Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiv

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2. Attention and the Holistic Approach to Behavior

   • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

   Pages 1-20

3. The Experience Sampling Method

   • Reed Larson, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

   Pages 21-34

4. Validity and Reliability of the Experience-Sampling Method

   • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Reed Larson

   Pages 35-54

5. The Experience of Freedom in Daily Life

   • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ronald Graef

   Pages 55-67

6. The Situational and Personal Correlates of Happiness: A Cross-National Comparison

   • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Maria Mei-Ha Wong

   Pages 69-88

7. Happiness in Everyday Life: The Uses of Experience Sampling

   • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Jeremy Hunter

   Pages 89-101

8. Television as Escape: Subjective Experience Before an Evening of Heavy Viewing

   • Robert W. Kubey, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

   Pages 103-111

9. Measuring Intrinsic Motivation in Everyday Life

   • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ronald Graef, Susan McManama Gianinno

   Pages 113-125

10. Energy Consumption in Leisure and Perceived Happiness

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ronald Graef, Susan McManama Gianinno

    Pages 127-133

11. Play and Intrinsic Rewards

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    Pages 135-153

12. Motivation and Creativity: Towards a Synthesis of Structural and Energistic Approaches to Cognition

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    Pages 155-173

13. The Dynamics of Intrinsic Motivation: A Study of Adolescents

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Jeanne Nakamura

    Pages 175-197

14. Emerging Goals and the Self-Regulation of Behavior

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Jeanne Nakamura

    Pages 199-208

15. Toward a Psychology of Optimal Experience

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    Pages 209-226

16. Flow

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Sami Abuhamdeh, Jeanne Nakamura

    Pages 227-238

17. The Concept of Flow

    • Jeanne Nakamura, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    Pages 239-263

18. Flow with Soul

    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    Pages 265-278

19. Positive Psychology: An Introduction

    • Martin E. P. Seligman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    Pages 279-298

The second volume in the collected works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi covers about thirty years of Csikszentmihalyi‘s work on three main and interconnected areas of study: attention, flow and positive psychology. Describing attention as psychic energy and in the footsteps of William James, Csikszentmihalyi explores the allocation of attention, the when and where and the amount of attention humans pay to tasks and the role of attention in creating ‘experiences’, or ordered patterns of information. Taking into account information processing theories and attempts at quantifying people’s investment, the chapters deal with such topics as time budgets and the development and use of the Experience Sampling Method of collecting data on attention in everyday life. Following the chapters on attention and reflecting Csikszentmihalyi’s branching out into sociology and anthropology, there are chapters on the topic of adult play and leisure and connected to that, on flow, a concept formulated and developed by Csikszentmihalyi. Flow has become a popular concept in business and management around the world and research on the concept continues to flourish. Finally, this volume contains articles that stem from Csikszentmihalyi’s connection with Martin Seligman; they deal with concepts and theories, as well as with the development and short history, of the field and the “movement” of positive psychology.

• American Adolescents
• Attention and Flow
• Consumption in Leisure Happiness
• Dynamics of Intrinsic Motivation
• Experience Sampling Method
• Flow with Soul
• Happiness in Everyday Life
• Holistic Approach to Behavior
• Measuring Intrinsic Motivation
• Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi
• Motivation and Creativity
• Play and Intrinsic Rewards
• Positive Psychology
• Psychology and Optimal Experience
• Science of Positive Subjective Experience
• Self-Regulation of Behavior
• Working Parents

• Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, USA

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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. 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 chosendiscipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason." His works are influential and are widely cited.

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