Abhi's E-portfolio

From the moment, a child is born, the learning process is initiated where the child absorbs a plethora of information as he/she grows in the physical world. The child seems to incorporate only chunks of information that he/she thinks is beneficial. This selective attention leads to the formation of his/her personality. The question we ask is through which platform does the child or a person in general acquire all the information that leads to the formation of personal identity? A theory that I learned, while in Psychology 101 class, called social learning theory explains this phenomenon deeply. The theory states that a person learns from another through observation, imitation, and modeling. It has often been said that this theory serves as a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it incorporates attention, memory, and motivation.

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This theory can very well be applied to community service. Observing

others volunteer at a hospital, local community, or other places

motivates us to do the same. I know that observing people volunteer and

seeing pictures of how much of a difference they make in a hospital

inspired me to do the same. I became volunteer at Lexington Medical

Center during my freshman year of college, and since then I have been

volunteering. I observed, imitated, and modeled the hospital employees

so that I can help relieve them from some of their duties.

 

For example, in emergency department, I observed how the front desk employee registered the incoming patients. He checked in patients by providing them a short registration form to fill. After putting the information into a computer, a registration band was printed out. He then wrapped the registration band around their hand, and provided them with a number that was going to be called once it was their turn to go to a room. I observed, imitated, and modeled the same process in order to learn duties that a volunteer is expected to perform. When the number was called, I observed how the nurse transported patients back to the assigned zone and room number. Upon arriving to the room, patients were requested to change clothes and put on a hospital gown. I observed the nurse-patient interaction closely because I was going to model the same process eventually when it was my turn to perform those duties. This is just one example of observational learning but more processes were observed to learn rest of the duties. Learning all of these duties as a volunteer impacted the hospital staff in a very positive way. It allowed the employees to focus on providing care the right way instead of focusing on things that might deviate them from reaching the goal of providing patient-centered care.

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In the process of volunteering, I noticed the exceptional care provided by the hospital staff, which motivated me to do the same. This observation will not only help me become a better volunteer but also a better physician since I will know exactly the type of care that patients will expect from healthcare professionals. The patients appreciated the hospitality that I showed and from that point on I knew that it was all about learning through observing others. I came to the conclusion that people not only learn through observation, but they are also motivated by observing. Not only did I learn to mimic the duties of a volunteer but was also motivated to provide exceptional care through observation.

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One of my personal experiences demonstrates this theory very well. During my sophomore year of college, I observed several of my friends become Supplemental Instruction (SI) leaders. From a distance, I saw that they had to attend a specific SI class that they were assigned. Along with attending a class, they were required to hold three SI sessions where students from that course can attend and get assistance. Just observing how much difference a SI leader can make by helping the students motivated me. I modeled their pathway and applied to become a SI leader. I got accepted, and was placed in Chemistry 111 class. I then served as a SI leader for a semester helping students in a variety of ways. In this process, I learned that not only did I observe my peer's SI experience but was motivated by it. The SI program impacted my self-identity in a way that made me realize that I had the capability of leading other people and take on roles such as becoming a mentor. Not only did I serve as a SI leader but I influenced several of my SI students to become SI leaders. They observed, imitated, and modeled what I did to enhance their personal growth. The motivation factor for them was the help that they were going to provide to future students.  

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Another experience that demonstrates this theory was becoming Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED) ambassador. Before I applied for this position, I observed several people become part of the AED committee and make a difference in many lives. I observed the committee helping pre-med students, impacting the USC community through volunteering, and providing the members access to resources that are somewhat difficult to find if one does not have a large social network. Their vast involvement in all of the activities motivated me to apply to become part of the committee the following year. I applied and got elected as an ambassador during my junior year. During that year, I helped pre-med students especially freshmen on what exactly they needed to do in order to get accepted in AED since there are requirements that applicants must meet. Throughout the year, I was kind a like a mentor to the current and future members in that I helped in whatever way they needed. I knew how to go about helping them because I had observed, imitated, and was modeling previous committee member’s behavior. This AED experience further helped brush up my leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.

 

There are a couple of important things to note here. First, the beyond the classroom experiences reinforced my understanding of the theory in that now I know how we use our attention, motivation, and memory to model something that we think will be beneficial for us. In addition to learning, the motivation factor is just as important in observing others. Now that I have a better understanding of this theory, I plan to further apply this theory in medical school by observing the previous first year medical students on how did they approach their first year. Whatever advice they provide me, I plan to imitate and incorporate the advice with my beliefs to ultimately make a plan on how to go about having a successful first year. The motivation factor for me will be that the content being learned in first two years will assist me during my clinical rotations, and so just observing their style of learning is going to be crucial. Learning and being motivated through observation is what brings change to our personal identity.