Competence Motivation and News on the Upcoming Blogbill (HOT!)

Wednesday 2:39pm. Cloudy with a 65% chance of rain
Greetings all,
I recently attended the most fascinating lecture conducted by an educational psychologist from UT. The campus has been sponsoring a philosophy series and one of the topics they are exploring is hate. Dr. Richardson's lecture focused on Hate, Individualism, and the Social Bond. During his lecture he mentioned a theory that has often been neglected and is all but forgotten called "Competence Motivation". I spoke with him for some time upon the completion of his lecture and found myself very excited and intrigued by this almost archaic theory of developmental psychology. Basically it states that the real challenge and ultimate fulfillment of the individual is not found in just performing their job, but in going much farther beyond the minimal requirements. It goes on to postulate that the individual must be find a way to take their practical knowledge and apply it to causes greater than their own personal lives; to simplify, they must be able to serve some greater good with what they know.
So I was instantly gravitated toward this idea because it seems to be such a breath of fresh air in a society that is so inextricably linked to the promotion and glorification of the individual. In this postmodern age, when notions of greater good and theories of progress have been hastily replaced with individualism and materialism, it is easy to understand just why this theory has been pushed into the dark corners of contemporary psychology. Of course, I know very little about psychology, and I see Competence Motivation more as a rebellion against complacency rather than within the context of psychology in general. Just wanted to throw that out there!
Moving on. At the request of a few wonderful individuals here on campus, I have decided to do a "cast of characters" of the people I have met here so far. A playbill if you like, or as I will refer to it as, a "Blogbill". SO, if you are reading this then odds are we know each other pretty well, and you definitely will be featured in the upcoming blogbill. It will be the who's who of Texas State, and while the list is very elite and exclusionary, I imagine many of you all will find your way onto it. If you have any pictures of yourself, because pictures WILL be mandatory, please email them to me ASAP. If not, I have borrowed Sam's digital camera an will be happy to snap a picture of you, probably when you are not ready. This is a preliminary list of characters to be included:
*No particular order!
1)Dan
2)Sam
3)Grace
4)Corrie
5)Marissa
6)Cool Sean
7)Amanda
8)Andy Petruzzo
9)Matt Luna (I can't stress MAYBE enough on this one)
10)Matt Lecure and Mariah (I see these two as an individual entity :)
11)Veronica
12)Sarah (from Houston, an exception to the geographical constraints, but I assure you she deserves a spot)

Again, if you have any suggestions or amendments please feel free to let me know. And if you wish to not be featured please let me know and I will respect your wish (by "respect your wish" I mean ignore and make your profile more explicit). If you found your name on the aforementioned list, be honored, for these ladies and gentlemen are the creme de la creme of the San Marcos/Austin area.
Okay, I will be burning the midnight oil to make this a reality and keep all of us happy!

Random Quote:
"Man is the only animal who blushes, and also the only one with a need to." (Twain)

Until next time, I shall remain, happily,
M.W. Rice
(much better than DJ Reiter :)