Le Point Sur Le Flow

Abstract

Le présent article aborde la définition, les caractéristiques et les diverses mesures de l’expérience optimale (flow). Il présente le contexte historique de sa conceptualisation théorique, les relations du flow avec le développement de la personne et la culture. L’article présente également des études récentes et révélatrices sur le flow. Il se termine avec quelques suggestions de recherches futures.This paper presents the definition, characteristics, and measures of the optimal experience or flow. It describes the historical foundation of the theory, the relations between flow and personal growth, and between flow and culture. It also provides some recent and important studies about flow. Finally, it offers a few suggestions for future research

Achieving Flow: An Exploratory Investigation of Elite College Athletes and Musicians

“…Some scholars have criticized the concept of flow for its vagueness (see Harris et al, 2017 ). However, the reshaped multidimensional description of flow, reported above within the framework of the nine dimensions, presents flow as a less frequent and more specific event, which closely aligns with the reality of the phenomenon ( Csikszentmihalyi and Bouffard, 2017 ), and arguably is more easily measured and assessed.…”

“…Flow is composed of cognitive, physiological, and affective factors ( Habe et al, 2019 ), and is characterized by a balance between the perceived challenges or opportunities for action that stretch but do not overmatch existing skills, and clear goals and immediate feedback about the progress being made ( Csikszentmihalyi and Nakamura, 2002 ). The individual who experiences flow feels great joy and happiness and aims to relive this experience ( Csikszentmihalyi and Bouffard, 2017 ). According to Csikszentmihalyi (1990) , the experience of flow can be characterized by the following nine dimensions: (1) a challenge–skills balance to feel engaged but not overwhelmed; (2) clear objectives allowing one to concentrate on the current task and knowing what is coming next, while reducing distractions and stress; (3) an action-awareness merging, meaning the person is completely absorbed by the situation; (4) clear and unambiguous feedback, implying that they know what they are doing at all times when experiencing flow; (5) a high, task-related, concentration that absorbs the person in the activity without being distracted by unrelated things; (6) an absolute sense of control; (7) a loss of self-consciousness, leading to the person being so immersed in the activity that there is a lack of ego-oriented protection; (8) the transformation of time, meaning that the time either slows down or flies by when experiencing flow; and, finally (9) an autotelic experience, as the activity becomes an end in itself.…”