Eliciting encouragement. We are not born knowing how to encourage ourselves to investigate new interest areas; we learn the skill of self-encouragement from someone who has encouraged us to take action on our own behalf. Before we can be encouraged, however, we must provide the person with a glimpse into our curiosity. In a study to investigate significant factors that enabled people to integrate previously unrecognized talents or personality traits into their lives, Young and Rodgers (1997) found the role of witness as significant. A witness in their study was a person who observed a talent in others and encouraged them to develop the talent or interest. This encouragement was sometimes a brief encounter, yet the exchange left the participants will- ing to take risks.