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The Development of Community
Engagement from Infancy to
Adulthood

The Development of Community Engagement from Infancy to Adulthood uses a devel-

opmental perspective to trace how individuals develop the cognitive, behavioral,
emotional, and moral capacity to be actively engaged in their communities. It
also provides an analysis of the role of volunteerism and civic engagement in an
era of social division, shrinking budgets, and shrinking services.
In order to support childhood and adolescent volunteerism, we must under-
stand how children become adults who volunteer a lot, sometimes, or not at all.
This book describes the development of volunteerism from theoretical, empirical,
and practical viewpoints, starting from the earliest development of empathy,
through the social institutions that help shape us, to adolescence and young
adulthood. It concludes with an analysis of modern ways to engage young citizens
in social action. In doing so it addresses the key question – how can we encourage
and support the development of the behaviors, belief systems, and ecologies that
will lead to volunteerism and community involvement in our citizens?
With fresh and thought-provoking arguments and insights, this book will be
of interest to all academics and students working within the fields of social
work, social services, volunteer management, applied social psychology, com-
munity psychology, service learning, and sociology, as well as non-profit per-
sonnel and activists.

Susan M. Henney is a research psychologist and developmental psychologist

who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas. Her research focuses on
volunteerism, with particular emphasis on voluntary versus involuntary forms of
volunteerism. Dr. Henney is currently a professor of psychology at the Uni-
versity of Houston-Downtown.

Justin D. Hackett is an applied social psychologist who holds a Ph.D. from

Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Hackett’s program of research focuses on
political and social activism, human rights-based issues, and, more broadly,
political psychology, group processes, and intergroup relations. Dr. Hackett is
an associate professor at California University of Pennsylvania. He resides with
his wife and their three sons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This page intentionally left blank
The Development of
Community Engagement from
Infancy to Adulthood

Susan M. Henney and

Justin D. Hackett
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Susan M. Henney and Justin D. Hackett
The right of Susan M. Henney and Justin D. Hackett to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or
in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Henney, Susan M., author. | Hackett, Justin D., author.
Title: The development of community engagement from infancy to
adulthood / Susan M. Henney and Justin D. Hackett.
Description: 1st Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2019. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019002755| ISBN 9781138565111 (hardback) | ISBN
9781315122823 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social participation. | Voluntarism. | Community life. |
Community development.
Classification: LCC HM131 .H394 2019 | DDC 302/.14--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002755

ISBN: 978-1-138-56511-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-12282-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
by Taylor & Francis Books
This book is dedicated to our five boys – two for Susan and
three for Justin – who have shaped us and made us keenly aware
of how important it is to be actively involved in making the
world a better place for them and for all people.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents

Foreword viii

1 The pathways of volunteerism 1

2 The theoretical foundations of volunteerism 12
3 Grounding volunteerism in empathy 32
4 The moral sense and civic engagement 48
5 The nature of volunteerism in adolescence and emerging
adulthood 65
6 Social institutions as a context for volunteerism 81
7 The modern engaged citizen 99

Index 117
Foreword

When we embarked on the writing of this book, we desired to fill a hole we

saw in the volunteerism literature – what do we know about how children grow
into future volunteers? We started with the premise that volunteerism and civic
engagements solve social problems and address issues for individuals in need and
within families, communities, and nations. Moreover, they do so in ways and for
a price that paid work just cannot accomplish. If volunteers were to disappear
from our national landscape, including the not insignificant efforts of children,
adolescents, and families, the results would be disastrous for our social infra-
structure. We need volunteers – actually, we need more volunteers – to address
widening social problems of drug addiction, interpersonal violence, and even
racial division and discord. We need people to care about the issues affecting
their families and communities, and then to turn that concern into productive
action. This book brings into focus those issues and theories that explain how
children and adolescents, both as individuals and as members of a dynamic
environment, develop into adults who contribute to their community and world
through acts of volunteerism, engagement, and involvement.
On the whole, we observe that people who engage in such work are
largely beneficent and humane, and this is true at all ages, even children
and adolescents. Children have an empathy that motivates them to be
helpful to others, but they have many limits of ability and access that can
prevent them from bringing that empathy into action. This book describes
the development of empathy and provides suggestions on how parents and
other adults can capitalize on this quality of children to bring them to an
understanding of and desire for voluntary action to improve their com-
munities and the world. We also explain the circumstances under which
adolescents volunteer and how they can be encouraged and supported in
this activity. In an age when adolescents are increasingly perceived as
troubled, undisciplined, and problematic, it is important to highlight a
different narrative – the fact that adolescents do volunteer and they want to
help others. They require opportunity, encouragement, and support, but
they also require an understanding of their unique needs and the particular
prerequisites they have for volunteering.
 Foreword ix

Typically, non-profit organizations focus on finding or identifying volunteers,

but what if we focused on growing volunteers – enhancing those personal, familial,
and social contexts that increase volunteerism in children, who then become ser-
vice-oriented adults? How can this be done? In other words, how do we enhance
the probability that a child becomes an adult who gives of themselves through
volunteerism and civic engagements? How do we take the skills and abilities of
children, and then adolescents, and maximize their potential for growth in other-
oriented action and the giving of time and talents for others’ benefit?
Additionally, we must note that we do not subscribe to the notion that
volunteerism and similar social engagement are necessarily altruistic – there
are many benefits, both concrete and intangible, that accrue to a volunteer.
Positive self-regard, compassionate and warm emotions, confidence and pride
in a job well done, learning marketable skills, affirmation of a moral self, and
social connection are all benefits of volunteerism for the individual. We would
argue that there is simply no reason, either practically or theoretically, to define
volunteerism as altruistic. Self-benefitting reasons for volunteerism do not negate
its worth. This is not to say that some motivations for volunteerism are not
altruistic – they obviously can be – but altruism is only one facet of a compre-
hensive definition of volunteerism. Having a more practical – and perhaps more
realistic – definition of volunteerism allows us to study it, program for it, and fund
it in an authentic and credible fashion.
We begin an exploration of our questions related to volunteerism with an
introduction to the breadth and width of contemporary volunteering in
Chapter 1. Volunteering plays a strikingly important role in securing the safety
net that is relied on by so many struggling individuals and families for the basics
of life. The many types of engagement, including volunteerism, community
engagement, civic engagement, and local and national service, are ways to
strengthen interpersonal relationships, encourage neighborhood involvement,
increase community development and social capital, and strengthen society.
Moreover, our prosocial involvements are increasingly important in our lives,
including to our success in applying to colleges, getting jobs, and building
social networks. This chapter sets the stage for an exploration of the means
by which we might grow volunteers, instead of finding or identifying them.
We explore the many ways in which we might enhance the probability that
a child and adolescent becomes an adult who gives of themselves through
volunteerism and civic engagements. We provide evidence for the notion
that, through appropriate methods and attention to pertinent developmental
pathways, we can maximize the skills and abilities of children and adoles-
cents with the goal of amplifying their ability to give of their time and
talents for the benefit of others. We strongly believe in the potential of
children and adolescents to grow into adults with a lifelong commitment –
both philosophically and behaviorally – to volunteerism, but our obligation
as a society is to provide access and opportunity to participate in programs
that meet this group’s unique needs.
x Foreword

Chapter 2 provides an overview of theories applicable to the development of

volunteerism over the lifespan and provides an intellectual framework for the
subsequent chapters. This theoretical context is critical for a full understanding of
the research associated with pathways to volunteerism and also provides a struc-
ture for practical use and application of theoretical ideas and empirical findings to
real world issues surrounding the development of volunteerism intentions and
behaviors. This chapter makes it clear that there is no one theory, or even group
of similar theories, that provides the whole story. Thus, this chapter identifies
those theories that have the most persuasive relationship to the development of
behaviors, cognitions, and emotions associated with volunteerism. Some of these
theories are the foundational theories of developmental psychology (Adler’s
Individual Psychology, Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory, Behavioral Theory), while
others are newer and suggest exciting and prolific research futures (Moral
Foundations Theory, Psychological Sense of Community).
Next, we move to an exploration of the role of empathy in the development
of volunteerism intentions and behaviors in Chapter 3. This chapter explores
the growth of empathy in young children and its foundational role in the
enactment of prosocial behaviors. Empathy is generally described as the ability
to understand and identify with the feelings and perspectives of another. A
central issue is how empathy then relates to behavior – the cognitive and
affective aspects of empathy must, at some point, be translated into behavior in
order to be impactful. This chapter will explore this linkage through a devel-
opmental perspective on empathy, including how empathy is activated and
related to actual behavior. Early developmental achievements (like perspective-
taking and cognitive and emotional control), the neurological underpinnings of
empathy, and the role of the environment in empathy development (such as
learning incentives, and parenting practices) are discussed. Understanding these
factors will enable the development of parenting practices and social structures
supportive of the development of empathy, which can then lead to greater
community engagements, volunteerism, and lifelong volunteerism intentions
for children going forward.
We explore the role of moral development in promoting a service orientation
in Chapter 4. People who exemplify moral goodness serve as a “barometer” to
gauge our own moral thinking against. Many of us strive to fulfill an idealized
version of ourselves, often grounded in being the best self we can be – a truly
moral person. Where does this sense of morality come from? How can we develop
and cultivate a sense of morality that includes the desire to donate our time and
efforts in service to others? We trace the early developmental approaches of Jean
Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg, as well as the evolutionary, anthropological, and
social psychological ideas proposed in Moral Foundations Theory, and examine
the implications of these theories for volunteerism and engagement in children and
youth. Moreover, we have an extended section on issues related to identity –
including the role of both personal and larger, superordinate identities – and how
self-construal can strengthen the likelihood of engagement. This chapter addresses
 Foreword xi

how we can raise children who are inherently concerned about the well-
being of others. Finally, and critically for our approach with this book, we
address the moral factors that influence a volunteer mindset promoting
sustained volunteerism over the lifespan.
Chapter 5 encourages the reader to see adolescents as capable, willing, and
active contributors to the world – ones who want to make a difference and who
desire the opportunity to do so. Seeing adolescents as volunteering assets changes
one’s perspective. Adolescents are popular recipients of volunteer efforts; adult
volunteers derive great satisfaction from mentoring adolescents, working with
them to improve academics, coaching them in sports, and much more. However,
how can we inspire people to see adolescents as providers of volunteer assistance,
rather than only as receivers? One answer lies with the Non-Profit Organizations
(NPOs) that house the vast majority of volunteer opportunities in this country.
NPOs must be encouraged to see the opportunities for these volunteers to make a
difference, but also to see the benefits to their own mission of providing a space for
these volunteers to contribute. They must also have the will and knowledge about
how to structure volunteer opportunities to make them useful, accessible, and
appealing for adolescents. This requires the knowledge base provided in this
chapter about why adolescents volunteer, how they volunteer, and the many
benefits of adolescent volunteerism. Another answer to the challenge of seeing
adolescents as active volunteers lies in changing society’s attitude and awareness
about adolescent volunteering. Adolescents and emerging adults are more
involved in volunteerism than most people suspect; they are in a time of life when
community involvement is both valued and valuable. We explore the antecedents
of volunteering, such as personality, motivational, and circumstantial characteristics
that impact one’s likelihood of engaging in volunteering, and also the contexts,
such as school, that can structure teens’ volunteer involvements. In sum, in order
to truly tap the power of adolescents for societal and civic good, we have to
change the way we view this time of life and also design programs and opportu-
nities specifically for adolescents’ interests and modes of engagement.
Chapter 6 provides an overview of the role of social institutions, such as
religious institutions, schools, voluntary organizations, and government
organizations, in providing opportunity and support for volunteerism. It is
often difficult, particularly for children and adolescents, to find appropriate
volunteer opportunities. These opportunities typically must “come to” the
children and adolescents, rather than being sought out or pursued. Thus,
social institutions can provide an entrée into specific volunteer opportunities
in their neighborhoods and communities. This chapter discusses how reli-
gious organizations, schools, and youth organizations provide opportunities
for child and youth engagement; in fact, youth volunteerism is over-
whelmingly linked to these specific organizations. One of the strengths of
these institutions is that they provide attitudinal and behavioral contexts and
even motivation for involvement in service. For example, faith-based orga-
nizations provide a structure to guide youth toward volunteerism, but the
xii Foreword

youth are also offered motivations and a moral imperative to serve. In the secular
realm, schools provide both a learning environment wherein social problems can
be defined and discussed and also a point of entry where solutions to the problems
can be accessed in their own communities. It becomes clear to the reader that
children and youth are an underutilized volunteer resource, and they must be able
to access appropriate organizations that provide them with the programs, activities,
and events through which they can be engaged in pursuits that fit their interests
and schedules. Capacity-building in this area requires attention to building positive
adult–youth relationships, programming for meaningful and appealing activities,
and providing opportunities for personal growth, skill attainment, and reflection.
We conclude our investigation by examining the possibilities of modern
citizenship in Chapter 7. Incredible advances in technology and the continued
growth of globalization are connecting people, economic markets, political
systems, and companies in important ways. Coupled with shrinking budgets
and attenuating governmental services, community life has changed dramati-
cally in the last few decades. Active citizens, engaged and committed to social
betterment, have a myriad of ways to be involved. While traditional engage-
ment, such as voting and volunteering for candidates, are still viable options,
other activities directly relevant to and available for youth involvement have
increased. As evidenced by the activism of the Parkland students, social media
platforms are providing unprecedented means for connecting with others,
organizing rallies, and bringing greater awareness to political issues. These
young activists, some even too young to vote themselves, have found a
meaningful route to influence the political process and to remind elected offi-
cials they will be voting, and holding them accountable, very soon. These early
experiences have the ability to increase engagement and volunteerism into
adulthood. With technological advances, new “modern forms” of non-tradi-
tional engagement are available. More specifically, computer-based volunteer-
ing, crowdsourcing projects, sharing information through social media, and
promoting a greater awareness of social issues online are routes to engagement
that do not require one be in a specific location to volunteer their time and
expertise. Through volunteerism we are able to create social change. These
behaviors address issues important to us, allow us to draw awareness to pressing
problems, and attempt to make the world a better place.
In sum, we believe that volunteerism is just plain good for you. Volun-
teerism makes one feel useful, happy, and carefree. It is positive. It is affirm-
ing. It is a way to express your best self. We argue that this is especially true
for children and adolescents – in a time when depression, anxiety, and stress
are at an all-time high across youthful age groups, positive and productive
pursuits are to be highly valued and supported. We can do no less for our
society and our children and teens than to provide them with access to such a
constructive and beneficial activity as volunteerism. It is our hope that the
policies and financial investment will be put in place to support these service
pursuits, not just for adults, but throughout the lifespan.
Chapter 1

The pathways of volunteerism

A well-known Greek proverb states, “A civilization flourishes when citizens

plant trees under which they will never sit.” This captures a long-term, and
even developmental, perspective on community involvement, and places such
involvements at the center of a thriving society. Putting volunteerism in this
central role in a well-functioning society then leads us to question how we
can encourage and support the development of the behaviors, belief systems,
and ecologies that will lead to community involvement for our citizens? How
do children become people who volunteer a lot, sometimes, or not at all?
Why do some children develop an ethic that motivates active involvement in
their communities, while others do not? How does volunteering become a
“natural next step” after high school, as young adults are venturing into
independent living? The autonomous choice of volunteering in young
adulthood and adulthood is one that is qualitatively different from volun-
teering in childhood and adolescence, as childhood volunteering is often
governed by parental pressure, peers, religious affiliations and membership
organizations, such as scouting or service clubs. These types of questions
require a developmental approach to volunteerism and, more specifically, a
development-in-context approach, since volunteerism occurs within an
environmental context. This book will address these questions about the
development of volunteerism in humans from theoretical, empirical, and
practical viewpoints.
There are many different ways to describe or define behaviors that benefit
society. In the broadest of brushstrokes, one could discuss prosocial behaviors,
volunteerism, civic engagement, helping behaviors, empathic concern, huma-
nistic concerns, or human rights involvement. These behaviors can range from
giving of one’s time without the expectation of financial compensation, to
working to address a community need or create community change, or to
simply being concerned about the welfare of someone in need. Our approach
is to discuss these as all falling under a broader concern and interest in volun-
teerism or societal engagement. In short, these are all attitudes and behaviors
that have the potential to benefit other individuals, one’s community, or
society in general.
2 The pathways of volunteerism

The spectrum of volunteerism, and other prosocial involvements, is increas-

ingly important in our lives. In fact, prosocial involvements are increasingly
important to even our domain-specific successes, including success in our work,
school, and social lives. For example, states (e.g., Maryland) and school districts
are increasingly requiring volunteerism as a condition of high school gradua-
tion, and more colleges are considering volunteerism and civic involvement as
part of the admissions process. Some workplaces mandate that employees
donate their time or take work time to volunteer, often at a volunteer activity
sponsored or supported by the company. “Community service” is quite often a
condition of probation for criminal offenders or a condition of alternative sen-
tencing or diversion programs. More than a third of Americans (36.3%) are
involved in some sort of club, group, or organization outside of normal school/
business tasks (Corporation for National and Community Service, 2015). It is
not uncommon for social groups to have service as a core value or behavior or
even as a condition of membership. Even more localized engagement –
neighbor-to-neighbor prosocial acts – serve as a way to strengthen and establish
positive norms for entire neighborhoods and communities. As such, each of
these “types of engagement” falls under the concern of how to strengthen
interpersonal relationships, encourage neighborhood involvement, increase
community engagement, and strengthen civil society.
Volunteerism, in all of its forms, is important to the functioning of society in
general and the non-profit sector in particular. Overall, volunteerism can be
defined in two ways – formal and informal volunteering. Formal volunteering
is that which is typically done through an organization (usually a non-profit
organization), while informal volunteering is conducted to help friends and
neighbors through activities like providing informal childcare, mowing an
elderly neighbor’s lawn, or doing errands for a sick friend. Almost 63% of
Americans participate in informal volunteerism, which represents a huge
investment of time, talent, and effort into the community, the value of which is
likely substantial (Corporation for National and Community Service, 2015). It
is, however, notoriously hard to accurately measure and quantify informal
prosocial acts – the closer they are to home or to those activities (like religious
practice) where such acts are perceived as duty-bound, the less likely people are
to report them as volunteerism or voluntary service. It is worth noting that
teens who help out an elderly neighbor or who informally “watch” a neigh-
bor’s child probably also do not see these activities as volunteerism, per se,
particularly if a parent encouraged or directed them to the activity. This means
that across the board, informal volunteering is probably underreported and,
unfortunately, undervalued in its importance in building and maintaining
positive neighborhoods and communities.
Formal volunteering is much easier to quantify and is periodically measured at
both national and local levels. About a quarter of American adults engaged in
formal volunteering in 2015 for a total of 7.9 billion hours of service. The most
popular activities in this category include various forms of fundraising, food-related
 The pathways of volunteerism 3

volunteerism (gathering, preparing, or serving food, for example), general labor,

and youth-related activities like tutoring or mentoring. The value of this service
was a whopping $173 billion in 2013, and $184 billion in 2015. Volunteers are
also almost twice as likely to donate to charity as are non-volunteers, demonstrat-
ing the multi-dimensional financial impact of volunteerism. The financial value of
volunteers is such that it is not possible to envision the continued existence of the
non-profit sector as we know it without them. In other words, it is not possible to
replace the roles of volunteers in non-profits with paid employees at the current
valuation of volunteers’ contributions.
The benefits of volunteerism, however, go far beyond its purely monetary
impact. Volunteerism improves our nation, communities, and neighborhoods. It
creates connections between people and their communities, involving people in
community life both philosophically and behaviorally. Volunteerism encourages
investment of personal resources into community improvement by linking
volunteer activities to specific interests and things people believe in. For example,
people who believe their communities are improved by supporting and enriching
aspects of family life will therefore volunteer in daycares, eldercare facilities, and
churches. People who believe that improving schools helps their communities
will then engage in tutoring, literacy, teacher support activities, and may even
run for their local school board, while people who believe youth are the key to a
better future help in mentoring and after-school programs. Other people help
beautify their communities by working in parks and beaches, while still others
help with public health efforts like health fairs or hike and bike trail maintenance.
People also engage in community activism, wherein they work for social
change and empowerment, and this activity not only enhances well-being, but
also gives people a connection to and purpose in their communities (Gilster,
2012). Peoples’ investment of time, talent, and resources in their communities
represent an acknowledgement on a very personal level of their place in the
bigger picture and their understanding of an individual’s role in strengthening
communities. Gilster (2012) aptly states, “Working for collective good—
neighborhood good in particular—is associated with having a sense of control
over one’s life and the social context in which one lives” (p. 779). In essence,
volunteerism encourages a sense of individual investment (“I am an important
part of my community”), but also a sense of communal purpose (“We are all
rowing in the same boat”). This communal mobilization encourages a sense of
empowerment and purpose (Kielmeier, 2010). Community engagement
improves how people relate to and communicate with one another and allows
community members to serve as important resources for one another (Putnam,
2000). Feeling connected to others has been related to prosocial behaviors and
greater community engagement. In fact, psychological sense of community –
the individual feeling that one is connected to and a meaningful part of a larger
community – is related to greater numbers of registered voters and active citi-
zens (Brodsky, O’Campo, & Aronson, 1999), more political participation and
political efficacy (Speer, Jackson, & Peterson, 2001), and even greater
4 The pathways of volunteerism

environmental volunteerism and activism (Omoto & Packard, 2016). Perhaps

unsurprisingly, when people feel connected to and feel they are a meaningful
part of their community, they report greater civic and political involvement.
Youth, in particular, may be vulnerable to feeling that they do not belong
to or are not welcome in their own communities. While questions about
youths’ lack of community attachment – and the subsequent implications for
civic engagement and political involvement – are warranted (Wattenberg,
2008), there is no doubt that building connections, both between community
members and between the individual and their community, are critical for
positive youth development. Youth exposed to violence within their com-
munities are less likely to volunteer or be active community members later in
life (Chen, Propp, & Lee, 2015). There is considerable evidence highlighting
that participating in civic associations and serving one’s community is related
to greater success in school – even if these service activities are mandatory
(Davila & Mora, 2007). Among Millennials, awareness and connectedness are
significant predictors of volunteering (Shiarella, McCarthy, & Tucker, 2000).
As such, opportunities that create these connections between adolescents and
their communities should be provided to develop the types of long-term
relationships that strengthen our communities. The importance of the school
in this equation is obvious, and this has not been lost on many educators,
who are championing and sponsoring service organizations and service
learning experiences in their schools.
In addition to the many benefits to the community, volunteerism has notable
benefits to the individual. Engagement in volunteer activities provides practical
and measurable improvements in job skills, career experience, and “career
clarification.” Career clarification refers to volunteerism’s ability to give indivi-
duals experiences with both the positive and negative aspects of working at the
volunteer site; it is equally important to expose young people to those
aspects of a job that they want to look for in, say, a job advertisement and
also to those aspects that they want to avoid. In other words, volunteerism
allows one to “test drive” the site itself and/or the job type so that a person
might have more clarity as to whether the job fits his or her interests and
skills. In addition to such hard-to-quantify benefits, volunteerism has some
very real benefits associated with finding and being competitive for jobs. A
research brief for the Corporation for National and Community Service
found that those who volunteer had significantly higher odds of employ-
ment, particularly those without a high school diploma and those from rural
areas (Spera, Ghertner, Nerino, & DiTommaso, 2013).
Engaging in volunteerism has appreciable effects on individuals’ physical and
mental health. Overall, the picture that emerges from this literature is that there
are health-related differences not only associated with whether you volunteer or
not, but also by sheer amount of volunteerism. Specifically, the more you do it,
the more benefits you derive from it! Volunteerism encourages positive mental
health via several mechanisms, including improving self-worth, confidence, and a
 The pathways of volunteerism 5

sense of personal accomplishment. Those who volunteer experience less depres-

sion and more satisfaction with their lives (Jenkinson et al., 2013). A study that
assessed the relationship between volunteerism and happiness found that increas-
ing volunteerism was related to increased happiness. Those who volunteered
monthly were more likely to be “very happy” than those who never volun-
teered, but the happiest were the weekly volunteers (Borgonovi, 2008). In
today’s world, happiness is a valuable asset and increasing people’s positivity
about themselves and the world means that volunteerism may be considered as a
widely-available, positive coping resource. Furthermore, volunteerism provides a
break from stress-inducing patterns of everyday life and encourages a sense of
positive purpose through engagement in productive activity. These activities can
often allow the volunteer to explore interests and areas of belief, conviction, or
passion beyond their day-to-day pursuits related to family and work. Volunteer-
ism can provide a wider social world for volunteers, creating new social networks
via new friendships and contacts, but can also improve the volunteer’s ability to
negotiate the social world by improving social skills and providing a place of
belonging and shared effort. This line of research can be summed up in a simple
premise – the more you volunteer, the better you feel about yourself, the more
positive your outlook on life, and the better your coping resources are. The
implications of this for social and health policy are clear – investment in com-
munity involvement and volunteerism activities are a win–win for individuals
and society.
Volunteering is associated not only with mental health, but with social
benefits as well. In fact, the desire to strengthen or develop social relation-
ships has been identified as a strong motivation for volunteering (Clary &
Snyder, 1999). This appears to be with good reason! Volunteering is related
to greater informal social interactions (Musick & Wilson, 2003) and greater
social support (Rook & Sorkin, 2003). These ties can build strong social
networks characterized by supportive, close interactions and interpersonal
relationships. Importantly, among older adults having strong social relations
can serve as a buffer against depression (Schwarzbach, Luppa, Forstmeier,
Konig, & Riedel-Heller, 2014). Social networks can serve as conduits for
political participation. Social connections based in civic associations are effec-
tive in recruiting people for political protest, whereas neighborhood ties serve
as effective means for promoting community activism (Lim, 2008). This work
suggests the interpersonal ties and connections can serve as a basis for promot-
ing various types of community involvement and political activism.
Recent research has found that membership in activist organizations
encourages greater collective activities, whilst involvement in more leisure-
based organizations promotes individualized political activity (van Steklenburg,
Klandersman, & Akkerman, 2016). That is, involvement in organizations
working for women’s rights, LGBT issues, and humanitarian and peace issues is
associated with greater participation in more collective-based activities, such as
strikes and demonstrations. Participation in church events, sports organizations,
6 The pathways of volunteerism

and local neighborhood activities is related to a greater likelihood of contacting

a political official, boycotting a particular product, and donating money. In line
with these findings, Omoto, Snyder, and Hackett (2010) have found that being
concerned about others motivates involvement in specific types of activism.
This domain specific activism leads to broader civic participation, suggesting
that encouraging involvement in domain specific activities (e.g., after school
programs, religious events, sporting teams) could serve as a conduit to increase
involvement in traditional and non-traditional political actives and civic
engagement. The hope is that increasing involvement at a young age promotes
and sustains this involvement later in life.
The physical benefits of volunteerism are such that volunteerism is related to
not only bodily health and healthful behaviors, but also longevity. An analysis
of 40 studies found that those who volunteer had a one-fifth lower risk of
death than non-volunteering peers (Jenkinson et al., 2013). Studies have con-
trolled for a myriad of factors like health status, gender, and age and have found
that those who volunteer live longer (Sabin, 1993; Rogers, 1996). The benefits
of volunteerism seem to be very high for older persons. Older volunteers have
reported greater increases in life satisfaction than younger volunteers and also
have indicated that their perceptions of their own health improved as volun-
teers (Tang, 2009; Van Willigen, 2000). For adults aged 65 and older, Herzog
et al. (1998) found that staying active in activities like volunteering can enhance
an older person’s well-being via a sense of personal attainment and social
engagement. Greenfield and Marks (2004), in a study of adults aged 65–74,
found that formal volunteering was protective against a loss of purpose when
substantive identities like parent or provider are gone. Finally, it is striking to
note that older persons can benefit from both the giver and receiver roles, as
older volunteers themselves experience an enhanced quality of life, but also the
older clients they serve report enhanced well-being from this peer-to-peer
helping (Wheeler, Gorey, & Greenblatt, 1998). What if these prosocial involve-
ments started earlier and were sustained from childhood through adolescence
into adulthood? We often speak in academia of the benefits of lifelong learning,
but what if we were as invested as a society in promoting the conditions that
contribute to lifelong service?
In order to do this, we need to pay close attention to the individual, close
contextual, and societal ways that we can encourage the development of those
factors associated with choosing volunteerism and civic engagement over the
range of other, competing, priorities. A central message of this book is the
many ways that socialization plays a role in the development of volunteerism
intentions and behaviors. In early life parents and later peers play a key role in
how volunteerism is both perceived and enacted. Children who engage in
volunteering must, by necessity, be supported and nurtured in this activity by
adults, most often parents or parent figures. Children are not independent
actors, and must rely on adults to arrange appropriate opportunities to serve, for
supervision, transportation, and other practical matters (safety equipment,
 The pathways of volunteerism 7

snacks, hydration, etc.). In addition to these real-world concerns, adults also

provide the socialization experiences that help to nurture the affective,
cognitive, and behavioral achievements that make willing engagement in
and enjoyment of the volunteer activities more likely. Thus, the many ways
that the social environment both defines and nurtures the development of
volunteerism include:

 Parents nurture and grow the development of empathy, which allows

affective, cognitive, and behavioral connections to the volunteer activities.
Empathy encourages children to feel compassion and care for others, to think
about others’ needs and to problem-solve solutions, and to enact behaviors that
are helpful. Family is the first environment where these factors are expressed,
and parents have an important role in providing experiences and interactions
which grow and maintain gains in empathy. Generating empathetic feelings
can encourage action to help address the conditions and circumstances causing
hardships for others.
 Parents and, later, like-minded peers, provide emotional and social situations
that normalize volunteerism and social engagement. Parents, for example,
determine the frequency and intensity with which young children interact
with environments, such as church or community organizations, that may
provide an early foundation for lifelong volunteer service. Once volunteerism
becomes normal social behavior in the family and peer group, it becomes also
a sought-after experience and one notices when it is absent, just like any
normative behavior. Moreover, normative expectations can encourage
change in the behaviors of other people. When we showcase our expectations
for volunteerism, even in unintentional ways, we can nurture the desire for
engagement in others.
 Schools provide a learning environment that can transmit the importance
of civic and community involvement by providing a forum where the
social issues and challenges underlying the need for such involvements are
discussed. In early schooling, children learn the facts and circumstances
surrounding social problems, and later they learn more about perspective,
power, and opportunity, which then leads to discussion of solutions.
Schools are ideally placed to be a point of contact for addressing social
issues and for mobilizing students to be involved in community improve-
ment and civic responsibilities. Over time, volunteerism becomes an
expression of and is defined by membership in both family and social
groups. Volunteerism becomes a moral imperative that helps demarcate
group membership (“I’m a member of Student Council, and service is
what we do that defines us as a group.”). This also speaks to our social
identity, through which our identification with social groups and their
normative activities both describe and express who we are.
 Volunteerism can become an expression of an important aspect of our
identity. That is, working in volunteer roles assisting others, whether
8 The pathways of volunteerism

engaging in religious activities, working on behalf of a community-based

organization, or assisting an elderly neighbor are all actions that verify our
sense of self. These actions help affirm our sense of who we are – a person
working to better the lives of people around us. Thus, does the social
become the personal, and the betterment of others’ lives transforms us also
as people.
 Non-profit organizations should provide programming and opportunities for
family volunteering and, later, individual volunteering for teens. Recruitment
activities are important, both for families with tight schedules, and also for
adolescents who have increasingly more control over their discretionary time.
Of particular meaning to socialization, though, are the organizations’ volunteer
recognition activities. These activities both directly (via personal recognition)
and vicariously (through witnessing others’ recognition) reinforce the value of
volunteerism and enhance the probability of continuing engagement.

So, then, what do children gain from these volunteering experiences that jus-
tifies the personal, familial, and social capital that we invest in such pursuits? First,
children gain a platform for the development of care and concern for other chil-
dren, the elderly, homeless people, the environment, animals, and many, many
other causes. This is closely aligned with the development of empathy, but parents
and other adults must provide an avenue to discuss the children’s experiences and
contextualize them. This is particularly important when the recipient of the service
is “invisible” to the child, and parents can connect the donated blankets to the
homeless people or the sandwich-making to hungry people. In other words,
making the connection clear between the action and the tangible benefits to
others helps young volunteers to understand the significance these volunteer
behaviors can have for others in need. Establishing early on a pattern of and affinity
for service sets the child up for what may continue to be, with proper nurture and
support, a lifelong commitment of service to others. If children start volunteering
early within their families, they also develop lifelong, positive, affirming memories
of their family members volunteering together. There is no price that can purchase
memories such as these, and volunteering provides the context in which family
members can grow, bond, and support each other in positive pursuits that have
great potential for bringing them closer as a family.
Children also learn how to work with others to complete specific tasks. The
ability to engage in productive teamwork is a valuable skill in today’s society,
and early experiences of working effectively with others provides a foundation
of such skills to build on. Volunteerism is typically both social and interactive,
and is a setting in which cooperation, collaboration, and communication can all
be practiced in a non-judgmental manner. This speaks to this setting as one
which may additionally foster the further development of social skills. The
development of social skills requires a social environment to hone these skills
and to consolidate gains. As children age, volunteerism becomes an increasingly
social venue. This is particularly true for older children and, later, adolescents,
 The pathways of volunteerism 9

as they begin to value and thus to seek the social features of their voluntary
activities. Activities which allow them to be sociable and socially active are
preferred, and the participants will find them enjoyable and appealing.
In their volunteer experience, children are often given the opportunity to
learn how to do something new. For example, planting a tree may seem easy
and straightforward from our adult perspective, but not so much to a seven or
eight-year-old. Closely related to this is that volunteerism can scaffold chil-
dren’s problem-solving abilities, particularly if the efforts are contextualized by
adults. Even the planting of a tree has many steps, and each step may present
challenges to be solved. If adults engage children in the process they use to
address challenges – both how and why they choose the solutions that they do –
then children can use these skills on the next problem (or the next tree!). Seen
in this light, volunteerism can be compared to a “project-based learning”
experience – these activities allow the participants to apply new knowledge and
to test their learning with the aid of persons of advanced skill.
The aforementioned benefits of volunteerism additionally dovetail into the
development of a can-do attitude and a belief in the worth of their own efforts to
improve the world. Volunteerism can provide strong evidence for children of their
own worth and value, which are crucial components of self-esteem. Children learn
that both small and large contributions make a difference to the whole, and that
their efforts are meaningful not only to others, but to their own vision of themselves.
They learn how to be a part of solutions to problems in their neighborhoods and
community, which may also increase their interest in social justice and civic life.
Importantly, these experiences provide basic components for the weaving of moral
fiber – belief in one’s agency, proof of one’s compassion and care for others, and the
acquisition of skills and abilities to do something with one’s moral beliefs. Providing
the situations and support for the acquisition of each of these developmental
achievements seems a worthy goal for both families and society.
It is not an overstatement to say that volunteerism and other prosocial
involvements are essential to the very fabric of our communities. We argue that
the connections built through an active and engaged citizenry provide a sort of
fabric that connects community members together. That is, volunteerism –
and community engagement more broadly defined – provides a means to
build connections between individuals within a neighborhood or community.
These connections build strong social networks characterized by norms of
togetherness, trust, and, solidarity.
A recognition of the advantages of an engaged citizenry encourages one to
consider the question of how to develop and grow social capital in American
communities. Putnam (2000) has highlighted the loss of social capital across the
United States. In comparing civic and uncivic regions, Putnam found democ-
racies and economies work better in areas with strong social capital. That is,
public affairs are successfully ordered in areas with an active and engaged citi-
zenry. Engaged citizens do not emerge overnight. In contrast, we assert that
adults who volunteer, are engaged in civic organizations, actively work to
10 The pathways of volunteerism

address community problems, or vote on a regular basis experienced the

developmental foundation of this engagement as children and youth. As a
result, a logical place to start for encouraging a wide of active involvement is
with the experience of children and youth.
In total, the findings presented in this chapter mean that developing a life-long
involvement in volunteerism pays benefits at every age, but the benefits seem to
pay off more as you age. Those who engage in volunteerism as a child “pay it
forward” to themselves as they develop an ethic for and a behavioral practice of
volunteerism. We should desire, then, to provide the developmental opportunities
for children to grow into adults who give back to their communities in ways both
formal and informal. The question is, how do we recognize and nurture the seeds
of volunteerism and provide contexts that support the development of children
who grow to contribute to their communities in this way? We believe that one of
the earliest developmental processes that leads to outcomes associated with giving
to others is the development and nurturance of empathy. This is where we will
start our exploration of the development of volunteerism in humans in Chapter 3.

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VUMP-XCMF-FQYU-V0JH
Chapter 2

The theoretical foundations of

volunteerism

The application of theory to the development of volunteerism over the

lifespan provides an intellectual framework for understanding the informa-
tion provided in this book. Even a partial understanding of the research
associated with pathways to volunteerism is not possible without a theore-
tical context. However, there is no one theory, or even group of similar
theories, that provides the whole story. Thus, we have identified those
theories that have the most persuasive relationship to the development of
behaviors, cognitions, and emotions associated with volunteerism. Some of
these theories are the battle-tested warhorses of developmental psychology
(Adler’s Individual Psychology, Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory, Behavioral
Theory), while others are newer and suggest exciting and prolific research
futures (Moral Foundations Theory, Psychological Sense of Community).
We will start our exploration of theoretical foundations with Alfred Adler’s
theory of Individual Psychology.

Adler’s individual psychology

Alfred Adler (1870–1937) was concerned with how people develop personal-
ities that enhance their quality of life while simultaneously protecting them
from the slings and arrows of life, which we all must face. He stated that those
with the most well-functioning personalities develop what he called “social
interest,” which is an outward focus centered around enhancing the welfare of
others. It takes a person beyond their present, self-oriented concerns and
expands their interests both out into the world and into the future. Specifically,
social interest is a consistent, habitual way of responding to the world; as they
are challenged by both positive and negative circumstances, people with high
social interest reliably respond with behaviors that reflect their focus on
enhancing others’ well-being (which also often enhances their own). It is
important to note that social interest – which includes a desire to belong to the
community and to make it thrive – adds a key motivational component to
Adler’s theory. Belonging to the social world and contributing to it, together
form a motivational unit that provides an impetus for action – and action in a
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 13

specific direction toward the external world. The need for this motivational
concept within Adler’s conceptualization cannot be underestimated; it provides
one avenue via which people could act at times against their own interests,
while still maintaining personality health and integrity.
In his later writings, Adler called social interest an “inborn potentiality, not an
innate ability” (Adler, 1964, p.34). Thus, Adler maintained that social interest is
not simply an inborn disposition but must be nurtured to develop fully. Our very
earliest interactions with the world instill social interest in our personalities, so
that the template of this style of relating is there for us to draw on across situa-
tions. Early maternal emotional availability and responsiveness is associated with
empathetic responding from the child (Farrant, Devine, Mayberry, & Fletcher,
2012; Kochanska, Forman & Coy, 1999). For example, a mother who responds
consistently and positively to her infant’s distress engenders a situation in which
emotional availability and relational positivity are common and reliable for the
child over time.
Those parenting behaviors that enhance this “other-focus” are presumed to
contribute to the development and maintenance of social interest. Adler maintained
that the development of social interest was well underway – even solidified – far
before a child had the ability to express the complexity of this concept in language.
Adler (1938) indicated that a person acts “as if” they realize that life has meaning via
our interest and investments in each other. From a developmental perspective, this
means that the behavior of parents must be central to the identification and nur-
turing of this construct. For example, parents who use a particular reasoning strat-
egy with their children called “other-oriented induction” systematically make
children aware of how their behavior impacts other people (Hoffman, 1970).
Hoffman suggests that other-oriented induction is successful in motivating positive
behaviors and enhancing children’s self-control because it arouses empathy in the
children, producing in them an awareness of and attunement to the needs of others.
To take this one step further, the relationship between other-oriented parenting
techniques and the expression of prosocial behavior has been shown to be mediated
by children’s advancements in empathy (Krevans & Gibbs, 1996). This type of
parent–child transaction exemplifies how what Adler terms Gemeinshaftsgeful or
“community feeling” develops as a way to put empathy into action via our cus-
tomary mindfulness of our impact of self on other (Ansbacher, 1992). Thus, it
becomes clear that what Adler espoused in terms of social interest can be promoted
by encouraging emotionally available and responsive parenting. This type of par-
enting includes the enactment of specific parenting techniques designed to activate
empathy and orientation toward others, such as induction.

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development

In his seminal book, Childhood and Society (1950), Erik Erikson highlights the
social significance of childhood, a groundbreaking concept at the time that,
these many years later, remains ripe for exploration in a variety of domains.
14 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

The dynamics of how life stage impacts volunteerism is just beginning to gain
some clarity in the literature, but primarily for adults (e.g., Carr, King, & Matz-
Costa, 2015). In this section, we will start with an overview of the impact of
the first and foundational stage of Erikson’s Theory – Trust vs. Mistrust – on
pro-social behaviors. This section will end with a consideration of generativity
as a context for the development of prosocial behaviors in children.
The first stage of Erikson’s theory lasts from birth to approximately 18 months
of age and focuses on the processes leading to the development of trust. Trust is
developed when an infant, being dependent and vulnerable, has his or her needs
met by a consistent, reliable, and warm caregiver. When small children experience
responsive caregiving that meets their needs, they develop a worldview (called an
internal working model in attachment theory) that others they encounter will also
be trustworthy. As their experience with others who are kind, caring, and con-
cerned with their needs proceeds through early development, the child learns that
they are treated as a being of value and worth, and thus develops an expectation
that others will treat them in the same way. In this way, one can see that trust is an
assumption or expectation about the motivation and behavior of others. When the
trust assumptions of a developing child are consistently proven to be correct, then
there is really no reason not to expect the same from others. Thusly trust becomes
a psychological tool or resource that is used by individuals to make a priori
assumptions about social situations. If you assume you can trust someone, a cascade
of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors ensue. For example, if trust forms the basis for
warm and reliable relating with others, then this is one basis for the empathy and
altruism that children begin to display during and after this stage.
Does the trust engendered as a child relate to volunteerism as an adult?
Putnam (2000) opines that civic engagement promotes trust via socialization experi-
ences – the more you volunteer, the more trusting you become. However, another
pathway may also be in play wherein people who are more trusting may self-select
into volunteerism as an activity. Bekkers (2012) presented evidence that the selection
effect is responsible for the relationship between civic engagement and trust, meaning
that being a trusting person gives rise to civic engagement and not vice-versa.
Although the two pathways may not be mutually exclusive (i.e., volunteer experi-
ences may create trust in some people, particularly those low in trust to begin with [a
floor effect], whereas those already high in trust self-select into volunteerism), it is
certainly in keeping with Erikson’s conceptualization of trust that those with trust-
engendering experiences as young children may find themselves desiring to give back
later. Indeed, the developmental relationship between early growth of trust, and the
attending virtue of hope (confidence in a bright future), and the eventual display of
generativity – encapsulated in giving back to others – is an integral part of Erikson’s
theory. As one moves through infancy on the path of trust and hope, one avoids the
maldevelopment of withdrawal and detachment, and increases the propensity for
engagement with family and the outside world. This, in turn, is reinvented in middle
adulthood as an ethic of care and concern for others, behaviorally expressed as
engagement in civic life.
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 15

Generativity in mid-life is a time when people move forward from

establishing their own identities in love, work, and values and change their
focus to improving the world for those coming behind them. People who
are generative have many qualities that promote investment in the success
of future generations. Emotionally, they show concern for younger people
and are willing to nurture their success. Attitudinally, they hold the belief
that they can create positive change for future generations (self-efficacy), but
they also are behaviorally responsive to those institutions (like schools,
churches, NPOs, etc.) that represent our cultural investment in supporting
future generations. It is important to also note that involvement in cultural
institutions, even if it is not directly benefitting an individual or multiple
people, can be seen as an investment in a heritage of organizations and
practices that provide some tangible or intangible support, solace, nurture,
or learning to future generations (e.g., Fleeson, 2001). Generativity itself
blends personal motivations to give back and societal imperatives for com-
munity-mindedness so as to provide a true person-in-context viewpoint,
which is greatly needed as an explanatory mechanism for the relatively high
rate of volunteerism among people in midlife.
Nonetheless, what we are interested in here is generativity as a context of chil-
dren’s development The exposure to generative examples within one's family and
community, and the development of self-efficacy dovetail here in regards to one's
general or domain-specific belief that one can effect change in the world (Ban-
dura, 1997). Generativity in one’s environment provides the method and the
support for this to be true. Self-efficacy is one of the characteristics that distin-
guishes volunteers from non-volunteers; its development goes back to the family
of origin. Vicarious experiences are one of Bandura’s sources of self-efficacy beliefs;
seeing people we admire or who are similar to us succeed in some area makes it
more likely we will believe we can, and perhaps should, do the same. Providing
persuasive generative family volunteer models is one way of capitalizing on this
pathway. Another source of self-efficacy beliefs is verbal persuasion. As parents and
other important people in a child’s life espouse the benefits (both personal and
societal) of volunteerism, is it any wonder that willing children hear and
respond? One might rightly wonder why some kids are recipients of the mes-
sage and others are not? It is possible that some children have contextual and
role constraints – like caring for younger siblings while parents work or the
family having no time, transportation, or financial resources for volunteerism –
that prevent them from actually engaging in volunteerism even if they
“received the message” that volunteerism is a positive life activity. It is also
probable that children may lack the role model altogether, as not all adults of
this age are generative, and many are simply uninterested in volunteerism.
These adults may not have been exposed to their own volunteer role models or
other generative models at a young age, curtailing their own motivational or
self-efficacy beliefs in this area. This leads us to a more specific exploration of
the social cognitive aspect of Bandura’s theory.
16 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

Social cognitive theory

In proposing social cognitive theory, Albert Bandura (1976, 1986) was con-
cerned with how behavior acquisition could be explained in the absence of
external reinforcement. He proposed a theory that bridges behavioral and
cognitive theories, suggesting that behavior can be acquired via observation, if
the right psychological conditions (such as motivation and reproducibility,
among others) exist to support such acquisition. Children are constantly
behaving within a social environment of peers, siblings, parents, teachers, and
many others. Each of these is a potential model for the child, providing
examples of behaviors that are ready to be acquired immediately by the child or
behaviors which may be attended to and encoded by the child, but are not
immediately reproducible. Parents are important models for young children,
and the research indicates that parents who volunteer have children who are
more prone to volunteer, and this effect is persistent well into adulthood
(Barber, Mueller, & Ogata, 2013; Janoski & Wilson, 1995; Perks & Konecny,
2015). Using a large retrospective study, Perks and Konecny (2015) found
that not only does parents’ volunteerism predict volunteerism as a youth, but
that it predicts volunteerism as an adult on top of any youthful experience of
volunteerism. Taken together, research in this area speaks assertively of the
family, particularly parents, as an important learning context for volunteerism
related behaviors.
In Bandura’s model, observational learning is so much more than mere imita-
tion. It has complexities that cannot be explained without a cognitive component
to behavior acquisition. In order for observational learning to occur, meaning that
a behavior has actually been acquired via this process, four conditions must be met,
including attention to the model, motivation to acquire the behavior, ability to
replicate the behavior, and ability to retain the behavior. A person will choose to
perform the modeled behavior or not depending on what they observe happening
to the model, a concept Bandura termed vicarious reinforcement. If a child
observes another child being praised by a teacher for helping a classmate who is
struggling to do a math problem, under what conditions will the child then per-
form that behavior? The teacher’s praise is a valued and powerful (secondary)
reinforcer, which acts as the motivational component of observational learning,
and the peer is a model that the child will pay attention to. If the observing child is
skilled at math, the behavior is one that is replicable and able to be quickly
retained. Conversely, the child may not reproduce that behavior if they observe
the model being made fun of by other peers for helping, thus reducing the
motivational component. Also, if the observing child perceives themselves to be
struggling at math or not understanding the current math problem, then they will
not perceive themselves as being able to reproduce that helping behavior.
Overall, it is critical to note that this theory places learning in a dynamic
social context. The child is continuously exposed to, processing, and behaving
in relation to models in the immediate environment, such as parents, teachers,
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 17

and peers, but the observational field also includes societal models, ideas, and
influences, such as media and religious institutions. From very young ages,
children are exposed to models that may or may not present behaviors that are
building blocks to the suite of prosocial behaviors that lead to volunteerism and
community engagement. Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yarrow, & King (1979) studied
15 months to almost three-year-olds and their mothers, to evaluate the impact
of maternal parenting techniques on children’s behavior. Mothers who were
clear and intense in their expressions to their child about other people’s distress
have children who display more prosocial behaviors. The authors state, “It is
hypothesized that what is being taught by the mothers is a basic orientation
toward others” (p. 329). We argue that this basic learning by the child, pro-
vided in context by interaction with the mother, is a basic foundation upon
which helping behaviors must lie. Other-orientation (actually paying attention
to or even recognizing the plight of another) is a necessary first step before any
other system can be activated, whether behavioral, cognitive, or affective.
The salience of parents as models of socially engaged behaviors in young chil-
dren cannot be understated. Parents are rich sources of observable behaviors; they
are bold and estimable models in the children’s eyes, skilled at social behavior, and
provide vicarious reinforcement that is palpably relevant to children’s concerns. In
a cross-cultural study of parent to child transmission of pro-environmental beliefs,
Ando et al. (2015) found that 9–10 year-old children’s perceptions of their parent’s
expectations regarding environmentalism predicted their own pro-environmental
behaviors. Parents can both tell children their expectations (“We sort the recycling
every week because it is good for the environment”) and reliably show the
children their attitude-consistent behaviors (the recycling is sorted every week and
is out at the curb regularly).
Thus, it is apparent that it is not only the child’s observation of the parent
engaging in socially meaningful behaviors that is important to learning, but also
parents’ explanations and clarifications of their behaviors that is important. In
other words, parents both show and teach the behaviors that surround social
engagement. Parents who themselves volunteer and who clearly explain their
attitude about volunteering and community engagement will provide a distinct
context in which children learn to volunteer.

Traditional behavioral theory

Social cognitive theory is not the only behavioral theory that can account for
learning in this area; traditional behavioral theory can also be instructive. Tra-
ditional behavioral theories, as a group, share the foundational notion that only
observable behavior and the environment can produce scientifically notable
behavior. The role of cognition and emotion, if discussed at all, is typically
written off as white noise in the context of scientific analysis. In Skinner’s
(1969, 1974) operant conditioning theory, children’s (and every person’s)
behavior is controlled by environmental contingencies, such as positive or
18 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

negative reinforcement. As the child develops, patterns of behavior become

noticeable, acquired via an “organized set of contingencies” (Skinner, 1974,
p. 149). What we call personality, for example, is one of these organized
patterns of behavior.
Community engagement or volunteerism is also a complex set of behaviors
that can be under the control of environmental contingencies. Volunteerism is
persistently labeled as an “altruistic” or “not-for-profit” or “self-sacrificing”
activity. It is not uncommon for volunteerism to be wholly subsumed under
the “altruism” label. This is patently incorrect, particularly from a behaviorist
perspective. Helping others, even “altruistically”, can be an egoistic act that is
socialized via environments (family, God, teachers) that propound the belief
that societally beneficial behaviors benefit you (socially, “Godly” acts, inclu-
sion) and that not acting for the good of others will lead to punishment
(damnation, exclusion). The Bible, a reference for moral living for many, is
relatively clear that when one “does good,” the good is then returned to the
actor; Luke 6:38 states, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure,
pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.
For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (New International
Version). The reinforcing value of living a dutiful religious life is not to be
underestimated. Teachers use both praise and attention to ensure both perfor-
mance and prosocial behaviors, and parents freely use praise, punishment, and
attention to increase children’s learning of the values they hold dear. Indeed, it
is not atypical for parents and other important persons in children’s lives to
incentivize the behaviors they desire (what some might call bribery). Parents, of
course, will go for what works in incentivizing prosocial behaviors, and they
find that concrete rewards and positive reinforcements often do work!
It is clear that the benefits that derive to the person volunteering are many
and diverse. They encompass broad personal and interpersonal gains as well as
specific and measureable personal benefits, such as:

 enhanced standing in community, organization, or work

 praise, acclaim, approval, and admiration
 enhanced sense of self-esteem
 widened circle of friends and acquaintances with similar interests
 indirect benefits that accrue from living in a better neighborhood,
community, nation, world

These benefits accrued from volunteerism are all what one would call
“reinforcing” – hence, the role of traditional behavioral theory. For example,
Law, Siu, and Shek (2013) argue that both concrete benefits, such as subsidies,
and less quantifiable forms of recognition, such as support or praise, are
important to the development of volunteerism in Chinese youth. In other
words, positive and socially involved behavior is enhanced when the environ-
ment is affirming and rewarding for such behaviors. This and similar studies
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 19

highlight the issue of how positive incentives might influence behavior as

reinforcers. The research on the role of concrete incentives in increasing
volunteerism and other prosocial behaviors is a mixed bag; incentives do not
always increase such behaviors but can under certain circumstances. It seems
that, at times, incentives decrease internal motivation as external motivation
becomes more salient. However, as argued by Gneezy, Meier, and Rey-Biel
(2011), the focus should not be on whether incentives do or do not motivate
prosocial behavior, but when they do so. There is, for example, research that
suggests that people are more likely to volunteer when the issue at hand is
important to them personally; when the outcome is meaningful to them in a
positive way, then they are more likely to work to make it happen (Wanders-
man, Florin, Friedmann, & Meier, 1987). People are also more likely to help
others when they are thanked for their efforts; this “expression of gratitude” is
an incentive that makes the helper feel valued in their social context and
encourages them to help more (Grant & Gino, 2010).
There seems to be a developmental and even biological component to how
rewards work for children and adolescents. Both younger children (say preschool
or kindergarten) and older children consistently help more when they are given
concrete rewards (positive reinforcement). Although studies have found that
younger and older children may give different “reasons” for helping, reinforcers
such as concrete rewards (younger and older children) and social rewards like
inclusion or group attention (older children) can motivate helping behavior,
regardless of the cognitive component (Guttmann, Bar‐Tal & Leiser, 1985; Mis-
chel & Mischel, 1976). In an fMRI study of adolescents’ decisions to donate
money to family or self, Telzer et al. (2010) found that Latino and White teens
contributed to their families similarly, but that their neural reward pathways
responded differently. The results indicate, “While White participants showed
more reward activity when gaining cash for themselves, Latino participants
showed more reward activity when contributing to their family” (p. 514). Culture
can help to define what we find reinforcing, resulting in behavior that is culturally
(environmentally) motivated even at the neural level. Indeed, Dunn, Aknin, and
Norton (2008) argue that deriving happiness (which is experienced as reinforcing)
from “giving,” or prosocial spending, is a universal feature of human psychology,
stating, “Taken together, this research shows that adults around the world and
even young children experience emotional benefits from using their resources to
help others, suggesting that humans may have a deep-seated proclivity to find
giving rewarding” (p. 43).

Motivations
Motivations reflect why an individual, in a particular situation, selects a specific
behavior over other alternative actions that could be initiated. Volunteer behaviors
can be the result of several different motivations. As proposed in the Volunteer
Functions Inventory, volunteering can serve both personal (e.g., Values,
20 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

Understanding, and Enhancement) and social functions (e.g., Career, Social, and
Protective; Clary et al., 1998). As a result, for different people volunteer behaviors
can initiate from, and satisfy, a number of possible motivations. Volunteering
could express an important principle or value one holds dear. For instance,
volunteering may highlight one’s commitment to humanitarianism or concern for
others. Volunteering could emerge from a desire to understand and learn more
about the world. Volunteering with an enhancement motivation is reflected in the
desire to contribute one’s time and resources as a means to grow psychologically,
to gain self-knowledge, and self-development. Assisting and helping others may
increase the volunteer’s sense of self-worth and allow one to feel good. Volun-
teering can be motivated by a desire to further one’s career goals or academic
development, and certain volunteer opportunities may provide experiences and
skills that arevaluable for employment. Both career and academic factors are key
motivations for adolescents and young adults. Additionally, volunteering serves a
social motivation by providing individuals with an opportunity to interact with
and strengthen relationships with others. Finally, volunteering provides people
with an ego protective function by reducing negative feelings or addressing per-
sonal problems. The volunteer may be able to escape, at least temporarily, personal
problems and issues.
These various motivations can be viewed as external, other-oriented motiva-
tions, or internal, self-oriented egoistic motivations. While self-serving volunteer
behaviors may have some positive benefits (e.g., learning new skills or developing
a social network that increases the likelihood of obtaining a desired job), these self-
oriented motivations are associated with a decrease in intentions to volunteer in
the future and with a decrease in psychological and physical well-being (Gebauer,
Riketta, Broemer, & Maio, 2008; Stukas, Hoye, Nicholson, Brown, & Aisbett,
2016). In contrast, volunteerism initiated with other-oriented motivations is asso-
ciated with a decreased risk of mortality (Konrath, Fuhrel-Forbis, Lou, & Brown,
2012). Moreover, when pitted against other types of motivations, other-focused
motivations emerge as a key predictor for both domain specific activism (AIDS
activism) and more general civic engagement (Omoto, Snyder, & Hackett, 2010).
Clearly, a focus on the welfare of and a concern for others is a strong antecedent to
a variety of prosocial behaviors that then have a beneficial result for those who
participate in them.
A common issue addressed regarding volunteerism is how to initiate the
behavior. That is to say, how can we encourage interested individuals,
particularly children and teens, to take the step toward volunteering time
and resources? Constructing advertisements and promotional materials to
attract potential volunteers, focused on their particular age group, is one
method for recruitment. The matching hypothesis suggests messages should
be designed to appeal to the specific motivation one has for volunteering
(Clary & Snyder, 1999). In other words, the effectiveness of a message will
increase if it appeals directly to the target’s motives or interests. Research
participants found appeals matching their motivations as more persuasive
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 21

than those appeals that did not so correspond (Clary et al., 1998). In a field
study examining recruitment for an AIDS service organization, more
potential recruits responded positively to ads that appealed to their motiva-
tions for volunteering (Snyder et al., 2009). Not only does this matching
have implications for recruiting volunteers, but it is also important for
satisfaction with volunteer experiences and commitment to continuing the
behavior. Volunteer satisfaction and retention is enhanced when experi-
ences, or volunteer behaviors, satisfy the motivations for engagement (Clary
et al., 1999; Omoto & Snyder, 1995; Stukas, Worth, Clary, & Snyder,
2009). For children, it is critically important to construct messages that
match their interests, their family situation, and their developmental level.
Providing kids with the opportunity to engage in volunteer behaviors that
can be linked to specific desires and motivations may help to establish a
commitment to volunteerism. However, the parents must be involved and
even interested themselves, as they are the key to time, transportation, and
support for children and younger adolescents. For instance, parents can
focus on opportunities in early childhood that assist in instilling desired
values or religious commitments, aligning these volunteer activities with the
underlying values. Children may be encouraged to take part in church
fundraising, 4-H Club, or other community-based activities. However, even
if the child is interested in these activities and desires to participate, it is up
to parents and organizers to design the activity with children’s skills and
abilities in mind; there is a reason that most child-centered service organi-
zations have an achievement ladder in service that prioritizes less complex
activities for younger children with increasing complexity as children age.
This avoids one of the most important inhibitors of volunteer intentions in
children – experiences of failure that reduce children’s willingness to engage
in the activity going forward. In adolescence, when the desire to be with
peers is quite high, volunteer opportunities can also serve a social function.
Volunteerism may connect people in mentoring relationships or provide
opportunities to socialize with peers. Matching the motivations and desires
during specific developmental stages with volunteer activities may increase
the likelihood that volunteerism becomes a lifelong activity.

Moral Foundations Theory

Despite cultures often having different approaches to morality, many cultural
themes show a great similarity to one another. Moral Foundation Theory
(MFT) began as an attempt to determine how many basic elements – or psy-
chological systems – were needed to explain human morality. According to
MFT, the different evolutionary processes we have faced as a species have given
rise to foundational systems within us that produce automatic reactions to
moral thinking. We often have immediate responses of liking or disliking to
the many situations, people, or events we encounter. MFT proposes five
22 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

fundamental foundations that allow us to perceive actions and agents as either

praiseworthy or blameworthy (Haidt & Joseph, 2004).
According to MFT, human beings have an innate preparedness, referred to
as intuitive ethics, to perceive approval or disapproval in events involving
others. Cultures around the world construct virtues and institutions based on
these foundations. Through the MFT framework, morality serves a functional
purpose. That is, morality provides for group cooperation and social harmony
by regulating selfishness and encouraging more harmonious living (Haidt,
2008). Volunteering and other prosocial behaviors reflect a culturally valued
approach to assisting others in need. The five foundations of morality that are
proposed by MFT are:

1 Harm/Care. This foundation is related to human evolution as mammals

with attachment systems and an ability to feel the pain and distress of others.
Harm and Care underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness, and nurturance.
Through moral discourse, people begin to develop these key virtues and are
able to describe the character and actions of others utilizing these ideals. This
development allows for the use of words such as “kind” and “cruel” to describe
caring for or harming other individuals.
2 Fairness/Reciprocity. This foundation is related to the evolutionary process
of reciprocal altruism, whereby people helped others with the expectation that at
some time the act will be rewarded by receiving assistance or help in return. This
development generates ideas of justice, rights, and autonomy. Ideas related to
fairness involved acts of cheating and/or cooperation through our interactions
with others. People who come to be known as good partners for exchange
relationships are praised as fair, just, and trustworthy.
3 Loyalty/Ingroup. Human development as tribal creatures able to form
shifting coalitions and alliances generated an appreciation for patriotism and
self-sacrifice for the greater group. Perceptions of loyalty become active any-
time people keenly feel a group identity. With the development of language,
weapons, and tribal markers, intergroup competition became far more decisive
for survival and, as such, group loyalty and commitment became paramount.
4 Authority/Respect. Our history as a species with hierarchical social
interactions, laid the groundwork for a foundation focusing on respecting
social hierarchy and power differentials. This foundation underlies virtues of
leadership and followership expectations, recognizing the power of legitimate
authority figures and working to preserve traditions.
5 Sanctity/Degradation. The psychology of disgust and contamination is
reflected in this foundation. This foundation is reflective of our desire to live a
noble, more sophisticated life. This foundation manifests itself in religious
notions of living our lives in more elevated and less primitive ways. Moreover,
it also reflects the belief that immoral activities can contaminate the human
body – contrasting with the widespread view that the body is a temple to be
take care of not desecrated.
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 23

These five systems interact with environmental variables in ways that produce
cultural differences in moral thinking. In other words, these innate moral intui-
tions are modified and respond differently to cultural virtues and specific rituals
unique to societies. Our moral thinking develops, in part, by what our culture
views as correct behavior or “proper moral thinking.” This approach highlights
the importance family and community play in developing moral thinking in
children. What children see around them impacts the existing moral systems
creating cultural differences. Ultimately, the functional approach of morality, as
proposed in MFT, highlights how the coevolution of our moral thinking and
cultural practices has produced societal differences in views of morality. Through
this perspective, volunteerism serves as a functional activity to perhaps provide
specific services to needy group members, connect people with one another, or
better the conditions for the group at large. While cultural differences may
emerge in the specific types of volunteer behaviors common in cultural groups,
these actions benefit the group at large.

Values
Values are higher order beliefs that have the potential to impact both our
attitudes and behaviors. Early psychological theorists promulgated the idea
that the link between attitudes and behaviors may depend on personal values
(Rosenberg, 1960, 1968; Rokeach, 1973). Personal values, the cherished
principles that direct and guide peoples’ lives, highlight what individuals hold
dear and encourage particular actions that are likely to help achieve desired
goals and end states. Personal values are often the standards through which
behaviors are evaluated (Rohan, 2000; Schwartz, 1992). People prefer to
engage in behaviors likely to bring about or promote the values important to
them. Ultimately, personal values reflect a viewpoint of what people believe is
good and desirable and perhaps motivate one to live a life corresponding with
these values. Transmitting values to future generations is a key aspect of culture.
Passing on these guiding principles becomes essential for promoting social order
in families and within the broader society. In a large, cross-cultural study by
Doring and colleagues (2015), children between the ages of 7–11 have value
priorities and structures that resemble adults in their society. At this early age,
children have come to recognize and internalize the values important to older
community members.
According to Schwartz (1992), values (1) are concepts and beliefs linked to
affect, (2) pertain to desirable end-states that can initiate behaviors, (3) transcend
specific situations and behaviors, (4) guide selection or evaluation of behavior and
events, and (5) are ordered by relative importance placed on each value.
Schwartz (1992, 1994) has proposed ten value types, with each representing basic
human motivations and goals: self-direction (independent thought and action),
stimulation (excitement, novelty, and challenge in life), hedonism (pleasure and
sensuous gratification for oneself), achievement (personal success through
24 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

demonstrating competence according to social standards), power (social status and

prestige, control or dominance over people and resources), security (safety, har-
mony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of self), conformity (restraint
of action, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate
social expectations or norms), tradition (respect, commitment, and acceptance of
the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide the self), bene-
volence (preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one
is in frequent personal contact), and universalism (understanding, appreciation,
tolerance and protection of the welfare of all people and of nature). Individual
values, located within each of these broader domains, derive meaning from the
motivations they represent to the individual. For instance, social justice and
equality are both universalism values, values with the motivational base of assist-
ing and helping unknown others.
Schwartz’s conceptualization of values specifies relationships between the
various value types. That is, there are certain value types that are related to
one another and other types that are opposed to one another. Examining
these relationships, Schwartz (1992, 1994, 1996) has found a two dimensional
and orthogonal structure underlying the value types. The first dimension
consists of conservation values on one end (e.g., social order, family security,
national security) and openness values on the other (e.g., creativity, freedom,
independence). Placing greater importance on openness values is associated
with less importance placed on conservation values. The opposite is true
when placing more importance on conservation values. The second dimen-
sion consists of self-transcendence values (e.g., helpfulness, social justice,
protecting the environment) and self-enhancement values (e.g., authority,
wealth, power). What values typically impact decisions to volunteer, create or
join a community organization working to address a community need, work on
behalf of a political campaign, or work to create positive change within the
community? Self-transcendence values – those concerned with the welfare of
others – are connected to a wide range of prosocial behaviors (Caprara & Steca,
2007; Schwartz, 2010). Placing greater importance on self-transcendence values is
associated with less importance on self-enhancement values. In other words,
when one’s values relate to concern for the well-being of others, they are less
likely to be concerned about their own individual wealth or power. As a result,
some values reflect compatible motivational goals, whereas the pursuits of other
values are likely to attenuate attaining the goals of one other.
Social responsibility values reflect a prosocial orientation characterized by a
commitment to positively contribute to one’s community and, more broadly,
society at large. This commitment extends beyond selfish concerns reflected in
personal wants or desires (Gallay, 2006). In the context of Schwartz’s model,
social responsibility falls under self-transcendence values. That is, social
responsibility values indicate a concern about the greater good and the welfare
of others. These values serve as strong motivators for prosocial and civic beha-
viors (Wray-Lake & Syversten, 2011). From a developmental perspective, social
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 25

responsibility is viewed as an integral aspect of youth civic engagement

(Flanagan, 2003; Wray-Lake & Syversten, 2011). These values predict not
only volunteerism (Pratt, Hungsberger, & Piliavin, 2004), but also environ-
mental engagement (Verplanken & Holland, 2002), voting (Caprara,
Schwartz, Capanna, Vecchione, & Barbaranelli, 2006), political activism
(Mayton & Furnham, 1994), and a readiness to participate in legal protest
behaviors (Schmid, 2012).

Psychological sense of community

An additional personal perception that may influence prosocial behavior is
“psychological sense of community”, which was defined by Sarason (1974: 1)
as a “sense that one belongs in and is meaningfully a part of a larger collectiv-
ity”. McMillan (1996: 315) later defined it as the “spirit of belonging together,
a feeling there is an authority that can be trusted, an awareness that trade and
mutual benefit come from being together.” An enhanced sense of community
benefits the community, encourages trust, and generates a feeling of belonging
among its members (Omoto & Snyder, 2002). Prior to developing strong ties
to our community, we must develop a sense of belongingness to a smaller,
more clearly defined group. That is, our sense of belonging and our ability to
trust authority is born through familial relationships. Developing a positive
sense of self, nurturing the belief that other people can be trusted, and learning
that we exist in a community of standards begins through family dynamics.
This sense of belonging can be expanded beyond our immediate family and
include not only traditional communities, but communities not limited to
geographical boundaries.
Traditional definitions of community often focus on geographically bound
locations referring to a specific place (e.g., Dunham, 1986). This approach
highlights the connections and sense of attachment to the area in which a
person currently lives. Psychological sense of community extends the con-
ceptualization of community beyond geographical boundaries and limitations
and encourages a change in the perception of what is meant by “community.”
Omoto and Snyder (2002) suggest social changes, in particular developments
associated with urbanization and an increasingly mobile and technologically
connected citizenry, allow for a conceptualization of community that advances
beyond defining community as a specific place or locale and encourages a focus
on community as a process. Psychological sense of community then is a state of
feeling connected to and part of a community that is psychological and unites
people based on common interests and mutual experiences. Community is not
limited to a conceptualization tied strictly to a specific location.
Prosocial behaviors and greater civic engagement are related to a psychological
sense of community. Community residents reporting a greater psychological
sense of community are more likely to be registered voters and active in their
community (Brodsky, O’Campo, & Aronson, 1999), more likely to be involved
26 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

in community organizations (Perkins & Long, 2002; Wandersman & Giamartino,

1980), report greater general political participation (Davidson & Cotte, 1991;
Speer, Jackson, & Peterson, 2001), and a greater sense that political actions will
have meaningful consequences (Speer et al., 2001). In addition, a psychological
sense of community predicts social well-being (Albanesi, Cicognani, & Zani,
2007). Behaviors associated with a psychological sense of community reflect
greater civic-mindedness and more of a concern for other community members.
Communal orientation refers to an inclination some have to provide care to
close others as well as to strangers (Bryan, Hammer, & Fisher, 2000; Clark,
Oullette, Powell, & Milberg, 1987; Williamson & Schulz, 1990). That is, com-
munal orientation encourages helping behaviors and a greater responsiveness to
the needs of others (Clark, Oullette, Powell, & Milberg, 1987). Providing help to
others without focusing on any exchange-benefits is a key characteristic associated
with communal orientation. Assistance is provided without concern about the
recipient’s ability to reciprocate (Clark et al., 1987). As with psychological sense of
community, the roots for developing a communal orientation likely begin in early
childhood. Our first communal “orientation” is directed to family. We are born
dependent, and all assistance in early life is provided without our ability to
reciprocate the sacrifices and hard work that caregivers give to us during early
childhood. The understanding that we should provide care to people who may
not immediately reciprocate our time and efforts is modeled in these early child-
hood experiences. Delaying gratification and repayment is essential in promoting
an orientation focused on assisting community members in need.
A further extension of the sense of community concept is the psychological
sense of global community (PSGC). PSGC reflects a psychological process
involving a sense of connectedness to all people (Malsch, 2005). This global
community is boundless and consists of people around the world, even with
individuals with whom there is no expectation of future contact or association.
This conceptualization reflects perceptions of belonging that extend beyond
identifying with a human-level category. That is, PSGC reflects a tendency to
feel connected and integrated with people everywhere. Recent work has found
PSGC is perhaps critical in connecting personal values with concern for and
engagement in human rights based issues (Hackett, Omoto, & Matthews,
2015). Feeling connected to a global community of all humanity encourages
people to both be concerned about human rights issues and engage in beha-
viors aimed at addressing these violations. The perception of belonging to a
common group of humanity emerged as a key motivating factor for many who
rescued members of the Jewish faith during the Holocaust (Monroe, 1996).

Personality types and traits

Personality traits are enduring individual characteristics that enable a person to
act, react, and interact consistently across situations, whereas personality types
are groupings or sets of traits that tend to be expressed in concert with each
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 27

other. People are most usefully understood by types rather than singular traits.
For example, “neurotic extroverts” (high in neuroticism and extroversion)
present themselves in a very different manner than do “neurotic introverts”
(high in neuroticism and low in extroversion); you may see the former in many
socially active roles, including volunteerism, more so than the latter. For our
current purposes, this lead us to wonder if there is a “volunteer’s personality
type”? Perhaps, but identifying it is beset with definitional and conceptual
issues. Like most complex social behaviors, if there is a “volunteer’s personality
type”, it is likely not defined by a single trait. Rather, the “volunteer’s personality”
is more likely a combination of traits or dispositions that reflect a tendency to
engage in helping behaviors. One way to understand the volunteer’s personality is
to see it as a behavioral manifestation of the “prosocial personality.” Although little
consensus exists as to a standard definition of the prosocial personality, Penner
(2002) suggests that other-oriented empathy, which includes empathetic feelings
and concern for others’ welfare, and helpfulness, which concerns useful acts
benefitting others, is foundational to the prosocial personality. Empathy for others
includes feelings, cognitions and behaviors, in that it induces feelings of concern and
compassion, an awareness of others’ situation and a willingness to engage with the plight of
the other. In terms of volunteering, Penner’s research finds that volunteers’ other-
oriented empathy and helpfulness are related to the number of volunteer sites, the
time spent volunteering at a primary charity, and how long volunteers have served
at the charity.
Habashi, Graziano, and Hoover (2016) point out that traditional definitions
of prosocial activities center on the benefits that accrue to others, whereas
definitions of altruism more clearly focus on the selfless intentions of the actor.
They correctly state, “The search for an altruistic personality will be more dif-
ficult in that it faces a higher hurdle if it requires knowledge of an actor’s
expectations for rewards and intent” (p. 1178). In their research, the Big-5
factor of agreeableness, characterized by interpersonal warmth, kind-heart-
edness, and cooperation, is most clearly related to helping behaviors. Their
research suggests that high agreeableness allows an almost seamless activation
of empathetic concern and a diminution of personal distress, initiating the
psychological conditions related to helping. Persons low in agreeableness may,
in fact, be able – even willing – to offer helping behaviors, but they only
initiate these behaviors in situations that specifically activate their empathetic
concern. This offers an interesting window into the development of helping
behaviors in children and adolescents. Some with the characteristics of highly
agreeable personalities may be dispositionally ready to help, and yet getting
those not of this disposition to help may require setting up situations or
interactions that make them notice the opportunity or necessity of offering
assistance. This is most usefully done via activating concern – via cognitive
(“There’s an elderly lady with a large shopping bag…does she need help?”) or
emotional (“That elderly lady is very much like your grandmother who you
adore…does she need help?”) routes.
28 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism

There is no consensus as to whether and how personality is directly related to

volunteering. There is evidence that certain, distinct personality traits, particularly
extraversion, trust, and empathy, can differentiate volunteers from non-volunteers
(e.g. Musick & Wilson, 2008). In regard to planned helping, however, Amato
(1990) found that “social network variables,” such as size of network and fre-
quency of contact, eclipse personality factors in explaining helping behaviors.
Nonetheless, Musick and Wilson and, earlier, Amato came to similar conclusions,
that just because social contexts are important to understanding prosocial behaviors
like volunteerism, doesn’t mean that personality isn’t also important. Amato states,
“Rather than seeing prosocial behavior as something that is determined either by
personality or by the situation, one may conceptualize everyday helping more
accurately as originating in the social relationship – a variable that is neither purely
intrapsychic nor purely situational, but which contains elements of both” (p. 41).
However, what about early manifestations of these prosocial traits and types
and how they are dealt with in families? Trust, for example, is a facet of Big-5
factor of agreeableness, and is also associated with lower neuroticism and higher
extraversion (e.g., Couch & Jones, 1997). Trust develops from early experiences
with trustworthy caregivers. As infants find their caregivers to be supportive and
consistent, so too do they trust others to be so. As they grow, barring substantial
developmental disruption or trauma, they will be involved with others because
they expect and are confident that such interactions will meet their needs. As
they come into adolescence and adulthood, they expand their definition of trust
to include that they can trust themselves to meet others’ needs as well. Thus is
community involvement born of trust.
Empathy is another trait that has roots, at the very least in its social expression, in
the parent–child relationship. Empathy itself has been found to be moderately
related to prosocial behaviors in children overall (e.g., Eisenberg & Miller, 1987);
however, there is little evidence that empathy can be directly “taught” to children.
Rather, parents who consistently utilize certain parenting techniques have children
who are both more empathetic and prosocial (Krevans & Gibbs, 1996). Parents
who use techniques like other-oriented induction, which guides a child to con-
sider the consequences of his or her actions on another, have children who display
more prosocial behaviors. Farrant, Devine, Maybery, and Fletcher’s (2012) results
indicated that mothers who were themselves empathetic engaged in more other-
oriented induction, which was related to the development of children’s empathy.
Further, Krevans and Gibbs (1996) found that children’s empathy mediated the
relationship between parental induction and further prosocial behavior. Another
example is parental responsiveness, which has long been noted as a parenting
context in which children’s empathy flourishes. Timely, consistent, and sensitive
parenting that reacts appropriately to children’s needs results in children’s empa-
thetic expression and prosocial behaviors (e.g., Tong et al., 2012; Davidov &
Grusec, 2006; Zahn-Waxler & Radke-Yarrow, 1990). Overall, the research gives
us a relatively clear roadmap for parenting and personality traits associated with
prosocial behaviors. Parents who are trustworthy, responsive, and caring create the
 Theoretical foundations of volunteerism 29

social relationship within which a trusting nature, empathy, and positive social
behaviors thrive. In other words, parenting matters in capitalizing on positive
personality traits, thereby producing children who are concerned for others and
who act out that concern in socially useful and positive ways.
This chapter highlights the importance of understanding the foundational
theories related to the development of volunteerism. Children develop the
capacity to think and act in ways that increase the probability of enacting
prosocial behaviors like volunteerism and greater civic engagement through
dispositions and childhood experiences. It is likely that no one theory has the
ability to solely, or even primarily, explain the development of volunteer
intentions and behaviors in people. Rather, we suggest these processes
operate together, in context, and at different developmental phases.
Subsequent chapters will address the contexts and developmental moments
and achievements critical to the development of volunteerism.

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Chapter 3

Grounding volunteerism in
empathy

Where are the seeds of concern for others and the propensity to act on that
concern to be found in human beings? What are the early experiences that
cause these seeds to germinate and take hold in a child’s repertoire of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors? These are the questions that lead us to the study of
empathy, which is generally described as the ability to understand and identify
with the feelings and perspectives of another. Although this definition does not,
in itself, presuppose any specific behavior on the empathizer’s part, the link
between the development of empathy and volunteerism requires turning
empathy into action. In order to explore this linkage, this chapter will take the
reader through conceptualizations of empathy in early life, the activation of
empathy, and how empathy and behavior are linked.

Empathy
Modern conceptualizations of empathy describe it as having two primary facets,
a cognitive component and an affective component (e.g., Cassels, Chan,
Chung, & Birch, 2010). Although these facets work together, they can be
described and defined independently. The cognitive component of empathy
involves aspects such as perspective-taking, realizing that other people are
having feelings, and being able to identify the feelings of others. This not only
allows a child to rationally understand what another child is feeling, but also to
imagine the other’s emotional experience as if it was happening to themselves –
this is the true meaning of “walking in another’s shoes” or perspective-taking
(Hoffman, 1978). Further, when a child asks, “Why are you sad?” to another
child who is crying, this is a clear effort to understand the emotions of the
other child from a cognitive perspective. The child has identified the other’s
emotion, understood it enough to label it, and wants to understand it further
via asking the question. This expression of concern for another, in other words,
is a child’s attempt to understand another’s emotional state. This is a critical
understanding, as cognitive empathy can be the impetus for enacting prosocial
behaviors on behalf of the distressed other in an effort to mitigate one’s own
distress (Davidov, Zahn-Waxler, Roth-Hanania, & Knafo, 2013). It appears
Another random document with
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 THE AMBITIOUS THRUSH

O
NCE there was a thrush who lived in a tree on the borders of a
field that a man sowed to cotton seed. The seed sprouted up
through the ground and grew into bushes, and after a time the
bushes had big, brown pods on them. Presently the pods burst open
and the fluffy white cotton bulged out of them. “How nice and soft
that cotton looks!” said the thrush.
She picked some of it and used it to line her nest. Never before
had she slept with such ease as she did on that bed of cotton.
In her flights about the region she often passed the door of a man
who made a business of carding cotton so it could be spun into
thread. By carding it he disentangled the fibers, and then he formed
it into small rolls and sold it to the spinners. The thrush often
observed him at his work, and at length she concluded that she,
also, would make some use of the cotton besides simply lining her
nest with it. So again and again, every day, she would fly down
among the cotton bushes, pluck out a fluff of cotton in her beak and
fly away and hide it. She kept on doing this till she had quite a large
heap. Then she flew to the house of the cotton-carder, and alighted
in front of him. “Good day, man,” said she.
“Good day, little bird,” said the cotton-carder.
“Man,” said the thrush, “I have a heap of beautiful cotton; and you
shall have half of it if you will card the rest and make it into rolls for
me.”
 “Very well,” said the man, “I will do as you desire. Where is your
cotton?”
“Come with me, and I will show you,” said the thrush.
So she flew along ahead of the man and guided him to the place
where she had hidden her hoard of cotton. The man took the cotton
home and carded it and made it into rolls. Half of it he took for doing
the work, and the rest he gave back to the thrush.
Not far from the carder lived a spinner, and the thrush went to him
and said: “Mr. Spinner, I have some rolls of cotton all ready to spin
into thread. If I give you half of them, will you spin the other half into
thread for me?”
“That I will,” said the spinner, and the thrush showed him the way
to where she had put the rolls.
In a few days the spinner had spun all the rolls into the finest
thread. Then he took a pair of scales and weighed the thread to
make two equal parts. Half he kept for himself, and the other half he
gave to the thrush.
The next thing the thrush did was to fly to the house of a weaver,
to whom she said: “Sir, I have some cotton thread all ready to weave
into cloth. If I give you half of the thread, will you weave the other
half into cloth for me?”
“Certainly,” said the weaver, and the thrush guided him to where
she had secreted the thread.
He carried it home and spun it into cloth, and half the cloth he
kept, and half he gave to the thrush. She was an ambitious bird,
eager to convey an impression of distinction, and she decided to
have some garments made for herself out of the cloth. So she went
to a tailor, and said, “I have a nice piece of cotton cloth, and I will
give you half of it if you will make the rest into clothes for me.”
The tailor was glad to do this, and the bird guided him to where
she had hidden the cloth. He took it home, and at once set to work.
Half of it sufficed to make a beautiful dress for the thrush. There was
a skirt, and there was a jacket with sleeves in the latest pattern. A
little of the cloth was left over, and the tailor used it to make a pretty
hat for the thrush to put on her head.
Then she was indeed delighted, and felt there was little more to
desire in the world. She put on her skirt, and her jacket with
fashionable sleeves, and the little hat, and looked at her image in a
woodland pool. What she saw pleased her greatly. In fact, she
became so vain that nothing would do but she must show herself to
the king.

So she flew and flew and flew until she came to the king’s palace.
Right into the great hall she winged her way and perched on a peg
that was high on the wall and began to sing. The king and the queen
and all the courtiers were sitting down below. “Oh, look!” exclaimed
the queen. “There is a thrush in a jacket and skirt and a pretty hat!”
Everybody looked at the thrush singing on her peg, and clapped
their hands.
 “Come here, little bird,” said the king, “and show the queen your
pretty clothes.”
The thrush felt highly flattered, and flew down on the table, and
took off her jacket to show the queen. After the queen had looked at
it she folded it up and put it in her pocket.
“Give me my jacket,” twittered the thrush. “I shall catch cold, and
besides, it is not proper for a lady to go about without a jacket.”
All the company laughed, and the king said, “You shall have your
jacket, Mistress Thrush, if you will come nearer.”
She approached the king close enough so he was able to make a
sudden grab and catch her.
“Let me go,” squeaked the thrush, struggling to get free. But the
king would not release her.
“Greedy king!” cried the thrush, “you ought to be ashamed to covet
my little jacket!”
That made the king angry, and he took a carving knife and
chopped her to little bits. While he was doing so the thrush kept
exclaiming, “The king snips and cuts like a tailor, but he is not so
honest!”
When the king had finished chopping her up, he began to wash
the pieces, and each piece as he washed it called out, “The king
scours and scrubs like a washerwoman, but he is not so honest!”
As soon as the washing was done he put the pieces into a frying-
pan and began to fry them, and all the time they cried out, “The king
is doing the work of a cook, but he is not so honest!”
After the pieces were fried, the king ate them, but even that did not
silence the wronged thrush. She continually shouted: “I am inside of
the king. It is just like the inside of any other man, only not so
honest!”
The king was like a walking musical box, and he did not like it, but
it was his own fault. No matter where he went, everyone heard the
cries of the thrush proclaiming that she was inside of the king, and
that his inside was just like that of other men, only not so honest.
This caused a good deal of gossip among the king’s subjects and
resulted in his being universally despised. At last he could stand it no
longer. He sent for his doctor and said the talking bird must be
removed.
“That cannot be done without causing your death,” said the doctor.
“It will cause my death if it is not done,” declared the king, “for I
cannot endure being made a fool of.”
So the doctor had to remove the thrush, and, strange to say, the
pieces had united, and as soon as the bird was released she flew
away. Her beautiful clothes were all gone, but she did not regret that.
She was quite content in future to use cotton only to make a soft
lining for her nest, and never again had a desire to ape the ways of
mankind.
As for the king, he died; and it was a good riddance. His son
reigned in his stead, and he remembered his father’s miserable
death and kept all his promises to men and beasts and birds.
 THE BEWITCHED BOTTLES

I
N the good old days, when the fairies were more frequently seen
than in these unbelieving times, a farmer named Mick Purcell
rented a few acres of barren ground in southern Ireland, about
three miles from Mallow, and twelve from the city of Cork. Mick had a
wife and children, and they helped him all they could. That, however,
was very little; for none of the children were big enough to do much
work, and his wife was kept busy taking care of them, and milking
the cow, boiling the potatoes, and carrying the eggs to market. So,
though Mick was never idle from morn till night, it was by no means
easy for them to make a living. Yet by hook or by crook they
contrived to get along until there came a bad year. The oats were all
spoiled that season, the chickens died of the pip, and the pig got the
measles so that when it was sold it brought almost nothing.
Mick was in despair. The rent had long been due, and he
addressed his wife, saying, “Molly, what shall we do?”
“My dear,” said she, “what can you do but take the cow to the fair
at Cork and sell her? Saturday is fair day, and this is Thursday. You
must start tomorrow, that the poor beast may have a night’s rest
there and be at her best when you show her at the fair.”
“And what will we do when she’s gone?” asked Mick sorrowfully.
“Never a know I know, Mick,” she replied; “but sure I am that we
will be taken care of. You remember how it was when little Billy was
sick, and we had no medicine for him to take—that good doctor
gentleman at Ballyshin came riding and asking for a drink of milk;
and he gave us two shillings and sent things for Billy, and he gave
me my breakfast when I went to his house to ask a question—so he
did. He came to see Billy again and again, and never left off his
goodness till the boy was quite well.”
“Oh! you are always that way, Molly,” said Mick; “and I believe you
are right, after all. So I won’t be sorry for selling the cow, and I’ll take
her to Cork tomorrow. But before I go you must put a needle and
thread through my coat, for you know ’tis ripped under the arm.”
Molly told him he should have everything right; and about twelve
o’clock next day he started, while Molly stood in the doorway of their
cabin and called after him not to sell the cow except at the highest
price. Mick promised to do as she bid, and went his way along the
road. As he drove his cow through the little stream that crosses the
highway and runs on beside the old walls of Mourne Abbey he
glanced toward the ruinous towers.
“I’ve often heard there is great treasure buried under you,” said he.
“Oh! if I only had that money, it isn’t driving this cow I’d be now. What
a pity such a treasure should be there covered over with earth, and
many a one wanting it besides me! Well, if it be God’s will I’ll have
some money myself when I am coming back.”
So saying, he moved on after his beast. It was a fine day, and the
sun shone brightly on the walls of the old abbey, and all the country
around looked green and pleasant. Six miles farther on he came to
the top of a high hill, and just there a man overtook him and greeted
him with a “Good morrow.”
“Good morrow kindly,” said Mick, looking at the stranger, who was
such a little man that he might almost be called a dwarf. He had a
wrinkled, yellow face, and a sharp nose, red eyes, and white hair;
and he was muffled up in a big overcoat that came down to his
heels. His eyes were never quiet, but looked at everything, and they
made Mick feel quite cold when he met their glance. In truth, he did
not much like the little man’s company, and he drove his cow on
faster, but the stranger kept up with him. It seemed to Mick that his
fellow-traveler did not walk like other men, and that instead of putting
one foot before the other he glided over the rough road like a
shadow, without noise and without effort. Mick’s heart trembled
within him, and he said a prayer to himself, wishing he had not come
that day, or that he did not have the cow to take care of, so he might
run away from the mysterious stranger. In the midst of his fears he
was again addressed by his companion, who asked him where he
was going with his cow.
“To the fair at Cork,” replied Mick, trembling at the shrill and
piercing tones of the stranger’s voice.
“Are you going to sell her?” inquired the little man.
“Why, for what else could I be taking her to the fair?” was Mick’s
response.
“Will you sell her to me?” said the stranger.
Mick started—he was afraid to have anything to do with the little
man; and yet he was more afraid to say, “No.” He hesitated, and
then asked, “What will you give for her?”
“I’ll give you this bottle,” answered the little man, pulling a bottle
from under his coat.
Mick looked at him and the bottle, and, in spite of his terror, could
not help laughing.
“Laugh if you will,” said the little man, “but I tell you this bottle is
worth more to you than all the money you can get for your cow in
Cork—aye, a thousand times over.”
Mick laughed again. “Why,” said he, “do you think I am such a fool
as to give my good cow for a bottle—and an empty one, too?
Indeed, I won’t.”
“You had better give me the cow and take the bottle,” said the little
man. “You’ll be sorry if you don’t.”
“But what would Molly say?” muttered Mick. “I’d never hear the
end of it; and how would I pay the rent, and what would we all do
without a penny of money?”
“This bottle of mine is better to you than money,” the little man
affirmed. “Take it, and give me the cow. I ask you for the last time,
Mick Purcell.”
 “How does he know my name?” thought Mick, with increased
alarm.
“I have a regard for you, Mick Purcell,” the stranger continued.
“Therefore do I warn you that unless you make the exchange I have
proposed you will be sorry for it. How do you know but your cow may
die before you get to Cork?”
“God forbid!” exclaimed Mick.
“And how do you know,” the little man went on, “but there will be
so many cattle at the fair you will get a poor price? Or you might be
robbed when you are coming home. But why need I talk more to you
when you are determined to throw away your luck?”
“Oh, no! I would not throw away my luck, sir,” Mick affirmed hastily;
“and if I was sure the bottle was as good as you say, though I never
liked an empty bottle, I’d give you the cow for it.”
“I would not tell you a lie,” declared the stranger. “Here, take the
bottle, and when you get home do what I direct, exactly.”
Mick hesitated.
“Well, then,” said the little man sharply, “good-by, I can stay no
longer. Take the bottle and be rich; or refuse it, and beg for your
living, and see your children in poverty and your wife dying of want.
That is what will happen to you, Mick Purcell!” and the little man
grinned maliciously.
“Maybe ’tis true,” said Mick, still hesitating. He did not know what
to do; and yet he could hardly help believing the old man. The latter
was turning to go when Mick in a fit of desperation seized the bottle.
“Take the cow,” said he, “and if you are telling a lie, the curse of the
poor will be on you.”
“I care neither for your curses, nor for your blessings,” retorted the
little man. “I have spoken the truth, Mick Purcell, as you will surely
know tonight after you reach home, if you do what I tell you.”
“And what’s that?” inquired Mick.
 “When you go into the house,” said the little man, “never mind if
your wife is angry over the bargain you have made. Be quiet
yourself, and get her to sweep the room, and to clear off the table
and spread a clean cloth over it. Then put the bottle on the floor,
saying these words, ‘Bottle, do your duty,’ and you will see what will
happen.”
“Is that all?” asked Mick.
“No more,” was the stranger’s answer. “Farewell, Mick Purcell. You
are a rich man.”
“God grant it!” said Mick, as the stranger went off driving the cow.
Mick now started toward home, but he had gone only a few paces
when he turned to have one more look at the purchaser of his cow.
To his surprise neither the little man nor the cow were to be seen.
“The Lord be between us and him!” exclaimed Mick. “That little man
can’t belong to this earth;” and Mick continued on his way muttering
prayers and holding fast the bottle.
“What would I do if it broke?” thought he; “but I’ll look out for that.”
So he put the bottle into his bosom and hurried on, anxious to
prove the virtues of his treasure, and at the same time a good deal
troubled over the reception he was likely to meet from his wife. He
reached home in the evening, still much perturbed between his
doubts and hopes, and surprised his wife sitting beside a turf fire
burning in the big fireplace.
“Oh, Mick! are you come back?” she cried. “Sure, you haven’t
been all the way to Cork! What has happened to you? Where is the
cow? Did you sell her? How much money did you get for her? What
is the news?”
“Molly,” said he, “if you’ll give me time, I’ll tell you all that’s
happened. But I can’t tell you where the cow is.”
“You sold her on the way, did you?” said Molly; “and where’s the
money? How is—”
“Arrah! stop a while, Molly,” he interrupted, “and I’ll tell you all
about it.”
 “What bottle is that under your waistcoat?” she asked, spying the
neck of it sticking out.
“Be easy, can’t you!” begged Mick, and he put the bottle on the
table and said, “That’s what I got for the cow.”
His wife was thunderstruck. “A bottle!” she ejaculated, “an empty
bottle, and nothing more?”
“Just an empty bottle,” Mick replied. “But—”
“And what good is it?” said Molly. “Oh, Mick! I never thought you
were such a fool; and how will we pay the rent? and how—”
“Now, Molly,” said Mick, “can’t you stop a bit and hearken to
reason? An old man overtook me on the big hill, half-way to Cork,
and he made me sell him the cow, and said this bottle which he gave
me in exchange would make me rich.”
“Make you rich!” cried Molly. “We’ll see what it will do for you,” and
she snatched it up from the table, intending to break it over his head.
But Mick caught it before it had time to descend, and, recalling the
old man’s advice to keep peaceable, he gently loosened his wife’s
grasp, and placed the bottle again in his bosom. Molly sat down and
wept while Mick told her his story with many a crossing and blessing
between him and harm. The marvel of it caused his wife’s doubts to
vanish, for she had as much faith in fairies as she had in the priest,
who indeed never discouraged her belief in them—maybe he
believed in them himself. She got up and began to sweep the
earthen floor with a bunch of heath. That done, she tidied up
everything, set out the long table, and spread a clean cloth on it.
Mick then placed the bottle on the floor and said, “Bottle, do your
duty.”
“Look there! look there, mammy!” exclaimed the chubby eldest
son, a boy about six years old; and he sprang to his mother’s side
and clung to her skirts in terror with his eyes on the bottle.
Two tiny men were climbing out of it, and in a few moments they
had brought plates and other dishes, all of solid gold or silver, and
put them on the table, and the dishes contained a bountiful feast of
the choicest food that ever was seen. As soon as this task was
finished, the tiny men went into the bottle, which Mick then picked up
and carefully set on the mantel. Where the little men had gone he
could not tell, for the bottle seemed to be as empty as when he first
received it.
 Two tiny men climbed out of the bottle

For some time Mick and his wife stood and gazed at the table in
silent bewilderment. They had never seen such dishes before and
did not think they could ever admire them enough. In fact, the sight
of all this splendor almost took away their appetites. But at length
Molly said: “Come and sit down, Mick, and try to eat a bit. Sure, you
ought to be hungry after such a good day’s work.”
“It’s plain the little old man told no lie about the bottle,” said Mick;
and he helped the children into seats around the table. They all
made a hearty meal, though they could not eat half the food that was
before them.
“Now,” said Molly, “I wonder if these fine things are ours to do as
we please with them, or if those two good little gentlemen in the
bottle will carry them away.”
They waited to see what would happen, but the little men
remained in the bottle, and at length Molly cleared the table and put
away the dishes. “Ah, Mick,” said she, “you’ll be a rich man yet, as
the stranger who took your cow foretold.”
Before they went to sleep that night they decided that they would
sell some of their fine tableware, and with the money it brought pay
what they owed, and rent more land. So the next day Mick went to
Cork laden with a number of the gold and silver dishes, which he
sold for more money than he had ever had in his hands before. He
did not return on foot, for he bought a horse and cart so that he was
able to ride. In the weeks that followed he increased his wealth from
time to time by calling forth the imps out of the bottle, and it was
soon plain to everyone that Mick was prospering. He and his wife did
all they could to keep the source of their good fortune a secret, but
their landlord presently came to Mick and asked him where he got all
his money, for he knew very well it was not from the farm.
Mick tried to put him off with excuses. This, however, would not
do, and the landlord was so persistent that finally Mick told him about
the bottle. The landlord offered Mick a great deal of money for it, but
Mick continued to refuse until the landlord said that in addition to the
money he would give him the farm he rented. Mick surrendered the
bottle, feeling that he was now so rich he never would be in want
again. But he was mistaken, for he and his family lived as if there
was no end to their fortune. They earned little and spent much. Their
wealth melted away, and at length they became so poor they had
nothing left which they could sell but one cow.
So Mick prepared to drive the cow to Cork fair and dispose of her.
It was hardly daybreak when he left home, and he walked on at a
good pace till he reached the big hill midway in his journey. The
mists were sleeping in the valleys and curling like smoke-wreaths on
the brown heath around him. Just beside the road, as he was going
along, a lark sprang from its grassy couch and ascended into the
clear blue sky pouring forth its joyous matin-song. While Mick was
watching it he was startled and rejoiced to hear the well-remembered
voice of that same old man who had accosted him here once before.
“Well, Mick Purcell,” said the stranger, “I told you that you would be a
rich man; and you found that I was right, did you not?”
“Indeed, sir, it was the truth you spoke, and no mistake,” replied
Mick. “But it’s not rich I am now. Have you another bottle? I need it
as much at present as when I first saw you. So, if you have one, sir,
here is my cow for it.”
“And here is a bottle,” responded the little man, taking it from an
inside pocket of his coat. “You know what to do with it.”
“Sure I do,” said Mick.
“Farewell,” said the strange old man as he turned to go.
“And good-by to you, sir,” said Mick. “May your shadow never
grow less. Good-by, sir, good-by.”
Mick wasted no time looking back to see what became of the little
man and the cow, but hastened homeward. As soon as he arrived he
called out, “Molly, Molly! I have another bottle!”
“Have you?” said she, laughing joyfully. “Why, then, you’re a lucky
man, Mick Purcell, that’s what you are.”
 She quickly put everything in order and set forth the table with a
clean spread on it. Then Mick placed the bottle on the floor, and said,
with a tone of exultation in his voice, “Bottle, do your duty.”
In a twinkling, two big, stout men with heavy cudgels issued from
the bottle (I do not know how there was room for them in it) and
belabored Mick and Molly and the rest of the family, including the
dog and the cat, till they sank bruised and faint to the floor. This
result seemed to satisfy the two men, and they returned to the bottle.
When Mick recovered sufficiently to get on his feet he stood and
thought and thought. At length he helped up his wife and children.
But he left them to get over their fright as best they could while he
took the bottle under his coat and went off to call on his landlord.
The landlord’s mansion was full of company when he got there,
and they were just sitting down to a magnificent feast provided by
the imps of the bottle which Mick formerly owned. He sent in word by
a servant that he wanted to speak with the master of the house on
urgent business.
Pretty soon the landlord came out. “Well, what do you want now?”
he asked roughly.
“Nothing, sir, only to tell you that I have another bottle,” Mick
answered.
“Oho!” said the landlord, softening his manner and rubbing his
hands together gleefully, “and is it as good as the first?”
“Yes, sir, and better,” declared Mick. “If you like, I will show it to
you before all the ladies and gentlemen in your dining-hall.”
“Come along then,” was the landlord’s response, “and if I’m
satisfied with what you show, I will pay a good round price for the
bottle.”
He conducted his former tenant into the great hall, where Mick
was interested to behold the other bottle standing high up on a shelf.
“Now,” said the landlord, “let us see what your bottle can do.”
Mick set it on the floor and said, “Bottle, do your duty.”
 Immediately out came the two stout men with their big clubs, and
knocked the landlord off his feet. Then they assailed the ladies and
gentlemen, his guests, and the servants, also, and there was running
and sprawling and kicking and shrieking. Cups and plates and
salvers were scattered about in all directions, and the landlord began
to call out, “Mick Purcell, stop those two demons, or I’ll have you
hanged!”
“No, no!” said Mick, “they never will be stopped by me till I get that
bottle I used to own, which I see high up on the shelf there.”
“Give it to him, give it to him before we are all killed!” beseeched
the battered ladies and gentlemen.
“Take it, and make haste,” cried the landlord.
So Mick climbed up and got the bottle that had been the source of
his former good fortune. By this time the men with the cudgels had
pounded the company to their satisfaction. They retired to their
bottle, and off went Mick with both bottles in his bosom.
As the years passed he became richer and richer, and when, in his
old age, his servants broke the bottles while fighting at a wake he
was careful not to squander his riches as he had previously. So he
and his wife lived happily to the end of their days.