In footnote 95, Winner writes about the "fervent, never-let-go willfulness and focus" (292) that she calls "the rage to master" in gifted children. She states that these children "combine an obsessive interest with an ability to learn easily in a given domain [which] leads to high achievement" (292). Shenk shows evidence of this with young Michael Jordan, young Yo-Yo Ma, and young Mozart.
What kind of environment was it that stimulated this intense interest at such a young age? Using evidence, explain how you think this "rage to master" is formed. Winner calls it innate, Shenk calls it "a psychological mechanism forming out of some family/social/cultural dynamic" (292). Considering the theme of Interdependence in Nature, would something like competition keep this motivation going? What other factors could be the cause?
Agnes Kwon (akwon0215@gmail.com)
According to Shenk, he claims that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a young musical genius because "his early achievements-while very impressive, to be sure-actually make good sense considering his extraordinary upbrining" (Shenk 61). He also brings up the fact that his father was an "intensely ambitious Austrian musician, composer, and teacher who had gained wide acclaim with the publication of the instruction book" (61) and his sister was also "a dazzling pianist and violinist-for her age" (62). Deducing from the information about Mozart's family and their environment, it seems that if there is a family member(s) who is(are) passionate about a certain subject, it is more likely that the intense interest may be stimulated at a very young age. In another words, the young ones may be affected by the environment full of passion that his/her parents or other family members may create.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the environment can be highly considered as negative environment to the children, but the child could still have a "rage to master" mind. For example, Yuna Kim, is the first figure skater of South Korea, who has received a gold medal in the Olympics. Not only is she the gold medalist for the Olympics in 2010, but also she is a medalist in many other tournaments such as the World Champions and other competitions. Her family background was not as affluent as Mozart's. Her parents have never figure skated before, and in fact, figure skating in Korea is not a very popular sport. Unlike many other Olympic trainees, for example, Mao Asada, Yuna did not have her personalized figure skating rink. She had to go all over the country, just so she can practice for her sport. Unfortunately, her parents were running out of money and energy, but she has continued to skate and practice because her "rage to master." I think that because she had a even worse environment than other skaters, she had the rage to master more perfectly and flawlessly, which has allowed her to win almost all medals related to figure skating.
Connecting this concept to the theme of Interdependence in Nature, a clownfish is a "mutualistic symbiont of sea anemones" (Campbell 709). Competition could keep the motivation going but may sometimes even allow less motivation to occur, just like the clownfish. Just as a clownfish is depending on sea anemones to provide their homes, sea anemones feed off of detritus left from the meals, providing a win-win situation in the both of the organisms (http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/invertebrates-animals/other-invertebrates/clownfish_amonganemones/). However, clownfish are not the only type of species that depend on the sea anemones. There would be an "interspecific competition, [which is] a -/- interaction that occurs when individuals of different species compete for a resource that limits their growth and survival" (Campbell 1199). When a different type of species take over the clownfish's sea anemones, it will cause a negative and negative interaction which limits their growth. In comparison to the clownfish to humans, when a person is participating in a competition, and that person loses, it is very likely that the loser will lose hope and also lose the motivation to do better.
-Sally Park (sypark1029@gmail.com)
The "rage to master" is developed when someone perceives a necessity to master a skill based on his or her environment. This "rage to master" is, in reality, an obsessive and desperate desire to master a skill. Like Sally asserted, This obsession can come from both a positive and a negative environment. For example, Yo-Yo Ma is an example of developing an obsession from a positive environment. Since he was an infant, Yo-Yo was surrounded by music and "heard hundreds of classical selections on records, or played by his father or his sister," (Shenk 286). This was a positive environment that was full of opportunity and encouragement that allowed him to flourish. Despite providing a positive environment for Yo-Yo, his parents did not create his "rage to master". The music filled environment caused Yo-Yo to develop a strong desire to live up to the legacies of the musicians he began to listen to as a baby. This is epitomized when "Yo-Yo worshiped his sister and father and desperately wanted to impress both," (Shenk, 292). His desire to impress his family and live up to their standards created his obsession with music and self-improvement.
ReplyDeleteThe "rage to master" is clearly expressed in negative environments by college basketball players. Many of these people develop their obsessive desire with mastering basketball because they view it as a means to escape the poverty they were born into. Their desire to escape this negative environment leads to obsessive training in order to obtain enough skill to be drafted into the NBA or obtain a college scholarship and receive NBA attention from there. They are aware that by mastering basketball and rising to an elite level, they can not only escape poverty, but become extremely wealthy. For example, elite college basketball players have obsessively and determinedly trained for years before being recruited to top basketball schools. As they attract NBA attention, they can be worth over one million dollars as a basketball player, like at Duke University (National College Players Association, Study: College Athletes Worth 6 Figures, Live Below Federal Poverty Line). However, many of these athletes come from poor families and live below or near the poverty line while building their reputation in college. Due to their hard work, the most elite players get drafted into the NBA and are able to escape poverty and become rich. However, they never would have attained their riches unless they had the "rage to master" basketball in order to escape their economic situation.
As already discussed when evaluating Yo-Yo Ma's success, competition is integral in developing the rage to master. One can compare the willingness to train hard for years in order to succeed fantastically in the future to operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, organisms learn and adjust their behavior based on cause and effect relationships (Simply Psychology, Skinner-Operant Conditioning). If a human comprehends the long term cause and effect of obsessive practice and becoming rich, famous, or otherwise successful, the human can spend years practicing in order to master a skill to use in the future, like an NBA game, the New York Symphony, or the Olympics. By focusing on an extremely positive, possible future effect, humans are able to develop a "rage to master" for several years before they obtain the status they desire.
Laura Perlman (Laura4@comcast.net)