Chapter 12: Studying Motivation to Learn during early Adolescence: A Holistic Perspective

Lao Tzu, a sage reputed to have lived some 26 centuries ago in what is modern-day China, articulated an outlook on the phenomenal world that was in some ways remarkably prescient from the vantage point of science in the 21st century. He was reputed to have taught that “everything in the universe follows certain patterns and processes that escape precise definition” (McGreal, 1995, p. 9). This predisposition to see the phenomenal world in terms of probabilistic patterned processes rather than determinate discrete parts may be a feature of the Chinese way of perceiving and conceiving of reality that extends more or less from antiquity down to this very day (Nisbett, Peng, Choi, & Norenzayan, 2001). Such a worldview, one more holistic than reductionistic, more dynamic than static, is undoubtedly a powerful theoretical force at play today in the minds of scientists the world over who are concerned with understanding complex systems over time. Such systems include the evolution of the physiochemical universe and biological life on earth (Capra, 1982; Schneider & Londer, 1984), as well as the biological, psychological, and social development of human beings in particular times, places, and cultural settings on the earth (Sameroff, 1983).