Lecture 6: Flow Flashcards
flow
a sense of effortless action felt in moments that stand out as the best in our lives
components of flow
- Clarity of goals
- Immediate feedback
- Challenges and skills are matched
- Absorbed in the task
- Sense of personal control
- Altered sense of time
example of flow
Nova Scotians surfing in the winter
prevalence of flow activities
90% of people have flow activities
flow in sports vs. academic activities
- Csikszentmihalyi argues that school doesn’t have clear goals but sports do
- This is why we are more likely to experience flow in sports
Csikszentmihalyi’s view of TV
“Mass leisure and mass culture are parasites of the mind: they absorb psychic energy without any substantive return.”
Csikszentmihalyi’s advice on flow
- Figure out what your flow activities are and build your life around them
- This will help make your life feel meaningful
daily experience sampling
Using pagers to have people report on their experiences randomly during the day
the paradox of work and leisure study method
conducted a daily experience sampling method where people were asked what they were doing and who they were with
the paradox of work and leisure study findings
- People were most likely to experience flow when doing sports and hobbies (there’s usually an initial barrier with sports and hobbies)
- Flow is moderately likely to happen when doing work or chores
- Flow is highly unlikely to happen when watching TV
- Participants reported more flow experiences at work than during their leisure time
why are people more likely to experience flow when at work?
This is likely because people spend 75% of their leisure time watching TV when they are highly unlikely to produce flow
daily variance in mood
There is a lot of variance in people’s moods
prevalence of TV watching in Canada
- The average Canadian watches 4-5 hours of TV per day
- It increases as we get older with the exception of the young adult years
TV vs. other activities
- Other activities are higher in potency, concentration, challenge, and skills
- TV is higher in relaxation than other activities
- Other activities and TV are equal in cheerfulness
characteristics of watching TV
- Highly relaxing
- Moderately pleasant
- Highly unchallenging
- Highly passive
- Requires low concentration