Flow Theory and Research

Nakamura, Jeanne; Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195187243.013.0018

Cited by 483 publications

(494 citation statements)

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“…A flow experience occurs when one is engaged in a challenging activity that matches one's skill level (Csikszentmihalyi and Hunter 2003). Being in a flow state has been described as having an out-of-body experience in which nothing else matters except what one is doing at that very moment (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi 2009). Although people are typically not selfaware during flow, they report afterwards that their experience had been intensely positive.…”

Section: The Importance Of Need Satisfaction and Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is the Optimal Way to Deliver a Positive Activity Intervention? The Case of Writing About One’s Best Possible Selves

2012

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A 4-week-long experiment examined the effects of a positive activity intervention in which students wrote about their ''best possible selves'' (BPS) once a week. We manipulated two factors that might affect the success of the happiness-increasing activity-whether the positive activity was administered online versus in-person and whether the participant read a persuasive peer testimonial before completing the activity. Our results indicated that the BPS activity significantly boosted positive affect and flow and marginally increased feelings of relatedness. No differences were found between participants who completed the positive activity online versus in-person. However, students who read a testimonial extolling the virtues of the BPS activity showed larger gains in wellbeing than those who read neutral information or completed a control task. The results lend legitimacy to online self-administered happiness-increasing activities and highlight the importance of participants' beliefs in the efficacy of such activities for optimum results.

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Section: The Importance Of Need Satisfaction and Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is the Optimal Way to Deliver a Positive Activity Intervention? The Case of Writing About One’s Best Possible Selves

2012

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“…In order to handle these tasks well and efficiently we need to focus our attention on them. Preferably we enter the state of flow, which means that we become fully immersed and focused on the task at hand [23]. However, when fully concentrated, we are less likely to pay attention to upcoming meetings and appointments [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambient Timer – Unobtrusively Reminding Users of Upcoming Tasks with Ambient Light

Müller

Kazakova

Pielot

et al. 2013

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2013

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Abstract. Daily office work is often a mix of concentrated desktop work and scheduled meetings and appointments. However, constantly checking the clock and alarming popups interrupt the flow of creative work as they require the user's focused attention. We present Ambient Timer, an ambient light display designed to unobtrusively remind users of upcoming events. The light display -mounted around the monitor -is designed to slowly catch the user's attention and raise awareness for an upcoming event while not distracting her from the primary creative task such as writing a paper. Our experiment compared established reminder techniques such as checking the clock or using popups against Ambient Timer in two different designs. One of these designs produced a reminder in which the participants felt well informed on the progress of time and experienced a better "flow" of work than with traditional reminders.

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“…The results obtained suggest the platform can be used by kindergarten children, who were found to enjoy using the system and had high levels of flow [20]. The instructors also reported that it was well accepted and praised its versatility as a supporting tool for their everyday classroom activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…However, this feeling was mitigated once they were introduced to the robot and watched it move, where some smiles appeared and shyness was, in some cases, replaced by astonishment (this impression was also more frequent in girls). The overall impression was that children had high levels of flow, as defined by Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi [20], i.e., the majority of them were fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity with only 10.71% of boys and 9.38% of girls showing a lack of interest in the robot and the activity. In some cases, they tried to move the robot but failed in bringing the stick to the correct place where the RFID reader was located, but hardly any of the kids felt frustrated about this and continued in a mental state of flow, although boys seemed to enjoy the activity more.…”

Section: Emotional Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and evaluation of a tangible-mediated robot for kindergarten instruction

Garcia-Sanjuan

Jaén

Nacher

et al. 2015

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology

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Entertainment technology increases children's engagement in educational activities designed to develop abilities ranging from collaborative problem-solving and cognitive attention to self-esteem. However, little research has been done on designing educational and entertaining interactive technology for kindergarten children (up to 5 years old). Furthermore, most of the work in this area has considered traditional input devices such as the mouse and keyboard, which are not suitable for these very young children. More recently, other more intuitive means of interaction (touch and tangible interfaces) and advanced educational artifacts such as robots have emerged. In this work we therefore present a joint collaboration between technologists and kindergarten instructors to design and evaluate a technological platform using a mobile robot for kindergarten instruction, as well as an intuitive and user-friendly tangible user interface. The results obtained suggest the platform is not only usable by kindergarten children, but it also allows them to be fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In addition, the instructors reported that the system was well accepted and praised its versatility in use as a supporting tool for their everyday classroom activities.

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Flow Theory and Research

Cited by 483 publications

References 0 publications

What Is the Optimal Way to Deliver a Positive Activity Intervention? The Case of Writing About One’s Best Possible Selves

What Is the Optimal Way to Deliver a Positive Activity Intervention? The Case of Writing About One’s Best Possible Selves

Ambient Timer – Unobtrusively Reminding Users of Upcoming Tasks with Ambient Light

Design and evaluation of a tangible-mediated robot for kindergarten instruction

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