Flow (psychology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - The Diigo Meta page

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  Marc-Alexandre Gagnon
  • Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.^[1]

  • Components of flow

     

    Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following ten factors as accompanying an experience of flow ^[3][4]

     
     
    1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.^[5]
     
    2. Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
     
    3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
     
    4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
     
    5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
     
    6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
     
    7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
     
    8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
     
    9. A lack of awareness of bodily needs (to the extent that one can reach a point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it)
     
    10. Absorption into the activity, narrowing of the focus of awareness down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.
     
     

    Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

  • Mechanism of flow

     

    In every given moment, there is a great deal of information made available to each individual. Psychologists have found that one's mind can attend to only a certain amount of information at a time. According to Miller's 1956 study, that number is about 126 bits of information per second. That may seem like a large number (and a lot of information), but simple daily tasks take quite a lot of information. Just having a conversation takes about 40 bits of information per second; that's 1/3 of one's capacity.^[7] That is why when one is having a conversation he or she cannot focus as much of his or her attention on other things.

     

    For the most part (except for basic bodily feelings like hunger and pain, which are innate), people are able to decide what they want to focus their attention on. However, when one is in the flow state, he or she is completely engrossed with the one task at hand and, without making the conscious decision to do so, loses awareness of all other things: time, people, distractions, and even basic bodily needs. This occurs because all of the attention of the person in the flow state is on the task at hand; there is no more attention to be allocated.^[7]

  • There are three conditions that are necessary to achieve the flow state:

     
     
    1. One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals. This adds direction and structure to the task.^[9]
     
    2. One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills. One must have confidence that he or she is capable to do the task at hand.^[9]
     
    3. The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.^[9]

  • The autotelic personality

     

    Csíkszentmihályi hypothesized that people with several very specific personality traits may be better able to achieve flow more often than the average person. These personality traits include curiosity, persistence, low self-centeredness, and a high rate of performing activities for intrinsic reasons only. People with most of these personality traits are said to have an autotelic personality.^[8]

  • Group flow

     

    Csíkszentmihályi suggests several ways a group can work together so that each individual member achieves flow. The characteristics of such a group include:

     
     
    • Creative spatial arrangements: Chairs, pin walls, charts, but no tables; thus work primarily standing and moving
     
    • Playground design: Charts for information inputs, flow graphs, project summary, craziness (here also craziness has a place), safe place (here all may say what is otherwise only thought), result wall, open topics
     
    • Parallel, organized working
     
    • Target group focus
     
    • Advancement of existing one (prototyping)
     
    • Increase in efficiency through visualization
     
    • Using differences among participants as an opportunity, rather than an obstacle

  • Gaming

     

    Flow is one of the fundamental reasons that people play video games.^[23] This is especially true since the primary goal of games is to create entertainment through intrinsic motivation. The use of flow in games helps foster an enjoyable experience which increases motivation and draws players to continue playing. Game designers, in particular, benefit from integration of flow principles into game design.^[24] Games facilitate flow as either an individual or group activity.

     

    Flow in games has been linked to the Laws of Learning as part of the explanation for why learning games (the use of games to introduce material, improve understanding, or increase retention) can show such incredible results.^[23] In particular, flow is intrinsically motivating, which is part of the Law of Readiness. The condition of feedback, required for flow, is associated with the feedback aspects of the Law of Exercise. The positive emotions associated with flow are associated with the Law of Effect. The intense experiences of being in a state of flow are directly associated with the Law of Intensity.

  • Using the Web

     

    Researchers suggest that using the internet can cause a flow state for users. If individuals are going through a flow state, which is a pleasurable experience, web users eventually improve their subjective well-being through accumulated ephemeral moments. Many web users report certain descriptions of flow when using the web, for example, absorbed interest, a feeling of discovery, immersed pleasure, and time going very fast.

  • Flow Activities on the Web

     

    Web users state that activities in the web atmosphere lead to a flow state. There are four common activities that promote flow, searching, surfing, reading and writing, and chatting. ^[25]

  • Searching

     

    The first and the most common activity to reach the flow state on the web is searching on the web.

  • Surfing or Navigating

     

    The second activity to reach flow state on the web is surfing or navigating

  • Reading and Writing

     

    The third activity to reach flow state on the web are reading and writing. Reading consists of reading incoming emails, news, articles, etc. on web pages. In addition, writing consists of composing letters, articles, speeches, etc. on web pages. The activity of reading e-mail and articles is one of the routes to experience flow because the text usually contains some new or relatively unfamiliar aspects, providing the challenges to sustain flow, which in turn usually caused growth and perceived benefits from increased knowledge and/or personal development. ^[25] Furthermore, writing articles, speeches, or emails corresponds with the flow model due to the fact that an individual is arranging his or her thoughts positively.

  • Chatting online

     

    The fourth activity to reach flow state on the web is chatting online.

  • Components/Symptoms of flow on the Web

     

    [edit] Merging of action and awareness

     

    When an individual is in flow, they are concentrating and narrowing down their activity. Therefore, an individual’s inner experience may reveal the phenomenon of merging action and awareness. The mind and action merge when individuals experience high concentration in the flow state. An example of high concentration in the flow state is a tennis player focusing only on his or her opponent and tennis ball, disregarding all external and internal activities, such as losing or yelling from an audience. In the web environment, the merging of action and awareness is realized when a user becomes the issue he or she is debating, the words he or she is typing, the sentences he or she is reading, or the machine he or she is working on. As a result, people “just sit here and keep clicking and reading away”.

  • In order to achieve flow, Csikszentmihalyi lays out the following eight conditions:

     

    1. goals are clear

     

    2. feedback is immediate

     

    3. a balance between opportunity and capacity

     

    4. concentration deepens

     

    5. the present is what matters

     

    6. control is no problem

     

    7. the sense of time is altered

     

    8. the loss of ego

  13 more annotations...

• 19 Sep 11
  

  Michael Young

  Psychological phenomenon where everything works together. Similar to the "zone" described by McElwain and MJ. Discovered by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  sports psychology sports psychology flow

• 19 Jun 11
  

  Alexey Tarasevich
  • it is most likely to occur when one is wholeheartedly performing a task or activity for intrinsic purposes.
  • One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals.
  • One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills.
  • The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback.

  2 more annotations...

• 30 Jan 11
  

  Pop Qvarnström

  flow psychology wikipedia

• 05 Jan 11
  

  O YF
  • Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity
  • Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields
  • flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning
  • The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task
  • To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow
  • Colloquial
  • In an extreme state of being in the zone, time slows down and unusually higher physical performance may be achieved
  • ten factors as accompanying an experience of flow
  • expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities
  • Clear goals
  • Concentrating
  • a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention
  • A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness
  • Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered
  • Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed)
  • Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult)
  • A sense of personal control over the situation or activity
  • that number is about 126 bits of information per second
  • attend to

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• 01 Jan 11
  

  Agnieszka Bilska

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  Ed Webb

  psychology productivity flow

  • the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity
  • To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. It is the same mindfulness as ecstatic lovemaking, the merging of two into a fluidly harmonious one. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task.
  • students achieved flow experiences more frequently in Montessori settings

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• 07 Jul 09
  

  infora dime

  Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is
  fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized
  focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.
  Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive p

  education psychology philosophy programming work reference health

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  Kevin Burrell

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