Meaning as a mediator between group processes and personal potential of volunteers: an integrative socio-psychological model

Relevance of the study stems from the social significance of volunteerism as a mass movement and the need to understand the mechanisms of personal growth in a group context.

Purpose. Based on D. A. Leontiev’s concept of personal potential and current advances in social psy­chology, we propose a model that considers meaning as a key mediator linking group processes to the development of individual psychological resources.

Results. We first clarify the concept of personal potential and its resource-functional structure, which includes three groups of psychological resources (self-determination, achievement, and preservation). Next, a volunteer group is analyzed as a special meaning-making environment that provides value cohesion and a “we-identity” among members. We highlight the multifaceted functions of personal meaning – goal-set­ting, support of self-regulation, and resilience – in volunteers’ personal growth. The core of the paper de­scribes a dual-circuit model comprising “meaning” and “regulatory” developmental circuits connected by a communicative-prosocial channel. Key mediating variables (meaningful involvement, collective efficacy, and trust/identity) and five socio-psychological mechanisms of group influence (meaning interiorization, affective co-regulation, efficacy calibration, normative habit integration, and communicative transduction of experience) are identified. We formulate the theoretical propositions and hypotheses of the model, un­derscoring the central mediating role of meaning in the “group – individual” linkage.

Conclusions. The proposed model expands the understanding of personality development in group settings and can serve as a basis for further empirical research and practical programs for supporting vol­unteer communities.

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