Lesson 8-Flow

6.Sense of control--experience a sense of control

What is a potentially dangerous out come of flow? --CHESS --ADDICTION --unwillingness to cope with other things

Autotelic Experience

an end in itself, self-contained activity, intrinsically rewarding (FLOW)

d) Commitment--the trust that allows the child to feel comfortable enough to set aside defenses

e) Challenge-- parent's dedication to provide increasingly complex opportunities for action

Flow is feeling

"in the zone"

7. Loss of self-consciousness--loss of our self concern

.--Those experience flow lose a sense of self--no longer thinking of how other's see them --can be oblivious to spectators --might see themselves as becoming one with their immediate environment

4.Feedback--clear and immediate feedback

.

Research Methods

--Optimal human experience --Experience sampling method--every time watch buzzed, fill out survey --Being in the zone

MC

--noted for both his work in the study of happiness and creativity, but mainly flow --Martin seligman described him as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology --Over 120 books and articles

Cultures or cultural factors that maximize chances for flow?

1) Indian tribes of British Colombia intentionally choose new challenges by moving periodically 2) Citizens of nations that are more affluent, better educated, and ruled by more stable governments report higher levels of satisfaction with life 3) But an important paradox is the great availability of leisure that fails to be translated into enjoyment (flow)

Cultures and cultural factors that minimize chances for flow?

1) Industrial revolution reduced individual opportunity for autotelic experiences 2) The Ik of Uganda institutionalized selfishness 3) The Yonomamo of Venezuela worship violence

8. Transformation of time--perception of time is altered

Although it seems likely that losing track of the clock is not one of the major elements of enjoyment, freedom from the tyranny of time does add to the exhilaration we feel during a state of complete involvement

Intro to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Born sept 29, 1934 in Fiume italy --Hungarian psych progessor --came to US age 22 --Claremont graduate university --former head of the department of pyschology at the University of Chicago --and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College

Flow activities

Cailois' Game Categorization::: Flow Channel/Anxiety/Boredom::

Pleasure vs.

Most people think that happiness consists in experiencing pleasure: good food, good sex, all the comforts that money can buy

3. Clear goals

People know what they need to do

2. A merging of action and awareness--participate effortlessly with deep involvement

Rubix cube, dancer

enjoyment (Seligman's gratification)

When people ponder further about what makes their lives rewarding, they think beyond pleasant memories and begin to remember other events: ENJOYMENT--occurs when a person has not only met some prior expectation or satisfied a need or a desire but also gone beyond what he or she has been programmed to do and achieved something unexpected perhaps something even unimagined before

The Autotelic personality

a) Attentional disorders and stimulus overinclusion prevent flow because pyschic energy is too fluid and erratic

Family Flow

a) clarity--goals and feedback in the family interaction are ambigous

Ilinx (or vertigo)

activities that alter consciousness by scrambling ordinary perception

Mimicry

activities where alternative realities are created

b) Excessive self-consciousness and self centeredness prevent it because attention is too rigid and tight

c) ANOMIE refers to a condition in which the norms of behavior have become muddled and enjoyment is reduced

b) Centering--parents are interested in what children are doing in the present

c) Choice--Children feel they have a variety of possibilities from which to choose

Elements of flow 1. A challenging activity that requires skill--challenging task with the ability to complete

car, racing-competence=challenge Hot Rod competence<challenge

5. Concentration on the Task at Hand

climber

Flow activities

depend on the balance between challenge and skill in order to shoot between anxiety and boredom

d) Alienation is condition in which people are constrained by the social system to act in ways that go against their goals

e) neurophysiology and Flow --Individuals with more flow experiences may have the ability to screen out stimulation and to focus only on what they decide is relevant for the moment

Alea:

games of chance

Agon:

games with competition as the main feature

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

positive psychologist, studied individual optimal experiences that eventually led him to develop the concept of flow

Flow

refers to the state of being completely involved in an activity for its own sake

Some clues about the external and internal conditions

that lead to flow are suggested from research

Flow:

the state of being completely involved in an activity for its own sake --dancer, rock climber, mother

Flow can be understood

through eight elements that are commonly associated with this phenomenon