- Information
- AI Chat
Perspectives 8
Personality (PY 370)
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Preview text
Perspectives on Personality: Exploring Optimal Experiences
In this video you watched Sarah, Dennis, Kendra and Taylor talk about an optimal experience, one in which they felt particularly “satisfied” or “fulfilled.” Consider Csikszentmihalyi’s eight characteristics that make up the flow experience, and see how many of them you can identify in each of the experiences that are described. The 8 components are:
- The Activity is Challenging and Requires Skill. It is sufficiently challenging to require full attention, but not so difficult that it denies a sense of accomplishment or fulfillment.
- One’s Attention is Completely Absorbed by the Activity. People stop being aware of themselves as separate from their actions, which seem to become automatic or spontaneous.
- The Activity has Clear Goals. There is a direction or a movement towards something.
- There is Clear Feedback. We need to know if we have succeeded at reaching our goal, even if it is only self-confirmation.
- One can Concentrate Only on the Task at Hand. During flow, we pay no attention to anything beyond the experience at hand.
- One Achieves a Sense of Personal Control or Mastery. People in flow enjoy the experience with a sense of effortlessness.
- One loses Self-Consciousness. With attention focused on the activity, there is little opportunity to think about one’s self, almost as if the person is “absorbed” in the activity or experience.
- One loses a Sense of Time. Hours can pass by in what seems like minutes, but time may slow down, too, so that a moment seems to last forever.
I. Describe any elements of the Flow Experience that you saw in the experience of each of the individuals below:
Sarah: Since she went to the mountains I would say she had a loss of consciousness. She was lost in the beautiful view.
Dennis: Since Dennis feels a freedom in his life to whatever he wants especially after high school and college, he feels a sense of achievement so he shows the activity is challenging but there’s a silver lining and achievement.
Kendra: Her husband Taylor graduated from college and she was happy for him because they worked so hard for each other. She showcases mastery in her experience.
Taylor: He was happy to be married to his wife. He showcased having a clear goal in mind.
II. Now describe a moment, experience or event in which you felt deeply satisfied, fulfilled, or happy. Which of the 8 elements of the Flow Experience can you identify in your experience, and what are they?
When I first got my acceptance letter into UAB. I was so happy I cried. I thought I would never get into UAB because I felt that I wasn’t as smart as everyone else yet I got in! I would say I was a 6 (One Achieves a Sense of Personal Control or Mastery) and it felt so relieving to be able to have gotten in. I felt so accomplished.
Perspectives 8
Course: Personality (PY 370)
University: University of Alabama at Birmingham
