told me that during the Marathon, they are informed to put their belongings in a lorry
and collect it after the run. There are thousands of participants that day, so the time for them to
collect their belongings are delayed. At the meantime, he couldn’t find his belongings and was
worried about it. So, he’s unable to attend the event after that.
Moreover, I had applied the concept “Counterfactual Thinking”. On that day, I’m been
having lots of counterfactual thoughts regarding the event. It affected my emotional reactions as
“If only we have transport; we could have arrived earlier, and gets a better spot. We could have
sold more cans drink.” Even its 30 minutes earlier, the outcomes could be better compared to
what we had right now.