Unmasking Complexity in the Study of Motivation

People are just as wonderful as sunsets if I can let them be. In fact, perhaps the reason that we can truly appreciate a sunset is that we cannot control it. When I look at a sunset as I did the other evening, I don’t find myself saying, “Soften the orange a little on the right-hand corner, and put a bit more purple along the base, and use a little more pink in the cloud color.” (…) I watch it with awe as it unfolds. (Rogers, 1995, p. 22) Carl Rogers’s depiction of humans guided the methodological choices in my study of motivation. To learn how and why motivation develops, I analyzed the history of artists: their struggle for acceptance in the art world and their choice to create art in unfavorable circumstances such as state censorship. For an insightful perspective, I conducted a case study of a textile artist''s motivation to create works of art. My findings illustrate that motivation is shaped by socio-cultural influences and by certain experiences, which I refer to as spellbinding because of their spell or powerful long-term influence on the artist’s creative life, and which have never been emphasized in the traditional, less holistic studies of motivation.