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Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi (, hu, Csíkszentmihályi Mihály Róbert, ; 29 September 1934 – 20 October 2021) was a Hungarian-American psychologist. He recognized and named the psychological concept of "
flow Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set * Flow (psyc ...
", a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity. He was the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at
Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna ...
. He was also the former head of the department of psychology at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
and of the department of sociology and anthropology at
Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts in ...
.


Early life

Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi was born on 29 September 1934 in
Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...
, now known as
Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...
, then part of the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
. His family name derives from the village of Csíkszentmihály in Transylvania. He was the third son of a career diplomat at the Hungarian Consulate in Fiume. His two older half-brothers died when Csikszentmihalyi was still young; one was an engineering student who was killed in the Siege of Budapest, and the other was sent to labor camps in Siberia by the Soviets. His father was appointed Hungarian Ambassador to Italy shortly after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, moving the family to Rome. When Communists took over Hungary in 1949, Csikszentmihalyi's father resigned rather than choosing to work for the regime. The Communist regime responded by expelling his father and stripping the family of their Hungarian citizenship. To earn a living, his father opened a restaurant in Rome, and Csikszentmihalyi dropped out of school to help with the family income. At this time, the young Csikszentmihalyi, then travelling in Switzerland, saw
Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, ph ...
give a talk on the psychology of UFO sightings. Csikszentmihalyi emigrated to the United States at the age of 22, working nights to support himself while studying at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. He received a B.A. in 1959 and a Ph.D. in 1965, both from the University of Chicago. He then taught at
Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts in ...
, before becoming a professor at the University of Chicago in 1969.


Work

Csikszentmihalyi was noted for his work in the study of
happiness Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. ...
and
creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed lit ...
, but is best known as the architect of the notion of ''
flow Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set * Flow (psyc ...
'' and for his years of research and writing on the topic.
Martin Seligman Martin Elias Peter Seligman (; born August 12, 1942) is an American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. Seligman is a strong promoter within the scientific community of his theories of positive psychology and of well-being. H ...
, former president of the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on
positive psychology Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions...it aims t ...
. Csikszentmihalyi once said: "Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason." His works are influential and are widely cited.


Flow

In his seminal work, ''Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience'', Csíkszentmihályi outlined his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of ''flow''—a state of
concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', ...
or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). ''Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience''. New York: Harper and Row. p. 15 The flow state is colloquially known as being ''in the zone'' or ''in the groove''. It is an optimal state of '' intrinsic motivation'', where the person is fully immersed in what they are doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored. In an interview with ''
Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
'' magazine, Csíkszentmihályi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost." Csikszentmihályi characterized nine component states of achieving flow, including "challenge-skill balance, merging of action and awareness, clarity of goals, immediate and unambiguous feedback, concentration on the task at hand, paradox of control, transformation of time, loss of self-consciousness, and autotelic experience". To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur as both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, apathy results. One state that Csikszentmihalyi researched was that of the autotelic personality. The autotelic personality is one in which a person performs acts because they are intrinsically rewarding, rather than to achieve external goals. Csikszentmihalyi described the autotelic personality as a trait possessed by people who can learn to enjoy situations that most others would find miserable. Research has shown that aspects associated with the autotelic personality include curiosity, persistence, and humility.


Motivation

Most of Csikszentmihalyi's final works focused on the idea of
motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...
and the factors that contribute to motivation, challenge, and overall success. One personality characteristic that Csikszentmihalyi researched in detail was that of intrinsic motivation. He and his colleagues found that intrinsically motivated people were more likely to be goal-directed and enjoy challenges that would lead to an increase in overall happiness. Csikszentmihalyi identified intrinsic motivation as a powerful trait to optimize and enhance positive experience, feelings, and overall
well-being Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in th ...
as a result of challenging experiences. The results indicated a new
personality Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, ...
construct, which he called ''work orientation'', characterized by "achievement, endurance, cognitive structure, order, play, and low impulsivity". A high level of work orientation in students is said to be a better predictor of grades and fulfillment of long-term goals than any school or household environmental influence.


Personal life

Csikszentmihalyi married Isabella Selega in 1961. He was the father of artist and professor Christopher Csíkszentmihályi, and
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
professor of philosophical and religious traditions of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
and
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
Mark Csikszentmihalyi. In 2009, Csikszentmihalyi was awarded the Clifton Strengths Prize. He received the Széchenyi Prize at a ceremony in Budapest in 2011. He was awarded the Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2014. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of both the National Academy of Education and the Academy of Leisure Sciences. Csikszentmihalyi died on 20 October 2021 of cardiac arrest, at his home in
Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popu ...
, at the age of 87.


Publications

* Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1975). ''Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: Experiencing Flow in Work and Play'', San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1978) "Intrinsic Rewards and Emergent Motivation" in ''The Hidden Costs of Reward: New Perspectives on the Psychology of Human Motivation'' eds Lepper, Mark R; Greene, David, Erlbaum: Hillsdale: N.Y. 205–216 * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Halton, Eugene (1981). ''The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symbols and the Self'' , Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...
. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Larson, Reed (1984). ''Being Adolescent: Conflict and Growth in the Teenage Years''. New York: Basic Books, Inc. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Csikszentmihalyi, Isabella Selega, eds. (1988). ''Optimal Experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). ''Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience''. New York: Harper and Row. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1994). ''The Evolving Self'', New York: Harper Perennial. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1996). ''Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention''. New York: Harper Perennial. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1998). ''Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life''. Basic Books. * Gardner, Howard, Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Damon, William (2001). ''Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet''. New York, Basic Books. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2003). ''Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning''. Basic Books, Inc. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2014). ''The Systems Model of Creativity: The Collected Works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi''. Dordrecht: Springer, 2014. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2014). ''Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology: The Collected Works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi''. Dordrecht: Springer, 2014. * Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2014). ''Applications of Flow in Human Development and Education: The Collected Works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi''. Dordrecht: Springer, 2014.


See also

*
Attention Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Att ...
* Cognitive science *
Creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed lit ...
* Experience sampling method * John Neulinger *
Motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...
*
Psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...


References


External links


Faculty page
at
Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna ...

Brain Channels Thinker of the Year - 2000

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: "The Construction of Happiness" (Video)
* *
TED Talk: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness (TED2004)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly 1934 births 2021 deaths American people of Hungarian descent American psychologists American science writers Claremont Graduate University faculty Creativity researchers Hungarian psychologists Hungarian scientists Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Positive psychologists Psychology educators Scientists from Rijeka University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty Yugoslav emigrants to the United States