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