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Academic works on Social Flow
| Title | First Author | Abstract | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overcoming impediments to team flow | JJJ Van den Hout | Background: For most of us, teamwork constitutes an important and prominent part of our working lives. It would be wonderful if collaborations in the workplace could be filled with passion, trust, and synergy, such that team members act and flow as one and the possibilities seem endless and effortless. Unfortunately, the reality is too often teams’ crumbling under the pressure of high performance expectations and team members engaging in destructive competition despite sharing the same purpose. Instead of synergy and positivity, team members experience burnout and stress. Aim: With teamwork being so critical to organizational success, businesses are in urgent need of tools that can help alleviate these problems and create conditions for teams to thrive. Building on Csikszentmihalyi’s research on flow [1], team flow is defined as a shared experience of flow during the execution of interdependent personal tasks that serve the interest of the team, originating from an optimized team dynamic and typified by seven prerequisites and four characteristics at the team level [2]. Despite the noted potential for team flow to enhance team performance, subjective well-being, and a healthy team dynamic, there are potential pitfalls that can inhibit team flow that have not yet been researched. Method: To remedy this, we collected interview and focus group data from both student teams (365 students comprising 60 project teams) and business teams (263 professionals of 28 teams). The focus group consisted of a team of 20 mental health care professionals working in shifts. Results: In our search for impediments to the experience of team flow, we have seen that many factors can impede team flow experiences. Prominent factors for the student project teams were related to accountability and motivational issues (co-worker laxity, disengagement), interpersonal issues within the process of collaboration (miscommunication, negativity, disagreement, conflict), task-related issues (ambiguity, disorganization, work pressure, lack of challenge) and environmental issues (distractions). The teams in professional organizations generally experience the same impediments to team flow, though dissatisfaction with the work itself appears less common. For them, key factors involved the lack of engagement and communication in terms of receiving timely and constructive feedback, slowness, and distrust. The mental healthcare team listed insecurity as its foremost impediment to team flow as they experienced a culture of harsh punishment for mistakes both within the team and in the surrounding organization. This shows that a sense of security, that the workplace is a safe place both in the physical and psychological sense, is an essential precondition for experiencing team flow. Conclusions: Not surprisingly, all reasons given by the teams for their inability to experience team flow correspond closely with the prerequisites identified in the team flow theory [3]. Based on this research, we offer guidelines for preventing and/or overcoming these obstacles. | 2017 |
| Shared flow and positive collective gatherings | L Zumeta | Abstract: Collective gatherings or rituals promote optimal experiences in socially acceptable circumstances. Few studies have empirically examined the experience of flow shared by a group in collective situations. The present research examined the multi-dimensional structure of shared flow experience and its role in explaining positive effects of participation in collective ritualized gatherings on personal wellbeing and social cohesion. In this longitudinal study (N = 550) participants of a local festival celebrated in San Sebastian (Tamborrada) responded to an online questionnaire at three different times. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a structure composed of nine first-order factors and one second-order factor with a 27- item version of the scale. Further, structural equation modeling analyses controlling for the pre-event scores showed indirect effects of participation in Tamborrada through shared flow on happiness, collective efficacy, identity fusion, and social integration. This research concludes that positive collective gatherings stimulate shared flow experiences and thus promote personal wellbeing and social cohesion. We discuss both the implications of these results and the utility of the Shared Flow Scale in positive psychology research. | 2016 |
| The conceptualization of team flow | JJJ van den Hout | Despite the noted potential for team flow to enhance a team's effectiveness, productivity, performance, and capabilities, studies on the construct in the workplace context are scarce. Most research on flow at the group level has been focused on performance in athletics or the arts, and looks at the collective experience. But, the context of work has different parameters, which necessitate a look at individual and team level experiences. In this review, we extend current theories and essay a testable, multilevel model of team flow in the workplace that includes its likely prerequisites, characteristics, and benefits. | 2018 |
| Antecedents of work team flow: A survey study in four public organizations | LA van Oortmerssen | Recent studies suggest that flow experiences in teams have positive effects on teams’ performance and innovative outcomes (Aube et al., 2014; van Oortmerssen et al., 2015). Whereas flow was developed originally as a concept referring to the optimal experience of an individual (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), research suggests that interacting team members may experience a collective form of flow (e.g. Salanova et al., 2014). However, the topic of flow in a work team context is still largely unexplored and little is known about what factors foster collective flow in teams. Moreover, the few studies that were conducted so far were based on data collected in ad hoc student teams. These teams differ from teams in real life organizational settings, where team member often work together over a longer period of time. In the study reported on in this paper, 368 respondents from 60 teams in four public organizations in different domains were included in a survey study. Results of the multi-level analysis showed that team goal commitment, participative safety, and knowledge sharing were positively associated with work team flow. Moreover, collective efficacy beliefs served as a mediator in the relationship between team goal commitment and work team flow. Insights form this study enrich and complement the nascent body of knowledge on work team flow by confirming several previously studied antecedents and adding previously unknown antecedents and a mediator relation. Moreover, it is the first study that investigates work team flow on a collective level in a real life organizational setting. | 2019 |
| Social dimensions of optimal experience: conceptual advances, methods and applications | J Heutte | Flow was first described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety in 1975. According to the agreed definition of the Europen Flow Research Network (2015), it is a gratifying state of deep involvement and absorption that individuals report when facing a challenging activity and they perceive adequate abilities to cope with these challenges. Flow is described as an optimal experience during which people are deeply motivated to persist in their activities. Research shows that flow experiences can have far-reaching implications in supporting individuals’ growth, by contributing both to personal well-being and full functioning in everyday life. According to the principle of psychological selection (Csikszentmihalyi & Massimini, 1985), flow is one of the major catalysts of the emergence and growth of social groups, cultures and civilizations (Delle Fave et al., 2011). However, the shared flow should be clearly distinguished from the optimal individual experience in the group parameters (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). The scientific exploration of the collective aspects of flow, although conceptually very nascent at the international level, is currently of great interest in Europe (Gaggioli et al., 2011; Heutte, 2019; Magyaródi & Oláh, 2017; Pels et al., 2018; Salanova, Rodriguez-Sanchez et al., 2014; van den Hout et al., 2018) and becomes one of the specific objects that a working group of members from the European Flow Researchers Network (EFRN) want to take over. This symposium wishes to share the first advances of this working group. | 2020 |
| Experiencing flow: Is doing it together better than doing it alone? | CJ Walker | A survey study and two experiments were done to test the hypothesis that social flow is more enjoyable than solitary flow. In the survey study it was found that recalled social flow experiences were rated more enjoyable than solitary flow experiences. In the first experiment when challenge and skill were the same across social and solitary conditions, social flow was reported to be more enjoyable than solitary flow. In the second experiment when the level of social interdependence was manipulated it was found that participants in highly interdependent teams reported more joy in flow than individuals performing less interdependently. In both experiments, people playing simple paddleball games reported and expressed more joy performing with others than alone. Taken together, the three investigations support the conclusion that doing it together is better than doing it alone. Solitary flow, while quite enjoyable, is not as enjoyable as social flow. | 2010 |
| A learner's experience of flow when engaged with mathematics | SAJ Morrison | Learners of mathematics often have great enjoyment when carrying out mathematical tasks, questions or problems. This experience can be labelled as ‘flow’. The learner experiences ‘flow’ when he or she is totally absorbed in the situation and/or task to the exclusion of all else, with a complete connection. Flow is a quality of experience. In this paper, I start from the premise that flow is an essential part of the mathematical learning process. Although flow ‘states’ will have common characteristics, the individual will attach the meaning, because each individual has a unique experience of flow. A longitudinal study was carried out with a group of secondary students, anticipating how flow can assist positive relationships with mathematics. Students' experiences of flow in the classroom were recorded, videoed and questioned. Initial findings suggest certain didactics (including task design, delivery methods, and questioning techniques) elicit flow and engender an ‘optimal experience’. | 2017 |
| Flowing together: A longitudinal study of collective efficacy and collective flow among workgroups | M Salanova | The aim of this study is to extend the Channel Model of Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1990) at the collective level (workgroups) by including collective efficacy beliefs as a predictor of collective flow based on the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1997, 2001). A two-wave longitudinal lab study was conducted with 250 participants working in 52 small groups. Longitudinal results from Structural Equation Modeling with data aggregated at the group level showed, as expected, that collective efficacy beliefs predict collective flow over time, both being related reciprocally. Findings and their theoretical and practical implications in the light of Social Cognitive Theory are discussed. | 2014 |
| Collective efficacy in sports and physical activities: Perceived emotional synchrony and shared flow | LN Zumeta | This cross-sectional study analyzes the relationship between collective efficacy and two psychosocial processes involved in collective sport-physical activities. It argues that in-group identification and fusion with the group will affect collective efficacy (CE). A sample of 276 university students answered different scales regarding their participation in collective physical and sport activities. Multiple-mediation analyses showed that shared flow and perceived emotional synchrony mediate the relationship between in-group identification and CE, whereas the relationship between identity fusion and CE was only mediated by perceived emotional synchrony. Results suggest that both psychosocial processes explain the positive effects of in-group identification and identity fusion with the group in collective efficacy. Specifically, the role of perceived emotional synchrony in explaining the positive effects of participation in collective sport-physical activities is underlined. In sum, this study highlights the utility of collective actions and social identities to explain the psychosocial processes related to collective efficacy in physical and sports activities. Finally, practical implications are discussed. | 2016 |
| The mediating role of shared flow and perceived emotional synchrony on compassion for others in a mindful-dancing program | JJ Pizarro | While there is a growing understanding of the relationship between mindfulness and compassion, this largely relates to the form of mindfulness employed in first-generation mindfulness-based interventions such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Consequently, there is limited knowledge of the relationship between mindfulness and compassion in respect of the type of mindfulness employed in second-generation mindfulness-based interventions (SG-MBIs), including those that employ the principle of working harmoniously as a “secular sangha.” Understanding this relationship is important because research indicates that perceived emotional synchrony (PES) and shared flow—that often arise during participation in harmonized group contemplative activities—can enhance outcomes relating to compassion, subjective well-being, and group identity fusion. This pilot study analyzed the effects of participation in a mindful-dancing SG-MBI on compassion and investigated the mediating role of shared flow and PES. | 2019 |
| The Effect of Social Interaction on Flow Experience | T Magyaródi | Background: Positive psychology aims to broaden positive subjective experiences to an interpersonal level. In order to the further studies on the dynamics of Csikszentmihalyi’s flow experience in an interactive situation, we aimed to support a basic assumption through a well-controlled experiment: if flow in an interactive task is more intense than in a solitary activity. Methods: 80 participants (age: M = 24.06, SD = 6.74) were tested in an experiment with a repeatedmeasures design. They were unfamiliar with each other, and took part in a solitary and a social creativity test as flow induction activities. The effect of the context was tested in this experiment on flow experience measured by a self-reported survey. Results: According to the results, significant difference was found in the intensity of flow: the absorption in the task (t(79)= 4.90, p < .001, d = .57) and the total flow score as flow intensity (t(79)= 3.51, p = .001, d = .38) was higher in the social situation. Conclusion: In this study we supported that flow in a shared, cooperative activity can be more intense than in solitary situations. We assume that partners can provide feedback for the personbecause of the person-environment interaction, therefore they can influence the intensity of absorption to the flow zone. | 2017 |
| Psychosocial effects of perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings. | D Páez | In a classic theory, Durkheim (1912) predicted that because of the social sharing of emotion they generate, collective gatherings bring participants to a stage of collective effervescence in which they experience a sense of union with others and a feeling of empowerment accompanied by positive affect. This would lead them to leave the collective situation with a renewed sense of confidence in life and in social institutions. A century after Durkheim’s predictions of these effects, though, they remained untested as a whole. This article reports 4 studies, 2 correlational, 1 semilongitudinal, and 1 experimental, assessing the positive effects of participation in either positively valenced (folkloric marches) or negatively valenced (protest demonstrations) collective gatherings. Results confirmed that collective gatherings consistently strengthened collective identity, identity fusion, and social integration, as well as enhancing personal and collective self-esteem and efficacy, positive affect, and positive social beliefs among participants. In line with a central tenet of the theory, emotional communion, or perceived emotional synchrony with others mediated these effects. Higher perceived emotional synchrony was associated with stronger emotional reactions, stronger social support, and higher endorsement of social beliefs and values. Participation in symbolic collective gatherings also particularly reinforced identity fusion when perceived emotional synchrony was high. The respective contributions of perceived emotional synchrony and flow, or optimal experience, were also assessed. Whereas perceived emotional synchrony emerged as strongly related to the various social outcomes, flow was observed to be related first to collective efficacy and self-esteem, and thus, to encompass mainly empowerment effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) | 2015 |
| Group Flow When Engaged with Mathematics | SAJ Morrison | In this paper I discuss the phenomena of group flow and its relationship with the mathematics classroom. Flow is a linguistic term describing an intrinsically rewarding state of mind; being ‘in the zone’, and totally absorbed in a situation to the exclusion of all else. The term was initially articulated by the Hungarian psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in the seminal work ‘Beyond Boredom and Anxiety’. This article considers a group of 40 students over 6 lessons and by means of question responses and video analysis the approach to mathematics group work is studied through the lens of group flow. I will argue that during the mathematics lessons studied the group manifest a shared peak experience and that the shared experience of group flow provides a ‘joyful’ element to the mathematics classroom. | |
| Flow at work: An experience sampling approach | CJ Fullagar | One of the core constructs of the positive psychology movement is that of ‘flow’, or optimal experience. The current study investigated the relationship between ‘flow’, the core job dimensions, and subjective well‐being (SWB), as well as distinguishing between the state and trait components of flow. Experience sampling methodology (ESM) was used to track 40 architectural students over a 15 week semester while they engaged in studio work. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) indicated that 74% of the variance in flow was attributable to situational characteristics compared to dispositional factors. Results also indicated that academic work that was high in skill variety and autonomy was associated with flow. Flow was found to be correlated with positive mood. Cross‐lagged regression analysis showed that momentary flow was predictive of momentary mood and not vice versa. The strengths and limitations of using ESM to study subjective work experiences and well‐being are discussed, as well as the implications of the study of flow or optimal experience for industrial/organizational psychology. | 2009 |
| The neurochemistry and social flow of singing: bonding and oxytocin | JR Keeler | Music is used in healthcare to promote physical and psychological well-being. As clinical applications of music continue to expand, there is a growing need to understand the biological mechanisms by which music influences health. Here we explore the neurochemistry and social flow of group singing. Four participants from a vocal jazz ensemble were conveniently sampled to sing together in two separate performances: pre-composed and improvised. Concentrations of plasma oxytocin and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) were measured before and after each singing condition to assess levels of social affiliation, engagement and arousal. A validated assessment of flow state was administered after each singing condition to assess participants' absorption in the task. The feasibility of the research methods were assessed and initial neurochemical data was generated on group singing. Mean scores of the flow state scale indicated that participants experienced flow in both the pre-composed (M = 37.06) and improvised singing conditions (M = 34.25), with no significant difference between conditions. ACTH concentrations decreased in both conditions, significantly so in the pre-composed singing condition, which may have contributed to the social flow experience. Mean plasma oxytocin levels increased only in response to improvised singing, with no significant difference between improvised and pre-composed singing conditions observed. The results indicate that group singing reduces stress and arousal, as measured by ACTH, and induces social flow in participants. The effects of pre-composed and improvised group singing on oxytocin are less clear. Higher levels of plasma oxytocin in the improvised condition may perhaps be attributed to the social effects of improvising musically with others. Further research with a larger sample size is warranted. | 2015 |
| Teamwork and flow proneness mitigate the negative effect of excess challenge on flow state | DCK Tse | Flow theory postulates that flow experience is the most intense under high-challenge/high-skill conditions, whereas an excess of challenge is aversive. This study explores potential moderators that may offset the negative impact of overly high challenge on flow state. The literature suggests that a situational factor, teamwork, and a dispositional factor, flow proneness, may moderate the relationship between challenge and flow state. We tested these moderators with Hong Kong Chinese students whose optimal condition for experiencing flow was biased toward low-challenge/high-skill. A total of 128 participants played puzzles in three challenge levels both alone and in pairs. Although challenge level was negatively associated with flow state, dyadic (team) game (compared with solitary game) and flow proneness mitigated the negative relationship between challenge and flow state. These findings shed light on factors that promote enjoyment in challenging activities even among people in cultures that are prudent about challenges. | 2018 |
| Positive Relationships | GS Sullivan | This chapter represents the third element of Seligman’s (Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being, Free Press, New York, NY, 2011) well-being theory. Many consider positive relationships the most critical element of well-being theory. One of the co-founders of the positive psychology movement, Chris Peterson, summarized positive psychology in three words, “other people matter” (Peterson in A primer in positive psychology, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 249, 2006). It is also important for servant leadership, Servant leadership emphasizes the well-being of the organization through growing and developing followers within the organization as well as bridging sustained positive relationships with stakeholders within and outside the organization (Brutus & Vanhove, in Servant leadership and followership, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, pp. 261–288, 2017). Servant leaders build relationships that operate at a higher level than a typical leader–follower or coach–athlete. Sendjaya (Free air, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? Springer International Publishing, Cham, Switzerland, 2015) refers to these distinctive servant leader–follower connections as covenantal relationships and are defined by mutual care, shared values, mutual trust, unconditional commitment, and concern for the welfare of each other. Servant leaders build and sustain relationships where followers feel valued and supported by the organization which, in turn, creates positive attitudes. This is mutually beneficial because when servant leaders meet the needs of others they grow by giving themselves to others; relationships improve when we serve human needs (Covey in Leadership Excellence, 23(12): 5–6, 2006). | 2019 |
| Flujo Compartido y Reuniones Colectivas Positivas | L Zumeta | Collective gatherings or rituals promote optimal experiences in socially acceptable circumstances. Few studies have empirically examined the experience of flow shared by a group in collective situations. The present research examined the multi-dimensional structure of shared flow experience and its role in explaining positive effects of participation in collective ritualized gatherings on personal wellbeing and social cohesion. In this longitudinal study (N = 550) participants of a local festival celebrated in San Sebastian (Tamborrada) responded to an online questionnaire at three different times. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a structure composed of nine first-order factors and one second-order factor with a 27-item version of the scale. Further, structural equation modeling analyses controlling for the pre-event scores showed indirect effects of participation in Tamborrada through shared flow on happiness, collective efficacy, identity fusion, and social integration. This research concludes that positive collective gatherings stimulate shared flow experiences and thus promote personal wellbeing and social cohesion. We discuss both the implications of | 2016 |
| Social flow in social MOOCs | L Steels | Flow theory is a way to explain how humans can be self-motivated and reach a state of high focus and intense, effective learning. Usually this theory is merely descriptive but recently it has also been oprationalized and used as the basis for building autonomous agents. This paper examines how such operationalization can be incorporated in computer-supported learning environments such as MOOCs. It also expands the notion of flow to take into account 'social flow' ocurring in a group of learners, such as a sports team or a small Jazz ensemble. We discuss how this kind of social flow can be induced, what the benefits are, and how it is relevant for building learning communities through web and social media. | 2015 |
| Flow experience: Empirical research and applications | L Harmat | … 197 Jon Wright Part VI The Social Flow 14 Social Psychology of Flow: A Situated Framework for Optimal Experience..... 215 Marco Boffi, Eleonora Riva, Nicola Rainisio, and Paolo Inghilleri 15 The Application of Team Flow Theory … | 2016 |
| A PRISMA review of collective flow experiences in music contexts | K Tay | This PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) review examines collective flow experiences in music contexts. Articles (N = 598) were searched using a publicly available scholarly literature search engine and critically evaluated for inclusion. The result of 20 articles matching the search criteria reveals a scarcity of theoretical and empirical studies that examine collective flow in music contexts. Our meta-analysis indicated that collective flow is an emergent phenomenon and the available studies reiterate the importance of (1) subsuming of individual goals to the collective level, such that “I” becomes “we”; (2) coalescing of individual skills to meet collective challenges; and (3) coordination of the contributions of individuals to a coherent collective performance. The work of R. Keith Sawyer, in particular, was the most salient and frequently cited among scholars studying collective flow in music contexts. We hope that this review provides the groundwork for further research, and for scholars to further examine the prerequisites, characteristics, and benefits of collective flow as experienced by musicians through collaborative musical activities. | 2019 |
| Positive Emotions at Work and Job Crafting: Results from Two Prospective Studies | A Rogala | To date, research confirmed the effects of job crafting on the functioning of employees and organizations. In contrast, the evidence for the predictors of job crafting is limited. Based on broaden-and-build (B&B) theory, it may be assumed that high positive emotions at work would predict high job crafting behaviors at follow-ups. In line with social cognitive theory (SCT), it may be hypothesized that self-efficacy would mediate the relationship between positive emotions at work and following job crafting behaviors. The hypotheses were tested in a three-wave prospective study (Study 1, N = 124), with individual beliefs measured as the predictors. In a three-wave prospective Study 2 (N = 99), individual perceptions of collective flow at work and collective efficacy were assessed. Results of Studies 1 and 2 indicated that positive emotions at work predicted increasing structural resources, a job crafting dimension. Moreover, findings of Study 2 showed that collective flow at work predicted another job crafting dimension, i.e., increasing social resources. These results may inform good practices and help in designing individual- and team-level interventions enhancing job crafting behaviors. | 2019 |
| Shared Flow Measurement in IT Teams: An Inductive Approach for Emergent Attributes | P De Moura Jr | Drawing on Flow Theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), this study empirically identifies attributes that emerge in the relationship among information technology (IT) team members at work, and it also proposes and validates a scale (Vibe-IT) for measuring shared flow in IT teams. At the theoretical level, this study seeks to fill a gap identified in the literature regarding shared flow measurement. At the managerial level, the outcomes suggest that recognizing and valuing vibrant professionals may prove to be a good practice for team management. | 2016 |
| Shared flow in collective physical and sports activities and subjective well-being | LN Zumeta | This study examines physical and sport activities as a source of shared flow or optimal shared experiences and their relationship with subjective well-being (SWB). Two studies are presented with university students (N=88 and N=285) participating in group sports and physical activities. Measures included the degree of engagement in the activity, individual and shared flow, positive emotions, and subjective well-being (SWB). The first study showed that shared flow was more intense than individual flow. In the second study, confirmatory factor analyses and multiple mediation analyses were performed. The results showed a second order factorial structure with nine primary dimensions, in addition to mediating effects of shared flow and positive emotions on SWB. The results confirm the relevance of shared flow during collective gatherings and its relations with SWB. | 2016 |
| The (St) Age of Participation: audience involvement in interactive performances | C Lindinger | In today's age of participation, co-creation, user-generated content and social networking have become part of a mass-appeal digital lifestyle. This contribution discusses potential implications for contemporary and future media art in the context of the stage. It reflects on why and how interactive performances could give consideration to this zeitgeist of empowered spectatorship and, moreover, proposes principles for participatory stage pieces that incorporate practice-based experience as well as findings from (social) flow theory, a psychological framework for optimal creative experience that we found to be valuable for fostering audience engagement in interactive dramaturgies. | 2013 |
| Flow experience in virtual worlds: Individuals versus dyads | FFH Nah | Flow is a state of mind in which one is deeply absorbed and immersed in an activity to the point where nothing else matters. Although flow can occur in solitary and social contexts, which context fosters greater flow is unclear. Consistent with self-determination theory, dyads working collaboratively achieved higher states of flow than individuals working alone. In other words, dyads achieved higher states of focused concentration and experienced greater temporal dissociation than individuals working alone. Surprisingly and contradictory to previous findings, dyads did not experience greater enjoyment than individuals working alone. We attributed this surprising finding to the hedonic nature of the virtual world environment which afforded an intrinsically rewarding experience; hence, adding a social dimension may not further increase heightened enjoyment. Our findings provide theoretical and practical implications on the use of virtual worlds for individual versus collaborative tasks | 2015 |
| The measurement of flow and social flow at work: a 30-year systematic review of the literature | PJ de Moura Jr | Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review three decades of the literature on flow measurement and propose issues to advance research on the measurement of social flow at work. Design/methodology/approach In a systematic literature review, the authors analyzed 143 articles published in the first three decades (1983–2013) of scholarly publications on flow measurement, of which 84 articles used scales to measure flow and 16 articles used scales to measure flow at work. Findings The main findings are: flow is frequently measured in association with other constructs or by means of proxies; flow measurement is highly dependent on a study’s purposes and context; flow is mostly studied at the level of the individual and, when studied beyond the individual, the measurement of flow in groups is simplified as an aggregation of individual-level measures; and social flow at work is an underresearched construct that nevertheless impacts organizations in important ways, thus deserving a specific research agenda. Research limitations/implications The first limitation refers to the databases included in the review. There is always the possibility that important works were ignored. Another limitation is that the coding procedure was highly dependent on the authors’ discretion, as it did not include independent coding and formal assessment of agreement among coders. But the greatest limitation may refer to our very perspectives on flow, flow measurement and social flow at work, as they are highly attached to current models instead of seeing the issues with different lenses. This limitation is also present in the literature. Practical implications Reviewing three decades of scholarly publications on how flow has been measured contributes to organizations in their planning for person-job fit. The measurement of flow can reveal if and when flow correlates with personal characteristics and organizational events, thus serving to inform initiatives on personnel development, acculturation and job design. However, considering that flow as a social phenomenon has been conceived in superficial terms, that a vast number of empirical studies were developed with non-professional subjects, and that flow measurement involves significant adaptations to each situation, organizations are thus advised to be careful in adopting extant instruments. Originality/value This study provides a rich account on how flow measurement has been addressed in the scholarly literature, and it calls attention to research opportunities on social flow at work. | 2019 |
| Contagious flow: Antecedents and consequences of optimal experience in the classroom | SS Culbertson | The current study examined undergraduate student understanding of, and interest in, course material as potential antecedents to student experiences of flow within a classroom setting. In addition, the social, informative, and contagious nature of flow were examined, as was the influence of being in flow during classroom coverage of material on subsequent quiz performance. Data from 14 students in an intensive course were collected over 15 days. All students provided ratings of their mood at the start of each class and ratings of their experienced flow, their interest in and understanding of material, and perceptions of their classmates’ and the instructor’s flow at the end of each class. In addition, the instructor provided ratings of her flow and perceptions of the class at the start and end of each class. Finally, students completed daily quizzes over the previous day’s material. Results revealed that, controlling for prior mood, understanding of and interest in material were related to daily reports of flow experiences. In addition, evidence for the social validation and contagion effects of flow emerged. Contrary to expectations, flow during knowledge acquisition was not related to subsequent quiz performance over the material. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. | 2015 |
| Social flow and learning in digital games: A conceptual model and research agenda | CM Bachen | Flow theory has had a major influence on game scholars’ and designers’ understanding of the psychology of enjoyment of digital games and how that enjoyment might contribute to learning. However, a fuller understanding of how flow is experienced in social play is needed because digital games are increasingly played in groups, because theories of game-based education increasingly prioritize cooperative learning methods and goals, and because there has been surprisingly little study of whether flow contributes to learning. This chapter synthesizes the relevant literature to conceptualize how games might foster flow and cooperative learning through social play. It also proposes a theoretical model and lays out a research agenda that can help guide future studies of social gameflow and learning, and inform the design of educational games and learning contexts. | 2011 |
| Meaningful interactions in vital collaborative learning teamwork experiences | ML De Hoyos | A Teamwork Assessment Scale (TAS) was developed by the researchers to provide feedback to team members and instructors in online collaborative learning environments. To validate the TAS, a confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis study was conducted with data collected from a large undergraduate class that used collaborative learning teamwork. Approximately 700 students worked in 71 random assigned and self selected teams. 512 students responded to TAS, Personal Characteristics Questionnaire (PAQ), Team Flow (TFS) and Team Synergy Scale (TSS). TAS Factor analysis revealed three factors: Task Management, Positive Social Interaction and Trust. The study revealed that quality of social interaction in teams is critically related to team engagement and collaboration. In addition, high performing collaborative teams also excel in task management of team activities. A model of Social Interaction Teamwork provided a good fit to the data. | 2004 |
| The EduFlow Model: A Contribution Toward the Study of Optimal Learning Environments | J Heutte | The intention of the following chapter is to shed light on primary factors that play a role in defining what we coin as an optimal learning environment, an environment that buttresses an experience of flow for learners (see Chap. 10 by Andersen in this volume). The chapter begins with an overview of flow related research reframed for the purpose of measuring the experience of flow in learning. A longitudinal study of flow experienced by students undertaking a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is described. The Flow in Education scale (EduFlow Scale) used in the study is described and the results of the study presented. The results illustrate the potential value and relevance of measuring flow in learning as well as the relation to the extended concept of cognitive absorption. We conclude the chapter with a presentation of a model of heuristic learning: the Individually Motivated Community model. The model builds upon three major theories of the self: SelfDetermination, Self-Efficacy and Autotelism-Flow. | 2016 |
| Draft and expanded version of the chapter published as Páez, D. y Rimé, B.(2014). Collective Emotional Gatherings. Their impact upon identity fusion, shared … | CE Gatherings | The purpose of this chapter is to develop the link between collective gatherings and collective behavior as well as between socially shared beliefs and collective emotions. Demonstrations and rituals could be conceived of as experiences of collective flow in which shared emotions and identity fusion emerge. When collective behavior is coordinated, identity fusion with the group substantially increases. Empirical evidence supports Durkheim’s ideas that emotional communion resulting from interplay of participants emotions is at the heart of social rituals. Together, collective gatherings reinforce personal affects, social integration, and social beliefs, although these effects are stronger in participants experiencing higher emotional communion and fusion of identity with the group. Moreover, a high level of emotional communion and fusion of identity in demonstrations enhanced perceived collective emotions or emotional climate as well as provoked an increase in agreement with positive shared social beliefs. | |
| Empathy and sport tourism services: a literature review | G Costa | The paper examines the concept of empathy and its role in the fields of tourism and the leisure industry. Based on a literature review, the definitions, the aspects and the role of empathy in the tourism and recreation professions are discussed. Researchers see empathy as a component of quality services. It is also concluded that empathy can be identified and staff can be trained in this ability in order to achieve team spirit, enjoyment at work and satisfied customers. | 2003 |
| The role of empathy in sport tourism services: A review | G Costa | Empathy is simply explained as a social/communication skill of paying attention on other peoples' needs by understanding their feelings. It is well argued that staffs' empathy represents one of the five main dimensions of service quality. Results of the literature review have shown that empathy is more or less underestimated in the services research and in some service areas it is regarded as the least important component among tangibles, reliability, assurance and responsibility. This paper discusses the role of empathic behavior as requirement in sport tourism services, i.e. serving top athletes or teams or dealing with recreational sports tourists. Researchers have developed several methods for training towards a more empathic behavior. Therefore, managers of sport tourism organizations, centers and hotels offering sports may focus on staffs' empathy in order to achieve advanced quality and retain customers. | 2004 |
| The concept of flow | J Nakamura | What constitutes a good life? Few questions are of more fundamental importance to a positive psychology. Flow research has yielded one answer, providing an understanding of experiences during which individuals are fully involved in the present moment. Viewed through the experiential lens of flow, a good life is one that is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. In this chapter, we describe the flow model of optimal experience and optimal development, explain how flow and related constructs have been measured, discuss recent work in this area, and identify some promising directions for future research. | 2014 |
| STATE FLOW, CREATIVITY AND FLOW SYNCHRONIZATION DURING GROUP BASED PROBLEM SOLVING TASK | BK OLSSON | Research on group creativity needs to develop methods that capture data at a group level in different ways. This pilot study uses newly validated tools in an experimental design and primary statistical processing and analysis of data in order to investigate whether the design and the tools are appropriate for a full-scale experiment. The psychological experience called Flow is operationalized as an expression of creativity at the group level (Team flow) that may occur during the performance of challenging activities in which all participating team members are completely involved in their common activity, and are working together intuitively and synergistically towards the common purpose and enhance team’s effectiveness, productivity and performance. This paper focuses on team members’ motivation and learning, engagement, concentration, experience of synchronization and coordination during a group based problem solving task and also test how these dimensions of the group flow experiences relates to individual state flow experiences. | |
| Identifying social forms of flow in multiuser video games | J Borderie | This chapter explores the role of positive interdependence in the functioning of social forms of flow. It aims to investigate how different degrees of positive interdependence could promote the emergence of team flow and group flow. In the literature, video game studies have mostly focused on the emergence of flow as a mental state, an individual subjective experience. However, it is important to investigate whether flow state can exist in group, whether there are social forms of flow, and whether team can experience cooperative optimal state. Although the observation tool was not directly validated, it fulfilled the primary goal of identifying social flow episodes experienced by the players. The chapter highlights the importance of thoroughly analyzing game design to identify how gameplay mechanics could lead to the emergence of collective optimal states. In view of the current lack of theoretical or empirical information about social forms of flow, it is difficult to make accurate predictions about group and team flow. | 2017 |
| Flow and sense of coherence: two aspects of the same dynamic? | J Lutz | Antonovsky’s sense of coherence (SOC) and Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow appeared approximately 20 years ago and have received widespread recognition as resource-oriented approaches within the fields of health and psychology, respectively. Both focus on the dynamics of engagement with life, flow on one’s level of engagement in the present and SOC on one’s global orientation — one’s self-perceived capacity for engagement over time. While the two constructs are very similar, even collinear, no attempt seems to have been made to integrate them. This article proposes that flow and sense of coherence are not only complementary but actually two aspects of the same dynamic: flow is sense of coherence made visible in the present, while sense of coherence is a product of flow over time. It is suggested that this hypothesis could be tested using existing or new empirical methods. If evidence is found to support the hypothesis, this could lead to a more useful, integrated model of the dynamics of engagement. | 2009 |
| Classroom assessment techniques for promoting more positive experiences in teaching and learning | CJ Walker | What do students take with them when they graduate?Do they have the knowledge we worked so long andhard to convey? Have we touched their hearts as wellas their heads? Has our passion for learning beeninfectious? And what has our relationship with themdone to us? Are we more generative? Are we morevital? These are the kinds of questions positive class-room assessment attempts to answer. There is a largeand growing research literature that supports theproposition that positive classroom climates enhancethe learning of students (Benson, Cohen, & Buskist,2005) as well as strengthen the vitality of teachers(Walker & Hale, 1999). Positive classroom climatesmake teaching and learning more enjoyable by pro-viding an environment that supports autonomy andliberates creativity in the pursuit of challenging,meaningful learning goals. However, currently, inhigher education, we more vigorously and confidentlyassess knowledge and skill than the emotions accom-panying learning experiences (Suskie & Banta, 2009).The psychological well-being of students and instruc-tors is easy to overlook, not because it is unimportant,but because it is difficult to assess and promote. In this article, I propose two new ways to assesshow students feel about their learning experiences.These classroom assessment techniques (CATs) should | 2014 |
| Effects of Embodiment-Based Learning on Perceived Cooperation Process and Social Flow | C Wei | Peer interaction plays an important role during the learning process. Currently predominant paradigm of digital learning materials limits learners’ interaction with their peers using traditional user interfaces. To cope with this problem, this study proposes an embodiment-based learning environment to facilitate more peer interactions. The effectiveness of the environment is evaluated by designing an electronic circuit learning activity and through a control-experimental group experiment, including 80 voluntary participants randomly assigned to the “embodiment-based learning group” and “traditional learning group.” Three variables, learning performance, perceived cooperative perception and social flow were assessed. Results show that there is no significant difference among the two groups in learning performance; however, participants in the embodiment-based learning group have higher perceived cooperation process and social flow during learning process than the traditional learning group. | 2015 |
| 3 Positive Change and Positive Technology | G Riva | Cyberpsychology is a recent branch of psychology that is driven by the quest to help humans deal with their digital environments. The object of study in cyberpsychology, as it is for much Human-Computer Interaction research, is the change introduced by the technology and not the technology itself. In particular, it aims at the understanding, forecasting and activation of the different processes of change related to the use of new technologies. However, within this broad focus cyberpsychology has two faces. On one side, cyberpsychology tries to understand how technologies can be used to induce clinical change (cybertherapy). On the other side, cyberpsychology focuses on the possible use of technology for improving personal development and well-being (positive technology).In this chapter we introduced and described the “Positive Technology” approach: the scientific and applied approach for the use of technology in improving the quality of our personal experience through its structuring, augmentation and/or replacement – as a way of framing a suitable object of study in the field of personal change. First, we suggest that it is possible to use technology to manipulate the quality of experience, with the goal of increasing wellness, and generating strengths and resilience in individuals, organizations and society. Then we will classify positive technologies according to their effects on these three features of personal experience - Hedonic: technologies used to induce positive and pleasant experiences; Eudaimonic: technologies used to support individuals in reaching engaging and self-actualizing experiences; Social/Interpersonal: technologies used to support and improve the connectedness between individuals, groups, and organizations. Finally, for each level we have identified critical variables – affect regulation for the Hedonic, flow and presence for the Eudaimonic; social presence, collective intentions and networked flow for the Social/Interpersonal – that can be manipulated and controlled to guide the design and development of positive technologies. | 2015 |
| A mixed methods assessment of students' flow experiences during a mobile augmented reality science game | DM Bressler | Current studies have reported that secondary students are highly engaged while playing mobile augmented reality (AR) learning games. Some researchers have posited that players' engagement may indicate a flow experience, but no research results have confirmed this hypothesis with vision‐based AR learning games. This study investigated factors related to students' engagement – as characterized by flow theory – during a collaborative AR, forensic science mystery game using mobile devices. School Scene Investigators: The Case of the Stolen Score Sheets is a vision‐based AR game played inside the school environment with Quick Response codes. A mixed methods approach was employed with 68 urban middle school students. Data sources included pre‐ and post‐surveys, field observations and group interviews. Results showed that neither gender nor interest in science was an important predictor of variability in flow experience. Gaming attitude uniquely predicted 23% of the variance in flow experience. Student flow experience features included a flash of intensity, a sense of discovery and the desire for higher performance. The findings demonstrated a potential for mobile AR science games to increase science interest and help students learn collaboration skills. Implications for future research concerning mobile AR science games are discussed. | 2013 |
| Drawing on Interactive Tables: Examining Students' Flow, Collaborative Process and Learning Outcomes | H Gijlers | This study explores collaborative knowledge construction using interactive tables for an ICT-based drawing task. Thirty-six students worked in small groups on science posters. Results show a significant learning gain from pre- to post-test. Furthermore, significant positive correlations were found between students’ science curiosity and pre-test scores as well as between flow and perceived collaboration. Analyses of the video-data suggest that the more successful group displayed higher proportions of domain related talk | 2015 |
| An Examination of the Differences in Flow between Individual and Team Athletes | JM Boyd | The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate differences between the flow experiences of NCAA Division I team athletes versus individual athletes. A volunteer sample of 104 collegiate athletes completed a 42-item flow questionnaire. Multiple linear regressions showed mean flow scores for team athletes were significantly higher than individual athletes (β = -1.66, p = 0.004), with an R2 value of 0.03. The type of sport was a significant predictor of three of the nine dimensions of flow, with the largest difference explaining 9% of the variance. The results of this study are unique and answer the repeated call in the literature for team flow research. In summary, team sport athletes experienced total flow at a higher overall rate than individual sport athletes, allowing for the conclusion that team sport athletes can and do experience flow. | 2018 |
| Developing and testing the team flow monitor (TFM) | JJJ van den Hout | Research has shown that the psychological experience of flow delivers great benefits in all aspects of life, including work settings. But, flow is typically studied at the individual level, even though work often comprises complex tasks performed in teams. Therefore, the focus of this study is on team flow, defined as a shared experience of flow during the execution of interdependent personal tasks in the interest of the team, originating from an optimized team dynamic and typified by seven prerequisites and four characteristics. We developed and tested the Team Flow Monitor as an instrument to assess team flow and related outcomes. The empirical findings of 110 teams support the operationalization of team flow as a second-order model that consists of two factors. Moreover, team flow related positively to individual and team outcomes. These findings suggest that team flow can serve as an important indicator in the management of work teams. | 2019 |
| Why people continue to play online games: In search of critical design factors to increase customer loyalty to online contents | D Choi | As people increasingly play online games, numerous new features have been proposed to increase players' log-on time at online gaming sites. However, few studies have investigated why people continue to play certain online games or which design features are most closely related to the amount of time spent by players at particular online gaming sites. This study proposes a theoretical model using the concepts of customer loyalty, flow, personal interaction, and social interaction to explain why people continue to play online network games. The study then conducts a large-scale survey to validate the model. Finally, it analyzes current online games to identify design features that are closely related to the theoretical concepts. The results indicate that people continue to play online games if they have optimal experiences while playing the games. This optimal experience can be attained if the player has effective personal interaction with the system or pleasant social interactions with other people connected to the Internet. Personal interaction can be facilitated by providing appropriate goals, operators and feedback; social interaction can be facilitated through appropriate communication places and tools. This paper ends with the implications of applying the study results to other domains such as e-commerce and cyber communities. | 2004 |
| Enabling digital natives to fully immerse in learning—Analyzing the effects of embodiment-based learning environments | CW Wei | Peer interaction plays an important role during the learning process. Currently predominant paradigm of digital learning materials limits learners' interaction with their peers using traditional user interfaces. To cope with this problem, this study proposes an embodiment-based learning environment to facilitate more peer interactions. The effectiveness of the environment is evaluated by designing an electronic circuit learning activity. A total of 120 voluntary participants randomly assigned to the “embodiment-based learning group,” “touch-based learning group” and “traditional learning group.” Three variables, learning performance, perceived cooperative perception and social flow were assessed. Results show that there is no significant difference among the three groups in learning performance; however, participants in the embodiment-based learning group have higher perceived cooperation extent, lower emotional conflict, and higher intrinsic interest during learning process than the traditional learning group. | 2015 |
| The Theory of Social Control and the Social Psychology of Dissatisfaction: Inhibition, regression and isolation in a cultural context. | O Selymes | The Theory of Social Control (TSC) is grounded in satisfaction and happiness research. The study investigated the reasons behind relatively low levels of civil and personal satisfaction, subjective social well-being and experienced happiness in the post-communist Hungarian social context. The basic social process uncovered in the research is self-situating, which involves a continuous assessment of social control, which occurs on three psychological dimensions: activity, fairness and connectedness, operated via social flow. The culturally salient outcome of self-situating in Hungary is self-victimizing, meaning a subjective loss of control on all three dimensions. Some of the most important emotional-motivational consequences of self-victimizing are inhibition, regression and isolation, which contribute to various socio-cultural phenomenon such as distrust, bystander strategies, pessimism or anomie across a number of social situations. Based on the emerging theory, the concept of subjective social control is introduced and an expanded three-dimensional model of civil satisfaction, comfort and contribution, along with psychological and cultural implications, are discussed. | 2011 |
| A Flow Measurement Instrument to Test the Students' Motivation in a Computer Science Course | N El Mawas | Motivate students is a top research aspect for many research communities, schools, universities, and institutions. In this context, motivation has an important role in the leaning process and particularly in the students’ success and the drop-out avoidance. This paper proposes a flow measurement instrument in order to test the students’ motivation in a Computer Science course. The experimental study involved 33 students that answer a same questionnaire twice in a period of one week. The temporal stability, internal consistency and convergent validity of the first English version of the Flow in education scale (EduFlow) were examined. The results show that autotelic experience (well-being provided by the activity itself) is significantly positively correlated with academic achievement. This research work is dedicated to Education and Computer Science active communities and more specifically to directors of learning centres / pedagogy departments, and the service of information technology and communication for education (pedagogical engineers) who meet difficulties in evaluate students’ motivation in a specific course. | 2019 |
| The effects of team flow on performance: A video game experiment | M Keith | Research on effective team work has traditionally explained team performance as a result of team cohesion and goal commitment. Team cohesion was originally defined as the general level of attraction the team members had to all others in their group. This social relations-based concept of team cohesion is generally a strong indicator of team performance. However, more recent research has stressed the importance of incorporating the team members’ mutual level of commitment to the team task as another sub-dimension of cohesion. When including task commitment, team cohesion is a somewhat weaker predictor of team performance (Beal et al., 2003). To better conceptualize the role of the task engagement and to explain team performance, we incorporate a variable more relevant to the characteristics of a team task: team flow. The concept of “flow” has been well researched and theorized at the individual level. However, in an experiment based on collaborative video gaming, we demonstrate that not only can flow be extended to the team level to better explain performance, but that teams can quickly generate a psychological flow state from low cost treatments like collaborative video gaming which can also be effectively transferred into subsequent work tasks. | 2014 |
| A systems approach to diagnosing and measuring teamwork in complex sociotechnical organizations | SN Duff | This paper presents a novel approach to diagnosing and measuring teamwork in complex sociotechnical systems. First, the underlying theoretical constructs that have inspired the development and use of a multi-level model to study team phenomena from a general systems perspective are presented. Next, in an attempt to theoretically ground the construct, “flow state” will be presented as an isomorphic variable in a multi-level model, meaning it is represented similarly at the system, team, and individual level. Approaching processes embedded in organizations from this perspective allows diagnosis of the systemic influences that contribute most to the variance in performance, identification of pervasive latent systemic failures, and the development of a tailored taxonomy of behavioral teamwork dimensions, which can then be translated into metrics to measure teamwork within any observable complex process. | 2014 |
| THE FLOW STATE IN YOUNG BASKETBALL PLAYERS | HZ Oliveira | The flow-feeling theory helps in understanding why people do activities in maximum performance and extremely motivated. This theory is composed of 9 dimension/characteristics. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze qualitatively the flow feeling in young basketball players. The study sample of 59 athletes from 5 different teams from the Brazil Southeast. Being two of the teams considered elite teams. We used a semi structured interview and a questionnaire to collect general data about the athletes. To evaluate the interview was used the method of content analy sis. The results show that there is five dimensions most frequently cited by athletes (autotelic experience, challenge -skill balance, clear goals; sense of control; concentration on the task at hand). And three other less mentioned (transformation of time; action-awareness merging, loss of self-consciousness). Some speeches indicate to there can be a state of flow on the team. | 2015 |
| A Study on Flow Theory and Translation Teaching in China's EFL Class. | X Guan | Flow or flow experience, a positive psychology concept, is characterized by intense focus, cognitive efficiency, a perceived skills-challenge balance, immediate feedback, merging of action and awareness, a sense of control, enjoyment, the opinion that time passes quickly, clearly defined task objectives and a lack of selfconsciousness. The application of flow theory in foreign language teaching is a new subject worth studying. The concept and components of flow, the conditions that flow occur, flow model and its application are introduced. The flow model and the principles in creating and achieving flow in foreign language teaching and learning is then presented. Flow theory is later applied in translation teaching, in which the translation course design and task requirement, the translation teaching and learning environment, learners’ performance and the roles of learners and teachers are discussed. Flow experience emerged from the well-designed translation tasks will significantly improve the students' English learning intrinsic motivation and overall level. In the design of the translation teaching syllabus and students' translation tasks, teachers should hav | 2013 |
| Team Flow: An Opportunity to Focus Minds in the Direction They Want to Go | N Iltis | In class throughout the quarter, we worked towards the Innovate framework. Despite thinking and talking about all the foundational elements of sustainability leadership that appeared in the Connect and Adapt frameworks, we were always working towards the answer to how? . How could we propagate change in organizations? Team flow may be a way of doing just that, and the exciting part is, we don't exactly understand yet the improvements it can supply over known frameworks for change, since it is still under-researched(18). Through my research on the topic, I got nearer to an understanding of how it can support sustainability and become a crucial tool for the Innovate orientation. I was motivated to go down this road because the state of flow is a real, observable phenomenon. It is a higher state of performance, and has been studied relatively extensively. It is also associated with very positive, healthy sensations that are also sustainable. It is not a simple human pleasure, like lusty sex or gluttonous eating, but is a pleasurable, complex state, just like I (and David Stroh(15)) believe a sustainable society would be. The tangible, scientifically-backed nature of flow, as well as its alignment with sustainability ideals, made it an ideal topic for my analytical and optimistic mental. However, the state of flow - especially macro flow Ð in an individual, is quite well understood. Since it is a state whose physiology is clearly separable from other consciousness states, it is easy to observe. Further, researchers such as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Steven Kotler have outlined exactly what changes are happening in the brain, steps to take to enter flow, and are currently doing research on the state for the individual and for groups. Since our understanding of individual flow is becoming moderately mature, but our understanding of team flow is still nascent but businesses are beginning to show clear interest in the topic of flow from both the individual and group levels(2)(5)(6)(8), I chose to do my final on flow in groups. The project includes the title 'Team Flow', because, as is outlined in Van den Hout et. al.(18), a group can be in flow much more easily when they are in close quarters and have the opportunity to interact on demand. Usually, this means that the group that is flowing is a small 'team', however, depending on how thoroughly lateral any given organization is and what level of self-efficacy individuals within feel, the flow experience is likely expandable to much larger groups or entire orientations. One could argue that the entire company of Alcoa was to some degree flowing after Paul O'Neill became CEO and rallied around safety, or that the entire planet will someday be in a state of flow if every country wholeheartedly followed the model in Raskin's The Great Transition Today(16). | 2018 |
| Motivation and flow | K Piniel | This chapter explores possible connections between flow and motivation and suggests expanding the motivation research agenda in SLA. The flow experience is defined as “the holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement” (Csíkszentmihályi, Beyond boredom and anxiety: Experiencing flow in work and play. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, [1975] 2000, p. 36), which typically accompanies an activity that people perform for its own sake and for enjoyment. The chapter begins with an overview of flow theory and its links with motivation. Then, by following up on issues in mainstream education research (including collective flow experiences and flow in classrooms), ideas for the application of flow theory in language learning contexts are presented. The final section in the chapter discusses how already existing SLA research frameworks can serve as fertile ground for investigating flow experiences in language learning. | 2019 |
| Group flow: A scoping review of definitions, theoretical approaches, measures and findings | F Pels | The purpose of this article is to provide a scoping review of the current literature on group flow. Based on the PRISMA-guidelines for systematic reviews, 26 publications were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Publication analyses comprised an individual consideration of each publication and a systematic, integrative synthesis of all publications. Analyses identified heterogeneous group flow definitions across publications, supporting the need for an integrative definition. Further heterogeneity existed in the theoretical approaches and measures used, highlighting the need for a comprehensive theory and a measurement standard. Components (e.g., synchronization), antecedents (e.g., trust), and outcomes (e.g., well-being) of group flow were identified in publications that presented empirical studies, some of which that showed similarities between characteristics of group flow and individual flow and others that showed aspects unique to group flow. Overall, this scoping review reveals the need for a systematic research program on group flow | 2018 |
| Perceived value and flow experience: Application in a nature-based tourism context | M Kim | This study measured environmentally responsible behaviors and destination loyalty of international tourists who participated in an ecotourism tour package at Jeju Island, South Korea. A conceptual model was formulated and empirically tested to examine how tourists perceived values (i.e. quality, emotional, price, and social), flow experience, and satisfaction influence environmentally responsible behavior and destination loyalty. Three hundred responses to a survey of international tourists were collected and the resulting data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings indicated that perceived quality, emotional, and social values significantly affected flow experience and satisfaction. Further, flow experience was significantly and positively related to satisfaction, environmentally responsible behaviors, and destination loyalty. Tourist satisfaction only had positive effects on environmentally responsible behaviors and destination loyalty. Thus, enhancement of international tourists’ value perceptions about eco-travel packages is the first step that will strengthen environmentally responsible behaviors and destination loyalty via increase in tourists’ flow experience and satisfaction levels. | 2018 |
| Flow and emotional experience in spirituality: Differences in interactive and coactive collective rituals | S Rufi | This study seeks to compare flow and emotional experience in interactive and coactive collective rituals. For such purpose, a correlational study was performed collecting self-report measures of flow, positive emotions, and social identity in three different social collective gatherings: the Sunday celebration of a Catholic mass (N = 57), a Zen Buddhist meditation practice (N = 50), and secular Sunday group activities (N = 37). Results show the presence of flow in all three contexts, being higher in the interactive social situations (the Catholic mass and other Sunday group activities) than in the coactive one (the Zen meditation practice). Positive emotions are also higher in the interactive situations than in the coactive one. Regarding self-transcendent emotions, there is more inspiration in the Zen meditation practice and more hope in the Catholic mass. Flow and positive emotions are positively correlated in all three contexts. Specifically in the Zen meditation practice, flow, positive emotions, loss of self-consciousness, and social identity are positively correlated. | 2016 |
| Flow and leisure | K Perkins | Leisure has eluded definition by social scientists despite decades of theory, research, and applied work on the topic. According to one analysis (Primeau LA, Am J Occup Ther 50:569–577, 1996), there are three prominent ways of defining leisure; as: (a) the residual time available outside of productive and maintenance activity (sometimes simply described as non-work time); (b) the set of activities that people identify as leisure pursuits in a culture, and (c) a positive experiential state whose essence is the experience of being freely chosen and intrinsically rewarding. Each definition has limitations and the lack of consensus has been a challenge for the field of leisure science. However we choose to define and delimit the phenomenon of leisure, we probably can agree that we think of the paradigmatic leisure experience as a positive one. Of course, all periods of discretionary time and all normatively defined leisure activities are not positive experientially. | 2013 |
| Team Flow Theory—A Multi-level Perspective | JJJ van den Hout | Based on the extensive literature in Chapter 2, this explores the conceptualization of the team flow model designed by Van den Hout (2016) in depth. It shows how individual and team flow are interrelated and describes the elements that comprise a team flow experience. It goes on to show how team flow emerges and what the benefits are of experiencing team flow. Finally, it gives an indication of what the possibilities of applying team flow in a business context might be. | 2019 |
| An investigation on the effects of flow state on team process and outcomes | K Heyne | There has been an abundance of research on flow state at the individual level and it is often applied to experiences that are typically intended to be enjoyable (e.g., video games and sports). Research has shown that flow state can also be experienced in traditional work environments and several antecedents to its achievement in such environments have been identified. Despite this, there remains some ambiguity regarding the applicability of flow state to teams. Additionally, the majority of the research regarding the experience of flow state in teams revolves around athletic teams. In this paper an argument is presented towards the view that the effect of flow state on team performance is similar to the effect of flow state on individuals but with an additional impact on team processes. The experiment conducted yielded results suggesting a linkage between team flow state and team processes and performance for a complex planning task. | 2011 |
| Go with the flow: The experience and affective outcomes of solo versus social gameplay | LK Kaye | This study examined the extent to which there are differences in flow experiences and post-gameplay mood states (positive and negative) in solo compared with social digital gaming. This was achieved by obtaining gamers’ (N = 302) retrospective ratings of the experience of flow and post-gameplay mood based on recent solo and social gaming experiences, through the use of an online questionnaire. Positive mood was found to be significantly higher following social (e.g., playing with other players) compared with solo gameplay, suggesting that playing games with others enhances enjoyment of the activity. Different levels of flow in gameplay were also found to be related to positive mood following both solo and social gameplay. There were no observed differences in experiences of flow and post-gameplay mood between online and offline, or competitive and cooperative gaming contexts. The findings suggest that ‘group flow’ may be a useful concept in understanding the dynamics of social gaming as this has not been sufficiently examined in the current digital gaming literature. | 2014 |
| Organizational Innovation and Its Facilitators: A Brief Overview of Work in Progress | PBMOM Makowski | This paper presents four research projects on organizational innovation in the Netherlands. These projects are still in a design and theoretical investigation stage, but the authors find it useful to share their findings and insights with the research community in order to inspire them with their ideas and research agenda. In the paper four constructs are explored that focus on the human factor in organizations and that may have a positive influence on organizational innovation. Shared leadership: It is often thought that, for innovation, only one brillant mind with a break-through idea in a single flash of enlightenment is needed. Recent research, however, shows that most innovations are the result of team-flow and sharing and alternating leadership tasks.Social Capital: through leadership and decision making, by influencing trust, respect and commitment, the organization’s social capital and thus its innovative power is increased.External consultancy: deployment of external consultants will add to knowledge and skills necessary for innovation.IT and workflow management: if handled correctly, the human factor can add substantial quality to the design and use of IT in organizations.The paper shows that the way these constructs are managed is crucial in influencing and motivating members of an organization to attribute to innovation and make use of the facilities that are offered to them. | |
| Correlating the effects of flow and telepresence in virtual worlds: Enhancing our understanding of user behavior in game-based learning | A Faiola | Recent research on online learning suggests that virtual worlds are becoming an important environment to observe the experience of flow. From these simulated spaces, researchers may gather a deeper understanding of cognition in the context of game-based learning. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) describes flow as a feeling of increased psychological immersion and energized focus, with outcomes that evoke disregard for external pressures and the loss of time consciousness, issuing in a sense of pleasure. Past studies suggest that flow is encountered in an array of activities and places, including those in virtual worlds. The authors’ posit that flow in virtual worlds, such as Second Life (SL), can be positively associated with degrees of the cognitive phenomenon of immersion and telepresence. Flow may also contribute to a better attitude and behavior during virtual game-based learning. This study tested three hypotheses related to flow and telepresence, using SL. Findings suggest that both flow and telepresence are experienced in SL and that there is a significant correlation between them. These findings shed light on the complex interrelationships and interactions that lead to flow experience in virtual gameplay and learning, while engendering hope that learners, who experience flow, may acquire an improved attitude of learning online. | 2013 |
| Flow in gaming: literature synthesis and framework development | FFH Nah | Gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment and recreational activities (Hartmann and Klimmt, 2006). Individuals are migrating from traditional forms of entertainment, such as TV, to more engaging and interactive pastime activities (Williams et al., 2008). Gaming can also act as a medium to promote learning and improve health. Designers have used video games to produce positive outcomes such as increasing the effectiveness of healthcare (Read and Shortell, 2011) and improving scholastic performance (Kiili, 2005b). Understanding the process through which a game can create a fun, rewarding, and enjoyable experience has been the focus of research in game studies (Cowley et al., 2008). Games have been shown to be extensively engaging and are motivating players to spend much of their time with their favourite games (Charlton and Danforth, 2007). Involvement in games through the use of video games has become pervasive by people from all ages and genders (Williams et al., 2008). Game players can spend a significant amount of time playing games, and at times forget about other tasks and obligations. During gameplay, individuals may experience a deep level of engagement referred to as flow. Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, 1997) is a state of optimal experience where one is completely absorbed and immersed in an activity. Flow plays an important role in understanding engagement and positive experience in the context of gaming. When a gamer experiences the state of flow while playing a game, he or she not only experiences a high level of engagement, involvement, and immersion in the game, but also loses track of time during gameplay. Flow is a state of mind in which an individual enjoys the activity immensely. This experience, or state of mind, can be observed among many game players, which is an ideal experience for game designers to facilitate for players of their games. Game designers have struggled with finding methods for engaging players in games and have looked towards creating flow experiences of players during gameplay (Sweetser and Wyeth, 2005). Thus, understanding and synthesising studies of the underlying theoretical explanation for engagement in games is a critical realm of research. In this paper, we synthesise findings from the literature to understand the flow phenomenon in gaming. Our research objectives are to: 1 identify current streams of research in the gaming context 2 understand the antecedents, dimensions, and outcomes of flow in the gaming context 3 propose a framework from a synthesis of the literature on flow and gaming that identifies the key antecedents, dimensions, and outcomes 4 highlight some of the key game design elements that can contribute to flow experiences in gaming. We also provide research and practical implications as well as suggestions for future research. In the following section, background and the theory of flow are discussed in more detail. We then present the methodology for the review as well as the findings from the synthesis of our review of the literature. Based on the review, we propose a framework to summarise the literature and offer recommendations for game design with the goal of creating flow in the gaming context. The last section of this paper provides conclusions, implications, and recommendations for future research | 2014 |
| Understanding the Effect of Gamification of Learning Using Flow Theory | CK Chan | This research aims to use flow theory to explain the relationship between gamification and learning outcomes. Two experimental studies were conducted with 80 participants for each study. Study 1 examined the relationships among type of players, state of flow and learning. Study 2 investigates the relationships among number of players, state of flow and learning. For study 1, the relations of the type of players with flow and learning outcomes were insignificant. Furthermore, there was no significant relationship between flow and learning outcomes. In study 2, participants who played video games in the multiplayer mode had significantly higher levels of flow and better learning outcomes. Furthermore, state of flow fully mediated the relationship between number of players and learning outcomes. The authors explained these findings by using the concept of group flow. | 2019 |
| When good is good: A virtuous circle of self-efficacy and flow at work among teachers | A Rodríguez-Sánchez | The objective of this study was to extend the channel model of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1990) by including self-efficacy as predictor of the challenges-skills combination, and of the flow experience itself, based on the predictions of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997, 2001). We conducted a two-wave longitudinal study among 258 secondary school teachers. Results, first, showed that the channel model of flow, including self-efficacy as antecedent of flow, fitted better the data. Secondly, it was observed that the more self-efficacy the more flow frequency and higher levels of challenge and skills which, in turn, predicted flow over time. Moreover, the influence of self-efficacy on flow over time was mediated by subjects' perception of the challenges and skills combination. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of integrating flow theory into the social cognitive theory. | 2011 |
| Empathic Interaction: Design Guidelines to Induce Flow States in Gestural Interfaces | L Vuarnesson | The argument of this article is to propose design guidelines favoring the exploration and appropriation of an interface by a novice user, by drawing inspiration from the mechanisms of adaptation and perceptive loops in improvisation activities. We want to create sensitive digital experiences, accessible to as many people as possible, and dynamically adapt their behavior and their interface to the activity and to the emotional state of the users. Our hypothesis is that such a design would favor the emergence of Flow states, leading to the setting up of a ”social contract” between the user and his interface. | 2019 |
| Quieting the Ego Through Group Activities: A Thematic Analysis of Romanian and Japanese Students' Positive Group Experiences | C Gherghel | Research suggests that quieting the ego (reducing excessive self-focus) can foster well-being. Two exploratory qualitative studies were carried out to investigate the features of ego-quieting group activities. Romanian (N = 140) and Japanese participants (N = 99) read a definition of “self-detachment” and answered several open-ended questions asking them to describe a group situation in which they had experienced a similar state. Thematic analysis showed numerous similarities between the responses of the two samples, as well as cultural-specific features. Participants recalled moments of enjoyment in the company of friends, or challenging group work. For the Romanian sample, the experience was characterized by present-oriented attention, valuing others, positivity, disinhibition and altered perceptions, while for the Japanese sample, valuing others, stress relief, matching challenge and skill and merging self with exterior world were its prevalent features. Both samples identified similar eliciting factors (individual receptiveness, acceptant group, captivating activity, appropriate environment) and similar consequences of the experience (increased closeness, relaxation and self-development). While supporting the existing literature on the importance of communal activities in reducing self-focus and promoting individual well-being, the paper provides new in-depth insights into participants’ subjective experiences and the cultural specifics of positive group activities. | 2018 |
| A társas helyzetben tapasztalt flow-élmény kapcsolata a boldogságorientációkkal | T Magyaródi | Background and aims Engaged (or flow-full) life is one of the orientations to happiness, part of the full life. Experiencing flow in a social interaction can enhance well-being, however this relationship has not been studied yet. The current study aims to reveal how social flow components relate to orientations to happiness. Method 1060 adult people participated in the online survey study – age: M (SD) = 26,67 (10,76). They filled in the questionnaires anonymously: General Flow Description, General Flow Description in Social Interactions, Flow State Questionnaire, Flow Synchronization Questionnaire, Orientations to Happiness measure. Results We executed K-means cluster analysis with relocation to create four groups based on the hedonistic and eudaimonic orientations to happiness: eudaimonic, hedonistic groups, a group living an empty, and a group living a full life. The results suggest the differences between empty and full life in most of the flow-related variables (frequency of flow in solitary and social activities, quality of flow, components of flow synchronization), the effect sizes are moderate, the explained variance values by group memberships are around 5-13%. Eudaimonic and hedonistic group members were not different from each other in the measured flow and flow synchronization components. Conclusions According to our results flow in a social interaction may contribute to the hedonistic (through the experience of positive emotions after flow) and eudaimonic (through development and growth, motivated activity) orientations to happiness as well, and it can be one necessary factor of full life. | 2019 |
| Applications of flow to work | GB Moneta | In the past two decades, researchers in the fields of organizational psychology and management have increasingly focused on the occurrence of flow in the work context across a wide range of occupations and organizational contexts, including scientists, medical doctors, software engineers and school teachers. They identified important antecedents of flow at work, including individual difference components, work environment characteristics, and the additive or interactive effects of the two. This chapter focuses on the role of flow in organizations and the strategies organizations could adopt to redesign the work environment in order to foster their employees' experience of flow at work. It reviews a selection of research on flow that is directly relevant to any organizational intervention. The chapter outlines four promising strategies that organizations can adopt to foster their employees' flow at work: worker-job matching, applying and developing the progress principle to team flow, selection of work flow-ers, and fostering the metacognition of flow. | 2017 |
| Killaloe: The Synchronisation of Emotion, the Creation of Community and the Enaction of Identity in Communal Musicking (How a Connacht Jig Became Central … | G Ramsey | The loyalist working-class population in Ulster nourishes a marching band tradition which involves extraordinary levels of musical participation Over 700 bands currently practice within the six counties of Northern Ireland and they perform at band parades in towns and villages throughout the province every Friday, Saturday and sometimes Wednesday evening from April to October, and at indoor events in community halls and nightclubs throughout the winter, as well as in the better known but much less frequent Orange parades which have been part of popular culture in Ulster since the 18th century. One of the most frequently played tunes performed at loyalist events is the march, 'Killaloe',which rivals iconic traditional ballads such as 'The Sash' and 'Derry's Walls' in popularity with both bands and audiences, and has itself become an iconic enaction of Ulster loyalism.The use of particular tunes to generate communal solidarity has a long history in Ireland, but is far from unique to this island. What is perhaps unique about 'Killaloe', however, in both a local and a global context, is the fact that unlike most such anthems, Killaloe, in its present form, has no words. Moreover, its origins have no connection to Ulster and even the name, which is often assumed to refer to the village of Killaloo in County Londonderry, betrays by its spelling that it is in fact named after a town in County Clare, in the south of Ireland. How then, has it achieved its current iconic status amongst Ulster loyalists?The answer, I suggest, lies in a history of practice: in the way the tune has been performed over the century since its composition, and in the emotional rewards that such performances generate. This paper will focus on the march 'Killaloe' to illuminate a wider theme of my research: that Ulster loyalist identity should be understood less as a discursive ideological construction than as a historically derived set of practices: an embodied way of 'being in the world' to which communal musicking is central. I shall illustrate this theme by an examination of the history of the tune 'Killaloe' in performance. | 2008 |
| Trans-cultural validation of the “academic flow scale”(Flow 4D 16) in Arabic language: insights for occupational and educational psychology | N Chalghaf | Background: As an optimal psychological state, flow represents those moments when everything comes together for the performer. Flow is often associated with high levels of performance and is a positive psychological experience. Aim: Our study aimed to validate the “Academic Flow Scale” (Flow 4D 16) in Arabic language across Tunisian population, and to test its factor structure, in terms of internal consistency/reliability, predictive validity, and sensitivity. Methods: The population is composed of 320 students (139 men and 181 women) belonging to the University of Sfax, with a mean age of 22.26 years. The students voluntarily responded to the scale of academic flow (Flow 4D 16). Both exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses were performed. Results: The four-dimensional alpha coefficients of the Flow 4D 16 indicate an excellent internal consistency, respectively, of 0.902 (Cognitive), 0.959 (Time), 0.974 (Ego) and 0.960 (Well-being). The CFA fit indices were satisfactory. Conclusion: In summary, the 16-items model (original version) showed for all the indices an excellent fit to the theoretical model, confirming the four-dimensional factor structure among Tunisian student population. | 2019 |
| Beyond flow: Temporality and participation in everyday activities | E Larson | Experience sampling examined how temporality, the lived experience of time, varied related to specific activity qualities and experiences in everyday life. Thirty-five students completed electronic surveys regarding their current activity and feelings and rated the activity's novelty and complexity, their depth of emotional and intellectual engagement, the direction and depth of attention, and the demands of the activity on their skills. Using configural frequency analysis and an analysis of narrative responses, configurations of factors (types) associated with variations in perceived temporalities were described. Four composite types identified occurred with any temporality. In most habitual activities, time was perceived as passing the same as clock time. Most faster or timeless temporalities occurred in complex, novel, and skill-requiring activities that engaged participants. Unexpected activity configurations were also associated with accelerated perceptions of time. Occupational therapists may use this knowledge to assist clients to redesign activities that promote positive experiences without high activity demands. | 2010 |
| Flow in sport | C Swann | Sport offers rich opportunities to experience flow by posing both mental and physical challenges. Studies specifically investigating flow in sport were first published in 1992. Since then a body of empirical research has emerged in this area, which this chapter aims to review in terms of: (i) the methods commonly used to study flow in sport (i.e., interviews, questionnaires, and the Experience Sampling Method); and (ii) key research themes (i.e., the experience, occurrence, controllability and correlates of flow in sport). In turn, current issues within this field are examined, and recommendations are made for future research, including the need to build towards a causal explanation of flow, and potential refinement in understanding how athletes experience these optimal states. | 2016 |
| The Italian adaptation of the WOrk-reLated Flow inventory (WOLF) to Sport: The I-WOLFS scale. | M Zito | Flow at work is a state of consciousness characterized by absorption, enjoyment and intrinsic motivation. Optimal experiences are crucial in sport since athletes link performances and achievement to psychological states. This study aims to adapt to sport the Italian version of the WOrk-reLated Flow inventory (I-WOLF). Factorial validity of the adapted scale was assessed by exploratory factor analysis (N = 132) and confirmatory factor analysis (N = 161). Participants are professional athletes. The exploratory factor analysis showed a three-factor structure with one item of intrinsic motivation loading on the enjoyment factor. The confirmatory factor analysis finally deleted this item, resulting a 12-item structure which preserves the original 3-factor structure: Absorption, Sport Enjoyment and Intrinsic Motivation. The adaptation of the I-WOLF scale to sport resulted a reliably instrument to measure flow at work among athletes, giving an important empirical contribute to both work and organizational psychology and sport psychology. | 2018 |
| A TARSAS HELYZETBEN TAPASZTALT FLOW-ELMENY KAPCSOLATA A BOLDOGSAGORIENTACIOKKAL/FLOW IN SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND ITS … | M Tímea | Background and aims: Engaged (or flow-full) life is one of the orientations to happiness, part of the full life. Experiencing flow in a social interaction can enhance well-being, however this relationship has not been studied yet. The current study aims to reveal how social flow components relate to orientations to happiness. Method: 1060 adult people participated in the online survey study--age: M(SD) = 26,67(10,76). They filled in the questionnaires anonymously: General Flow Description, General Flow Description in Social Interactions, Flow State Questionnaire, Flow Synchronization Questionnaire, Orientations to Happiness measure. Results: We executed K-means cluster analysis with relocation to create four groups based on the hedonistic and eudaimonic orientations to happiness: eudaimonic, hedonistic groups, a group living an empty, and a group living a full life. The results suggest the differences between empty and full life in most of the flow-related variables (frequency of flow in solitary and social activities, quality of flow, components of flow synchronization), the effect sizes are moderate, the explained variance values by group memberships are around 5-13%. Eudaimonic and hedonistic group members were not different from each other in the measured flow and flow synchronization components. Conclusions: According to our results flow in a social interaction may contribute to the hedonistic (through the experience of positive emotions after flow) and eudaimonic (through development and growth, motivated activity) orientations to happiness as well, and it can be one necessary factor of full life. | 2019 |
| Flow dimensions on daily activities with the Spanish Version of the Flow Scale (DFS) | S Rufi | A sample of 250 students of psychology with an average age of 20.37 years, answered the Flow Q questionnaire indicating their favorite flow activity, and the Spanish version of the Dispositional Flow Scale (DFS). A confirmatory factor analysis assessed the DFS construct validity of the flow model on daily activities. Both a hierarchical model of eight first order factors reflecting a second order global flow factor, and a model with eight formative first order flow dimensions, showed good fit and discriminant power. Most optimal activities were found to be individual and structured, such as studying, reading and certain forms of individual sports. Leisure activities turned out to be more rewarding than studying. Sports displayed more flow, clear goals, merging of action and awareness, and autotelic experience. Reading also showed more flow, balance of challenge and skills, feedback, merging of action and awareness, and loss of self-consciousness. On the other hand, studying displayed less flow, merging of action and awareness, and autotelic experience. | 2014 |
| A Flow Szinkronizáció Kérdőív pszichometriai jellemzői: reliabilitás-és validitásvizsgálat | M Tímea | Theoretical background Human interactions can be described through synchronization and coordination tendencies, even in case of the subjective experiences. Earlier results suggest that in a common activity a more intense flow experience can be found, than in a solitary situation. We labelled the contributing factors to this phenomenon as flow synchronization, and developed the Flow Synchronization Questionnaire (FSyQ) for its measurement. Aim The aim of the present study is the analysis of the psychometric characteristics of the Flow Synchronization Questionnaire: the reliability and validity of the scales. Methods In this online, cross-sectional survey study we used different questionnaires about the constructs as criterion factors (flow, characteristics of dyadic interaction, anxiety, selfconsciousness). 367 adult participants took part in the research (Mage = 28.5 years, SDage = 12.89 years). Results According to the results the internal consistency of the FSyQ scales are appropriate, and the five-factor structure is supported. (χ2(336) = 857.27, p < .001, CMIN/df = 2.55, TLI = .900, CFI = .911, RMSEA = .065). The criterion validity testing has the expected results: convergent validity was proved by the association between the FSyQ factors and flow, the subjective experiences of dyadic interaction, curiosity, and the discriminant validity was supported by their independence from self-consciousness, tension, anxiety and anger. Conclusions The FSyQ might be an appropriate tool for the reliable and valid measurement of the flow synchronization dimensions. | 2016 |
| Social media innovations and creativity | V Ratten | Creativity is often a procedure that takes place on social media based on complex social system dynamic behavior that involves both innovation and entrepreneurship. The increased role of creativity in social media innovations is due to its ability to yield work that is unusual and useful (Lee et al. 2015). Despite the increased importance of social media technological innovations, there is a scarcity of research linking innovation and creativity to social media and management practices (Wang and Miao 2015). This is despite the emergence of new social media including crowdsourcing and open innovation changing the way we look at creativity in a management perspective (Ranaweera and Sigala 2015). The increase in creativity on social media is linked to the personal characteristics of individuals and situational factors affecting the development of a creative mindset (Amabile et al. 1996). Individual creativity is usually associated with the work environment or activities in daily life as problems are solved (Lubart 1994). This is different from creativity at the social level, which involves inventions and programs aimed at exploring new activities (Lee et al. 2015). This interactional working environment on social media using both individual and social levels of creativity is important for team creativity to evolve and be utilized in a productive manner. | 2017 |
| Putting the fun factor into gaming: The influence of social contexts on the experiences of playing videogames | LK Kaye | The increasingly social nature of gaming suggests the importance of understanding its associated experiences and potential outcomes. This study examined the influence of social processes in gameplay and different gaming contexts on the experience of individual and group flow when engaged in the activity. It also examined the affective experiences associated with different types of social gaming. The research consisted of a series of focus groups with regular gamers. The results of the thematic analysis revealed the importance of social belonging, opportunities for social networking and the promotion of social integration for game enjoyment. However, social experiences could also facilitate feelings of frustration in gameplay as a result of poor social dynamics and competitiveness. The analysis also suggested that group flow occurs in social gaming contexts, particularly in cooperative gameplay. A number of antecedents of this shared experience were identified (e.g., collective competence, collaboration, task-relevant skills). Taken together, the findings suggest social gaming contexts enhance the emotional experiences of gaming. The study demonstrates the importance of examining social gaming processes and experiences to further understand their potential influence on associated affective outcomes. Areas of further empirical research are discussed in reference to the study’s findings. | 2012 |
| Flow dimensions on daily activities with the Spanish version of the flow scale (DFS) | S Rufi Cano | A sample of 250 students of psychology with an average age of 20.37 years, answered the Flow Q questionnaire indicating their favorite flow activity, and the Spanish version of the Dispositional Flow Scale (DFS). A confirmatory factor analysis assessed the DFS construct validity of the flow model on daily activities. Both a hierarchical model of eight first order factors reflecting a second order global flow factor, and a model with eight formative first order flow dimensions, showed good fit and discriminant power. Most optimal activities were found to be individual and structured, such as studying, reading and certain forms of individual sports. Leisure activities turned out to be more rewarding than studying. Sports displayed more flow, clear goals, merging of action and awareness, and autotelic experience. Reading also showed more flow, balance of challenge and skills, feedback, merging of action and awareness, and loss of self-consciousness. On the other hand, studying displayed less flow, merging of action and awareness, and autotelic experience. | 2014 |
| French translation of the Flow State Scale-2: Factor structure, cross-cultural invariance, and associations with goal attainment | J Fournier | Objectives The goal of this paper was to assess the cross-cultural invariance of the factor structure of the French and English versions of the Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2) [Jackson, S. A., & Eklund, R. C. (2002). Assessing flow in physical activity: The Flow State Scale-2 and Dispositional Flow State Scale-2. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 24, 133–115] and to assess the relationships between athletes’ flow state and perceived goal attainment. Design Cross-sectional with self-reported questionnaires. Method Two samples of sport participants completed the FSS-2 immediately after an event and within a few days after the event, respectively. Data were analyzed with reliability and confirmatory factor analyses as well as with correlational and regression analyses. Results Results of confirmatory factor analyses on the French FSS-2 replicated the factor structure of the original FSS-2 with the first-order 9-factor and the hierarchical models both displaying adequate level of goodness-of-fit. Results of multi-sample analyses indicated that most parameters of the FSS-2 were invariant across languages. As expected, flow state correlated significantly with goal attainment during a sport competition. The relationship between flow and goal attainment was invariant across levels of competition. Conclusions This study provided support for the factor structure of the French version of the FSS-2 and for the invariance of the flow construct across languages. Flow state is significantly associated with goal attainment and the relationship is equivalent across athletes’ levels of competition. | 2007 |
| “Being in the Zone”: A Systematic Review on the Relationship of Psychological Correlates and the Occurrence of Flow Experiences in Sports' Performance | F Stamatelopoulou | Previous research has highlighted the role of internal states in the experience of flow in the sports performance context. This systematic review investigates the relationship between psychological correlates, personality dispositions, traits and internal states (motivation, goals, focus, and arousal) with the experience and occurrence of flow in professional athletes. There have been identified 17 studies published between 2012 and 2017 updating and extending Swann, Keegan, Piggott and Crust’s (2012) systematic review. The results indicate that specific psychological correlates, personality traits and dispositions, and internal states are strongly correlated with the appearance of flow. The present study adds to the current research on the sports’ flow experience highlighting the importance of constructs, such as confidence, anxiety, commitment, motives, goals, attention, optimal focus and arousal, and the “letting it go” state. | 2018 |
| Flow experience and team performance: The role of team goal commitment and information exchange | C Aubé | While a number of studies show that the flow experience is related to different outcomes at the individual level, the role of flow in work teams remains unclear. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge on flow by testing the relationships between this psychological state, team goal commitment and team performance. Data were gathered from 85 teams comprised of graduate and undergraduate students who participated in a project management simulation. The results show that the flow experience is positively related to team performance. This relationship is mediated by team goal commitment and moderated by the level of information exchange between team members. In practical terms, the results of this study show that managers should implement interventions fostering the flow experience in their teams, while at the same time encouraging information exchange between members. | 2014 |
| An overview of and factor analytic approach to flow theory in online contexts | AY Mahfouz | An overview of flow theory is presented from the literature across multiple disciplines, including information systems, ecommerce, marketing, digital gaming, user interface, management, and cultural contexts. Flow can play a pivotal role in the user experience and impact the user interaction with a site, computing device, or app. It is worthwhile to examine the effects of flow experience on users and incorporate these findings in designing engaging user experiences and interfaces in both web sites and mobile applications. To further understand these implications, the present study gave a questionnaire to 310 participants in a computer laboratory setting following an online shopping episode. The factor analysis revealed three dimensions of flow experience: control, attention focus, and cognitive enjoyment. All three dimensions had very low correlations. No gender effect on flow was found. | 2020 |
| Combined flow in musical jam sessions: A pilot qualitative study | E Hart | Despite extensive research into the phenomenon of flow, there has been a comparative deficit in literature relating to the experience of shared or combined flow. This pilot study explored the subjective experience of combined flow in musical jam sessions, with particular emphasis on delineating the characteristics, outcomes, and practical applications unique to combined flow. In-depth semi-structured interviews were held with six musicians who had extensive experience of group jam sessions. Grounded theory analysis of interview data identified two major themes; the experience of combined flow as a sequential progression through a set of stages; and the inter-subjectivity of the experience leading to the development of empathy between group members. A major finding was that the combined flow experience discussed by musicians met many of the criteria for classification as a flow experience, while also having the unique positive outcome of empathy development. | 2015 |
| Recreational services in resort hotels: Customer satisfaction aspects | G Costa | Leisure, fitness and sport activities, as well as live entertainment, are the content of recreational services, attributed by European resort hotels as hotel animation. This paper reviews the nature of such services, as a component of the hotel product, in order to appropriately assess and standardize quality towards customer satisfaction. The majority of Greek resort hotels offer animation services free of charge, aiming at profits and other benefits. Evaluating those services appears critical, because they hold up autonomy and require greater human involvement compared with other hotel services. Instruments for measuring the quality of services, such as SERVQUAL and its modifications, have been in use by several organizations in the hospitality industry. However, they are subject to criticism and it is argued that these instrument's are not suitable for international measurements. Literature on customer satisfaction in this area of services has been reviewed with the focus on experiential dimensions of this construct. A different approach of animation services as a marketing management tool is suggested. | 2004 |
| Intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations in the competitive context: An examination of person–situation interactions | S Abuhamdeh | The current study examined Intrinsic Motivation Orientation and Extrinsic Motivation Orientation (Work Preference Inventory; Amabile, Hill, Hennessey, & Tighe, 1994) as potential trait‐level moderators of the way Internet chess players responded to the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of the chess games they played. On the basis of the defining characteristics of these 2 types of motivational orientations, we predicted that (a) Intrinsic Motivation Orientation would be associated with a stronger curvilinear relationship between challenge and enjoyment and (b) Extrinsic Motivation Orientation would be associated with a heightened affective responsivity to competitive outcome (i.e., winning vs. losing). Results supported the predictions. Implications of the findings are discussed. | 2009 |
| Raising the bar of challenge with collaboration: social flow in mobile learning | H Ryu | Mobile learning has been built upon the premise that we can transform traditional classroom or computer-based learning activities into a more ubiquitous and connected form of learning.Tentative outcomes from this assertion have been witnessed in many collaborative learning activities, but few analytic observations on this have been made. However Social Flow, a concept that extends Csikszentmihalyi‟s flow theory, may help to explain the benefits and the triggering mechanism of collaborative mobile learning. Our empirical studies, where learners together explore a built environment as part of a simulated security guard training programme, showed that social flow in a collaborative learning space might be a key factor in providing the conditions for optimal learning experience.Further, in the experimental context, collaborative mobile learning can be seen to prompt more knowledge generation by fostering more learning motivation and ambitious behaviour (i.e., risk-taking) than other learning environments | 2010 |
| Breaking the Flow | DP Auld | In the context of research concerning computer-mediated learning environments (CMLEs), the construct of flow, or optimal experience, has been positively linked with students' learning outcomes, such as affective and cognitive perceptions of learning and the development of academic skills. However, this linkage is compromised by inconsistent characterizations of flow across studies and divergent measures of when flow may have occurred during learning. Further, characterizations of learning have differed across studies (i.e. self-reported attitudes about one's learning experience or one's academic achievement). In this paper, we review these inconsistencies and discuss how meta-analysis may be one means by which we can examine whether flow does impact learning within CMLEs, given the differing operationalizations of flow and learning that are found within the extant literature. | 2013 |
| Shared, sustained flow: triggering motivation with collaborative projects | Z Ibrahim | Flow refers to a special experience of total absorption in one task. Sustained flow (also known as directed motivational currents) is the occurrence of flow in a series of tasks aimed at achieving a certain outcome (for example improving proficiency in a second language). In this article, we investigate shared, sustained flow—which occurs when a group of individuals working collaboratively experience sustained flow. Interviews were conducted with five participants (two teachers and three students) to find out the conditions perceived to have facilitated this experience during pre-sessional language courses at two British universities. The results point to three main conditions: forming a group identity, attaching personal value and providing partial autonomy. We discuss how teachers can apply these findings to design motivational out-of-class activities. | 2019 |
| Flow Research in Music Contexts: A Systematic Literature Review | L Tan | The purpose of this study was to review flow research in music contexts from 1975 until the first quarter of 2019. Specifically, frequencies/percentages were calculated for (a) output in five-year periods; (b) publication type; and (c) methodologies employed, including measurement instruments used. Content analyses were also conducted on topics covered. Using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology, a total of 3,341 records were examined, with 95 studies eventually included in the analysis. Findings indicated a steady increase in research output over the last 25 years. Studies overwhelmingly sampled participants from Western populations, especially the United States. The majority of quantitative studies used self-report questionnaires, of which those developed by Jackson and colleagues were most prevalent. Among the qualitative approaches, interviews and observations were the most common means of data collection. Topics covered in the studies reviewed include the psychophysiological aspects of flow, transmission and group experience of flow, the association of flow with a range of positive outcomes, factors that contribute to flow experiences, and flow experiences of young children. Implications for future research were proffered in light of the findings. | 2019 |
| Self-and team-efficacy beliefs of rowers and their relation to mindfulness and flow | TR Pineau | The present study explored self- and team-efficacy beliefs in rowers, examining the relations between efficacy beliefs, mindfulness, and flow. Fifty-eight rowers from nine teams completed sport-specific measures of self- and team-efficacy, along with questionnaires assessing mindfulness, flow, sport anxiety, and sport confidence. Self- and team-efficacy were significantly related to mindfulness, dispositional flow, and sport confidence. In addition, both self-efficacy and sport confidence mediated the association between both total mindfulness (and the describe dimension of mindfulness) and the challenge-skill balance dimension of flow. These results provide indirect support for a proposed model, which suggests that mindfulness may positively impact the integral challenge-skill balance aspect of flow in athletes through self-efficacy. | 2014 |
| The concept of flow in collaborative game-based learning | W Admiraal | Generally, high-school students have been characterized as bored and disengaged from the learning process. However, certain educational designs promote excitement and engagement. Game-based learning is assumed to be such a design. In this study, the concept of flow is used as a framework to investigate student engagement in the process of gaming and to explain effects on game performance and student learning outcome. Frequency 1550, a game about medieval Amsterdam merging digital and urban play spaces, has been examined as an exemplar of game-based learning. This 1-day game was played in teams by 216 students of three schools for secondary education in Amsterdam. Generally, these students show flow with their game activities, although they were distracted by solving problems in technology and navigation. Flow was shown to have an effect on their game performance, but not on their learning outcome. Distractive activities and being occupied with competition between teams did show an effect on the learning outcome of students: the fewer students were distracted from the game and the more they were engaged in group competition, the more students learned about the medieval history of Amsterdam. Consequences for the design of game-based learning in secondary education are discussed. | 2011 |
| “A big part of my life”: a qualitative study of the impact of theatre | B Walmsley | Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact that theatre can have on its audiences, both immediately and over time. Design/methodology/approach The article evaluates the existing literature on impact and critically reviews a number of benefits models. Through a textual analysis of 42 semi‐structured depth interviews, the paper deconstructs the concept of impact and rearticulates it in audiences’ terms. Findings Impact emerges as a personal construct articulated by audiences in terms of emotion, captivation, engagement, enrichment, escapism, wellbeing, world view and addiction. Impact is ultimately described as a relative concept, dependent on audience typology and perceived by audiences in holistic terms, incorporating both intrinsic value and instrumental benefits. While catharsis is confirmed as a key enabler of impact, flow emerges as both an enabler and a benefit in itself. Research limitations/implications As this is a qualitative study with a sample of 42, the results are not representative of theatre audiences in general. Future research might test the findings of this study in a larger, quantitative survey, which might also test the relationships between the emerging variables. Practical implications There are significant implications here for theatre‐makers and venues. From a marketing perspective, more sophisticated segmentation of audience databases could uncover ‘value ambassadors’ to spread positive word of mouth about the impact theatre has on their lives. Venues and touring companies could also consider how to prepare audiences for impact more effectively and how to minimise distraction and facilitate audience interaction with artists and theatre‐makers. Obvious solutions here are mood enhancing atmospherics and well trained front‐of‐house staff. Originality/value The originality of this study lies in its audience‐focussed approach. Impact has tended to be constructed from the perspective of producers, marketers and academics, whereas this study invites audiences to describe it in their own, authentic vernacular. These authentic insights are of value to academics, producers, policy advisors, funders and marketers working in the arts, because they help shed light on why people attend the arts and the benefits they derive from them. | 2013 |
| Mobile exergames for preventing diseases related to childhood obesity | A Koivisto | Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are well-known problems which are typically related with videogames. The goal of this study is to develop digital games which motivate children and adolescents to exercise more, instead. The games are realized in such way that no special game consoles are required. The games can be played with a regular computer while mobile phones and heart rate monitors are used as the game controllers. Thus the games can also be played from a public screen in schools, for example, thus offering new exercising possibilities among youngsters. In this study, two exercising games (exergames) are presented and their ability to motivate youngsters is examined by group studies. The results indicate that the developed exergames are suitable in school environment. It is concluded that the games were found engaging and they motivated players to exercise. This indicates a positive effect of exergames in prevention of diseases which are related to childhood obesity and physical inactivity. | 2011 |
| Managing group flow experiences in escape rooms | T Kolar | Purpose This paper theoretically and empirically aims to explore customer group flow experiences with an urban adventure game called “escape rooms”. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive model of group flow antecedents and consequences is proposed and empirically verified by means of survey research and SEM methodology. Findings The results indicate that key determinants of group flow experiences are the collective challenge/skills balance, and theming and storytelling. Group flow, in turn, significantly affects participants’ revisit intentions and word-of-mouth communications, as well as group cohesion and subjective quality of life. Practical implications The supported research model provides an insight into how group flow experiences can be facilitated by means of gamification and yields important managerial implications. These are systematically discussed in regard to antecedent and consequence constructs. Originality/value This paper is one of the first papers to systematically examine the antecedents and consequences of group flow experiences at adventure game-based attractions. It contributes to the understanding and management of peak experiences in contemporary hospitality and tourism. | 2018 |
| Flow, seduction and mutual pleasures | T Mortensen | This paper briefly discusses the theories of flow by Csikzentmihalyi and seduction by Baudrillard in relation to player experience in multi-user games. It tests the theories loosely against player statements related to the pleasures of of multi-player games. The aime of the article is to tentatively explore two seemingly opposed theories which have both been used to explain the attraction of gaming, and to uncover whether they are mutually exclusive, ready for peaceful cohabitation or if they really say the same thing. | 2004 |
| Flow Experience in Startups and Relations with Job Characteristics and Motivation: an exploratory study | ISA Vale | The concept of flow has been identified as a set of interrelated constructs that allows satisfaction and employee well-being. The present study aims to explore the quality of daily life on startups, using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). In line with this, was investigated the quality of experience in terms of internal and external dimensions, as well as, the variations of states that characterized the daily experience. Finally, the relationship between flow state, work motivation and stable job characteristics was taking account. This study was conducted with a sample of 14 participants from Startup Braga, an innovation hub created to support the devolving of potential entrepreneurial projects. Results revealed that participants spent more time in control state. Moreover, nonproductive activities showed more positive affect, motivation, control and skills (internal dimensions of experiences) than productive activities. The job characteristics included were not, however, significantly related to internal dimensions of flow state. | 2017 |
| Experimental Ritual: Humanizing Immigrants or Utilitarian Prejudice in Europe? | JJ Pizarro | Immigrants and refugees are constantly depicted in dehumanizing ways or as a function of economic gains for the hosting nation. These descriptions, added to the current socio-political European situation, could be dangerous due to infrahumanization levels among minorities who are target of prejudice. In this study, we attempted to reduce infrahumanization levels towards Maghrebian people through a ritualistic collective activity, manipulating the information participants had to use. Results indicate that participation was different among conditions and infrahumanization levels were reduced. Also, participants who used utilitarian information could humanize when an economic gain was perceived, while also increasing prejudice levels. The results are discussed in terms of collective rituals and the dualistic effect of utilitarian information. | 2017 |
| Team Flow in an Organizational Context | JJJ van den Hout | This chapter goes into greater depth regarding team flow in an organizational context. First, we will discuss why teams are beneficial within organizations and why it is important to establish a collective ambition throughout the organization. After that we will provide an example of this principle by describing a healthcare organization which bases their whole organizational structure on self-managing teams. | 2019 |
| Investigating Student Flow Experience During a Mobile Augmented Reality Science Game | R Grande | Current studies have reported that secondary students are highly engaged while playing mobile augmented reality learning games. This study investigated factors related to students’ engagement—as characterized by flow theory—during a collaborative augmented reality (AR), forensic science mystery game using mobile devices. School Scene Investigators: The Case of the Stolen Score Sheets is a vision-based AR game played inside the school environment with quick response codes. A mixed methods approach was employed with 68 urban middle school students. Data sources included pre- and post-surveys, field observations, and group interviews. Results showed that neither gender nor interest in science were important predictors of variability in flow experience. Gaming attitude uniquely predicted 23% of the variance in flow experience. Student flow experience features included a flash of intensity, a sense of discovery, and the desire for higher performance. The findings demonstrated a potential for mobile AR science games to increase science interest and help students collaborate on learning tasks. Implications for future research concerning mobile AR games for science learning are discussed. | 2013 |
| Strategic Momentum | R Opdenakker | In step 2 of the Design Science Research Cycle, a systematic literature review is conducted to see if grounded and field-tested design propositions can be found. These can be used to design the solution concept for the field problem at stake. But until now, no one has addressed the specific field problem concerning virtual project teams. Therefore, there is no grounding for the design propositions, and even a ‘design idea’ is absent, so abduction can be introduced in step 3. In this chapter, as part of the third step of the Design Science Research Cycle, we will first consider the concept of strategic momentum. We will describe the history of the concept of momentum, which has its roots in physics. Then, we will present the outcome of a literature review concerning strategic momentum in the academic management field. Finally, after the concept of momentum in virtual project teams has been defined, we will discuss a way in which strategic momentum can be measured in virtual project teams. After this discussion concerning strategic momentum, we will present the causal model, which is the solution concept or artefact with which the field problem can be addressed. In this model, the variables influencing the emergence and sustaining of strategic momentum are presented. The model hypothesises that these are team task insight, empowerment, and collective commitment. Concerning the fourth step of the Design Science Research Cycle ‘formulating initial propositions’, four initial propositions are presented. | 2019 |
| High Risk Leisure Discourse: Influence and/or use by adventure companies | G Tumbat | Scholars of high-risk leisure consumption generally focus on psychological aspects of participation. They take the high-risk leisure discourse as given and do not particularly emphasize how this discourse forms and how elements of it are presented to consumers in the marketplace. In this study, I choose high-altitude mountaineering as an example of high-risk leisure in an attempt to analyze the surrounding commercial promotions directed to this consumer sector using a discourse analytic approach. The study reveals insights about how high-altitude mountaineering experiences are commoditized, aestheticized and glamorized by adventure companies in the process of marketing. | 2003 |
| A systematic review of the experience, occurrence, and controllability of flow states in elite sport | C Swann | Objectives This study aimed to provide an up-to-date summary of the literature on flow in elite sport, specifically relating to: (i) how flow is experienced; (ii) how these states occur; and (iii) the potential controllability of flow. Design Systematic review. Methods A comprehensive literature search of SPORTdiscus, PsycINFO, SAGE journals online, INGENTA connect, and Web of Knowledge was completed in August, 2011, and yielded 17 empirical studies published between 1992 and 2011. The primarily qualitative findings were analysed thematically and synthesised using a narrative approach. Results Findings indicated that: (i) some flow dimensions appear to be experienced more consistently than others; (ii) key factors were consistently reported to induce or inhibit flow occurrence; and (iii) the perception that flow experiences could be controllable to some extent, and are not merely ‘coincidental’. Additionally, it is appears that physiology is also relevant in flow, and these experiences may be psychophysiological. Conclusions Based on these findings, recommendations are made including the need for researchers to move from description to explanation of flow, the use of new methodologies, greater focus on the role of personality factors, and possible refinements of existing flow theory to be more specific to sport. | 2012 |
| Social incentives in paid collaborative crowdsourcing | O Feyisetan | Paid microtask crowdsourcing has traditionally been approached as an individual activity, with units of work created and completed independently by the members of the crowd. Other forms of crowdsourcing have, however, embraced more varied models, which allow for a greater level of participant interaction and collaboration. This article studies the feasibility and uptake of such an approach in the context of paid microtasks. Specifically, we compare engagement, task output, and task accuracy in a paired-worker model with the traditional, single-worker version. Our experiments indicate that collaboration leads to better accuracy and more output, which, in turn, translates into lower costs. We then explore the role of the social flow and social pressure generated by collaborating partners as sources of incentives for improved performance. We utilise a Bayesian method in conjunction with interface interaction behaviours to detect when one of the workers in a pair tries to exit the task. Upon this realisation, the other worker is presented with the opportunity to contact the exiting partner to stay: either for personal financial reasons (i.e., they have not completed enough tasks to qualify for a payment) or for fun (i.e., they are enjoying the task). The findings reveal that: (1) these socially motivated incentives can act as furtherance mechanisms to help workers attain and exceed their task requirements and produce better results than baseline collaborations; (2) microtask crowd workers are empathic (as opposed to selfish) agents, willing to go the extra mile to help their partners get paid; and, (3) social furtherance incentives create a win-win scenario for the requester and for the workers by helping more workers get paid by re-engaging them before they drop out. | 2017 |
| Flow and engagement at work: A literature review | LSA Farina | In the light of Positive Organizational and Work Psychology, flow and engagement are related with well-being and business success. This study examines the relationships between flow and work engagement,while presenting the main concepts about them. A literature review was carried out. Data collection were based on the research for studies with the descriptors “flow” and “engagement”, “personal resources”, “labor resources” and related terms. This search resulted in 49 studies, which were read and classified according to information about content, year of publication, definitions, types and associated concepts. Among the findings, flow and engagement are linked to superior results in business, worker performance and life satisfaction. Studies point to a wide range of applications, but there is still a need for further research. | 2018 |
| High risk, high reward: Daily perceptions of social challenge and performance in social anxiety disorder | DV Blalock | Individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) have difficulty engaging in social situations because their actions are predicated on minimizing the subjectively biased high potential for rejection. That is, individuals with SAD frequently perceive social situations as challenging, and their performance as subpar. Yet when individuals perceive themselves as succeeding in challenging situations, they typically report these situations as enjoyable and rewarding. This subjective experience of succeeding in a challenging situation has been studied as flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; 2000). Thirty-three adults with SAD and 34 matched healthy controls completed a baseline assessment, along with daily and experience sampling entries for 14 days. Results were analyzed using three-level generalized linear mixed effects models, with observations nested within days, nested within participants. Although individuals with and without SAD experienced the same frequency of flow in daily life, social situations led to proportionally more flow in participants with SAD than healthy controls. Both results were unexpected, and reasons for them are explored at length. Several experiential variables (positive emotions during and importance ascribed to the event) predicted the probability of flow during each situation. These results offer intervention-relevant suggestions for how individuals may benefit from seeking out challenging situations that offer maximal rewards. | 2018 |
| Interactionism in personality and social psychology: An integrated approach to understanding the mind and behaviour | KJ Reynolds | In both personality psychology and social psychology there is a trajectory of theory and research that has its roots in Gestalt psychology and interactionism. This work is outlined in this paper along with an exploration of the hitherto neglected points of connection it offers these two fields. In personality psychology the focus is on dynamic interactionism and in social psychology, mainly through social identity theory and self‐categorization theory, it is on the interaction between the individual (‘I’) and group (‘we’) and how the environment (that includes the perceiver) is given meaning. What emerges is an understanding of the person and behaviour that is more integrated, dynamic and situated. The aim of the paper is to stimulate new lines of theory and research consistent with this view of the person. | 2010 |
| Risky business or sharing the load?–Social flow in collaborative mobile learning | H Ryu | Mobile learning has been built upon the premise that we can transform traditional classroom or computer-based learning activities into a more ubiquitous and connected form of learning. Tentative outcomes from this assertion have been witnessed in many collaborative learning activities, but few analytic observations on what triggers this collaboration have so far been made. However Social Flow, a concept framework that extends Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, may help us to partially explain the triggering mechanism of collaborative mobile learning. Our case study in this article, where learners together explore a built environment as part of a simulated security guard training programme, describes how the concept of social flow in a collaborative learning space might sketch out what triggers an optimal learning experience in collaboration and what can be additionally achieved in a collaborative learning experience. In this learning context, collaborative mobile learning might be seen to prompt more knowledge generation and extra learning tasks by fostering greater motivation than other learning environments. | 2012 |
| Applied theatre as an'alternative substance': Reflections from an applied theatre project with people in recovery from alcohol and drug dependency | Z Zontou | This article explores factors by which participation in applied theatre has the potential to have an impact on problem drug and alcohol users by operating as what the author refers to as 'alternative substance'. In particular, the author seeks to examine the possibility of applied theatre operating as an alternative form of 'escape' from their current community (a community of exclusion) and thereby functioning as a motivational force towards their social reintegration. The arguments proposed in this article will be supported by using examples of practice from an applied theatre project that the author conducted in the organization Addiction Dependency Solutions (ADS) based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. | 2012 |
| Conceptualizing Group Flow: A Framework. | J Duncan | This literature review discusses the similarities in main themes between Csikszentmihályi theory of individual flow and Sawyer theory of group flow, and compares Sawyer's theory with existing concepts in the literature on group work both in education and business. Because much creativity and innovation occurs within groups, understanding group collaboration characteristics, including group flow, is critical to designing, leading, and sustaining effectively creative groups. Sawyer's theory, being the first to describe flow within groups, can be difficult to conceptualize because of the high number of included constructs. By synthesizing the ideas, we propose a simpler model for conceptualizing group flow consisting of the principles of vision, ownership and contribution, and effective communication. We propose that using this condensed version of Sawyer's leading principles might enable more research on this important topic, as well as improved practice in developing and leading innovative groups. | 2018 |
| The social life of organizations | LE Sandelands | A new field of positive organizational studies (POS) aims to enlarge inquiry in organizations to address neglected aspects of social life such as resilience, spontaneity, flow, courage, thriving, and virtue. In this article, we take seriously the promise and the challenge of this expanded realm of research in organization studies. We find that this nascent research field has come up against a classic philosophical problem of knowing without saying. Addressing this problem is a crucial part of answering critiques about the field’s viability and fulfilling its aims. We offer a solution focused on the field’s unifying and motivating intuition about the social life of organizations. We present a perspective on the social life of organizations that incorporates a fundamental distinction between human nature and human being; a distinction without which it is difficult if not impossible to come to terms with the phenomena of POS. Using the art of photography for purposes of illustration, we describe the social life of organizations in terms of three defining tensions—love, play, and individuation—which comprise its forms and feelings. We conclude that POS can better realize its important and distinctive contribution to organization studies by re-examining its focus on the material causes and effects that evince human nature in organizations and by focusing instead on the forms and feelings of social life that evince human being in organizations. | 2011 |
| Creativity in virtual spaces: Communication modes employed during collaborative online music composition | M Biasutti | Using a sociocultural theory of creativity as a framework, the current study aims to analyze the communication modes employed by adult musicians during the collaborative online composition of a new music piece and to define how creativity was expressed and supported. The study task was an authentic activity for the participants, who interacted in a virtual environment using synchronous and asynchronous tools to develop a project. The study employed a qualitative case study approach that involved video observation of the participants’ interactions during the online activities and individual semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that collaborative creativity involved musical and social practices. Furthermore, collaboration, identity and meta- cognition were considered critical in supporting participation and interest. The mediational role of the technological context and how it reshaped thinking strategies and collaborative strategies were analyzed. The participants demonstrated awareness of the potentialities of the online tools and the achievement of consciousness about the performed task. The results are discussed in relation to the framework of the sociocultural research on collaborative creativity, and implications for education are considered. | 2015 |
| Applying psychology within games development: what can the gaming industry learn from the discipline? | L Kaye | The rise of gaming as a social pursuit in which players can typically meet, interact, and play alongside one another calls for a consideration of two issues. Firstly, how the social contexts of gameplay impact on players’ experiences, and secondly, on a more practical level, how game developers may utilise evidence of this effect to enhance the positive experiences derived from the activity. This will form the basis for this chapter, which will introduce key evidence from psychological theory and research on gaming, and offer practical suggestions towards future game design. Within this, both the “direct,” in-game experiences as well as those social processes which operate outside gameplay will be considered in reference to psychological theory and key evidence. This will be introduced here to give readers an insight into the extent to which psychological understanding can provide some suggestion on the development of game features to promote the social experiences of players within gaming. | 2016 |
| Positive youth development: A wilderness intervention | SL Sklar | The purpose of this interpretative case study was to explore how a wilderness challenge intervention was experienced by "at risk" youth, to uncover the meaning of those experiences, and to asses the generalization and transfer of their experiences beyond the intervention. Two motivational frameworks involving theory of optimal experience and self-determination were used to guide the study. Forty research participants involved with a therapeutic wilderness program were interviewed using ind-depth, semi-structured interviews as the main source of data collection. Using constant comparison as the method of analysis, three themes encompassing the topics of challenge, community and key player relationships were constructed from the data. Data analysis led to the construction of optimal experience, self-determination, social capita, optimism, and youth initiative resulting in a grounded theory os positive youth development. Implications for practice include encouraging greater parental involvement in the overall program and offering sustained, challenging follow-up activities. | 2007 |
| Conceptualising family adventure tourist motives, experiences and benefits | G Pomfret | Families are becoming increasingly important to the adventure tourism industry, yet previous research neglects to investigate these tourists, instead focusing on family participation in non-adventure holidays and recreational activities. This conceptual paper develops a theoretically grounded perspective of family adventure tourists and considers the following research questions: Which key motives encourage families to participate in adventure activities while on holiday? What are the experiences of families during adventure activity participation on holiday? What benefits do families gain from these experiences? The paper addresses a research gap through synthesising previous research findings pertaining to family tourists and recreationists, adventure tourists and recreational adventurers. It makes connections between these studies to develop fruitful insights into family adventure tourists. It adopts a whole family approach as the perspectives of children and their parents are equally important in progressing understanding of these tourists. Many older family tourism studies only investigate parental viewpoints, yet children are integral to shaping the family holiday experience and understanding them is essential for organisations striving to deliver fun, enjoyable and challenging family holidays which satisfy parents as well as children. The paper presents a conceptual model of family adventure tourists, which illustrates the multidimensional journey families take before, during and after their adventure holiday. The paper highlights the complexities of understanding families who partake in adventure holidays and the key considerations that adventure organisations need to take into account in designing such holidays. It also makes suggestions for further research on family adventure tourists. | 2019 |
| Yes, we can! A fuzzy-set analysis of challenges, skills, and enjoyment of work | K Kasper-Brauer | Happy employees are a major source of competitive advantage. This research examines antecedents of employees' well-being with an emphasis on balance of challenges and skills. Using data from a survey of 185 employees in academia, this research tests whether a balance of challenges and skills at high levels of underlying components is necessary and/or sufficient for work enjoyment. The results of a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis indicate an asymmetrical causal relationship between balance of challenges and skills at high levels and work enjoyment. In addition, post hoc analyses reveal complex configurations of job demands and resources that lead to work enjoyment. From a methodological perspective, this research contributes to qualitative comparative analysis literature by outlining an approach to visualize contrarian cases in large-N samples, using a binned scatterplot. | 2016 |
| What makes metalheads happy? A phenomenological analysis of flow experiences in metal musicians | AK Hamilton | Flow can be understood as an experience in which awareness merges with the action itself and there is a perfect balance between activity and challenge that produces an optimal functioning as a result. Research on flow has shown a relationship with different types of music, but it has not been analyzed with metal musicians. The main aim of this research is to understand how metal heads experience flow when they play live music, considering the metal movement’s characteristics and how these components can shape the associated flow experience. We used the phenomenological interview method to collect data regarding the flow experience of metal heads. To analyze the phenomenological data, Moustakas’ method of transcendental phenomenology was applied, which allowed us to find the stable structure of their flow experience. This study found that the essence of metal musicians’ flow was an experience in which the participants channeled their emotions to play with a sense of agency while they merged with the band and the fans in a unique ritual. This work describes flow experiences in musical instances, highlighting the importance of others, which supports the findings of previous studies on group flow. Also, our finding that negative emotions can enhance flow in the metal context deepens our understanding of a phenomenon that has, until now, only been considered through the lens of positive emotions. | 2019 |
| Investigating antecedents to the experience of flow and reported learning among social networking site users | V Barker | Using an online survey (N = 888), this study investigated if the experience of flow mediated the influence of perceived social networking site credibility and social capital affinity (the sense of community and likeness felt for people online) on perceived focused and incidental knowledge gain among social networking sites users. The findings indicated that flow acted as a partial mediator in this context. However, social capital affinity strongly predicted perceived social networking site credibility and flow. Both perceived social networking site credibility and flow were predictors of perceived focused learning while social capital affinity was a strong, direct predictor of perceived incidental knowledge gain in this sample. | 2015 |
| Flow and cooperative learning in civic game play | C Raphael | Flow theory offers an individualistic explanation of media enjoyment, while cooperative learning theory posits a social explanation for enhanced learning in groups. This classroom-based experimental study examines whether game players can experience both conditions and the influence of each on several types of civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. We find that high quality cooperative learning contributed to acquiring civic knowledge and skills. In contrast, flow was more influential for developing dispositions to empathy and interest in learning more about the game topics. Thus, we conclude that players can experience flow while engaged in cooperative learning, but that these two conditions may support different kinds of civic learning. | 2012 |
| Experiencing flow in a workplace physical activity intervention for female health care workers: a longitudinal comparison between football and Zumba | AM Elbe | Flow is a rewarding psychological state that motivates individuals to repeat activities. This study explored healthcare workers’ flow experiences during a workplace exercise intervention. Seventy-nine females were assigned to either a 12-week football or Zumba exercise intervention and their flow experiences were assessed at the beginning, midway and at the end of the intervention. The results showed that both intervention groups experienced medium levels of flow and an increase in flow values over time. A significant positive correlation between experiencing flow midway through the intervention and adherence to regular physical activity 18 weeks after the end of the intervention was found. Furthermore, repeated measures throughout the intervention period showed a significantly different development of flow values over time for the adherers and nonadherers. Flow therefore may be of importance for adherence to regular workplace physical activity. Future research needs to investigate the importance of flow in other physical activity settings, especially also for male participants. | 2016 |
| Out of Scandinavia to Asia: adaptability of participatory design in culturally distant society | M Yasuoka | Participatory design (PD) has historically started and traditionally been conducted in Scandinavian contexts, where participation is an integral part of the social value. In this paper, we report our experiences conducting PD approaches in Japan, where social value systems and understandings of participation differ from Scandinavia. The project shows how Japanese utilize PD to solve an extraordinary, disastrous tsunami situation. We exemplify how negative parameters for participation vanish and new social value is created locally and temporary when certain conditions are fulfilled. We argue that culturally distant societies can reasonably adapt PD and use the most of its essence by providing a localized micro-mechanism for consolidating the conditions. | 2012 |
| Volunteers in Wikipedia: Why the community matters. | H Baytiyeh | Wikipedia is a reliable encyclopedia with over seven million articles in several languages all contributed and maintained by volunteers. To learn more about what drives people to devote their time and expertise to building and maintaining this remarkable resource, surveys with Likert-scaled items measuring different types of motivations were completed by 115 Wikipedia administrators. The survey also included comments and open-ended questions that were used to check the validity of the Likert-scaled items and allow participants to express their reasons for being a Wikipedian. The Likert-scaled items showed that Wikipedia administrators are largely driven by motivations to learn and create. The comments and open-ended questions indicated that altruism — the desire to create a public repository for all knowledge — is one of the most important factors. | 2010 |
| The phenomenology of optimal experience in daily life | A Delle Fave | More than three decades of research on optimal experience provided extensive information on its phenomenology. Flow is characterized by a stable cognitive core around which affective and motivational variables fluctuate according to the kind of associated activities. These findings suggest that flow may not be a monolithic experience, and that there could be a family of optimal experiences related to the characteristics of associated tasks. This chapter will address this issue, specifically taking into account the motivational components of flow from the perspective of Deci and Ryans’ self-determination theory. Individual and cultural features facilitating the retrieval of optimal experience in daily life will also be explored. They include personality traits, physical conditions, personal goals, autonomy, family context, and activity characteristics, such as challenge and structure. The chapter will end with the comparison of flow with similar constructs such as peak experience and involvement, and with an analysis of the relationship between flow and other positive-psychology constructs, such as psychological well-being and satisfaction with life. | 2011 |
| Psychological selection and optimal experience | A Delle Fave | Individuals play an active role in determining their life trajectories and in influencing the long-term development of the human species. This role is made possible by the evolution of consciousness and cognition that enable the individual to actively and uniquely process information coming from the external environment and the inner world. Since individuals are faced with excessive information at any given moment, they have to choose among them through the selective focus of attention. Criterion for selection is the quality of subjective experience. Flow or optimal experience was identified as a particularly complex and positive state of consciousness characterized by deep involvement, absorption, and enjoyment. Flow is the core of psychological selection, the process leading to the selective cultivation of activities, to the life-long construction of personal meaning and to the pursuit of self-determined goals. This chapter will focus on the psychological features of optimal experience, on its role in psychological selection, and on its neurophysiological underpinnings. Flow will be finally evaluated in its relation with bio-cultural inheritance and with the eudaimonic perspective in positive psychology. | 2011 |
| Conceptualising tourist experiences with new attractions: the case of escape rooms | T Kolar | Purpose The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically explore tourist experiences with the niche-like, yet global phenomenon of escape room attractions. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory empirical study of visitors’ experiences with selected top-rated escape rooms in the USA and Europe was carried out by means of netnographic research and automated content analysis. Findings The results show that this attraction provides new, peak, unique and fun experiences through the challenging activities and social component of the game play. The findings provide an insight into both the authenticity of experiences with novel attractions and the group aspects of fun and flow concepts. Research limitations/implications The findings are restricted to online reviews on the TripAdvisor website and are possibly biased because of the use of a non-random sample. Practical implications Theoretical implications are discussed and explicated as future research questions. They are relevant for the conceptual development, research and management of playful experiences within urban and special interest tourism. Societal implications are also addressed. Originality/value This paper is a preliminary in-depth examination of the escape room phenomenon from the customer experience standpoint. It is of relevance for the conceptualisation and improvement of tourist experiences with new and fun attractions. | 2017 |
| 여가프로그램 자원봉사자들의 몰입과 행복감과의 관계분석 | 박세혁 | A lot of studies showed positive physical and mental health consequences of volunteerism. However, the previous researches seem to have not explored the relationship between flow experience and its effects on happiness for volunteers. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between flow and happiness for volunteers in leisure service program. Data were collected from volunteers (N=192) at 8 leisure service programs by using the convenience sampling technique in Seoul and Gyunggi-do, Korea. The leisure service programs were all provided by churches. The fin dings were as follows: First, consistent with the elaborated model, volunteers’ happiness was predicted by flow subcomponents (challenge-skill balance, clear goal, concentration on task, sense of control, autotelic experience, and unambiguous feedback). Second, a significant difference was found between highly engaged group and other groups in relation to perceived happiness. Third, a significant difference was also found between highly engaged group and other groups in relation to intention of continuing volunteerism. Findings indicated that volunteers’ perceived flow and happiness explain their intention to continue volunteerism at the respective organization. The outcomes of this study may provide practical and theoretical framework in managing volunteers at leisure service organizations. | 2016 |
| Work‐related flow and energy at work and at home: A study on the role of daily recovery | E Demerouti | In this diary study, we aimed to examine the moderating effects of the following: (i) recovery efforts at work and (ii) detachment from work on the relationship between work‐related flow and energy after work. Specifically, we hypothesized that flow would be beneficial for energy after work when employees failed (versus managed) to recover during work breaks. Additionally, we predicted that when employees experience flow at work, they would be more vigorous (and less exhausted) at the end of the day when they detached from work in the evening compared with days when they failed to detach. The study tracked 83 participants who completed daily surveys over four consecutive days. Results of multilevel analyses indicated that some characteristics of flow, such as absorption and enjoyment, were significantly associated with energy after work. Recovery at work and detachment from work moderated the relationship between flow (specifically the enjoyment component) and after‐work energy. | 2012 |
| Flow experience in teams: The role of shared leadership. | C Aubé | The present study tests a multilevel mediation model concerning the effect of shared leadership on team members’ flow experience. Specifically, we investigate the mediating role of teamwork behaviors in the relationships between 2 complementary indicators of shared leadership (i.e., density and centralization) and flow. Based on a multisource approach, we collected data through observation and survey of 111 project teams (521 individuals) made up of university students participating in a project management simulation. The results show that density and centralization have both an additive effect and an interaction effect on teamwork behaviors, such that the relationship between density and teamwork behaviors is stronger when centralization is low. In addition, teamwork behaviors play a mediating role in the relationship between shared leadership and flow. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of promoting team-based shared leadership in organizations to favor the flow experience. | 2018 |
| Self-Transcendence Facilitates Meaning-Making and Flow Experience: Evidence from a Pilot Experimental Study | E Osin | We review the psychological theory of flow and focus on the notion of autotelic personality, arguing that self-transcendence understood within the existential tradition of Frankl and Längle can be seen as a personality disposition that is conducive to flow experience. We present a pilot quasi-experimental study conducted in a student sample (N=84) to investigate the effect of situational meaning and self-transcendence on productivity and flow experience. Students were asked to work on a creative task (which consisted in finding solutions to a social problem) in small groups. Each group was randomly assigned with an instruction presenting the problem as happening either in a distant country (low-meaning) or home country (high-meaning). The outcome variables were measures of flow, perceived meaning, and satisfaction with time. The solutions generated by students were rated by 3 experts. The results showed that the experimental manipulation had an effect on the quality of the resulting solutions, but not on the subjective experience of participants. Self-transcendent individuals tended to experience higher flow under both conditions, however, under the high-meaning condition self-transcendence exhibited a curvilinear association with the experiential outcomes. The findings suggest that self-transcendence can be considered as a candidate trait for autotelic personality and call for more replication studies. | 2015 |
| Flow and satisfaction with life in elite musicians and top athletes | K Habe | Although flow has been studied extensively in music and sport, there is a lack of research comparing these two domains. With the aim of filling this gap, elite musicians and top athletes in Slovenia were contrasted in the current study. Differences for flow and satisfaction with life between elite musicians and top athletes were explored. Individual versus group performance setting and gender differences were considered. 452 participants; 114 elite Slovenian musicians (mean age 23.46 years) and 338 top Slovenian athletes (mean age 22.40 years) answered questions about flow and satisfaction with life measures. The results show differences between elite musicians and top athletes in four flow dimensions: transformation of time and autotelic experience were higher in musicians while clear goals and unambiguous feedback were higher in athletes. However, differences in global flow were not confirmed. Elite musicians and top athletes experienced flow more often in group than in individual performance settings and surprisingly it was experienced more in male than in female top performers. Satisfaction with life has a positive correlation with all nine dimensions of flow, but only challenge-skill balance was a significant predictor for satisfaction with life. | 2019 |
| Antecedents of Flow and the Flow-Performance Relationship in Cricket | S Koehn | The present study aspires to elaborate on the conceptual framework of flow by further elucidating integration and conceptualization of a relationship between flow and objective and subjective measures of performance. The aims of the study were twofold: (1) to examine the relationship between flow and its key correlates, anxiety, motivation, and perceived ability; (2) to assess whether the relationship between these measures and performance is direct or mediated. Participant sample included a group of cricketers with varying performance level (n = 40) and a group of 20 non-cricket team athletes; all were between 18 and 35 years of age. Their performance was assessed objectively by batting average, along with administering the Dispositional Flow Scale (DFS), Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS), Sport Motivation Scale (SMS), and Perceived Sport Ability (PSA) questionnaires. Results show that the three flow correlates accounted for 77% of dispositional flow variance; individual correlates varied, however, in their predicting power, anxiety: 0%; motivation: 1%; perceived ability: 57%. In addition, total flow and flow correlates accounted for a total of 54% of variance in performance, whereas unique variance of 8% was accounted for by anxiety and perceived ability, each. Notably, flow and two correlates, anxiety and perceived ability, were found to have a direct impact on performance; in contrast, a weak partial mediation of flow was found between motivation and performance. Based on the findings on the flow-performance relationship, expansion of the flow theory is suggested; benefits for advancing intervention research in sport psychology are discussed. | 2018 |
| Exploring flow experiences in cooperative digital gaming contexts | LK Kaye | Given the social nature of digital gaming, an investigation into social processes underpinning the experiences within social contexts of play is greatly warranted. The current research explored the underpinnings of “group flow” within cooperative-based gaming. In particular, this was intended to provide insight into the social processes which facilitate flow experiences in these contexts. This was achieved through a questionnaire in which gamers (N = 76) provided retrospective open-ended accounts of flow during cooperative gaming. Additionally, quantitative data was obtained on flow and post-gameplay mood within this experience, as well as in solo gaming for comparative analysis. Thematic analysis of the qualitative responses revealed a number of factors which determined the experience of flow. These were; effective communication and team-work and task relevant knowledge of group members. Additionally, although flow was found to be lower in cooperative versus solo gaming, no differences in post-gameplay mood were observed. These findings aid conceptual development of facilitators of group flow in cooperative gaming, with insights into how this may extend to other cooperative activities. Additionally, they also provide new practical insight for representatives in the gaming industry on how gaming may be developed with the aim of promoting positive shared group experiences. | 2016 |
| Investigating the “Flow” Experience: Key Conceptual and Operational Issues | S Abuhamdeh | The “flow” experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) has been the focus of a large body of empirical work spanning more than four decades. Nevertheless, advancement in understanding – beyond what Csikszentmihalyi uncovered during his initial breakthrough in 1975 – has been modest. In this conceptual analysis, it is argued that progress within the field has been impeded by a lack of consistency in how flow is operationalized, and that this inconsistency in part reflects an underlying confusion regarding what flow is. Flow operationalizations from papers published within the past 5 years are reviewed. Across the 42 reviewed studies, flow was operationalized in 24 distinct ways. Three specific points of inconsistency are then highlighted: (1) inconsistences in operationalizing flow as a continuous versus discrete construct, (2) inconsistencies in operationalizing flow as inherently enjoyable (i.e., “autotelic”) or not, and (3) inconsistencies in operationalizing flow as dependent on versus distinct from the task characteristics proposed to elicit it (i.e., the conditions/antecedents). After tracing the origins of these discrepancies, the author argues that, in the interest of conceptual intelligibility, flow should be conceptualized and operationalized exclusively as a discrete, highly enjoyable, “optimal” state of consciousness, and that this state should be clearly distinguished from the conditions proposed to elicit it. He suggests that more mundane instances of goal-directed engagement are better conceived and operationalized as variations in task involvement rather than variations in flow. Additional ways to achieve greater conceptual and operational consistency within the field are suggested. | 2020 |
| User perceptions about self-efficacy, features and credibility as antecedents to flow on social networking sites | V Barker | Increasing engagement with other users and online content is an important goal for digital and social media managers. Through such involvement educators, brands, and organizations seek to achieve desired outcomes. Thus, in the current study, the concept of flow (intense involvement and engagement) is of interest as the focal dependent variable. An online survey (N = 888) was used to measure three potential antecedents to flow: perceptions about self-efficacy, social networking site credibility and site features. The findings indicated that self-efficacy predicted flow for social networking site users when they experienced positive perceptions about site features and credibility. This outcome underscores the value of user-friendly site features, and beliefs about site credibility in facilitating optimal involvement with social networking site content. | 2017 |
| Flow: Individual v. Team Sport | A Worthington | Flow is a psychological state that is often described as everything coming together or an effortless performance. A variety of studies have examined the flow state to better understand how to measure flow, to gauge athlete’s experiences with flow, and even to gauge new methods to promote flow. However, few studies look at flow within sportspecific setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether differences exist between the flow experiences of team athletes and the flow experiences of individual athletes. Sixty-four NCAA Division I athletes participated in the study. All athletes completed the Flow State Scale, as well as six open-ended follow-up questions about their flow experience. An independent t-test was calculated to compare total flow within team athletes and total flow within individual athletes. Mean flow scores for team and individual were not significantly different (p = .422). Results of this study are beneficial for sport psychologists and other researchers to better understand the flow state and how it is experienced within specific sport settings. | 2016 |
| Consumer behavior in online games | M Okuneva | The present paper focuses on the concepts of motivations and fun in online games. The ultimate goal of our research is to understand consumer behaviour toward an online games extending Yee’s model of motivations (Yee, 2006). We investigate relationships between fun, motivations, continued intention to play and such characteristics of players as age and rank. Moreover, we examine if the relationships are different depending on user characteristics (experience, donation). Our calculations are based on statistical procedures (structural equation modeling) for players of one particular game “Tanki Online”. | 2014 |
| Building Soul and Measuring Flow in the Learning Environment | D Allen | For effective learning to occur, a culture must be created that connects the students to the teacher, to each other and to the content. Faculty must use social capital to meet and exceed learning outcomes. The benefits of creating a sense of soul in the classroom so that flow can occur is the most important ingredient in ensuring success in the learning environment. Collectively the synergy of the course, the type and amount of learning and the type of community built in the learning environment can create a healthy or toxic environment. Academic and nonacademic indicators must be incorporated into the measurement of excellence in the learning environment because these strategies are required to be competitive in the job market and because it is the right thing to do. Strategies to support a global perspective through venues of economic, psychological, social and human capital towards a greater good are provided in this chapter. | 2015 |
| 싸이클 동호인들의 몰입과 기능수준이 행복감에 미치는 영향 | 정정희 | Currently, empirical studies about flow in leisure and sports rae still scarce, although research in this field seems to be emerging. However, previous research has never explored the construct of flow experience and its effects on happiness for cyclists. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between flow and happiness for cyclists. Data were collected from cyclists (n=164) in cycling groups by using the convenience sampling technique in Seoul and Kyungki-Do, Koera. Findings indicated that cyclists’ happiness was predicted by all flow subcomponents (intrinsic motive, clear goal, sense of control, autotelic experience, and unambiguous feedback). A significant difference was found between highly specialized groups and beginner group in sense of control and autotelic experience subdimensions in the flow construct. Finally, no statistically significant difference was found in happiness among groups based on skill levels. | 2017 |
| Self-transcendence facilitates meaning-making and flow: Evidence from a pilot experimental study | EN Osin | We review the psychological theory of flow and focus on the notion of the autotelic personality, arguing that self-transcendence (understood within the existential tradition of Frankl and Längle as the individual’s ability to establish inner relationships with values) can be viewed as a personality disposition conducive to flow experience. The study aimed to investigate the effects of situational task meaning and dispositional self-transcendence on productivity and flow experience. We present a pilot quasi-experimental study conducted in a student sample (N = 82) Students were asked to work in small-group settings on a creative task, which consisted in finding solutions to a social problem. Each group was randomly assigned to an instruction presenting the problem as happening either in a distant country (low-meaning) or in their home country (high-meaning condition). The outcome variables were measures of flow, perceived meaning of the task, and satisfaction with time spent working. The solutions generated by the students were rated by three experts. The experimental manipulation had a main effect on the quality of the resulting solutions, but not on the subjective experience of the participants. A number of significant interaction effects were found, indicating that the associations of self-transcendence with experiential outcomes tended to be linear under the low-meaning condition, but curvilinear under the high-meaning condition. The findings suggest that self-transcendence is particularly beneficial to flow in situations with unclear meaning, but very high levels of self-transcendence may hinder flow in highly meaningful situations. Overall, the findings suggest that self-transcendence can be considered as a disposition of the autotelic personality. | 2016 |
| Exploring the weak association between flow experience and performance in virtual environments | Y Bian | Many studies conducted in non-virtual activities have shown that flow significantly influences performance, yet studies in virtual activities often reveal only a weak association. This paper begins by building a theoretical explanatory model, and then conducts 3 empirical studies to explore this question. Study 1 exams the mechanism of weak association in two virtual activities. Study 2 tests the effectiveness of a potential approach to strengthen this association. In Study 3 we applied our proposed model and design approach to optimize a VR tennis game. Results show that the influence of flow on performance was not significant in those virtual activities where the primary task and the operation of interactive artifacts were less congruent such that the artifacts can lead to flow experience that is independently of the primary task. Our research offers a theoretical and empirical basis on how to optimize virtual environment design and maximize positive effect of the flow experience. | 2018 |
| The development and validation of the autotelic personality questionnaire | DCK Tse | Many studies conducted in non-virtual activities have shown that flow significantly influences performance, yet studies in virtual activities often reveal only a weak association. This paper begins by building a theoretical explanatory model, and then conducts 3 empirical studies to explore this question. Study 1 exams the mechanism of weak association in two virtual activities. Study 2 tests the effectiveness of a potential approach to strengthen this association. In Study 3 we applied our proposed model and design approach to optimize a VR tennis game. Results show that the influence of flow on performance was not significant in those virtual activities where the primary task and the operation of interactive artifacts were less congruent such that the artifacts can lead to flow experience that is independently of the primary task. Our research offers a theoretical and empirical basis on how to optimize virtual environment design and maximize positive effect of the flow experience. | 2020 |
| Dynamic patterns of flow in the workplace: Characterizing within‐individual variability using a complexity science approach | L Ceja | As a result of the growing interest in studying employee well‐being as a complex process that portrays high levels of within‐individual variability and evolves over time, this present study considers the experience of flow in the workplace from a nonlinear dynamical systems approach. Our goal is to offer new ways to move the study of employee well‐being beyond linear approaches. With nonlinear dynamical systems theory as the backdrop, we conducted a longitudinal study using the experience sampling method and qualitative semi‐structured interviews for data collection; 6981 registers of data were collected from a sample of 60 employees. The obtained time series were analyzed using various techniques derived from the nonlinear dynamical systems theory (i.e., recurrence analysis and surrogate data) and multiple correspondence analyses. The results revealed the following: 1) flow in the workplace presents a high degree of within‐individual variability; this variability is characterized as chaotic for most of the cases (75%); 2) high levels of flow are associated with chaos; and 3) different dimensions of the flow experience (e.g., merging of action and awareness) as well as individual (e.g., age) and job characteristics (e.g., job tenure) are associated with the emergence of different dynamic patterns (chaotic, linear and random). | 2011 |
| The experience of flow in artistic creation | T Chemi | In the present chapter I will describe and discuss the experience of flow occurring when professional artists create and learn. The unique findings are part of a larger study that looked at artistic creativity and aimed at describing the ways in which professional and widely recognised artists create, learn and organise their work. The methodological approach was qualitative and based on retrospective narratives of 22 high-achieving professional artists. When asked to describe the ways in which they create, these artists often replied by mentioning a positively felt state of deep concentration and calm. Flow, to them, seems to be at the same time a pre-requisite, a constitutive element and an effect of creative processes. Artistic creation happens in a state of deep concentration and self-forgetting and flow seems to have a specific purpose within artistic processes: triggering, facilitating and guiding the flow of creation. | 2016 |
| Transcendental Phenomenology and the Way to Happiness: Husserl's Reply to Csikszentmihalyi | KS Choi | It is an unprecedented task to interpret Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology as a fundamental philosophy of happiness. Although happiness has been discussed in many psychologies, Csikszentmihalyi’s positive psychology defines happiness as “flow”, a psychic state of ongoing immersion guided by intrinsic motivations and rewards. In this paper, I interpret our transcendental consciousness as a radical “flow” maker and claim that in our transcendental life, happiness is what we ourselves are. Then, I propose this not only as an appeal to a change of attitude (i.e. reduction) for happiness, but also as a deep hermeneutics of the mental skills and activity designs suggested by positive psychology. In this way, worldly happiness dictums can be profoundly re-examined. Understood as such, Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology leaves us the task of how to make a concrete form of qualitative or hermeneutical research on happiness out of it. | 2018 |
| ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS'COGNITIVE–AFFECTIVE STATES IN LEARNING WITHIN A COMPUTER-BASED ENVIRONMENT: EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE | R Wang | Students’ cognitive-affective states are human-elements that are crucial in the design of computer-based learning (CBL) systems. This paper presents an investigation of students’ cognitiveaffective states (i.e., engaged concentration, anxiety, and boredom) when they learn a particular course within CBL systems. The results of past studies by other researchers suggested that certain cognitive-affective states; particularly boredom and anxiety could negatively infl uence learning in a computer-based environment. This paper investigates the types of cognitive-affective state that students experience when they learn through a specifi c instance of CBL (i.e., a content sequencing system). Further, research was carried to understand whether the cognitive-affective states would infl uence students’ performance within the environment. A one-way between-subject-design experiment was conducted utilizing four instruments (i) CBL systems known as IT-Tutor for learning computer network, (ii) a pre-test, (iii) a post-test, and (iv) self-report inventory to capture the students’ cognitive-affective states. A cluster analysis and discriminant function analysis were employed to identify and classify the students’ cognitiveaffective states. Students were classifi ed according to their prior knowledge to element the effects of it on performance. Then, non-parametric statistical tests were conducted on different pairs of cluster of the cognitive-affective states and prior knowledge to determine differences on students’ performance. The results of this study suggested that all the three cognitive-affective states were experienced by the students. The cognitive-affective states were found to have positive effects on the students’ performance. This study revealed that disengaged cognitive-affective states, particularly boredom can improve learning performance for lowprior knowledge students. | 2020 |
| Thinking Skills and Creativity | M Biasutti | Using a sociocultural theory of creativity as a framework, the current study aims to analyze the communication modes employed by adult musicians during the collaborative online composition of a new music piece and to define how creativity was expressed and supported. The study task was an authentic activity for the participants, who interacted in a virtual environment using synchronous and asynchronous tools to develop a project. The study employed a qualitative case study approach that involved video observation of the participants’ interactions during the online activities and individual semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that collaborative creativity involved musical and social practices. Furthermore, collaboration, identity and meta- cognition were considered critical in supporting participation and interest. The mediational role of the technological context and how it reshaped thinking strategies and collaborative strategies were analyzed. The participants demonstrated awareness of the potentialities of the online tools and the achievement of consciousness about the performed task. The results are discussed in relation to the framework of the sociocultural research on collaborative creativity, and implications for education are considered. | 2015 |
| Pleasure junkies all around! Why it matters and why 'the arts' might be the answer: a biopsychological perspective | JF Christensen | Today's society is pleasure seeking. We expect to obtain pleasurable experiences fast and easily. We are used to hyper-palatable foods and drinks, and we can get pornography, games and gadgets whenever we want them. The problem: with this type of pleasure-maximizing choice behaviour we may be turning ourselves into mindless pleasure junkies, handing over our free will for the next dopamine shoot. Pleasure-only activities are fun. In excess, however, such activities might have negative effects on our biopsychological health: they provoke a change in the neural mechanisms underlying choice behaviour. Choice behaviour becomes biased towards short-term pleasure-maximizing goals, just as in the addicted brain (modulated by the amygdala, posterior ventromedial prefrontal cortex' (VMPFC), striatum, nucleus accumbens; ‘A-system’) and away from long-term prosperity and general well-being maximizing objectives (normally ensured by the insula, anterior VMPFC, hippocampus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); ‘I-system‘). This paper outlines, first, what ‘pleasure’ is and what ‘pleasure-only’ activities are (e.g. social media engagement, hyper-palatable eating). Second, an account is given of the type of action that might aid to maintain the neural systems underlying choice behaviour balanced. Finally, it is proposed that engagement with the arts might be an activity with the potential to foster healthy choice behaviour—and not be just for pleasure. The evidence in this rather new field of research is still piecemeal and inconclusive. This review aims to motivate targeted research in this domain. | 2017 |
| Flow in Computer-Supported Collaborative Problem-Solving | G Molinari | This study investigated the individual experience of flow and its relations with emotions and the perceived socio-cognitive processes involved in a computer-supported collaborative problem-solving task. Participants were asked to play in dyads the video game Portal 2® and then to individually complete three subjective questionnaires (emotion, collaboration and flow). Results showed that flow is related to both the modelling of the partner’s emotions and the perceived mutual engagement in collaborative processes such as information pooling and transactivity. They support the idea that the flow experience should be considered as a means to improve the quality of computer-supported collaborative learning. | 2018 |
| Flow in Knowledge Work Groups–Autonomy as a Driver or Digitally Mediated Communication as a Limiting Factor? | M Knierim | As cooperation is becoming increasingly important for complex knowledge work tasks, so is the need to understand how to support it. This study contributes to this aim by manipulating flow experience intensities for individuals working alone or in digitally-mediated small groups. Contrary to related work it is found that flow is not experienced as more intense in groups. Two possible reasons are identified, either an optimization of difficulty through more/less autonomy when working alone/together, or a limitation for sharing intense experiences by working in a communication-restrictive digitally-mediated environment. Furthermore, empiric explorations reveal (i) positive correlations for flow with group performance, satisfaction with and growth of the group, and (ii) that lower/higher flow intensities in digitally-mediated small groups can be classified via machine learning on combinations of ECG, self-report, and task-related data, thus further advancing the development of flow-supportive IS. | 2019 |
| Beyond Schemata in Collective Improvisation: A Support Tool for Music Interactions | S Kalonaris | This article presents results of experiments undertaken with expert musicians using the author’s original system for systemic improvisation. By promoting the formation of parallel and simultaneous layers of sustained musical relationships, this system facilitates an enhanced focus on local clusters and their development over time. This tool opens a novel perspective on improvised interactions and how they are formed, evaluated, updated, modified and abandoned during a performance, encouraging a critical evaluation of collective schemata. | 2018 |
| Motivational orientations of college band students: A cross-cultural examination of a collective 2 x 2 achievement goal model | L Tan | The purpose of this study was to determine the cross-cultural validity of a collective achievement goal model using a sample of non-music-major college band students from the US and Singapore. The study was situated within a theoretical framework that posited individual and collective achievement goal orientations of mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance. These constructs were also examined in relation to three adaptive learning outcomes: flow, grit, and commitment to band. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that whether considering the US, the Singapore, or the entire sample, the collective 2 × 2 achievement goal framework yielded a superior fit to the data when compared with four competing dichotomous and trichotomous models. Model invariance testing found that although the collective 2 × 2 achievement goal model appears to fit fairly well to the data from both groups of participants, cross-cultural model invariance can only be claimed conditionally. Hierarchical regression indicated that independent of any variation already explained by achievement goal sub-scales from the individual perspective, scales from the collective perspective explained a small but significant increase in variance for flow. | 2019 |
| THE JET PRINCIPLE IN E-LEARNING | G Ahamer | The – often surprising – conclusion of many interdisciplinary and multicultural projects and lectures is that providing views on reality is essential, namely mediation among different and diverse perspectives of realities. Such attempts can be very crucial in cases of disagreement on what “real truth” is, e.g. in cases of fundamentally different approaches mediated by religion (Tulku, 1977, Sabki & Hardaker, 2012, Remele, 1992) or globalisation. Each human action can be seen as taking place and creating effects on several factual, personal, or strategic levels at a time (Figure 1). Care for all these level simultaneously is the core task of teachers, trainers and pedagogy in order to reach consistent, valid and lasting learning results (Ahamer, 2012a). The learning strategy and didactic procedure presented in this article, the “jet principle” will later give rise to comparing any enhanced learning endeavour with a jet engine: the walls of the combustion chamber mean the learning framework, and the accelerated gas masses represent the learning activities. Social procedures should be professionally designed in a way so as to allow for convergence of opposing world views, be it for spatial planning (Jekel, 2007, 2008), peace negotiations (Rau, 2008: 6), environment or development. The breadth and scope of the (public) perception of realities (Chang & Liu, 2011) appears as a decisive bottleneck for the durability and ability to implement sustainable solutions. Example: Regarding a Caucasian conflict, Huseynov (2010) says that “as a result of these perceptions, the dynamism in the peace process (…) does not resonate well with the wider population. | |
| Flow in virtual worlds: The interplay of community and site features as predictors of involvement | VE Barker | Cultivating involvement within virtual worlds, where interactivity and community are salient, represents a key goal for virtual world leaders. This online survey of virtual world visitors conducted in 2013 (N = 244; 37% of whom use Second Life) assessed whether the interplay of community and site features facilitates a form of intense involvement known as flow. Flow is an affect-based response to types of pursuit that involve intense enjoyment and high psychological engagement. Prior research shows that flow often leads to positive outcomes for virtual world visitors, including learning, satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, it is important to understand more about potential antecedents to the reported flow experience in virtual worlds. The study findings showed that site features such a level of interactivity mediate the relationship between sense of community and reported flow experience among virtual world visitors. This suggests that site designers can intensify involvement by encouraging community spirit via interactivity, feedback, content variety and ease of use. | 2016 |
| The role of flow at work in nursing between job demands and psychosomatic disorders | M Zito | The nursing profession is characterized by a work paradox: motivating but also at risk in terms of health and with a high workers' turnover intention. It is therefore important understanding the dynamics reducing discomfort. The present study detects the mediation of flow at work between job demands and psychosomatic disorders. 259 nurses fulfilled a questionnaire that measures: flow at work, workload, emotional dissonance, patients' demands, psychosomatic disorders. The structural equation model highlights the meditating role of flow at work between job demands and psychosomatic disorders. Moreover, the study shows the need to promote flow at work for an organizational culture looking to well-being and to the containment of the discomfort. | 2015 |
| On the effects of student interest, self-efficacy, and perceptions of the instructor on flow, satisfaction, and learning outcomes | YM Guo | This paper examines the relationships between student interest, self-efficacy, and perceptions of the instructor on a set of learning outcomes that include, but are broader than, traditional measures of student learning. Consistent with the focus of positive psychology, the study focuses not only on knowledge gains but also on the flow experience and student satisfaction as important outcomes. Results show learning outcomes are affected by student interest, self-efficacy, and perceptions of the instructor. | 2019 |
| Real-life escape rooms as a new recreational attraction: The case of Turkey | SE Dilek | The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically investigate experiences of real-life escape rooms, a phenomenon that has gained prominence in recent years. An exploratory empirical study of visitors’ (escapers) experiences of 33 escape rooms in Turkey was conducted using content analysis. A total of 1079 reviews were extracted and used in the analysis. Data were collected from TripAdvisor – a well-known website – that allows guests to share their experiences from all around the world. The findings demonstrate that escape room attractions provide authenticity and flow experiences through the challenging activities and social component of the games. Furthermore, the findings show that visitors enjoy experiencing novelty-seeking (authenticity) and hedonistic experience-seeking (flow) and a feeling of being outside time and place. | 2018 |
| Does Gamification Improve Flow Experience in Classroom? An Analysis of Gamer Types in Collaborative and Competitive Settings | A Marinho | The use of gamification to engage and to motivate people in several environments, including education is notorious in the last years. However, there are different doubts related to the real effects of the application of gamification in educational contexts, mainly associated with the psychological analysis of the effects of gamification, that in some cases highlights that depending of gamification settings, and the students' gamer types and of the gender, it can cause bad effects like students' disengagement or demotivation. At the same time, the flow theory is a psychological theory that defines a mental state of complete control over a person's actions during a task and can be a decisive factor for better increase the engagement and learning of the students. Aiming to investigate whether the students' flow experience changes depending on the gamification configuration and the student’s gamer types and gender, we conducted an experiment in a gamified classroom. We analyzed the flow experience of 18 students during four scenarios with different settings of competition and collaboration, comparing their results according to the gamer type and gender. In general, our results did not indicate significant differences in the students' flow experience in the proposed configurations. As a complement, we performed a qualitative study based on the behavioral observations of the experiment that indicated the competition as a stimulating factor of the gamified experience. | 2019 |
| Cultivating Meaning at Work, in Four Movements | Y Kendall | This paper explores ways to enhance meaning at work for professional orchestra musicians, whose psychological needs include both the collective symphonic whole as well as individual mastery needs. An introduction to meaning and meaning in work is followed by a discussion of four pathways to enhance meaning at work for professional orchestra musicians. Finally, for each of the four pathways, initial interventions are proposed. In support of the research on meaning pathways and related psychological experiences of this population, a series of appendices review theoretical constructs from social science at the individual and group levels. Concluding the appendices is a discussion of social cognitive theory’s view of agency, which bolsters individual and collective pathways for orchestra musicians to find or create meaning at work. | 2017 |
| Flow and Pokémon GO: the contribution of game level, playing alone, and nostalgia to the flow state | P Loveday | Purpose: Although there has been research examining the physical benefits of playing the mobile augmented reality exergame, Pokémon GO (released in July 2016), the mental health benefits have not been investigated. Therefore, to add to the body of knowledge concerning the mental health benefits of playing exergames in the new context of augmented-reality mobile games, this study investigated the positive and beneficial concept of flow and its association with playing Pokémon GO. Design/Method/Approach: A quantitative survey of 202 adult players of Pokémon GO using two validated survey instruments, measuring flow and nostalgia, investigated the correlation between the beneficial state of flow, and playing Pokémon GO. Additionally, thematic analysis was used to analyse participant responses to optional, open-ended questions. Findings: Significant predictors for 27% of variance in flow levels of Pokémon GO players were: game level achieved, playing alone, nostalgia for Pokémon from childhood, and playing with family. The themes identified by thematic analysis of participant comments concerned the beneficial effects they considered Pokémon GO was having on their social, mental, and physical well-being. | 2017 |
| Flow training, flow states, and performance in élite athletes | C Norsworthy | Using a single-subject multiple-baseline design, the study examined the efficacy of a flow training program on flow states and performance of four elite level rock-climbers. Having received the intervention that comprised education, goal-setting, self-talk, and mindfulness stages, flow intensity, as measured by the Flow State Scale (FFS-2) increased. In addition, objective performance (time) and selfrated scores improved with, at least, medium effect sizes. Social validation indicated that participants found the training to be rewarding, and in line with the study findings. Such results propose further empirical research on flow training on elite athletes be undertaken to assess the intensity of flow experiences and performance scores. Future research examining retention data and education only interventions are advised. Implications arising from the present data are discussed. | 2017 |
| Intrinsic Motivation in Game-Based Learning Environments | TF Eyupoglu | Game-based learning environments (GBLEs) are appealing because of their potential as motivational learning tools, and to date, many different motivational constructs have been investigated. Within this literature, there has been particular emphasis paid to the construct of intrinsic motivation. However, wide variation in the operationalization of intrinsic motivation as well as the employment of numerous brief and unstandardized questionnaires in the assessment of intrinsic motivation has led to a lack of clarity across studies. The purpose of this paper is to examine how researchers have implemented and assessed intrinsic motivation in GBLEs. Agreeing upon definitional and measurement approaches for intrinsic motivation in GBLEs may be a crucial step in understanding the attraction of games and the effectiveness of instruction. The study of intrinsic motivation in GBLEs is an emerging endeavor and going forward we recommend a more focused and consistent operationalization of the construct across studies but broader consideration of its measurement. | 2019 |
| The dynamic relationship among group efficacy perceptions, attributions and task performance | JW Whiteoak | Purpose: While strategies for optimising individual performance have been widely studied a greater understanding of group-level processes is needed to better inform managers and team leaders about group performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate, in groups of three, the relationship among group efficacy, attributions made by group members and subsequent performance. The study explored the performance patterns of small groups that exhibited a group efficacy 1) increase, 2) decrease or 3) an initial decrease followed by an increase. Design/methodology/approach: The current study used both quantitative and qualitative data collection processes. A case study design was used to investigate the six research hypotheses. Quantitative data were gathered to screen and classify the study participants and to assess group performance and group efficacy. Qualitative data were also gathered in the form of performance attributions from transcripts of videotape recordings. Findings/results: Results indicate that the connection between group efficacy perceptions and group performance is not a simplex relationship and is influenced by the history of a group’s success and failures. Further, group-level performance attributions appeared to influence the relationship and differed depending on performance patterns. Practical implications: The results of this study are relevant to managers who rely on groups and teams of employees to make decisions and to accomplish tasks efficiently and effectively. The paper provides recommendations to manage the efficacy-performance relationship in pods, groups and teams. Originality/value: In this research a case study approach exploring the relationship between efficacy perceptions and performance patterns was validated. This approach provided a methodology that allowed the author to closely examine the pattern of relationships between these variables. This methodology may have potential value to other researchers investigating complex phenomenon. Another contribution of the research is the mixed-method approach and findings that showed performance attributions play an important role in the relationship between group efficacy perceptions and performance outcomes. | 2014 |
| Why be a Wikipedian? | H Baytiyeh | Wikipedia is a user-edited encyclopedia. Unpaid users contribute articles, edit them, and have heated debates about what information should be included or excluded. This study is designed to learn more about why people are willing to do this work without any fiscal compensation. Wikipedia administrators (n=115) completed an online survey with Likert-scaled items of potential types of satisfaction derived from participation as well as comments that were used to check the validity of the Likert-scaled items and allow participants to say in their own words why they were Wikipedian. Results showed that contributors in Wikipedia are driven largely by motivations to learn and create. | 2009 |
| The effect of job resources on work engagement: A study on academicians in Turkey | MC Altunel | Conducting research and publishing these research papers in academic journals is an accepted norm in the academic world. Previous studies prove that work engagement is a significant predictor of performance. Herein, the relationship between work engagement, which is assumed as a substitute for performance, and job resources is examined. At least one university from each Turkish city was selected and academicians of those universities were sent a 20-item survey online. Four hundred and twenty two academicians were tested using the convenience sampling method. Job resources were subject to second-order confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, both for job resources and work engagement, discriminant validity, convergent validity, and composite reliability tests were conducted. The results were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that job resources (autonomy, social support, coaching, opportunity for personal development, and task significance) need to be enhanced to develop work engagement by Turkish academicians. | 2015 |
| Applying an ethological perspective of art to the community arts and socially engaged arts | SKS Wong | This article argues and demonstrates that a distinction between artistic and non-artistic methods in community/socially engaged arts can open new discussions that advance and challenge the practice. While the boundary between art and non-art is far from clear, several widely read publications on community/socially engaged arts have categorized such works as the same class of engagement, investigating primarily their political and cultural impact, leaving the experiential dimension of the engagement overlooked. The ethological perspective of art presented by anthropologist Ellen Dissanayake is drawn upon for a definition of art that connects the experiential and social experience of art with the survival and thriving of individuals and their communities. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this definition of art is integrated with theories of psychology and social psychology for a multifaceted explanation of the phenomenon of collaborative art making. This discussion reconsiders the simplistic understanding of the oft-quoted phrase ‘everyone is an artist’, the ‘lowest-common denominator’ critique of collaborative art making, and the instrumentalization of art. | 2019 |
| Flow Szinkronizáció Kérdőív: az optimális élmény mechanizmusának mérése társas interakciós helyzetekben | T Magyaródi | Theoretical background: The study of flow experience in different activities is a wide research area in positive psychology, though its mechanism in interactive situations is still unknown. Aim: To support the quantitative study of the dynamics of optimal experience in challenging, interactive activities, we intended to develop the Flow Synchronization Questionnaire (FSyQ). Methods: The development of this measure was based on both the rational and empirical test establishment traditions. After the first phase of rational test collection, we continued with four empirical studies to investigate the different versions of FSyQ. Altogether, 2077 adults participated in the studies (two laboratory studies: N1 = 60; N2 = 100; two survey studies: N3 = 358; N4 = 1709). Results: The final version of the measure contains 28 items and 5 latent factors that focus on the motivational and coordination (task- and relationship-focus) aspects of the experience: 1. Synchronization and effective cooperation with the partner (12 items); 2. Experience of engagement and concentration (5 items); 3. Motivation and positive impact on the partner (3 items); 4. Motivation and learning for the person (4 items); 5. Coordination with the partner during the activity (4 items). The internal consistencies of the scales are adequate. The face validity of the questionnaire is also satisfying, its convergent validity related to flow is appropriate, as the scales of FSyQ correlate moderately with the factors of flow. Conclusions: The development of the FSyQ can contribute to the operationalization of the concept of flow synchronization and the future empirical studies of flow in interactive activities. | 2015 |
| Creativity and Flow: The Art of Mindful Creativity | S Dhiman | Leaders are increasingly expected to nurture an environment of collaborative innovation. Some of the world’s most iconic companies are embracing creativity as a way of life. Now more than ever organizations must innovate in order to survive and succeed. Treating creativity as a form of competence that can be nurtured, this chapter focuses on the role of creativity and flow in life and leadership. It garners the view that it is leaders’ job to foster creativity. It reviews some of the mounting research that shows that creativity is very much a science. After defining creativity as person, process, and product-based, it provides a brief overview of the experience of flow as observed in the behavior of creative individuals and the anatomy of mindful creativity. It explores the relationship between mindfulness as a creative process and the concept of flow, suggesting that the meditative practice of mindfulness at once contributes to the successful attainment of both of these experiences. It concludes with reviewing the benefits of mindfulness, creativity, and flow. | 2017 |
| An exploration of choir singing: Achieving wholeness through challenge | HIM Tonneijck | This qualitative study explored the experience of choir singing as an example of a leisure occupation. Data were collected through participant observations during choir meetings and one‐to‐one interviews, and analyzed using a comparative, interpretive method. Three themes emerged. Although participants at times felt unsafe or restless, the choir generally functioned as a platform where they felt safe and connected to others. Choir singing was experienced as offering a challenge, which seemed to function as a catalyst for the doing, a stimulus to act and a motivator to participate in the choir. The participants valued experiencing something different from the ordinary things in life, and being distracted from daily routines. The study revealed an interwoven relationship between the challenge provided by choir singing, the experience of doing something different, and the ‘doing’ itself, which brings about the perception of enacting wholeness. This ‘wholeness’ seemed to have been facilitated by both the challenging nature of the occupation and the safe environment in which the doing was situated. | 2008 |
| EFL Instructors' Perceptions of Work-Related Flow | O Köksal | Teachers with a highly positive perception of their professional life are likely to perform their job better. The present study investigates EFL instructors’ perceptions ofwork-related flow. It focuses on the effect of gender and teaching experience on work-related flow. 120 English language instructors working at three different universities took part in the study. The Work-related Flow Inventorywas administered to the instructors to collect data about their perceptions of work-related flow in their work place. This inventory is composed of 12 7-point items in two subscales; that is, motivation for work-relatedflow and motivation for seeking work-related enjoyment. The subscale of motivation for work-related flow consisted of 6 items and motivation for seeking work-related enjoyment consisted of 6 items. The overall Inventorywas found to be highly reliable (12 items; = .92). The mean score for the participants was calculated to be 55,43. An independent samples t-test was conducted to examine whether there was a statistically significant difference between males and females in relation to their overall work-related flow. There was not a significant difference between the mean scoreof the males (M=55,70, SD=13,60) and females (M=54,60, SD=15,40); t(106)= .390, p = .698. Similarly, an analysis of variance showed that the participants’ overall scores did not differ with respect to their experience, F(105) = .114, p = .892. These results imply that teachers might experience work flow at any period during their professional life. | 2014 |
| “Without Music, Life Would Be A Mistake”-The Impact of Music Listening and Playing on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Wellbeing | K Douglas | Positive Psychology researchers have written quite extensively about hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Whilst the disciplines of Music Therapy and Music Psychology have reported the effect of music on physical and psychological wellbeing, this is not an area into which Positive Psychologists have ventured. This paper summarises two qualitative research studies examining the effect of music on wellbeing from a Positive Psychology perspective. Study # 1 researches the effect of playing a musical instrument on wellbeing; Study # 2 investigates the impact of listening to personally selected playlists on wellbeing and perceived workplace performance. The findings indicate that playing a musical instrument and listening to music contribute to both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. | |
| Team Spirit, Team Chemistry, and Neuroethics | A Fiala | This paper examines the phenomenon of team spirit from a neurobiological point of view. It argues that ethical judgment should be involved in understanding and evaluating the idea. Adopting a liberal individualist point of view helps us understand the phenomenology of team spirit, while also helping us to articulate a critique of communitarian approaches that celebrate the sort of de-individuation that occurs in team spirit. The paper recognizes further complexity in terms of cross-cultural issues, as well as the tendency to toward reductionism. It concludes by imagining a thought experiment involving chemically enhanced team spirit, which shows how our larger ethical framework helps us evaluate possible responses. | 2017 |
| Learning Through Story Listening | S McCann | Although an essential communication skill, listening does not receive the same attention as speaking. As an often-required class, project or professional event, public speaking takes center stage. A person can experience a range of emotions associated with telling their story including shame, anxiety, and frustration but, depending on how they’re being listened to, they may also experience validation, understanding, and empathy. The experience of being listened to and, more to the point, feeling heard can help reduce conflict, decrease physical pain, and foster emotional healing. At times, assuming the posture of listener can feel strenuous. Listening requires conscious effort and focused attention. However, listening serves as a powerful means of learning and connecting emotionally with others. Professionals in the healthcare industry would do well to recognize the positive impact that their nonjudgmental listening presence can provide. Through listening, a group may heal, learn, evolve, and achieve.1 For the individual, research confirms that “the lived experience of being listened to [is] fundamental to quality of life and health.”2 And physician listening serves as “a healing and therapeutic agent” for patients.3 One’s own narrative material serves as the initial source of the idea of self. However, the idea of self more fully emerges as a socially constructed concept created and recreated in the art of communication with the other.4 This occurs within the second person space, or the space between the storyteller, or self, and story listener, or other.5 In the second person space, the story listener’s role becomes more significant, for strengthening the power of the story, alternatively aiding the teller in releasing, rearranging, replacing, or reframing a new one,6 and recognizing the learning that may emerge from the story. | 2019 |
| Game-based Learning and 21st century skills: A review of recent research | M Qian | Game-based learning and 21st century skills have been gaining an enormous amount of attention from researchers and practitioners. Given numerous studies support the positive effects of games on learning, a growing number of researchers are committed to developing educational games to promote students’ 21st century skill development in schools. However, little is known regarding how games may influence student acquisition of 21st century skills. This paper examines the most recent literature in regard to game-based learning and identified 29 studies which targeted 21st century skills as outcomes. The range of game genres and game design elements as well as learning theories used in these studies are discussed, together with the range of indicators, measures and outcomes for impacts on 21st century skills. The findings suggest that a game-based learning approach might be effective in facilitating students’ 21st century skill development. The paper also provides valuable insights for researchers, game designers, and educators in issues related to educational game design and implementation in general. | 2016 |
| How is flow experienced and by whom? Testing flow among occupations | S Llorens | The aims of this paper are to test (1) the factorial structure of the frequency of flow experience at work; (2) the flow analysis model in work settings by differentiating the frequency of flow and the frequency of its prerequisites; and (3) whether there are significant differences in the frequency of flow experience depending on the occupation. A retrospective study among 957 employees (474 tile workers and 483 secondary school teachers) using multigroup confirmatory factorial analyses and multiple analyses of variance suggested that on the basis of the flow analysis model in work settings, (1) the frequency of flow experience has a two‐factor structure (enjoyment and absorption); (2) the frequency of flow experience at work is produced when both challenge and skills are high and balanced; and (3) secondary school teachers experience flow more frequently than tile workers. | 2013 |
| Worldviews and climate change: Harnessing universal motivators to enable an effective response | J Ford | Anthropogenic climate change is undoubtedly a complex phenomenon, measured and argued in detailed terminology indecipherable to all but the most educated of scientists; not typical fodder for global conversation (Elliott 2007). However, it is difficult today to find any source of mainstream media – print, television or digital – on any given day that fails to mention it. The sustained and mainstream interest indicates that anthropogenic climate change has hit a nerve deep within western society. Perhaps it is because its effects are so unpredictable and disrespectful of human-constructed borders [primarily through extreme weather and the resultant conflicts wrought by scarcities of water, arid land, and other natural resources (Ackerman and Stanton 2008; Heinz Center and CERES 2009)]; westerners can no longer rely on centralized policy and technology to keep them safe. Perhaps it is because climate catastrophe has been a common theme throughout past and current mythologies around the world, in which climate catastrophe is seen as a punishment for irresponsible human behaviour; climate change may strike some universal fear inherent in humankind. Perhaps it is because the majority of western society finally understands humankind is altering its very habitat and sees extreme weather as an assertion of nature’s power over man. Whatever the reason, just as the polar bear has become the poster child – or metaphor – for anthropogenic climate change, so has anthropogenic climate change itself become a metaphor in the west for humankind’s broken relationship with the natural world. A break that, if some of the more dire predictions are to be believed, has already crossed the “point of no return”. How could the most intelligent and socially developed species in the history of the earth have allowed this to happen? To what extent can anthropogenic climate catalyze the effective, long-term societal and behavioural changes needed to heal this break? | 2011 |
| Flow learning 기반 기능성 게임 설계 방법론 | 서경원 | A recent development of e-learning systems design has been made on gaming effects that enhance natural engagement with learning activities arising from the gaming experience. In so doing, at issue is how the learning objectives should be counterbalanced with the gaming effects that might move away people from the learning outcomes expected. The present study proposed a four-legged learning experience design framework that embraces these two goals (i.e., achieving learning objectives as well as better learning experience via playing games). An empirical study was carried out to validate this framework and how this framework would help HCI practitioners was also discussed. | 2012 |
| Analyzing the experience of networked flow through social network analysis | A Gaggioli | Focusing its attention on Social Network Analysis, this chapter describes a methodological proposal pertaining to the monitoring and analysis of the dynamics which characterize the collective experience of Networked Flow. Since the Networked Flow is a social process that evolves thanks to the relationships of a set of persons, its study needs techniques of inquiry that consider adequately the structural dynamics of the interactions between the involved actors. So this chapter is intended to show how the SNA could be applied to the typical interactional dynamics of the Networked Flow process. It presents three different ways of using SNA which can help the understanding and analysis of some of the typical dynamics described in the other chapters of this book. The first is the use of SNA to analyze a network’s communicative structure such as an online group. The first example of the application of SNA relates SNA indices to two variables which can be particularly relevant for the experience of networked flow, or rather, in what depth a group discusses/analyzes given subjects and the performance which originates from the group’s collective action. The second way in which SNA can be used is directed toward a longitudinal analysis of the interactions which characterize a given network of people. In this case, the chapters present the longitudinal use of SNA to monitor and analyze the evolution through time of the relations between participants in an online social network in the field of education. The need to go beyond quantitative data and to take account of the content of the exchanges within a network may however turn out to be crucial to fully understand its dynamics, above all if we consider semantic networks. The final way in which SNA is used therefore concerns the links between concepts as opposed to the links between people. | 2013 |
| Introduction: Art and the brain: From pleasure to well-being | JF Christensen | Empirical aesthetics in general, and neuroaesthetics in particular, have been very much influenced by Berlyne's psychobiological program. For him, aesthetic appreciation involved the brain's reward and aversion systems. From this point of view, art constitutes a set of potentially rewarding stimuli. Research has certainly made great advances in understanding how the process of artistic valuation takes places, and which brain circuits are involved in generating the pleasure we obtain from artistic practices, performances, and works. But it also suggests that pleasure is not the only effect of the arts. The evidence rather suggests that the arts have other cognitive and emotional effects which are closely related to human psychobiological health and well-being. These are: (1) attentional focus and flow, (2) affective experience, (3) emotion through imagery, (4) interpersonal communication, (5) self-intimation, and (6) social bonding. These effects are beneficial and contribute to the individual's biopsychological health and well-being. The fact that artistic practice has these effects helps explain why the arts are so important to human life, and why they developed in the first place, i.e., as ways to foster these effects. Therefore, a biopsychological science of the arts is emerging, according to which the arts can be conceptualized as an important system of external self-regulation, as a set of activities that contribute to our homeostasis and well-being. | 2018 |
| Enhancing competence and autonomy in computer-based instruction using a skill-challenge balancing strategy | J Kim | The present study aims to show if a skill-challenge balancing (SCB) instruction strategy can assist learners to motivationally engage in computer-based learning. Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory (self-control, curiosity, focus of attention, and intrinsic interest) was applied to an account of the optimal learning experience in SCB-based learning activities. Two empirical studies were carried out, where a group of learners were taught “Computer Networks” as part of a statutory curriculum at a tertiary institution. The empirical results suggested that a degree of self-control to compensate for the fully automatic SCB instruction strategy (i.e., competence and autonomy) would be of a greater value for learning motivation enhancement in adaptive computer-based learning systems. | 2014 |
| Student motivation in Waldorf foreign language classrooms | A Montenegro | This paper contributes to the understanding of the concept of student motivation in foreign language learning. Taking into account Waldorf teachers’ optimal classroom experiences (n=18) in foreign language classrooms, this study presents as a conclusion two relationships that emerge in a language learning process: the relationship between the learner and his/her learning environment and the relationship between the learner and his/her school subject. These relationships display seven key aspects namely relatedness/autonomy, contemplation, curiosity, received/offered feedback, language complexity, tolerance towards language, and sensorial activation. These aspects were analysed taking into account a theoretical framework focused on student motivation. This paper encourages teachers and researchers to investigate the Waldorf Approach for teaching foreign languages, not only in Waldorf schools, but also in mainstream public school and multicultural settings that are applying this approach. | 2017 |
| Experience beyond knowledge: Pragmatic e-learning systems design with learning experience | N Katuk | With the growing demand in e-learning system, traditional e-learning systems have dramatically evolved to provide more adaptive ways of learning, in terms of learning objectives, courses, individual learning processes, and so on. This paper reports on differences in learning experience from the learner’s perspectives when using an adaptive e-learning system, where the learner’s knowledge or skill level is used to configure the learning path. Central to this study is the evaluation of a dynamic content sequencing system (DCSS), with empirical outcomes being interpreted using Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory (i.e., Flow, Boredom, and Anxiety). A total of 80 participants carried out a one-way between-subject study controlled by the type of e-learning system (i.e., the DCSS vs. the non-DCSS). The results indicated that the lower or medium achievers gained certain benefits from the DCSS, whilst the high achievers in learning performance might suffer from boredom when using the DCSS. These contrasting findings can be suggested as a pragmatic design guideline for developing more engaging computer-based learning systems for unsupervised learning situations. | 2013 |
| Work-Related Flow Inventory: Evidence of Validity of the Brazilian Version | CPP Freitas | Flow in work is constituted by the positive experiences and mental state experienced during the day-to-day occupational activities. This study aims to adapt and assess the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Version of the Work Related Flow Inventory (WOLF). Participants were a nationwide sample of 640 professional (74% women), aged 19 to 73 years (M = 35.9, SD = 10.5). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported the oblique three-factor structure (absorption, work enjoyment and intrinsic work motivation) as being the most reliable to the data. Multigroup CFA achieved full measurement invariance for the gender and employment status (autonomous and non-autonomous). Flow dimensions were positively related to occupational self efficacy and job satisfaction. WOLF presented adequate psychometric properties, suggesting its usefulness in evaluating flow at work in the Brazilian context. | 2019 |
| Participation in amateur orchestra and subjective well-being in Korea | HJ Kang | The purpose of this mixed-methods research was to investigate which individual and external factors related to participation in an amateur orchestra influence members’ subjective well-being (SWB) and how those factors contribute to members’ SWB from a community music therapy (CoMT) perspective in South Korean context. The study employed a sequential explanatory mixed-method design and was grounded in the framework of human ecological systems theory. Quantitative data were gathered from 126 members of nine amateur orchestras through a survey questionnaire including demographics and musical background, Perceived Values of the Amateur Orchestra Members (PVAOM), the Basic Psychological Needs Scales (BPNS), the Individualism and Collectivism Scale (INS-COL), and the Satisfaction with the Life Scale (SWLS). Results from hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that four factors were significantly associated with amateur orchestra members’ SWB: musical identity, relatedness, having a common connection among members, and vertical collectivism (VC). In order to illustrate and enhance understanding of the members’ experience related to the four factors, secondary qualitative data were collected from interviews with nine members among survey respondents. Qualitative content analysis of interview data produced the following themes: (a) in terms of VC, experiencing interdependence among members, approving authority of a leader, sharing a communal goal, serving and dedicating to the orchestra, and feeling a sense of togetherness; (b) in terms of musical identity, identifying and expressing interdependent self via playing his or her own instrument; (c) in terms of relatedness, experiencing deep interaction via playing in the orchestra music, and (d) in terms of having a common connection among members, promoting active interaction among members, enhancing community solidarity and a sense of belonging. These themes confirmed findings from the literature but indicated that respect and conformity for leaders and interdependence is more valuable in Korean contexts compared to Western contexts. Overall findings of the analysis showed the values and possibilities of amateur orchestras as a music community for SWB in Korea. This study revealed amateur orchestras as communities where different cultural values are harmonized within contexts of everyday life. The CoMT perspective contributed to findings that music as milieu can reflect and satisfy contemporary sociocultural needs as well as individuals’ needs while mutually interacting with participants and multilayered environments. | 2019 |
| The Effect of Job Resources on Work Engagement-A Study on Academicians in Turkey | B Çankır | Making research and publishing these researches at academic journals is accepted as a differential feature in the academic world. Previous studies Show the evidence that work engagement is a significant predictor of performance. In this study, the relationship between work engagement, which is assumed as substitute for performance, and job resources is examined. At least one university from each city of Turkey is selected and academicians of those universities are sent 20- items survey via internet. 422 academicians is reached by using convenience sampling method. Job resources are subject to second order confirmatory factor analysis. Further, both for job resources and work engagement discriminant validity, convergent validity and composite reliability test are implemented. The results are analyzed with structural equation modelling. The results indicate that, job resources (autonomy, social support, coaching, opportunity for personal development and task significant) need to be enhanced in order to develop work engagement of Turkish academicians. | 2017 |
| Religiosity, psychosocial factors, and well-being: An examination among a national sample of Chileans. | D Páez | In this study, we analyzed the association between public religiosity, private religiosity, and life satisfaction in a representative sample of the Chilean population. Religiosity was associated with low income and low socioeconomic status and with being older and female. These variables were negatively associated with satisfaction with life. However, attendance at collective religious rituals was associated with life satisfaction, while private religiosity was unrelated. These results support the view that it is the social aspect of religion that benefits well-being. Controlling for gender, age, and socioeconomic variables, public religiosity predicts life satisfaction. Participation in religious rituals was associated with high social support and affect balance (low negative and high positive affect). Mediational analyses that included all variables related to public religiosity (main predictor) and to life satisfaction (dependent variable) showed that attendance to religious rituals had a direct effect on well-being, and also a significant indirect effect on well-being through high social support and low negative affect. Results are discussed with respect to the role of public rituals in the Chilean collectivistic culture. | 2018 |
| What young children give to their learning, making education work to sustain a community and its culture | C Trevarthen | The policies and administration of early education and support for social development constantly need re-defining, or re-inspiring, by taking into account the perspective of a young child. They must acknowledge the intuitive abilities and values, and growing initiatives that are present in the child from birth and that motivate learning. Innate impulses of human imagination, with strong aesthetic and moral feelings, make sharing of experience and building of meaningful memories possible for a young person. They also determine the suffering that follows if they are not respected. Economists advise that this creativity of early childhood as a resource in itself – government and business, policymakers and managers need to understand what healthy and confident young human beings, if they are treated fairly, will contribute to future industry, prosperity and well-being in society (Heymann et al. 2006; Sinclair 2007; RAND Corporation 2008). Well-trained and experienced teachers of young children are also major contributors to social and cultural health of the community. They know, in practice, what inventive and helpful intelligence children have to offer. Unfortunately this creativity of young children is often outside the imagination of those who are preoccupied with managing the complex artefacts and routine structures of the adult world, and who deal with the problems of adult society and its employments. | 2011 |
| Online games: consuming, experiencing and interacting in virtual worlds | JP dos Santos Fleck | Digital phenomena have influenced the way people work, shop, study and communicate, among other activities. Furthermore, the way people play video games has been tremendously impacted by the Internet and digital devices. The possibilities of entertainment offered by video games have been considerably enhanced – and changed – in the past couple of decades due to the possibility of sharing these games with other players online. Our aim in this chapter is to provide an overview of the consumption of online games,taking into consideration the state of the art in theory as well as research on the evolution of video games and online games in contemporary society. The Internet brought the video game phenomenon to the virtual world and converted thegames into one of the main consumption items of the digital age. According to recent research by the Nielsen Company (2010), Americans spend 10.2 percent of their online time playing games. Another recent study demonstrates that online gaming is one of the most likely reasons for compulsive Internet use (Meerkerk et al. 2006). In the online environment, the interaction between the real and the virtual is an importantaspect in understanding why these games are so fascinating. The consumption of online games is a continuous process (Malaby 2007), because only through playing will the gamer be able to develop his or her expertise. The creation and acquisition of value are not based on the purchase of the game, but on what is experienced while the game is played. The player of an online game helps to create a complex and nuanced virtual world. Their character and their digital virtual activities – their in-game labor – along with that of other players sustain the digital virtual space as meaningful (Denegri-Knott and Molesworth 2010). In the following sections of this chapter, we analyze the consumption of online games with afocus on the evolution and the social and experiential aspects they involve. The first section isan overview of the transition from offline to online game, followed by the definition of online games and by a section about the study of online games. Afterwards, social aspects of games are presented in two sections: virtual identities and interactions in virtual worlds. Then, an experiential elements section on game consumptions is presented, followed by our closing arguments. | 2013 |
| Conceptualizations and Measures of Student Engagement: A Worked Example of Systematic Review | J Tai | This chapter provides a commentary on the potential choices, processes, and decisions involved in undertaking a systematic review. It does this through using an illustrative case example, which draws on the application of systematic review principles at each stage as it actually happened. The chapter firstly introduces the topic of ‘student engagement’ and explains why a review was decided appropriate for this topic. The chapter then provides an exploration of the methodological choices and methods we used within the review. Next, the issues of results management and presentation are discussed. Reflections on the process, and key recommendations for undertaking systematic reviews on education topics are made, on the basis of this review, as well as the authors’ prior experiences as researchers and authors of review papers. | 2020 |
| A Collective Emotion in Medieval Italy: The Flagellant Movement of 1260 | P Nagy | The purpose of this article is to open a dialogue between research in social sciences concerning collective emotion and historical investigation concerning a religious and political movement of the Middle Ages. The main idea is to consider the Flagellant movement of 1260 as a collective emotion which, beyond the affects pertaining to it, is also a social practice that finds its efficiency in the spiritual meaning of its collective display, demonstrating the rationality of a seemingly irrational religious phenomenon. | 2020 |
| Collective virtuosity in organizations: A study of peak performance in an orchestra | M Marotto | The purpose of this paper is to build theory on peak performance at the group level. Peak performance transcends ordinary performance and is associated with a subjective experience in which one loses a sense of time and space as well as feels great joy and bliss. We chose to study this phenomenon at the group level through a methodology of participant observation in an orchestra. We found that groups can be transformed by their own performance in a reflexive process in which virtuosity, or individual peak performance, becomes collective. We offer a propositional model of collective virtuosity in organizations, and offer directions for further research. | 2007 |
| Enabling co-located physical social play: A framework for design and evaluation | EM Segura | During the last decade, we have witnessed an increased interest in social play in digital games. With this comes an urge to understand better how to design and evaluate for this new form of play. In this chapter, we encapsulate best practices for game design and evaluation, grounded in other game researchers’ work, as well as our own research and practice. We focus on a sub-area of social games that has experienced great growth and has attracted general interest in research and in practice. It is also the area that has driven our own research: co-located, physical, and social play that is technology supported. In this overview, we provide a sense of the challenges and opportunities involved when designing for this particular area, using good empirical grounding and presenting a framework in the form of lenses through which to think about the design of co-located physical social games. | 2015 |
| A Four-Dimensional Maxwell Equation for Social Processes in Web-Based Learning and Teaching: Windrose Dynamics as GIS (Games' Intrinsic Spaces) | G Ahamer | This paper describes how the principal structure of a system of equations fundamental to science, namely the Maxwell equations governing electromagnetism, could be analogously applied to social procedures among humans who start to create emerging networks through gaming. Inspired by a cartographic windrose, a new type of notation for social procedures is introduced that allows to graphically depict “information”, “team”, “debate”, “integration” as four basic dimensions; symbolically called soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Experiences with a web-based role-play (“Surfing Global Change”) show that these four basic dimensions tend to peak one after the other along a suitably designed gaming procedure. The resulting sequence of the “voices” S, T, A, B gives rise to hypothesizing a general pattern of social behavior that qualitatively could formally be described by a four-dimensional Maxwell type set of equations of these four variables. It is hypothesized that in analogy to an electromagnetic wave also a social process of harmonious flow in S, T, A, B might emerge that describes suitable and successful conditions for game play and game-based learning. | 2012 |
| Positive art: Artistic expression and appreciation as an exemplary vehicle for flourishing | T Lomas | The relevance of the arts to well-being has been recognized within clinical fields, as reflected in therapeutic forms based on various art modalities, from music to drama therapy. However, there has hitherto been little appreciation of the broader potential of the arts as a vehicle for flourishing and fulfillment in fields such as positive psychology. As such, this article proposes the creation of “positive art” as a field encompassing theory and research concerning the well-being value of art. To show the scope and possibilities of this proposed field, the article provides an indicative summary of literature pertaining to 4 major art forms: visual art, music, literature, and drama. Moreover, the article identifies 5 main positive outcomes that are consistently found in the literature across all these forms: sense-making, enriching experience, aesthetic appreciation, entertainment, and bonding. The article aims to encourage a greater focus on the arts in fields such as positive psychology, enabling science to more fully understand and appreciate the positive power of the arts. | 2016 |
| The fragility of group flow: The experiences of two small groups in a middle school mathematics classroom | AC Armstrong | This article considers two small groups of students in the same Grade 8 mathematics classroom whose approaches to the same mathematical problem result in very different experiences. Using videotapes and written transcripts, an analysis of the groups’ working processes was undertaken using Sawyer's pre-existing structures required for the presence of group flow, and Davis and Simmt's conditions for complex systems. It is suggested that although both groups had the prerequisite structures in place to experience group flow, the second group was not decentralized enough to enable all members to establish a working collaborative proximal zone of development in which they could develop their ideas as a collective, while the first group was sufficiently decentralized and appeared to demonstrate episodes of experiencing group flow. If teachers are aware of conditions that encourage the experience of group flow, this may help them in forming productive small groups within the classroom and developing successful group-oriented learning tasks. | 2008 |
| Giving voice to jazz singers' experiences of flow in improvisation | M Forbes | Jazz instrumentalists’ experiences of improvisation have informed psychological research on a range of topics including flow in improvisation, yet there is scant evidence of jazz singers’ improvising experiences. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study investigated the experiences of three professional Australian jazz singers who improvise extensively in their performance practice: How do these singers experience improvisation? IPA of semi-structured interviews with the singers resulted in two superordinate themes which both related to the flow state: (a) singers experienced flow when improvisation “went well”; (b) singers experienced flow as meaningful—flow provided singers with both the freedom to express the self and the opportunity to contribute to something beyond the self. These findings reveal a new context for flow experiences. Implications for vocal jazz education and practice are discussed. | 2020 |
| How system quality influences mobile BI use: The mediating role of engagement | T Peters | Despite the recognized value that mobile BI (m-BI) brings to firms, our understanding of the use of m-BI and its determinants are limited. In this study, we suggest that m-BI system quality characteristics may be among the factors that influence m-BI use. Yet, in the information systems (IS) literature there is mixed support for the relationship between system quality and system use at the individual level. Given there is research suggesting that engaged users are an indication of the technology’s success, we believe that ‘engagement’ may be the key to understanding the relationship discrepancy between system quality and use. To address this gap, we conducted a quantitative study of key informants who use m-BI, to understand what the key m-BI capabilities are and other success dimensions perceived as important by users. The results indicate that m-BI system quality attributes affect m-BI use indirectly through engagement, with this finding contributing to understanding of the complexity of IS use in mobile technologies. | 2016 |
| 'Dance Your Sorrow Away!': Spirituality, Community and Wellbeing in Christ Apostolic Church, Dublin | R Uberoi | Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) is a Pentecostal and African Initiated Church that emerged from the YorubaAládǔrà movement of early twentieth-century Nigeria. In this article, I unpack the concept of ‘dancing away sorrow’, one of the distinctive rituals that members of CAC Dublin have brought with them from Nigeria. I explore members’ beliefs about wellbeing and its links with spirituality and community, and examine how music and dance help to facilitate connections with God and fellow worshippers. While the practice offers positive benefits to first generation migrants, it highlights the dissonance perceived by the second generation between Yoruba and Irish culture. | 2016 |
| Web-Based Instruction revolutionizes Environmental Systems Analysis | G Ahamer | For university teaching in general, and specifically for the transdisciplinary curriculum of “Environmental Systems Analysis”, web-based learning procedures provide excellent opportunities for socially induced understanding and consensus building. This chapter describes how the social processes emerging in a five-level web-based negotiation game may be conceived in such a way that these form a sequence of growing and decaying intensity in various modes of social interaction. Similarly to individual learning in a classroom, a procedure could be applied to collective learning, namely to social procedures among humans who are starting to create institutional networks for combating global climate change – one of the most urgent tasks at present. A coordinate system of the four main social archetypes of action, namely “information”, “team”, “debate”, “integration” is symbolically called soprano, alto, tenor and bass; these four basic dimensions of social action tend to peak one after the other along a suitably designed gaming procedure. | 2016 |
| The Applicability of Therapeutic Recreation to Post-Disaster Lives: The Leisure and Well-Being Model Perspective | S Kono | Disasters cause myriad physical, psychological, and social problems among survivors around the world. Although therapeutic recreation (TR) is theoretically important for survivors, few have supported this by using empirical data. This study examines the applicability of one of the leading TR models, the leisure and well-being model (LWM), to post-disaster life contexts. To this end, we re-analyzed qualitative, interview data from nine Japanese/Japanese American Katrina survivors living in New Orleans and 16 Japanese survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Our findings based on thematic analysis suggested that each of the five leisure enhancement mechanisms specified in the LWM—savoring, gratification, authenticity, mindfulness, and virtuousness—were pertinent to survivors’ post-disaster experiences. Our results also show specific conditions under which these mechanisms can be particularly therapeutic. However, we also found parts of the model do not fit potentially due to cultural differences. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed. | 2019 |
| The jet principle: technologies provide border conditions for global learning | G Ahamer | Purpose The purpose of this paper is to first define the “jet principle” of (e‐)learning as providing dynamically suitable framework conditions for enhanced learning procedures that combine views from multiple cultures of science. Second it applies this principle to the case of the “Global Studies” curriculum, a unique interdisciplinary curriculum at Graz University in Austria that is targeted to multicultural and developmental learning among students from diverse ethnic and disciplinary backgrounds. Design/methodology/approach Social and learning procedures are heuristically analysed based on ten years of interdisciplinary experience in interdisciplinary learning settings in a multicultural environment with critical approach to globalisation, while also diverse scientific disciplines are counted as “cultures of understanding”. Findings The outcomes of the analysis suggest that the negation‐oriented web‐supported five‐level learning suite “Surfing Global Change” (SGC) is capable of providing helpful framework conditions to multicultural learning that can suitably be applied in the “Global Studies” curriculum as well as in other similar international curricula. Research limitations/implications Quality criteria are subject to scientific cultures and hence differ from discipline to discipline; thus representing continuous challenge for suitable perception of actors and bystanders. Practical implications Complexities of cultural diversity are reflected also by complexities caused by origins in diverse scientific cultures. For constructing thorough and practically implementable consensus solutions, dialogic processes and peer review are best mediated through web‐based discussion, for which this paper provides examples. Discourse‐oriented features and amendments for curricula of “Global Studies” are presented. Social implications Networking among multicultural and interdisciplinary curricula with a critical stance towards globalisation is facilitated through suggestions in this paper. Originality/value By offering a new type of graphic notation for learning procedures, this paper facilitates new perspectives on the intrinsic dynamics of learning, adoption of new standpoints and acquiring a 360° view of the institutional landscape and interest patterns in complex multi‐stakeholder issues such as globalisation. | 2012 |
| The Effect of Social Dilemma on Flow Experience: Prosociality Relevant to Collective Efficacy and Goal Achievement Motivation | JC Hong | According to social dilemma theory, students may be characterized as being indifferent to reciprocal behavior and disengaged from interacting with the board gaming process. Given a common goal, students’ prosociality can affect the collective efficacy and goal achievement motivation that reflects their flow experience in a cooperative-competitive computer-based digital board game, called Strike-Up. The players were randomly provided with five numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division signs, and parentheses, and needed to complete the arithmetic calculation to find the best approaches to achieve the goal of reaching the end of the game. In addition to the cognitive strategies, the game allowed players to help each other to win. To explore the correlation, 240 students were randomly grouped into three-player teams to play Strike-Up against other teams. Data of 180 players were effectively returned and subjected to confirmatory analysis with structural equation modeling. The results revealed that prosociality can positively predict players’ flow experience mediated positively by collective efficacy and performance-approach goal motivation. The results also implied that the higher level of prosociality students had, the higher level of flow state they experienced in the game which involved a social dilemma. | 2019 |
| Intense Collaboration for Command and Control: Human and Technology Capabilities | E Bowman | Teams involved in Command and Control (C2) activities are being increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of information that is available to them, the diversity and complexity of the technologies that they need to use, and the nature and intensity of collaborative tasks. New socio-technical approaches for the design, development, and acquisition of future C2 capabilities are needed if we are to address these challenges. This article discusses the results of a multi-project program of research and development, called LiveSpaces, which has been undertaken over the past decade to provide people-centric environments that directly support the needs of collocated and distributed teams involved in intense collaborative activities. Research has been conducted into emerging areas of science and technology, such as ubiquitous computing, which could provide a basis for a new generation of C2 workplaces where technology is put into the backdrop of human cognitive and collaborative activities. Novel ICT-enabled evaluation, experimentation, and innovation approaches have been developed and integrated into new socio-technical approaches for the development and acquisition of future C2 capabilities. | |
| Tourist Mobility as an Experience Maker: Understanding the Blank Space | A Scuttari | This chapter introduces the necessary definitions, assumptions and delimitations on mobility, experience and affect. It presents the main theories behind their conceptualisation. Four streams of literature are reconstructed for this purpose: transport and mobilities geographies, experience economy and affective science. The interdisciplinary integration of these four perspectives allows the assessment of mobility as an experience-maker in tourism and introduces the theoretical framework of the mobility space and journey experiences. Mobility […] is more central to both the world and our understanding of it than ever before. And yet mobility itself, and what it means, remains [sic] unspecified. It is a kind of blank space that stands as an alternative to place, boundedness, foundations, and stability. This space needs examining. Tim Cresswell (2006) | 2019 |
| The effects of video gaming on work group performance | M Keith | Organizational tasks are complex and time-sensitive, requiring group effort to achieve goals under pressure. To improve group performance, organizations often invest in a services designed to strengthen teams (e.g., ropes courses). However, such activities are time- and resource-expensive and have demonstrated mixed results. To proffer a more practical (shorter and less expensive) alternative, we explore the potential of video gaming as a team building activity. To this end, we employed a multi-experiment study in which we administered competitive and cooperative video games to newly formed work groups. To theoretically explain the effects of video gaming on group performance, we adapt the theoretical construct to flow to the group level. Our results reveal that all forms of video gaming had a positive effect on group performance. However, competitive versus cooperative gaming have different effects on the sub-constructs of group flow. Therefore, optimal results are obtained with cooperative-competitive video games. | 2016 |
| Imagining the world: creating an artistic community of practice in an academic environment | S Fegan | The following account tells the story of a small funding grant that launched a university-based arts project in which 40 university student volunteers designed and painted 68 concrete panels on the theme of globalisation, over a 2-year period. In the weekly project sessions, held in an underground theatre dressing-room, a community formed which embodied many of the qualities described by Lave and Wenger (Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991) as characteristic of a Community of Practice (CoP). Most notably, this project came to be one in which the participants, “share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Lave and Wenger, Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation, p. 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991). Initiating a voluntary, meagrely funded arts project in a university where time is short for everyone was a risky proposition, but I felt it was important to offer an opportunity to students to counter-balance the cognitively focused nature of university study. I wanted to know how Gen Y students felt about the globalised world. Also, knowing that university student life can be marked by loneliness and isolation (Sawir et al. in J Stud Int Educ 12(2):148–180, 2008), I was curious to find out whether a communal arts experience might lead to greater levels of well-being. The project participants were not fine arts students, and most had not painted ‘since kindergarten’. Nevertheless, they showed willingness, and even passion, to translate their feelings about globalisation into sketches and then into metre-long painted panels for public display. This commitment to the project endured, week after week, for 2 years, even through wintery nights and exam periods. It was at odds with some of the literature on university student engagement, which argues that contemporary Gen Y university students are pragmatically focused on gaining their qualifications and hence do not involve themselves in campus life (Levy and Campbell 2008). What kept the participants returning to the mural space? I pondered this question at many points during the 2-year project. It seemed evident that they enjoyed being there, and this was affirmed regularly in their weekly mural journals and in the project sessions. Csikszentmihalyi argued that creative acts are linked to a sense of well-being and happiness in humans (Csikszentmihalyi, The Futurist 31(5): 8–12, 1997); when this is combined with a sense of meaning, it becomes what he calls, “vital engagement”, or “a relationship to the world that is characterized both by experiences of flow (enjoyed absorption) and by meaning (subjective significance)” (Nakamura and Csikzentmihalyi 2002, p. 87). The mural participants seemed to invest a strong sense of meaning in their mural panels; they took great care in painting the images and often spent sustained periods of time in concentrated silence as they worked. Their regular attendance at the mural sessions, and also their intensity in approaching the task suggested that intrinsic motivation played a role in maintaining participants’ interest levels in the project. On the other hand, the collaborative nature of the project seemed to generate its own level of enjoyment and intrinsic motivation. In the mural space there was frequent laughter, appreciative commentary on each other’s designs, and often the sense of initial weariness transforming into focused energy in the design and painting process. It seemed that the social practice embodied in this project was also a generator of well-being for the participants. Indeed, through an “enabling, confirming and supportive process… that foster[ed] interpersonal development” (Rendon 1994, p. 44, cited in Penn-Edwards and Donnison Int J First Year High Educ 5(1): 31–41, 2014), the participants formed a cohesive learning community as they worked through the design and implementation stages of the process: creating images for their panels, rendering the images and learning how to mix and apply paint. In common with most university students, it was clear that the mural group participants already negotiated many roles in their daily lives, and had been, “socialised into multiple, overlapping communities of practice” (Morton Linguist Educ 23(1):100–111, 2012, p. 109). Nevertheless, the mural project allowed them not only to form friendships and a distinct learning community, but also to cross boundaries and gain new expertise in areas that were often remote from their disciplinary studies. In this chapter I argue that this community of practice, based around a creative arts project in an academic environment, enabled the participants to connect with each other and with their creative potentialities, with visual design and with a social form of learning that enriched their university experience. | 2017 |
| Social bonding through joint action: when the team clicks | J Taylor | Collective physical activity in the context of team sports and group movement, music-dance and exercise is widely thought to generate and strengthen social bonds among participants. Causal accounts of these effects remain narrow and imprecise, however. Here we develop and test a novel, generalisable account of the links between coordinated joint action and social bonding. At the core of this account is the idea of "team click," a visceral and socially agentic phenomenon that we hypothesize derives from perceptions of successful coordination of movement in interdependent joint action and that positively predicts social bonding. We report the results of an initial test of this hypothesis conducted among professional rugby players in a national tournament in China. Results support the predicted relationship between perceptions of successful coordination in joint action and social bonding, mediated by perceptions of team click. Findings are discussed and situated within emerging dynamical, hierarchical and predictive models of intra- and inter-personal cognition from computational and cognitive neuroscience. | 2019 |
| I remember how we all felt: Perceived emotional synchrony through tourist memory sharing | EH Wood | Durkheim’s theory of collective emotion and the concept of perceived emotional synchrony are used to explore tourism memories and to create a conceptual model explaining how and why we come to agree on how we felt when reliving past tourism experiences. This process is dependent on the malleability of memory, which allows emotional synchrony to happen in retrospect, regardless of actual feelings at the time. I argue that the innate motivations behind this post-consumption merging are a stronger sense of community and of belonging to a social group. For tourism practitioners, this highlights where the true value lies for the consumer, the belief in a shared emotional experience. This value develops through the synchronization of memories creating the basis for a shared memory economy. The implications for tourism marketers are discussed, and suggestions for further research into memory and travel experience are identified. | 2019 |
| Hong Kong Hackshops! Creative instant toy design workshops | R Leclerc | Hong Kong (HK) is widely perceived as the world’s toy capital. In the past decade, its toy industry has outgrown its role as the world’s provider of cheap and flexible toys known under the label of ‘Made in Hong Kong’ to become a global generator of play products. This brings the industry opportunities, but also challenges it to maintain its competitive edge. In this context, while HK designers are keen to demonstrate their creative potential, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), School of Design’s (SD), Toy Design Lab (the Lab) undertakes education, research and development programmes, helping foster a culture of creativity that embraces innovation, design and engineering. Among other projects it carries out ‘Hackshops’, where participants hack toys and use found materials to build working playthings to nurture creative toy design processes. This paper relates the Lab’s best toy design practice knowledge accrued organising, supervising and assessing Hackshop experiments since 2006. | 2010 |
| The effect of cognitive absorption on marketing learning performance El efecto de la absorcion cognitiva en los resultados de aprendizaje | M Guinaliu-Blasco | Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the individual’s experience during the use of Pinterest in a marketing learning process. This experience is a fundamental starting point from which to develop marketing learning processes that flow naturally. Thus, it is necessary to examine the components that determine the individual’s experience and to explore consequences such as collaborative learning and marketing learning performance. Design/methodology/approach – To conceptualise the individual’s experience, this study focuses on her/his state of cognitive absorption (CA) and establishes a second-order formative structure made up of five components: heightened enjoyment, curiosity, control, temporal dissociation and focused immersion. The model is estimated with partial least squares modelling, using SmartPLS 2.0 software. Findings – The results confirm the significant weights of the components, with the exception of focused immersion, and support the influence of overall CA on the proposed outcomes. They also confirm that collaborative learning exerts a positive influence on the individual’s performance. Originality/value – This study makes three contributions. First, it holistically examines the individual’s experience during marketing learning and the importance of its constituent components. Second, it establishes what the consequences of the marketing learning experience are, taking into account both social and individual factors, that is, collaborative learning and individual performance. Third, Pinterest is proposed as a social network with great potential in marketing learning. It is a well known network which includes very interesting features for learning contexts. Nevertheless, it has been little studied in research. Keywords Social network | |
| Intragroup emotion convergence: Beyond contagion and social appraisal | B Parkinson | Mimicry-based emotion contagion and social appraisal currently provide the most popular explanations for interpersonal emotional convergence. However, neither process fully accounts for intragroup effects involving dynamic calibration of people’s orientations during communal activities. When group members are engaged in shared tasks, they simultaneously attend to the same unfolding events and arrive at mutually entrained movement patterns that facilitate emotional coordination. Entrainment may be further cultivated by interaction rituals involving rhythmic music that sets the pace for collective singing, dancing, or marching. These rituals also provide an emotionally meaningful focus for group activities and sometimes specifically encourage the experience of intense embodied states. Intragroup emotion convergence thus depends on interlocking processes of reciprocated and context-attuned orientational calibration and group-based social appraisal. | 2019 |
| Understanding Audiences: A Critical Review of Audience Research | B Walmsley | This chapter provides a critical overview of the existing literature on audience research and audience engagement. It surveys the seminal contributions to the rapidly emerging field of audience studies and classifies its recurrent themes into the following categories: the pacification of audiences; power, elitism and class; cultural policy, participation and co-creation; immersive performance; performance venues, spaces and places; performance as ritual; reception theory and semiotics; research methodologies; the audience experience; value and impact research; young audiences; arts marketing and management; audience engagement and enrichment. The aim of this taxonomy is to inform a new paradigm for audience studies in the context of the performing arts. | 2019 |
| Understanding Emotional Change In Computer-Supported Collaborative Games: a Microgenetic Analysis of Challenge. | UX ELIGIO | This study explores what the microgenetic method can tell us about the way emotions change during computer-supported collaboration. It is applied to analyse fluctuations in three components of the challenge experience in a collaborative game: individuals' feelings of challenge, the similarity of these feelings with those of a partner, and their awareness of a partner's feelings of challenge. In four sessions over two weeks, observations were collected of collaborators' emotions and their understanding of a partner's emotions at various points within each session. Individuals' feelings showed substantial and frequent fluctuations within each session but not across sessions. Collaborative partners showed much similarity and synchrony throughout as well as accurate awareness of their partner's emotion. We conclude by discussing why these findings are important for computer-supported collaboration, and difficult to observe with approaches other than the microgenetic method. | 2014 |
| What Makes a Great Manager of Software Engineers? | DM German | Having great managers is as critical to success as having a good team or organization. In general, a great manager is seen as fuelling the team they manage, enabling it to use its full potential. Though software engineering research studies factors that may affect the performance and productivity of software engineers and teams (like tools and skill), it has overlooked the software engineering manager. The software industry’s growth and change in the last decades is creating a need for a domain-specific view of management. On the one hand, experts are questioning how the abundant work in management applies to software engineering. On the other hand, practitioners are looking to researchers for evidence-based guidance on how to manage software teams. We conducted a mixed methods empirical study of software engineering management at Microsoft to investigate what manager attributes developers and engineering managers perceive important and why. We present a conceptual framework of manager attributes, and find that technical skills are not the sign of greatness for an engineering manager. Through statistical analysis we identify how engineers and managers relate in their views, and how software engineering differs from other knowledge work groups in its perceptions about what makes great managers. We present strategies for putting the attributes to use, discuss implications for research and practice, and offer avenues for further work. | 2017 |
| FACTORS INFLUENCING PARENTAL ATTITUDES TOWARD DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING | Y Piller | The purpose of this non-positivistic mixed-methods study is to examine parental attitudes towards the use of computer and video games in their child’s classroom and to investigate how the sociocultural contexts in which parents live affect those attitudes. The research was conducted using a mixed-methods triangulation design, including both quantitative and qualitative techniques. First, the study tried to identify which groups of parents were better positioned to accept and support digital game-based learning and which groups were less likely to have a positive attitude toward integrating digital games into the classroom. This study tried to determine if socioeconomic status, age, education level, and/or cultural background could serve as a predictor of parental attitudes toward digital game-based learning. Second, the study tried to recognize how social and cultural contexts in which parents live affect their attitudes toward digital games in the classroom. Many researchers agree that parents play an important role in students’ and eventually, educators’ attitudes toward gaming. It has been argued that if parents accept a certain non-traditional (digital) learning tool, then their children would most likely have a similar attitude toward it. Parents might be the support system that educators need in order to ensure that students are able to see the educational value of video games and are willing to think critically and draw connections between what they learn in a gaming environment and core subject areas. | 2016 |
| How different types of flow merge into a full team flow experience | JJJ Van den Hout | Despite the noted potential for team flow to enhance a team's effectiveness, productivity, performance, and capabilities, studies on the construct in the workplace context are scarce. Most research on flow at the group level has been focused on performance in athletics or the arts, and looks at the collective experience. But, the context of work has different parameters, which necessitate a look at individual and team level experiences. In this review, we extend current theories and essay a testable, multilevel model of team flow in the workplace that includes its likely prerequisites, characteristics, and benefits. In addition, we present exemplifying examples that support how experiences of individual flow (micro and macro), interpersonal flow and unit (collective, shared or group) flow integrate into a full team flow experience. | 2020 |
| Micro- and macro flow experience during social interaction | T Magyaródi | Background: Flow is a subjective experience, and social interactions can be the sources of flow experience. According to previous assumptions micro or narrow flow takes short time, these are routine activities, but macro or deep flow activities are more complex and take longer. Aim: The social dimensions of the micro and macro flow experiences are still not clarified, so we aim to present the social characteristics of these experiences. Method: In our study 416 adult participants took part (Age: M = 31.72, SD = 14.11). They filled in online questionnaires about flow in general (about its solitary and social dimensions), big five traits and the different forms of well-being (subjective well-being, satisfaction with life, psychological well-being). Results: With cluster analysis we could differentiate two heterogenous groups: high and low intensity – micro and macro flow groups in social activities. The reported general flow experiences are different in all the nine flow dimensions: macro flow group have higher level of flow conditions and other accompanying characteristics than the micro flow group. The flow synchronization level is higher for the macro flow group – the perceived components of the interaction during the common challenging activity is enhanced. Those who can engage more can be describe by higher level of openness, subjective well-being and satisfaction with life. Conclusions: Micro and macro flow experiences have various qualities. Different psychological factors can contribute to the depth of the usual flow activities, the source of the optimal experience may differ from both the possibilities and the personality also. | 2020 |
| Lexicometrical analysis method to support Scoping Review on social dimensions of flow. | J Heutte | Background: Scientific work on the social dimensions of Flow seems to be increasing, but it is currently very fragmented. Moreover, most of them do not know each other. This is why it seems important to identify, collect and make available to the entire scientific community a corpus of academic papers via a freely accessible database. Aims: Our objective is to implement and optimize a generic method for identifying and classifying articles after lexical analysis of abstracts. Methods: We designed and ran a specially crafted search query (a specific combination of keywords and Boolean operators) that come under the notion of social flow, yielding thus a lower number of false-positive results. We were thus successful in identifying about 265 papers from 70 publishers, divided in 39 PhDs and 226 scientific contributions, spanning the last 20 years. Results: The firstTop-Down Hierarchical Clustering of vocabulary of all these abstracts highlight 4 main classes: (1) the different contexts of flow study in groups, (2) theoretical models used for flow study in groups (3) the effects of flow in groups and (4) the human consequences of flow in groups. The correspondence factor analysis allows in particular to identify very clearly the main authors related to each of these 4 classes. Conclusion: The development and optimization of this method will make it possible to strengthen the literature reviews and scoping reviews of researchers and PhD students. It can be a way to federate an international research network on the social dimensions of the optimal experience. | 2020 |
| Activity-related experiences associated with social and lonely conditions | D Leontiev | The author’s model of activity-related experiences suggests three relatively independent dimensions of one’s experiencing in a specific setting: pleasure, meaning, and effort. The combination of all the three makes engagement as the optimal experience; the lack of them results in the experience of void. These experiences are context-dependent but hardly time-sensitive. Two studies presented investigate the experiences associated with being in a company, in lonely condition and in everyday work/study setting as mediated by one’s attitude to being alone. The data were collected in Russia on three different samples (N=218) varying in their concern with communication/loneliness issue revealed slightly varying but generally consistent results. We considered also one’s attitude to being alone (Differential Test of Aloneness, DTA, Osin & Leontiev, 2013). Respondents high in general loneliness tended to experience significantly less meaning and pleasure and significantly more effort and void in a social situation. They also experienced more void in their work/study condition and had no specific experience while being alone. Respondents with high dependence on communication (intolerance of aloneness) experienced more void in a lonely condition. Respondents with positive attitude to being alone experienced in this condition more pleasure and meaning, while in a company they experienced more void. These result open new perspectives of studying activity-related experiences as context-dependent components of flow experience. A new set of data has been recently collected on USA Internet sample (n=408); cross-cultural similarities and differences will be reported. | 2020 |
| Social dimensions of optimal experience: conceptual advances, methods and applications | J Heutte | Flow was first described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety in 1975. According to the agreed definition of the Europen Flow Research Network (2015), it is a gratifying state of deep involvement and absorption that individuals report when facing a challenging activity and they perceive adequate abilities to cope with these challenges. Flow is described as an optimal experience during which people are deeply motivated to persist in their activities. Research shows that flow experiences can have far-reaching implications in supporting individuals’ growth, by contributing both to personal well-being and full functioning in everyday life. According to the principle of psychological selection (Csikszentmihalyi & Massimini, 1985), flow is one of the major catalysts of the emergence and growth of social groups, cultures and civilizations (Delle Fave et al., 2011). However, the shared flow should be clearly distinguished from the optimal individual experience in the group parameters (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). The scientific exploration of the collective aspects of flow, although conceptually very nascent at the international level, is currently of great interest in Europe (Gaggioli et al., 2011; Heutte, 2019; Magyaródi & Oláh, 2017; Pels et al., 2018; Salanova, Rodriguez-Sanchez et al., 2014; van den Hout et al., 2018) and becomes one of the specific objects that a working group of members from the European Flow Researchers Network (EFRN) want to take over. This symposium wishes to share the first advances of this working group. | 2020 |
| Ngeli: Flowing together in a Gamelan ensemble | L Tan | The purpose of this study was to examine the collective flow experiences of participants while playing in a Gamelan ensemble. Participants were 15 members of a Gamelan ensemble in Singapore who were prompted to articulate their phenomenological experiences through extensive semi-structured interviews. Their responses were then transcribed and analyzed for emergent themes with initial codes guided by flow and collective flow theories. Three themes emerged from the data: community, chemistry, and collective peak. The Javanese term “ngeli” surfaced from the interviews as a parallel notion to the Western concept of flow. Implications for theory and practice were proffered in light of the findings. | 2020 |
| Flow in the Time of COVID-19: Findings from China | K Sweeny | In February 2020, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was raging in Wuhan, China and quickly spreading to the rest of the world. This period was fraught with uncertainty for those in the affected areas. The present investigation examined the role of two potential coping resources during this stressful period of uncertainty: flow and mindfulness. Participants in Wuhan and other major cities affected by COVID-19 (N = 5115) completed an online survey assessing experiences of flow, mindfulness, and well-being. Longer quarantine was associated with poorer well-being; flow and mindfulness predicted better well-being on some measures. However, flow—but not mindfulness—moderated the link between quarantine length and well-being, such that people who experienced high levels flow showed little or no association between quarantine length and poorer well-being. These findings suggest that engaging in flow-inducing activities may be a particularly effective way to protect against the deleterious effects of a period of quarantine. | 2020 |
| Adaptation to Spanish and psychometric study of the Flow State Scale-2 in the field of musical performers | L Moral-Bonfill | Flow is a positive and optimal state of mind, during which people are highly motivated and absorbed in the activity they are doing. It is an experience that can occur in any area of life. One of the measurement instruments which is most commonly used to evaluate this construct is the Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2). This instrument has been used in different languages, mainly in the field of sport. In this research work, the FSS-2 has been translated into Spanish and administered to 486 musicians from different regions of Spain in order to examine the psychometric properties. A version which uses six dimensions from the original questionnaire has been used—those that constitute the experience of flow—and four alternative models have been analysed (Six related factors model, two second order factor models and a bifactor model).The results revealed that the dimension time could be controversial and more research could be needed. In general terms, the six-factor model (RMSEA = .04; GFI = .99; AGFI = .99) and a second-factor one (RMSEA = .033; GFI = .99; AGFI = .99) are solutions consistent with previous studies and show that the questionnaire can be considered a reliable (Alphas of the dimensions range from .81 to .94; Omegas from .86 to .97; and mean discrimination of the dimensions from .64 to .88) and useful tool, both in clinical and educational contexts, as well as an instrument for the evaluation of this construct in future research. However, the results of this study also suggest that flow can be explored in greater depth in musicians, taking into account that the writing of the original items was based on the experience of athletes and that the role of time in flow needs to be investigated. | 2020 |
| Quieting the Ego Through Group Activities: A Thematic Analysis of Romanian and Japanese Students’ Positive Group Experiences | C Gherghel | Research suggests that quieting the ego (reducing excessive self-focus) can foster well-being. Two exploratory qualitative studies were carried out to investigate the features of ego-quieting group activities. Romanian (N = 140) and Japanese participants (N = 99) read a definition of “self-detachment” and answered several open-ended questions asking them to describe a group situation in which they had experienced a similar state. Thematic analysis showed numerous similarities between the responses of the two samples, as well as cultural-specific features. Participants recalled moments of enjoyment in the company of friends, or challenging group work. For the Romanian sample, the experience was characterized by present-oriented attention, valuing others, positivity, disinhibition and altered perceptions, while for the Japanese sample, valuing others, stress relief, matching challenge and skill and merging self with exterior world were its prevalent features. Both samples identified similar eliciting factors (individual receptiveness, acceptant group, captivating activity, appropriate environment) and similar consequences of the experience (increased closeness, relaxation and self-development). While supporting the existing literature on the importance of communal activities in reducing self-focus and promoting individual well-being, the paper provides new in-depth insights into participants’ subjective experiences and the cultural specifics of positive group activities. | 2018 |