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    8 views17 pages

    ConceptOfFlow PDF

    Uploaded by

    Marc van Roon

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 17
    The Concept of Flow Jeanne Nakamura & Mihaly Coikszentmihalyi What constitutes a goo! life? Few questions are of more fundamental importance % a posit paychology. Flow research has yielded one an- swer, providing an understanding of experiences during which individuals are fully involved in the present moment. Viewed through the ex periential lens of flow, a good life is one thar is characterized by complete absorption in what fone does. In this chapter, we describe the flow ‘model of optimal experience and optimal devel- lopment, explain how flow ant! related constencts hhave heen measured, discuss resent work in this area, and identify some promising directions for future research Optimal Experience and Its Role in Development The Flow Concept Studying the creative process in the 1960s (Getvels & Csiksrentmihalyi, 1976), Csikszent- rmihalyi was struck by che fact that when work ‘on a painting was going well the artist persisted single-mindedly, disregarding hunger, fatigue, and discomfort—yet rapidly lost interest in the drtistie creation once it had been completed Flow reseauch and theory hed theit origin in a desire ro understand this phenomenon of ttinsically motivated, or autotelic, activity tivity rewarding in and of itself (avo = sel felos = goal), guite apare from its end product or any extrinsic good that mighe rest from the activity ignificant research had been conducted on the intrinsic motivation concept by this period (summarized in Deci & Ryan, 1985). Never theless, no systematic empirical research hod been undertaken to clarify the subjective phe- nomenology of intrinsically motivated ity, Csikezentinthalyt (1975/2000) invest the nature and conditions of enjoyment by inter owing chess players, rock climbers, dancers and others who emphasized enjoyment as the ain reason for pursuing an activity. The re- searchers focused on play and games, where in trinsic rewards are salient. Additionslly, they studied work-—specifieally, surgery—where the extrinsic rewards of mancy and prestige could by themselves justify partitipasion. They formed a picture of the general characteristics of optimal experience and its proximal conditions, finding that the reported phenomenology was remark ably similar across play and work setcings. The conditions of flow inchade: 90 PART III, EMOTION-FOCUSED APPROACHES + Perceived challenges, oF opportunities for ac- tion, that stretch (neither overmatching not sunderutlizing) existing skill; a sense that one is engaging challenges at a level appro- priate to one's capacities + Clear proximal goals and immediate feedback about the progress that is being made. Being “in flow" is the way that some inter- viewees described the subjective experience of engaging juct-manageable challenges by tack- ling a series of goals, continuously processing feedback about progress, and adjusting action based on this feedback. Under these conditions, experience seamlessly unfolds from moment to moment, and one enters a subjective state with the following characteristics + Intense and focused concentration on what one is doing in the present moment Merging of action and awareness Loss of reflective self-consciousness (i.e, loss of awareness of oneself as a social actor) + A.senze that one can control one’s actions; that is, a sense that one can in principle deal with the situation because one knows how to respond to whatever happens next Distortion of temporal experience (typically, a sense that time has passed faster than normal) Experience of the activiy as intrinsically re- warding, such that often the end goal is just an excuse for the process, When in flow, the individual operates at fall capacity (cf. de Charms, 1968; Dec, 1975; White, 1959), The state is one of dynamic equi- librium. Entering flow depends on establishing fa balance between perceived action capacities land perceived action opportunities (cf. optimal arousal, Berlyne, 1960; Hunt, 1965). The bal- ance is intrinsically fragile. If challenges begin to exceed skills, one first becomes vigilant and then anxious; if

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