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This was probably one of the most frustrating activities I have ever experienced. The task itself wasn’t difficult—it was more like annoying. The facilitation was about group dynamics, so the activity focused on teamwork. We were given a hair tie with pieces of yarn attached to it, and we had to use it together to move a ball from point A to point B. Sounds easy, right? WRONG!

Our group really struggled to get the ball into the hair tie, or even to keep it from falling off. On top of that, we lacked proper group dynamics from the start of the game. We kept hitting the tip of the bottle, which caused the ball to bounce away. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to properly guide the ball into the tie, but by then, another problem came up—the ball kept falling through the center because the tie had become too loose from constant stretching. This activity will really tests how clear you communicate and understand others as a group, as well as how thin your patience is.

I believe this activity was designed to observe whether a group would conform to and obey their leader. The title may sound misleading but were not actually painting a picture. Instead, we were asked to portray a scene given by the facilitator.

The activity began with the facilitators lining up several props. Each group had to race against the others to grab the props they wanted. After that, the facilitator gave us a specific scene that we had to portray. The group then had to quickly come up with a plan on how to use the props we collected and decide how each member would act out the scene. In this part of the activity, it seemed that the facilitators wanted to observe whether the group members would conform to the ideas of their leader regarding how the props should be used and how the scene should be performed. Once the timer ended, everyone had to freeze in their final pose.

“Who’s Swaying Who?” is a murder mystery game where players must persuade others that they are not the murderer. In this activity, we were given characters and roles to portray. My character was Caleb de Guzman, who is obsessed with the Legend of Ridge and is a fan of bus driver Carl.

The goal of the activity was to convince others that we were innocent or persuade the group that someone else was the murderer. We had to use clues scattered around the room and observe the attitudes and behavior of the other characters.

Yesterday, February 21, the second group conducted their activity facilitation about social beliefs and judgment. I arrived a few minutes late, but thankfully they were still explaining how the game worked.

On Thursday, February 19, we finally finished our facilitation for our Social Psychology class. I was honestly a complete nervous wreck the day before. I’m not even sure why I was so anxious, probably because I was overthinking every little detail. Thankfully, nothing major went wrong.

On January 12, 2026, we celebrated our Premed Day, where we created booths filled with fun activities to make meaningful memories, not only for others but for ourselves as well. When I was in my first year at Southwestern University PHINMA, I thought the booths were provided by the school and managed by the student government, so I did not really give it much thought.

However, when I reached third year, I realized the students would be the ones responsible for planning and setting up everything from scratch. So, for the whole week we were busy from morning until afternoon preparing our booth. We did not have regular classes because we needed enough time to complete our booth.

During the preparation of our booth, the class experienced conflicts and misunderstandings. We had to hold a meeting to address and resolve the issues. However, even after the meeting, some problems remained, so our teacher had to step in to clarify things and help us resolve the issue.

My favorite part of the entire experience was cleaning up the booth. It was much easier and less tiring than setting it up, and of course, it meant I could finally go home.

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In one class, a new student named Leo barely spoke. He had a different accent and kept to himself. One afternoon, a few classmates started whispering about him.

"He talks weird."

"Why does he always sit alone"

At first, it was just light teasing. Their initial inclination wasn’t serious, just small jokes to entertain each other.

But as more students joined in, the comments became harsher. Because they were a like-minded group, laughing at the same things, each joke became bolder than the last. Soon, they created a group chat just to share edited photos of him. What started as mild teasing turned into cruel mockery.

One day, during lunch, they surrounded his table. With many of them present, no one felt individually responsible. They laughed loudly, recorded videos, and posted them online. Being in a group made them feel anonymous. Their self-awareness decreased.

Even Sarah, who normally considered herself kind, laughed along. In the crowd, she didn’t feel like herself, she felt like part of “them.”

Later, when one student quietly said, “Maybe we should stop… this is too much,” the others quickly replied, “Relax, it’s just a joke.”

No one wanted to be seen as overly sensitive. Some students felt uncomfortable but stayed silent. There was clear pressure to conform, and the group convinced themselves Leo wasn’t really hurt.

The next week, he stopped coming to school.

When the classroom felt quieter without him, Sarah finally asked herself,

“Why didn’t I say anything?”

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Content: Group polarization, groupthink, self-censorship, deindividuation, pressure to comform, like-minded group, anonymity, decrease in awareness

Later, I understood this through the bystander effect. When many people are present, responsibility feels shared, so no one steps forward.

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I remember thinking, Why are you so different? Why do you look different? Why is your skin different? When I was young, my grandparents told me that people like you were bad, rude, and violent, and that I should never go near or befriend your kind. Because I hated the idea of “bad people,” I believed what they said. I repeated their words to others, and some people shared stories about how your kind supposedly hurt others. I did not know if those stories were true, but because my grandparents said the same things, I assumed they must be.

Because of this, we began avoiding you. Some even sent anonymous messages telling you to leave. We kept doing it because we believed we were protecting ourselves from “bad people.” A few days ago people saw you arguing with your friend that ultimately lead to a violent scuffle. No one seemed surprised—not because they understood what you are going through, but because they believed it was “in your blood” to be violent.

After that incident, your parents had decided to transfer you to a different school. We felt relieved when you finally left, unaware that our fear and prejudice had played a role in what happened.

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Content: Prejudice, Explicit Prejudice, Stereotyping, Socialization, Social Aggression, Cyberbullying, Aggression, Physical Aggression, Displaced Aggression

This topic reminded me of an experiment I learned about a long time ago, which was also mentioned in this chapter: the Asch line experiment. In this study, participants were given questions with an obvious correct answer; however, when everyone else chose a different option, many participants went along with the group despite knowing the answer was incorrect.

I realize that I behave in a similar way. During group or class voting, I often choose what the majority selects, even when I know the correct answer. I deliberately conform because I am afraid of being the only one who might be wrong and because I lack confidence in my answers; and when the class is divided, I usually follow the choice of who I think is the smartest person in the class.

Today, we did not have a regular class in Social Psychology; however, our instructor asked us to hold a group meeting for a project that had been assigned a few weeks earlier. During the meeting, we discussed the draft title for our upcoming facilitation, “Discovering Ourselves Through Social Thinking.” The group then discussed the duration of the activities, as well the location and type of activities were also discussed. It was agreed that the facilitation would be conducted outdoors, since it will be a game base activity. Each activity is designed to help reveal students’ tendencies toward overconfidence, self-serving bias, and perspective-taking.

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She was the smartest person in the class—not only intelligent, but also confident. The way she spoke and carried herself made people listen. With just her words, she could easily convince others to accept what she said.

However, she made one fatal mistake, she did not confirm the facts.

One day, during a group study session, she was explaining a topic to several classmates. At one point, someone asked her to repeat what she had said and questioned whether she was truly certain about it. She confidently replied yes—she was sure, because she had heard it once before.

Still, that person felt something was off. Trusting their gut feeling, they decided to verify the information by asking the professor.

The next day, during the exam, those who had relied on her explanation answered the question incorrectly. Only the one who had questioned her words got it right, having taken the time to confirm the facts.

What surprised everyone most came afterward.

Since she was not only known for being smart, but also for being arrogant or often seen as full of herself. Because of this, everyone had expected her to double down on her words instead of admitting her mistake.

Instead, she apologized.

Her apology caught everyone off guard. It made people wonder whether she was genuinely sorry, or if she was only apologizing because she had been proven wrong and felt the weight of everyone’s disappointment.

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Ever since high school, I’ve had the habit of placing everyone on a pedestal, putting words in other people’s mouths and convincing myself that I already knew what they thought of me.

Recently, though, I’ve been trying to be kinder to myself. I tell myself things like, I can do this, or don’t be scared—they won’t make fun of you. And if they bully you don't hesitate on punching them in the face or head butting them.

Even though I would say those encouraging words to myself, I am still afraid of people. But at least now, when I truly need to say something, I can say it—without completely blanking out.

When it was just the two of us, we would laugh, joke, and share stories.

But when I was with others, I found myself whispering behind your back.

There were rumors about you—rumors she spread—and no one dared question them because she held the authority. She showed photos, photos whose context no one knew, yet no one tried to seek the truth. People made jokes about you, looked at you with disgust, pity, and disappointment.

People made many assumptions about you, assumptions that quickly spread and became part of who everyone thought you were.

You were my friend, and yet I did nothing to stop them.

When it was just us, I comforted you. But when you moved away, they believed you left because you were guilty of what you did. And when she did the same, they looked at her with admiration.

That’s when I started questioning myself.

Why didn’t I stop those rumors?