Flow

Flow experiences have been observed throughout time, across cultures, and in countless
creative and competitive endeavors, and have been found to be directly linked to optimal
development and functioning.

Definition: Flow experiences occur when we become really engaged in controllable but
challenging tasks or activities that require considerable skill and which are intrinsically
motivating (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).

Examples of activities that have been shown in scientific psychological studies to lead to flow
experiences include reading, sailing, chess, rock climbing, dancing, writing and gang
motorcycling. Longitudinal research on flow reveals how flow experiences are associated with
achievement (in academics, work, or sports) over time (Csikszentmihalyi et al., 1993).

The subjective state that emerges has the following characteristics (Nakamura and
Csikszentmihalyi, 2002):

1. The tasks which lead to flow experiences must demand that we use our skills almost
to their limits. For flow experiences to occur we must have a good chance of
completing these tasks.

2. There must be clear goals and immediate feedback.

3. These tasks require total concentration so we become deeply and effortlessly involved Commented [11]: so concentration ka point 2 baar
likha hai. clear goals and immediate feedback are 2
in them, so much so that we no longer think of the worries and frustrations of everyday separate points not one
life.

4. Intense and focused concentration on what one is doing in the present moment

5. A sense 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

6. Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, such that often the end goal is
just an excuse for the process

7. Merging of action and awareness

8. Loss of reflective self-consciousness (i.e., loss of awareness of oneself as a social

actor) and paradoxically the sense of self emerges as strengthened after the task is
completed.

9. Distortion of temporal experience (typically, a sense that time has passed faster than
normal)
History: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was intrigued by the stories about artists like
Michelangelo who lost themselves in their work. Studying the creative process in the 1960s
(Getzels & Csikszentmihalyi, 1976), Csikszentmihalyi was struck by the 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 artistic creation once it had been completed
(Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002, p. 89). Csikszentmihalyi (1975/ 2000) also noted that
forms of play (chess, rock climbing) and work (performing surgery, landing a plane) often
produced similar states of engagement.

Flow Concept

The state of flow is one of dynamic equilibrium.

- Entering flow depends on establishing a balance between perceived action capacities

and perceived action opportunities, the balance is intrinsically fragile.

Three regions of momentary experiences were identified:

(1) flow, where challenges and skills matched;

(2) boredom, where challenges and opportunities were too easy relative to skills, and

(3) anxiety, where demands increasingly exceed capacities for action.

 - If challenges begin to exceed skills, one first becomes vigilant and then anxious; if skills
begin to exceed challenges, one first relaxes and then becomes bored.
- Shifts in subjective states provide feedback about the changing relationship to the
environment.
- Experiencing anxiety or boredom presses a person to adjust his or her level of skill and/
or challenge in order to escape the aversive state and reenter flow.

The model of balancing perceived challenge and skill has been refined, however, by Delle
Fave, Massimini, and colleagues (1987), who, by using the experience sampling method,
discovered that the quality of a momentary experience intensifies as challenges and skills move
beyond a person's average levels.

For example, if you play chess with a typical six-year-old, the experience will not present you
with an average or above-average challenge that requires higher-level skills. If you play chess
with someone with consider- ably more experience and skill, however, you experience a great
challenge, your skills will be stretched, and flow is more likely.

Apathy is experienced when perceived challenges and skills are below a person's average
levels; when they are above, flow is experienced.

Intensity (depicted by the concentric rings) of each experience (e.g., anxiety, arousal,
relaxation) increases with distance from a person's average levels of challenge and skill.
The Autotelic Personality

● The majority of flow research has focused on flow states and the dynamics of
momentary optimal experiences.

● Csikszentmihalyi (19751 2000) hypothesized, however, that a cluster of personality

variables (e.g., curiosity, persistence, low self-centeredness) may be associated with the
ability to achieve flow and with the quality of flow that is experienced.

He suggested the possible existence of an autotelic personality, as exhibited by a

person who enjoys life and "generally does things for his or her own sake, rather than
in order to achieve some later external goal" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). A more
nuanced operationalization of the autotelic personality focused on the disposition to be
intrinsically motivated in high-challenge, high-skill situations.

● This conceptualization of the autotelic personality has been measured via quantitative
methods (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993). In a sample of American
adults, Abuhamdeh (2000) found that, when compared to people who do not have the
autotelic personality characteristics, those who do have these characteristics have a
preference for high-action-opportunity, high-skills situations that stimulate them and
encourage growth.

● Furthermore, people with the autotelic personality appear to experience little stress
when in the flow quadrant, whereas the reverse is true for adults without these
characteristics.

Measurement of Flow
1. Interview: The semi- structured interview provides a holistic, emic account of the flow
experience in real-life context.

2. Questionnaire: The Flow Questionnaire presents respondents with several passages

describing the flow state and asks (a) whether they have had the experience, (b) how
often, and (c) in what activity contexts.
The FQ identifies flow as multiple constructs, therefore allowing the results to be used
to estimate differences in the likelihood of experiencing flow across a variety of factors.
Another strength of the FQ is that it does not assume that everyone's flow experiences
are the same. Because of this, the FQ is the ideal measure for estimating the prevalence
of flow. However, the FQ has some weaknesses that more recent methods have set out
to address. The FQ does not allow for a measurement of the intensity of flow during
specific activities. This method also does not measure the influence of the ratio of
challenge to skill on the flow state

3. Experience sampling method: This includes specific sampling of flow experiences to

understand the skills, challenges and nature of the state.
The ESM requires individuals to fill out the experience sampling form (ESF) at eight
randomly chosen time intervals throughout the day. The purpose of this is to understand
 subjective experiences by estimating the time intervals that individuals spend in
specific states during everyday life. The ESF is made up of 13 categorical items and 29
scaled items. The purpose of the categorical items is to determine the context and
motivational aspects of the current actions (these items include: time, location,
companionship/desire for companionship, activity being performed, reason for
performing activity). Because these questions are open-ended, the answers need to be
coded by researchers. This needs to be done carefully so as to avoid any biases in the
statistical analysis. The scaled items are intended to measure the levels of a variety of
subjective feelings that the individual may be experiencing. The ESM is more complex
than the FQ and contributes to the understanding of how flow plays out in a variety of
situations, however the possible biases make it a risky choice.

Cultural Comparisons
- Though flow has been studied more often in Western contexts some cross-cultural
differences have been found in looking at various groups.

- Moneta (2004) found that Chinese students in Hong Kong did not experience flow in
accordance with the optimal challenge/skill conditions that Csikszentmihalyi’s (2000)
model found in Western populations; instead, these participants preferred skill level to
be higher than challenge level. They evaluated high-challenge situations negatively,
which Moneta (2004) postulates could be because of the higher values of prudence
(among other traits) in this culture.

- Work-based flow experiences are more common in cultures that permit people to have
work roles that are neither monotonously boring nor overly challenging and stressful,
but where role demands meet workers’ skill levels. Flow experiences are more common
in cultures where religious rituals involving dance, singing or meditation, which
promote flow experiences, are widely practiced. Flow experiences are more common
in cultures where skilled games against well-matched competitors are widely practiced.

- Similarities have also been found across cultures. Asakawa (2004) investigated
autotelic personality and flow experience in general in Japanese college students
and found that Csikszentmihalyi’s (2000) flow model was a good fit for these
individuals. In 2010, Asakawa found that the Japanese college students who were more
autotelic and had more flow experiences also scored higher on measures of self-esteem,
scored lower on scales measuring anxiety, and had better coping strategies (Asakawa,
2010). Factors that seemed to contribute to flow included college engagement
(including academic work and college life in general) and were positively linked to
more frequency of the flow experience. Finally in this study, it appears that Japanese
individuals experienced flow far less often in comparison with data that have been
collected in other studies with U.S. and German participants. This contributes to our
understanding of how context and cultural values may dictate what circumstances are
necessary to achieve an actual flow state.

Fostering Flow and benefits

 - The goal of intervention researchers interested in the applications of flow is to help
people identify those activities that give them flow and to encourage people to invest
their attentions and energies in these activities.

- Flow researchers have assisted people in their search for absorption by describing two
paths to becoming more engaged with daily life:
1. finding and shaping activities and environments that are more conducive to
flow experiences, and
2. identifying personal characteristics and attentional skills that can be
tweaked to make flow more likely.

- Csikszentmihalyi has modified numerous work environments to increase the chances

of producing flow. For example, he worked with the Swedish police to identify
obstacles to flow in their daily work routines and then to make their work more
conducive to flow on the beat. (Specifically, officers were encouraged to walk the beat
alone on occasion, rather with their partners, so that they could become more absorbed
in their work).

Flow principles also have been incorporated into the design of workplaces and into the
organization of displays at art venues, including the J. Paul Getty Museum in Southern
California, to increase the enjoyment of visits to these sites.

- Several clinical researchers (e.g., Inghilleri, 1999; Massimini et aI., 1987) have used
experience sampling method and flow principles to help individuals discover and
sustain flow. This use of the experience sampling method data provides feedback on
momentary experiences and identifies activities and environments where optimal
experience can be increased.

New Areas of Investigation Involving Flow: Gaming and Internet Use (Lopez page 888)

- In this “technological age,” the use of the Internet for social media, gaming, and other
functions is of interest in numerous contexts. Many people, from professionals to
adolescents and children, spend hours online engaging in technological pursuits.

- While some of these activities may have purposes (e.g., doing research for a school
paper, investigating ratings of elementary schools), many people seem to spend time on
the Internet just for the sake of being online. Those who study digital gaming have
proposed that the flow state is experienced by some during this type of activity
(Boyle, Connolly, Hainey, & Boyle, 2012; Procci, Singer, Levy, & Bowers, 2012; 7
Sherry, 2004).

- This same conclusion has been drawn by some who study Internet shopping and
browsing behavior (Hsu, Chang, & Chen, 2012). The loss of awareness of time, desire
to keep playing despite physical discomfort, and the experience of action and
awareness merging are reported.