Argument:
Shenk claims that motivation is key. It is the drive that keeps you going. Shenk later addresses an example on page 121 on the movie of 1981 Chariots of Fire to give examples of varying motivation and the degree of the persistence in each person. There is the psychological factor of motivation such as on p. 92 where it explains how "child achievers are frequently hobbled by their own success" and there is also the actual skills that "seem" to be naturally gifted in a person on p.93 with the example of yo yo ma.
But do you think that motivation could be passed down through genes? Wouldn't the degree of 'how much' and 'what' a person places there values in be an evolutionary benefit?
Christine Park (go2christine@hotmail.com)
Maybe motivation could be passed down through genes, but it is mainly developed through environmental factors. Motivation is affected by culture, family, childhood memories, etc. Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Factors that promote intrinsic motivation include: challenge, curiosity, fantasy, competition, cooperation, and satisfaction of recognition. Lately, it has been brought to attention that a great failure in today’s school/education system is the failure to intrinsically motivate kids, which could explain the drops in world rankings among other countries (http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/edPsybook/Edpsy5/edpsy5_intrinsic.htm) . South Korea and Japan are among the highest ranking countries in education (math, reading, science). One reason this may be is because of the motivation of their students (http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading) . With “cultural beliefs” tying into a “fear of failure”, along with intense competition for jobs in the small countries, it isn’t surprising that these kids are more motivated to study (http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED405401&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED405401) . In addition, motivation can be strongly affected when developed at an early age. Relating to imprinting, “the formation at a specific stage in life of a long-lasting behavioral response to a particular individual or object”, humans have a “sensitive period” when they are younger that affects their growth as a person for the rest of their lives (Campbell 1126). Like with Yo-Yo Ma, he was raised in a family that “breathed, ate, and slept music”, so naturally, he would have an attachment and seemingly “innate” connection to music because of this early influence (93). As said by J. Fraser Mustard, “The early years of human development establish the basic architecture and function of the brain” (http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/en-ca/importance-of-early-childhood-development/what-can-be-done.html) . Therefore, a young child can develop his/her motivational levels early. Of course, motivation can change due to sudden events in life, but for the most part, the environment can steer the course of motivation. For example, a younger sibling has always grown up admiring an over-achieving older sibling. Sometimes the younger sibling will be motivated to rebel in order to not follow in the footsteps in fear of not living up to expectations; sometimes the younger sibling will be motivated then to try even harder to push for higher achievements. Either way, the motivation was set at an early age that pushed this younger sibling throughout life to pursue whatever actions he/she wishes. As reported by Shenk, “children who grow up surrounded by praise for being technically proficient at a specific task often develop a natural aversion to stepping outside their comfort zone […]and develop a terrible fear of new challenges and of any sort of flaw or failure” (92). Here, early achievements with a lack of failure ruins the motivation of kids take the risks required to be creative later in life. Therefore, the development of motivation proves extremely important, which is why I believed while it may be passed down through genes, it is more related to the environment and how the person was raised.
ReplyDeleteThe degree of how much a person is motivated and to what they dedicate as their values to be motivated by and towards can definitely be an evolutionary benefit. As Shenk said it, “the single greatest lesson from past ultra- achievers is not how easily things came to them, but how irrepressible and resilient they were” (120). If an organism is resilient and persistent, it has a higher chance of survival and reproduction. In the humans’ life, most work to be successful in order to have a family and have their heirs live on to also survive and reproduce as best they can. The better the job/salary/education/lifestyle, the higher chances of survival and reproduction. To achieve these demands of a good education/ job, one must persist, and that requires motivation. That is why it can be seen lately the influx of high-achieving students of asian descent. They were brought up at an early age with the push for success and hard work, later motivating them to out-perform their non-asian peers (http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED405401&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED405401). Are they genetically better? Not really… They just developed a different mindset of motivation over the years through their culture. With their success coming from hard work, they will be able to survive and reproduce more heirs to follow a similar path, allowing this type of people to live on, proving beneficial to natural selection and evolution. However, it must be kept in mind that this evolution due to levels of dedication and motivation is because of the culture and lifestyle more than specific physical characteristics (Campbell 459). Therefore, survival and reproduction rates are higher because of the ability to adapt to the environment because of the culture of motivation and lifestyle.
ReplyDelete(Lea Nowack, lea.nowack123@gmail.com)
Motivation and dedication are necessary in order to achieve success For example when referring to Yo-Yo-Ma, Shenk states on page 95, "early life contained all the known ingredients for the brewing of extraordinary achievement: an early and intensively conditioned musical brain, world-class training resources, and a desperate personal desire that researchers universally agree is the key to precocious success." Yo-Yo-Ma wasn’t simply deemed successful because of his talents but mainly he had to make use of his motivtion and his training resources.
ReplyDeleteMotivation is defined “the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors” (http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm). If one is not motivated to do something, then most likely the work he or she is doing is average and reduces the chances of success. Motivation is what distinguishes the extraordinary from the others. In order to understand where motivation comes from we must differentiate between the two types of motivation, which are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivations are those that arise from within the individual. For example the task of completing a Sudoku puzzle for personal gratification. Extrinsic motivations are those that arise from outside an individual and often involve monetary rewards and approval. So the source of motivation can be from outside oneself or inside oneself. I believe that the source of motivation is mostly psychological, but genes do play a part in certain situations. For example, genes and motivation can work hand in hand when talking about athletics. According to Elizabeth Quinn, “most physiologists agree that the current limits have to do with our genetics specifically genes that regulate our cardiovascular endurance and muscle fiber type, but some factors are much more variable. Things like nutrition, motivation, environment and advances in equipment all allow for dramatic improvements in athletic performance.”(http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/genetics.htm). So in order to achieve athletic success, motivation and the genes that regulate cardiovascular endurance and muscle fiber type are necessary.
I believe that parental involvement is very vital in the whole process for motivation also. Parents should be backing up their child’s decision on what ever he or she wants to strive to achieve. Also, it is most likely that the parent and child have a bond or a similar hobby that he or she wants to strive for, so it is most likely the parent that introduces their child to the activity that the child wants to succeed in. Also, the time period that the someone picks up something they are innately good at is very important. The ideal age would be during development and growth during the single digit years because that is when the child is learning the most. A prime example would be the Suzuki method, which states that at a very young age is the best time to teach a kid something new. All of this can be related to the Ecology and Behavior unit.
Neil Edat (neil.edat@gmail.com)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePart 2
ReplyDeleteAnimals, similar to humans have goals everyday and it can be as simple as a lion catching a gazelle. If a lion is starving, then that is the motivation factor to go be successful and go get some food. Also, the best time period to start getting motivated and to start the path to success would be during the sensitive or critical period because it is the a limited developmental phase when certain behaviors can be learned (Campbell 1126). Also, parental involvement is only important in humans. The work of Konrad Lorenz shows that imprinting has a life long impression. Imprinting is teaching the young about the basic behaviors of a distinct species. This is related to evolution in that if the environment where to change for an animal then the behavioral habits will have to change for not only the young but for the parent. This change would be taught during the critical period and from then on the species will have adapted to the change and now have a different behavior.
I also agree with Lea in that our school system fails to intrinsically motivate children. If the schooling system were to train children in a way where their education was almost independent, children would be self-motivated everyday to learn and succeed.