Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian psychology professor who immigrated to the United States in 1956 at the age of 22. He is best known for his concept of flow and its relation to happiness and creativity. Flow has been generally described by many people as an intrinsic motivation where people are completely focused on a situation or task at hand. Csikszentmihalyi writes prolifically having published 120 articles and books or book chapters across all kinds of psychology topics. He is widely considered to be one of the motivating forces behind positive psychology given his focus on creativity and happiness. Csikszentmihalyi often mentions the roots of positive psychology going back to Aristotle.
Flow is a state a person enters which is akin to completely encompassing motivation and attention to what they are doing. Each person can experience flow under different circumstances and tasks and in fact the tasks that I personally experience flow under may be very different from the tasks that would make another person experience the same level of flow. Csikszentmihalyi (2008) wrote “the common characteristics of optimal experience: a sense that one’s skills are adequate to cope with the challenges at hand, in a goal-directed, rule-bound, action system that provides clear clues as to how well one is performing.”
Nakamura and Csíkszentmihályi (2001) identify the following six factors as encompassing an experience of flow.
1. intense and focused concentration on the present moment
2. merging of action and awareness
3. a loss of reflective self-consciousness
4. a sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
5. a distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective experience of time is altered
6. experience of ...
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...lectronic learning environments: Games, flow and the user interface. Presentation at the national convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), St. Louis, MO, USA.
Nakamura, J.; Csikszentmihalyi, M. 20 December 2001. "Flow Theory and Research". In C. R. Snyder Erik Wright, and Shane J. Lopez.Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press. pp. 195–206.ISBN 978-0-19-803094-2. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
Rathunde, K., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2005). The social context of middle school: Teachers, friends, and activities in Montessori and traditional school environments. Elementary School Journal, 106, 59-79.
Rathunde, K. & Csikszetnmihalyi, M. (2005), "Middle school students' motivation and quality of experience: A comparison of Montessori and traditional school environments", American Journal of Education 111 (3): 341–371.
When we are engaged in "flow" we must be doing something that we enjoy, and as Csikszentmihaly so aptly states, "Allocation of time, presents difficult choices that eventually determine the content and quality of our lives" (146). It is important to note that these activities during "flow" are good only in small amounts; because in large doses can consume our lives and even be harmful. People who do spend large amounts of time on one activity will be consumed by it and not have room for anything else in their lives, so this can actually cause unhappiness. It is important to note that during a "flow" experience people have not been shown to have a increase in happiness, but only after the activity is completed they are in a more positive state. Over time small doses of flow can lead to an overall increase in well-being and happiness over a period of time doing these activities, Csikszentmihaly tells us, " The prerequisite for happiness is the ability to get fully involved in life" (150). From this we are able to learn and focus on building balance, happiness and we must experience everything life has to
Using the concepts of flow from Csikszentmihalyi, these authors hypothesized that by experiencing flow at work would create a positive leadership role, which would eventually lead to a great satisfaction in their job (Smith, Koppes, and Vodanovich). When a person is satisfied with their job, they are more likely to be organized and perform to their greatest capability. Some researchers have attempted to use flow to measure the relationship between the usage of flow and the attitudes of the employees while doing their job. The more an employee uses flow in their day-to-day work life, the happier the employee will be in the well-being of life (Fullagar and Kelloway). Using psychological flow in everyday work life has been proven to be extremely beneficial in creating a happy employee that is satisfied with the work that he or she is doing. Researcher Bakker has said that while experiencing flow, a person should feel an intense feeling of accomplishment and fulfilment, just while performing the task that they are expected to do everyday in their jobs (Bakker). Contrary to Csikszentmihalyi’s definition of flow, researcher Bakker (2008) defines “flow as the experience of complete absorption, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation.” This definition is different from Csikszenmihalyi’s because of Bakker’s lack of focus on one specific task at hand. Csikszenmihalyi’s definition of flow is more precise for completing a task that requires stress as to where Bakker’s is a broad sense of satisfaction when completing any task. Having many different researchers offer their perspective of psychological flow is
Waiten,W., (2007) Seventh Edition Psychology Themes and Variations. University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Thomson Wadsworth.
It is clear that our current education system is not working well. In education, adaptation is what “works, and public schools are not adapting” to children (Galston). Public education in America today, uses the same philosophy that was used during the Protestant Reformation when schools were used to teach scripture and promote obedience to authority figures, without questioning that authority (Gray). Although the information being taught has changed, the way it is taught has not. Public school is still “designed for indoctrination and obedience training, but not much else” (Gray). Currently, “learning is motivated by a system of rewards and punishments rather than by curiosity or by any real desire to know,” even though “research has shown that people of all ages learn best when they are self-motivated” (Gray). Anyone who has attended public school will tell you, that a vast majority of students are not motivated to learn in that environment. The pillars of a healthy education are “curiosity, playfulness, and sociability,” none of which are prominent in the public school system and all of which are in Montessori (Gray). The Montessori Method does not fit within the standards of the public school curriculum so it has its
Positive Psychology is the strengths and virtues a person or a community poses that lead to its optimal performance and allow it to thrive.This is a beneficial study that has the chance to improve the lives of many as well as preventing some negative situations. This review looks into what Positive Psychology is and how it impacts our lives. The sources I selected look into a broad overview of Positive Psychology, and it looks into deeper more specific aspects of Positive Psychology. This review has to lead me to believe that if we see ourselves and the future in a positive way it will have a positive effect on our lives.
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
In 1952 Maria Montessori passes and her son Mario Montessori take over as General Director of the Association of Montessori International. Rambusch discovered the writing of Maria Montessori and was very interested to talk with Mario Montessori. Emily Chertoff describes in her article The Great Montessori Schism (2012) In 1953, Nancy McCormick Rambusch, an American teacher, went to an education conference in Paris, where she first met the Montessori method. After training in Britain, she returned to the United States to open a Montessori school in Greenwich, Connecticut. Up until that point, Montessori had taken off in countries around Europe, but unlike other imported European methods like Waldorf, it hadn 't made much of a dent in the US (n.p.) Nancy Rambusch was interested in bringing a more contemporary look of Montessori to the United States. Her colleagues in AMI felt as though the method was rock solid and didn’t need to sway with the trendy changes that most method were. However, these “trends” weren’t short lived and continued on. There was a change in views of parents and educators at this time post war. As mentioned by Gisella Gisolo, it was at this time that (2005) traditional educational methods were being scrutinized, and many parents were willing to play an active role in decisions about their children’s education (in fact, it was not unusual for Montessori
...skills compared to a control group from the mainstream school system. The authors of the article came to the conclusion that “when strictly implemented, Montessori education fosters social and academic skills that are equal or superior to those fostered by a pool of other types of schools.”
All of the theories/concepts discussed in this paper have helped to change the course of my life in a very positive way. Being mindful has taught me to be more open to new experiences and points of view; being religious helped me cope with many negative situations in my life; using Fredrickson’s undoing hypothesis taught me how to think positive in negative situations; having flow taught me how to be more focused; having time affluence taught me how to value the more important things in life over money; and having hope keeps my spirit up and prevents me from giving up on my goals. All these concepts/theories are very important towards positive living and they have definitely helped me deal with many situations in a more positive manner.
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
The ideal of interactive, highly-engaging training and education is ancient. A Chinese proverb says: "Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I'll understand." However, the gap continues to grow between antiquated, passive training methods and a workforce that lives an ever more interactive, multimedia, user-controlled lifestyle. With game-based learning tools to bridge that gap comes the promise of vastly more productive and engaged students and workers—ones who embrace learning.
Edward T. Hall wrote among many things in his book, The Dance of Life, of entrainment. Entrainment is the internal process that makes syncing possible with others and the environment around us. Day to day we move from one routine to another, or one appointment to another. When we do so, we adjust ourselves from one movement to another movement. When these movements require another person or a particular environment, entrainment is present. Entrainment, whether we’re aware of it or not, is something that we do everyday with varying success. Depending on our success entraining with any particular situation, there results either a fluid transition or a turbulent one.
The use of computer based games as learning tools in the classroom has steadily increased over the past several years and is a trend that David Martz, sales VP of education software company Muzzy Lane, believes will continue in the future. Among the games developed by Muzzy Lane is Making History, in which the player leads a European nation in the years preceding World War II (Electronic Education Report 2). Playing a game such as this one allows the learner to immerse himself or herself in the period they are learning about rather than...
Positive Psychology is a recent psychological development which key objective is, using scientific method, to identify and promote satisfaction in life. It promotes foremost that finding meaning in life is done by either consciously or sub-consciously implementing ways in which one can find well-being. Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi summated it as the focus on nurturing talents and genius, thus, making normal life more fulfilling. These aims are tantamount with a re-focussing of psychological factors. Focussing away from the pathology of psychological disease to a simple striving for positivity (Lazarus 2003 Ch. 4). According to Seligman, the ‘father’ of positive psychology, “Positive sentiment, Engagement, Relations, Meaning, Purpose and Achievement are the 5 measurable elements that make up Well-Bein...