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Volunteer Work Essay

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Situations and experiences in our social and physical settings impact on our behaviour and motivate our actions and mood (Bandura,1986). This implies that people engage in different activities in the community due to different motivations and the affects are experienced differently in the way we live and interact with each other (Aguilera, 1998).

Therefore, this section will present theories that will be used to understand the volunteers perceptions, experiences and how volunteer work impacts them. Since the concept of volunteer is dynamic in its interpretation in different contexts of the voluntary sector in different national and social policy areas (Milligan, 2009), there was no particular theory found that explained explicitly the key …show more content…

People in the society tend to attach positive evaluations to the groups they belong or feel attached to than the groups they do not have any relationship with. These positive attachments or groups are very significant among people as a human need and they create a sense of social identity, belongingness, pride, self concept and high esteem among the individuals to the social world. Tajfel further adds that in order for people to build on their self image, enhancement of the status of the group is needed. For example if we decide that Sweden is the best country, we will try increase this image by denoucing or discriminating against other countries that we do not belong to. The hypothesis in this theory is that members of a specific group will seek to get negative sides of the other groups they do not belong to inorder to enhance their own self image. Tajfel (1979) proposes that categorising people comes from a normal cognitive process (tendency we have) and by doing this, we are creating differences and similarities in different groups. He further illustrates the process with a diagram as …show more content…

Social Cognitive Theory.

This theory was developed by Bandura (1986) which provides a framework for understanding, predicting and changing human behavior (Ormrod, 2012). According to Bandura (1986), behavior of individuals is shaped by the behavior, personal factors and the environment which he referred to as ‘the triad determinants’. He adds that these three determinants influence each other hence shaping how people behave.

The general principles in this theory are; people learn by observing other people’s behavior, learning is an internal behavior which may or may not lead to a behavior, during the learning process, people need to be motivated as well for an action to happen, people set goals for themselves depending on what they have observed from others and lastly, people are able to control their actions depending on the consequences that they have observed from others (Bandura, 1986). Stone (2000:4) in his book states that the core at Banduras cognitive theory is modeling that teaches new behaviors both negative and positive implying that ‘people are products and producers of their environment’

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Summarise 2 theories about groups and how they relate to groups living with children and young people (see below). Albert Bandura's theory of social learning places great emphasis on observing and imitating the attitudes, behaviours, and emotional reactions of others. This theory states that people acquire new skills through imitation, reinforcement, and observation. According to social learning theory, when children and young people live in groups, the actions of peers, caregivers, and authority figures around them can affect their attitudes, behaviours, and social skills. The social and emotional development of children and adolescents can be enhanced by positive role models and the reinforcement of desired behaviours by the group.

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When people hear the word stereotype they tend to immediately think discrimination, racism, and/or gender inequality. Naturally these are dreadful terms, however, stereotyping has drawbacks and positive aspects. For example, in law enforcement, it is important to hold certain stereotypes such as if an officer spots a group of people wearing all red garments, across the street, he could keep himself and others safe by staying hypervigilant and mentally categorizing the group as norteno gang members. On the other hand, if the officers’ response is too extreme such as pulling out his gun, pointing at them, and asking searching them with no real reason; further if the group happens to be composed of African-Americans he may come out as racist

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My reasons for wanting to serve Peace Corps Volunteer are personal and intellectual. First of all, I want to share the knowledge I have acquired throughout my life by making myself available and becoming part of something bigger. I’ve had the opportunity to attend school and I recently completed a graduate degree; this has been a great accomplishment not only for me, but for my family as well. Therefore serving as a PCV would be a rewarding experience not only for me but for those who have supported me throughout my life, since I will contribute towards a bigger cause by helping to improve the lifestyle of less fortunate people. After successfully receiving a graduate degree, it is expected that I find a permanent job related to my field of

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Social categorization theory developed by Turner (1978) describes the categorization of people based on salient attributes like gender, ethnicity or age, resulting in stereotyping on the basis of these differences. Social categorization theory posits that similarities and dissimilarities of demographics can lead formation of different group with resulting effects on member of in-group favorably themselves to the detriment of members of out-groups social (Turner, Brown & Tajfel, 1979). Self-categorization theory explains when individuals categorize themselves by assigning to themselves the manners, actions and other characteristics they link with association within a specific group (Schmitt, Branscombe, Silvia, Garcia, & Spears. 2016). By means of self-categorization and membership of a group, people cultivate a social identity that functions as a social-cognitive scheme (customs, standards and attitudes) for their group associated action. The tendency is for the perceiver to consider these attributes as vital to his or her own personality and thus use these attributes to label others (Hoffman Harburg, & Maier, 2014).

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He argued that these factors can affect our behavior. Our behavior influence and is influenced by the environment. Another concept of social cognitive theory is self-efficacy. It determine how people feel or think about themselves when performing a task. Social cognitive theory has some weaknesses.

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In order to raise our self-esteem, the group members will tend to favor their group against other groups. Many things do occur during this process of comparison between an in-group and an out-group; the group members do tend to maximize the differences between their group and other groups. At the same time, they will minimize the differences that might exist between the group members in order to build a bond between them. While doing all these, the group’s members will be more aligned to positive things in the in-group and tend to remember more negative information on the out group (Tajfel & Turner, 1979).

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Most of the time I have no choice but to spend from my own pocket to reach places and people who desperately need my help. I have realized that some drug addicts will not come to me for help; therefore, as a social worker, I will dedicate my time to visit them, talk to them and offer them rehabilitation and help. Similarly, when going to areas stricken with poverty, I will have to bring along things like foodstuff and clothes to offer the poor. Voluntary service helps to change people’s perspectives on life and makes them feel obligated to achieve something good as ‘payback’ to the volunteers who help them without asking for pay. Therefore, by doing voluntary work, I will be making a big difference in the society.

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Criticism on Social Learning Theory Introduction Social learning theory is a theory related to classical and operant conditioning, which proposed by Albert Bandura in 1977. According to Albert Bandura, people are active agents in learning while they use cognition and social interaction in learning (Rogers, 2010). Albert Bandura considered that people are living in the environment, therefore, human behavior should be studied in social context rather than in laboratory (Bandura, 1977).

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Bandura postulates that we learn by observing others. As an interesting fact about Bandura, I am fascinated to find that he, being such a major psychological theorist, quite accidentally fell into the field of psychology because of the difficulty in scheduling rides with fellow classmates. Ferrari,

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Theoretical Framework The study anchored to the following theories: Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura 1986) and Physiological Models of addiction (Gonzales, Hatukami & Rigotti 1988) were taken to stand for respondents addiction on cigarette smoking. Health Belief Model Theory (Janz & Becker 1984), Protection Motivation Theory (Cheng, Gong & Sun 1990) and Stage model of Initiation and Progression Theory (Sun, Unger & Sussman 2005) were taken to stands for respondents coping strategies. Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura 1986) is an extension of social learning theory, posits that people learn from one another through observation, instruction, or modeling. It expands on behaviorism by explaining behavior as a product of reciprocal interactions

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According to Bandura, social learning theory approaches the explanation of human behaviour in terms of a continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioural and environmental determinants. Aronson in his Book, Social Psychology stated that “Social learning theory holds that we can learn social behaviour by observing others and imitating them. In Life Span Development, Santrock states “ that in Bandura’s early research he focused on observational learning better known as imitation or modeling which is learning that occurs through observing what others do.” An example of learning theory is a young child observing his father shaving in the morning and then after observing him a few times, he also imitates his father’s action.

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Volunteering is when you freely offer to do something without pay. In a person’s life, they have at least participated in community service one time. Whether it be working the concession stand at a ball game, picking up the mail for an elder, or even babysitting. For some people, volunteering helps them feel like they play an essential role while they are giving back to their community. Although volunteering is purely an act of kindness, it can also be very helpful in some people’s lives, such as making them feel like they are the difference makers.

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Community service does not only have a profound impact on our community, but the impact it has on the individual people is even greater. The concept of community service has always been something that I grew up with, and now that I am older I better understand how important community service is for society. I have participated in community service activities. Starting in elementary school, I helped feed the homeless and rescue animals. Even with my wide range of volunteer experience, it was difficult to find an activity that would be meaningful and fulfill my thirty-hour obligation for my senior project.

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The effects of volunteering can range from many helpful characteristics. From helping those in need, giving back to the community, working for worthwhile causes, and overall helping someone with their health, mentally and physically. Volunteering can affect many people in different ways, but what most do not know is that it can help with

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