Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: All About Flow & Positive Psychology

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About Flow & Positive

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16 DEC 2016 FLOW, POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY STUDIES
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difficult and worthwhile.”
Strengths & Virtues
– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (20)
(Here’s a fun trick to remember his name:
“Me high? Cheeks send me high!”) The Self (21)
Therapies (34)
Do you remember that moment when creativity and
productivity sprung from your mind smoothly? According Writing Therapy (6)
to positive psychology cofounder Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi, this state is called flow, and it is an
important contributor to creativity and well-being.
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This article contains:
Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?

The 8 Characteristics of Flow
Who Experiences Flow?
What Happens in the Brain During Flow?
How to Get Into The Flow?
Don’t Flow Alone…
What is The Motivation Behind Your Flow
State? Recent Posts
2 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Using Images To Boost Confidence And 19 Self-

Flow Acceptance
Quotes
TED Talk On Flow: The Secret To Happiness
For
Relating
To
Yourself
The Positive Psychology Toolkit In A
Healthier
Way
02 Oct 2018
What are
the
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06 Sep
2018
The experience of flow is universal and it has been

What is
reported to occur across different classes, genders,
Affective
ages, cultures and it can be experienced in many types Forecasting?
of activities. Definition
+ Daniel
Gilbert's
If you’ve ever heard someone describe a time when
Work
their performance excelled and they used the term being
01 Sep
“in the zone”, what they’re describing is an experience of 2018
flow. It occurs when your skill level and the challenge at
hand are equal. Meaning
&
Existential
Here’s a short video with a great explanation of Flow:
Positive
Psychology
[PODCAST]
3 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

31 Aug 2018
Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?

From his own adverse experiences as a prisoner during
World War II and from witnessing the pain and suffering
from many people around him during this time, he
developed a curiosity about happiness and being
content with life.
He observed how many people were unable to live a life

of contentment after their jobs, homes, security, etc,
were taken from them during the war. After the war, he
read philosophy and took an interest in art and religion
as a means to seek an answer to the question, what
creates a life worth living?
Eventually, he stumbled upon psychology whilst at a ski

resort in Switzerland. He attended a lecture by Carl
Jung, who talked about the traumatized psyches of the
European people after World War II. He was so intrigued
that he started to read Jung’s work, and eventually took
an interest in psychology. Which in turn led him to the
United States to pursue psychology. What he really
wanted was to study the roots of happiness.
Finding Out What Happiness Really Is
His studies led him to conclude that happiness is an

internal state of being, not an external one. His popular
book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
(Amazon) is based on the premise that happiness
levels can be shifted through the introduction of more
4 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

flow.
Happiness is not a rigid state that can’t be changed. On

the contrary, happiness takes a committed effort to be
manifested. After the baseline set point, there is a
percentage of happiness that every individual has the
responsibility to take control of. He believes that flow is
crucial to creating genuine happiness.
“Happiness takes a committed effort to be

manifested.”
Through much research he began to understand that

people were most creative, productive, and often,
happiest when they are in this state of flow. He
interviewed athletes, musicians, artists, etc. because he
wanted to know when they experienced the most
optimal performance levels.
He was also interested in finding out how they felt during

these experiences. He developed the term flow state
because many of the people he interviewed described
their optimal states of performance as instances when
their work simply flowed out of them without much effort.
He aimed to discover what piqued creativity, especially

in the workplace, and how creativity lead to more
productivity. He also determined that flow is not only
essential to a productive employee but it is imperative
for a contented one as well. In his own words, flow is:
“A state in which people are so involved in

an activity that nothing else seems to
matter; the experience is so enjoyable that
people will continue to do it even at great
cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”
– Csikszentmihalyi, 1990
Here are some of the characteristics that comprise
5 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Csikszentmihalyi’s definition of optimal flow

performance.
The 8 Characteristics of Flow

Csikszentmihalyi describes 8 characteristics of flow:
1. Complete concentration on the task

2. Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate
feedback
3. Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down of
time)
4. The experience is intrinsically rewarding
5. Effortlessness and ease
6. There is a balance between challenge and skills
7. Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-
conscious rumination
8. There is a feeling of control over the task
Who Experiences Flow?

Interestingly, a capacity to experience flow can differ
from person to person. Studies suggest that those with
‘’autotelic personalities’’ tend to experience more flow.
A person with an ‘’autotelic personality’’ tends to do

things for their own sake rather than chasing some
distant external goal. This type of personality is
distinguished by certain meta-skills such as high interest
in life, persistence, as well as low self-centeredness.
Moreover, in a recent study investigating associations

between flow and the 5-personality types, they found a
negative correlation with neuroticism and a positive
correlation between conscientiousness with the state of
flow.
It can be speculated that neurotic individuals are more
6 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

prone to anxiety and self-criticism, which are conditions

that can disrupt this state. In contrast, conscientious
individuals are more likely to spend time on mastering
challenging tasks, which are characteristics important
for flow experience.
What Happens in the Brain During Flow?

The
This marathon runner definitely has decreased prefrontal cortex activity
state of flow has been rarely investigated from a

neuropsychological perspective but is a growing
interest. According to Dietrich, it has been associated
with decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex.
The prefrontal cortex is an area responsible for higher

cognitive functions such as self-reflective
consciousness, memory, temporal integration, and
working memory. It’s an area that’s responsible for our
conscious and explicit mind state.
However, in a state of flow, this area is believed to

temporarily down-regulate; a process called transient
hypofrontality. This temporary inactivation of the
prefrontal area may trigger the feeling of distortion of
time, loss of self-consciousness, and loss of inner-critic.
Moreover, the inhibition of the prefrontal lobe may

enable the implicit mind to take over, resulting in more
brain areas to communicate freely and engage in a
creative process. In other research, it’s also
hypothesized that the flow state is related to the brain’s
dopamine reward circuitry since curiosity is highly
7 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

amplified.
How to Get Into The Flow?

It’s important to note that one can’t experience flow if
other distractions disrupt the experience (Nakamura et
al., 2009). Thus, to experience this state, one has to
stay away from the attention-robbers in our modern fast-
paced life. A first step would be to dump your
smartphone
Also, the balance of perceived challenges and skills are

important factors (Nakamura et al., 2009). On the one
hand, when a challenge is bigger than one’s level of
skills, one becomes anxious and stressed. On the other
hand, when the level of skill exceeds the size of the
challenge, one becomes bored and distracted. Since the
experience of this state is just in the middle, the balance
is essential.
“Inducing flow is about the balance

between the level of skill and the size of
the challenge at hand.”
The experience of flow in everyday life is an important

component of creativity and well-being. Indeed, it can be
prescribed as a key aspect of ‘’eudaimonia’’ or self-
actualization in an individual, a contradictory term to
“hedonia” or pleasure. Since it is also intrinsically
rewarding, the more you practice it, the more you seek
to replicate these experiences, which help lead to a fully
engaged and happy life.
Don’t Flow Alone…

Researchers from St. Bonaventure University asked
students to participate in activities that would induce
flow either in a team or by themselves.
8 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Students rated flow to be more enjoyable when in a

team rather than when they were alone. Students also
found it more joyful if the team members were able to
talk to one another. This finding was replicated even
when skill level and challenge were equal.
A final study found that being in an interdependent

group whilst in flow is more enjoyable than one that is
not. So, if you want to get more enjoyment out of an
experience of flow, try engaging in activities together.
This beautifully echoes Christopher Peterson’s

conclusion that positive psychology can be summed up
in three words: “Other people matter“.
What is The Motivation Behind Your Flow

State?
Most of
your
conscious
action
requires
motivation
and there
are two
basic types: Intrinsic and Extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation is where you do something because

you love it. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2013) said the
highest intrinsic motivation is “Flow” where self-
consciousness is lost, one surrenders completely to the
moment and time means nothing. Like when a
competent musician plays without thinking, or a surfer
catches a great wave and rides it with joy.
Extrinsic motivation is where your motivation to succeed

is controlled externally. Fear motivation is not getting
into trouble or working hard to earn more money. That
type of motivation is short-lived. Good extrinsic
motivation is where you are practicing to get better but
9 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

you still need a tutor or teacher to validate your efforts.
Using Images To Boost Confidence And

Flow
Psychologists Koehn et al. (2013) conducted research
into different performance contexts and the production
of the flow state, looking specifically at the way imagery
and confidence levels interact to create flow.
Participants completed imagery and confidence
measures before undertaking a field test (Koehn et al.,
2013). Measuring the performance of a tennis
groundstroke, Koehn et al. (2013) found a significant
interaction between imagery and confidence.
Koehn et al. (2013) were able to demonstrate positive

associations between imagery, confidence and the
inducement of a flow state, which in turn predicts
increased performance. In essence, the conduction of a
flow state is seen to significantly increase performance
levels in a given external task (Koehn et al., 2013).
TED Talk On Flow: The Secret To Happiness

We leave you with the Ted Talk of this great scientist
and we’d love to hear from you, how often do you
experience flow and what type of activities lead to this
experience. Drop us a comment below.
10 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

References
Related Posts
About the Author

Mike Oppland graduated from
Calumet College in June 2006 with
a B.A. in Business Management.
Mike is co-founder and co-director
of xpertcoaching.com along with his
twin brother Dan. Their goal is to
spread their love of basketball as
well as personal development with
others.
11 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

18 Comments
mirella jaber Reply
Steve Larkin, then you are one of the few

blessed ones. My daughter who is an
architect has been making her way into this
craft, and now I understand, for the same
reasons.
Maybe it’s time that we, collectively, step out

of the biblical “original sin” frame of mind, to
finally grow up and assume our godly status.
Ste4ve Larkin Reply
I am a potter. I have to be careful when I go

into my studio, because I lose all track off
time….like it does not exist. That would be
OK, except there are other things I have to
do in a day.
Older Comments
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Home Blog Shop Free PDF

Home » Experts & Scientists » Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: All About Search

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: All Type keywords...

About Flow & Positive

Sharing is caring. Share 1.5K Tweet Book Reviews (11)

Certification & Degrees

Experts & Scientists

Happiness & SWB (19)

Meaning & Values (13)

Optimism & Mindset

1 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Positive CBT (15)

Positive Education (14)

Positive Emotions (18)

Positive News (17)

passive, receptive, relaxing times… The Relationships &

Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?

2 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Using Images To Boost Confidence And 19 Self-

The experience of flow is universal and it has been

3 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?

He observed how many people were unable to live a life

Eventually, he stumbled upon psychology whilst at a ski

Finding Out What Happiness Really Is

His studies led him to conclude that happiness is an

4 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Happiness is not a rigid state that can’t be changed. On

“Happiness takes a committed effort to be

Through much research he began to understand that

He was also interested in finding out how they felt during

He aimed to discover what piqued creativity, especially

“A state in which people are so involved in

Here are some of the characteristics that comprise

5 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Csikszentmihalyi’s definition of optimal flow

The 8 Characteristics of Flow

1. Complete concentration on the task

Who Experiences Flow?

A person with an ‘’autotelic personality’’ tends to do

Moreover, in a recent study investigating associations

It can be speculated that neurotic individuals are more

6 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

prone to anxiety and self-criticism, which are conditions

What Happens in the Brain During Flow?

This marathon runner definitely has decreased prefrontal cortex activity

state of flow has been rarely investigated from a

The prefrontal cortex is an area responsible for higher

However, in a state of flow, this area is believed to

Moreover, the inhibition of the prefrontal lobe may

7 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

How to Get Into The Flow?

Also, the balance of perceived challenges and skills are

“Inducing flow is about the balance

The experience of flow in everyday life is an important

Don’t Flow Alone…

8 von 13 08.10.2018, 11:14

Students rated flow to be more enjoyable when in a

A final study found that being in an interdependent

This beautifully echoes Christopher Peterson’s

What is The Motivation Behind Your Flow

Intrinsic motivation is where you do something because