A Quick Introduction To The Concept of Flow

Csikszentmihalyi (1990) suggests that modifying our experience of external conditions to better accommodate our goals is better suited than trying to modify external conditions to match our goals. By doing so, we allow for a greater freedom of improvisation within our environment and the challenges that we may face. This is the case, not only during optimal experience, but in everyday life. Our expectations would no longer be bounded by the external or internal environment by doing so. This attitudinal operative is necessary for engagements leading to the experience of flow. Once this attitude has been wrought by our individual psychologies, then the experience of true enjoyment can be achieved. Not enjoyment in the mundane sense, like pleasure, but rather that which entails a person going beyond what he or she has been rigidly programmed to do, and achieve what is beyond expectation or imagination. This requires a great deal of attention from the individual and absorption into the task at hand.

Csikszentmihalyi has broken this experience into eight major components, of which at least one or usually all are experienced by individuals engaged in it. First, the task has to be accomplishable. Second, third, and fourth, require the individual to give attention to the task at hand and concentrate. This concentration is made possible because of clear goals and immediate feedback. The fifth maintains that the individual is so completely absorbed to the point of having no worries or fears that the outside world becomes irrelevant. The sixth component involves a sense of control or preparedness that allows for interaction, and moving from knowing into unknowing. The seventh has the individual at a loss of self or ego, not to the point of loss of necessary skills, but more so a loss of consciousness of the self. Lastly, there is an alteration in the sense of time for those in the experience.

The activity can have several dimensions, with or without physical skill, just so long as skills are utilized in the actualization of the goal. In the use of skills it is necessary they be engaged in a manner befitting a challenge, and one that is just the right amount for individual capabilities. Even the mundane can provide optimal experience, just so long as there is enough challenge put forth by the individual with the stipulation of goals, rules, and attention. However, when in search of the true positive qualities of experience, one must incorporate more demanding challenges that require higher level skills.

“When all a person’s relevant skills are needed to cope with the challenges of a situation, that person’s attention is completely absorbed by the activity” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). It is here that the optimal experience can take place, when the individual becomes so absorbed they no longer separate themselves from their actions; indeed the actions take on automaticity and spontaneity. The activity becomes its own reason for achieving, and extrinsic motivations become diminished, leaving only the individual and the task at hand to surge back and forth together in a tidal dance of exchange.

Csikszentmihalyi further emphasizes what May and Maslow proclaim regarding the necessity of hard work, physical exertion, or highly disciplined mental activity that is required to achieve the sensation of flow. Complete concentration is necessary to maintain it, and that concentration is given its potency through our efficacies. When “in the moment,” brought forth by our efficacies and absorption, the goals set are clear and feedback immediate. Working toward the goal necessitates improvisation, and it’s here that situational or external factors provide circumstances that allow for re-direction, all the while maintaining the goal.

Improve Student Learning and Behavior with Recess

Ever get punished in school and have to forgo recess? Ever been in the position to discipline a student and chose to limit or prohibit their recess? A new study recently published in the journal Pediatrics shows that allowing for recess may actually improve behavioral issues in the classroom। Research up until this point has been inconclusive, with a more prominent study conducted by Basile and colleagues in 1995 demonstrating antecedent exercise to essentially only reduce “fidgety” behaviors in children with diagnosed behavioral disorders. Other research, albeit structurally flawed, has essentially concluded that antecedent exercise may not even be a viable behavior management strategy (Faulkner, 2006; Walters & Martin, 2000; Endresen & Olweus, 2005).

This new research, however points to the intuitive notion that taking a break is almost essential for sustained cognitive functioning (Ormrod, 2008). After 45-60 minutes the brain needs a break, something new and fresh to captivate the senses and lighten the cognitive load. Children will be more attentive after a short recess than before, even if that recess involves playing quietly in the classroom rather than running around in the gym or outdoors (Pellegrini & Bjorklund, 1997; Pelligrini, Huberty, & Jones, 1995). Essentially, we learn more when there is less, something teachers need to take into consideration when planning their lessons and activities.