Mihály Csíkszentmihályi 19 Wikipedia Articles PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:52:33 UTC Contents Articles Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 1 Flow (psychology) 4 Overlearning 16 Relaxation (psychology) 17 Boredom 18 Apathy 22 Worry 25 Anxiety 27 Arousal 33 Mindfulness (psychology) 34 Meditation 44 Yoga 66 Alexander technique 82 Martial arts 87 John Neulinger 97 Experience sampling method 100 Cognitive science 101 Attention 112 Creativity 117 References Article Sources and Contributors 139 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 144 Article Licenses License 146 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 1 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ( /ˈmiːhaɪˌtʃiːksɛntməˈhaɪ.iː/ mee-hy cheek-sent-mə-hy-ee; Hungarian: Csíkszentmihályi Mihály Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈtʃiːksɛntmihaːji ˈmihaːj]; born September 29, 1934, in Fiume, Italy – now Rijeka, Croatia) is a Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Now at Claremont Graduate University, he is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College. He is noted for both his work in the study of happiness and creativity and also for his notoriously difficult name, in terms of pronunciation for non-native speakers of the Hungarian language, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology.[1] Csikszentmihalyi once said "Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason."[2] His works are influential and are widely cited.[3] Personal background He received his B.A. in 1960 and his Ph.D. in 1965, both from the University of Chicago. He is the father of MIT Media Lab researcher Christopher Csikszentmihalyi and University of California - Berkeley[4] professor of philosophical and religious traditions of China and East Asia, Mark Csikszentmihalyi. In 2009, he was awarded the Clifton Strengths Prize [5] and received the Széchenyi Prize at a ceremony in Budapest in 2011.[6] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 2 Flow In his seminal work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csíkszentmihályi outlines his theory that people are most happy when they are in a state of flow— a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter (Csikszentmihalyi,1990). The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically Mental state in terms of challenge level and skill level, according to ignored.[7] Csikszentmihalyi.<ref name="Finding Flow">Csikszentmihalyi, M., Finding Flow, 1997.</ref> (Click on a fragment of the image to go to the appropriate article) In an interview with Wired magazine, Csíkszentmihályi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."[8] To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur. Both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, then apathy results.[] The flow state also implies a kind of focused attention, and indeed, it has been noted that mindfulness, meditation, yoga, the Alexander Technique, and martial arts seem to improve a person's capacity for flow. Among other benefits, all of these activities train and improve attention. In short, flow could be described as a state where attention, motivation, and the situation meet, resulting in a kind of productive harmony or feedback. Publications • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1975). Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: Experiencing Flow in Work and Play, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-87589-261-2 • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1978) Intrinsic Rewards and Emergent Motivation in The Hidden Costs of Reward : New Perspectives on the Psychology of Human Motivation eds Lepper, Mark R;Greene, David, Erlbaum: Hillsdale: NY 205-216 • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Csikszentmihalyi, Isabella Selega, eds. (1988). Optimal Experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-34288-0 • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row. ISBN 0-06-092043-2 • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1994). "The Evolving Self", New York: Harper Perennial . ISBN 0060921927 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 3 • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1996). Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-092820-4 • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1998). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02411-4 (a popular exposition emphasizing technique) • Gardner, Howard, Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Damon, William (2002). Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet. New York, Basic Books. • Gardner, Howard, Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Damon, William (2002). Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning. Basic Books. ISBN 0465026087 References [1] Thinker of the Year Award (http:/ / www. brainchannels. com/ thinker/ mihaly. html) [2] http:/ / www. focusdep. com/ quotes/ topics/ virtue/ start/ 0/ [3] Nigel King & Neil Anderson (2002). Managing Innovation and Change. Cengage Learning EMEA. p. 82. (ISBN 1861527837) [4] http:/ / eall. wisc. edu/ ?q=node/ 28 East Asian Languages and Literature [5] http:/ / strengths. org/ prize. shtml [6] http:/ / www. cgu. edu/ pages/ 4546. asp?item=5242 [7] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row. ISBN 0-06-092043-2 [8] Geirland, John (1996). "Go With The Flow". Wired magazine, September, Issue 4.09. (http:/ / www. wired. com/ wired/ archive/ 4. 09/ czik_pr. html) External links • Faculty page (http:/ / www. cgu. edu/ pages/ 4751. asp) at Claremont Graduate University • Brain Channels Thinker of the Year - 2000 (http:/ / www. brainchannels. com/ thinker/ mihaly. html) • Interview with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 2006 (http:/ / video. google. com/ videoplay?docid=-2868591389059000099& q=csikszentmihalyi& total=14& start=0& num=10& so=0& type=search& plindex=0) • TED Talks: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow (http:/ / www. ted. com/ talks/ view/ id/ 366) at TED in 2004 • Video Interview on the Flow of Goodness (http:/ / blip. tv/ file/ 71230/ ) Flow (psychology) 4 Flow (psychology) 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] According to Csíkszentmihályi, 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. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while Concentrating upon a task is one aspect of flow. performing a task[2] although flow is also described (below) as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions. Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the moment, present, in the zone, wired in, in the groove, or owning. 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