Learning, “Flow,” and Happiness

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9094-9_7

Learning, “Flow,” and Happiness

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi²

Chapter
First Online: 09 August 2014

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Abstract

Why do people learn? If we could only answer that modest question, we would be well along the way toward understanding and implementing lifelong learning. If one knew what motivates people to learn, one could facilitate its occurrence and channel it in directions that are socially or ethically desirable.

Keywords

Lifelong Learning
Personal Growth
Flow Experience
Flow Activity
Daily Experience

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Notes

1.
P. Goodman, Compulsory Mis-education (New York: Horizon, 1964); U. Bronfenbrenner, Two Worlds of Childhood (New York: Pocket Books, 1973); R. DeCharms, Enhancing Motivation: Change in the Classroom (New York: Irvington, 1976); Ε. L. Deci, Intrinsic Motivation (New York: Plenum, 1975); M. Csikszentmihalyi, “Intrinsic Rewards and Emergent Motivation,” in M. R. Lepper and D. Greene (eds.), The Hidden Costs of Reward (New York: Erlbaum, 1978): 205–216; M. Csikszentmihalyi and R. Larson, “Intrinsic Rewards in School Crime,” Crime and Delinquency, 1978, 24(3): 322–335; and M. Csikszentmihalyi and P. L. Mayers, “Intrinsic Motivation and Learning in High School,” manuscript submitted for publication, 1979.
2.
M. Csikszentmihalyi, “Attention and the Holistic Approach to Behavior,” in K. S. Pope and J. L. Singer (eds.), The Stream of Consciousness (New York: Plenum, 1978): 335–358.
3.
A. Maslow, Towards a Psychology of Being (Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1962); A. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Behavior (New York: Viking, 1971); M. Laski, Ecstasy: A Study of Some Secular and Religious Experiences (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1962); and Ν. M. Bradburn, The Structure of Psychological Well-being (Chicago: Aldine, 1969).
4.
M. Csikszentmihalyi, Beyond Boredom and Anxiety (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1975); P. Mayers, “Flow in Adolescence and Its Relation to School Experience,” unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, 1978; P. Mayers. M. Csikszentmihalyi, and R. Larson, “The Daily Experience of High School Students,” paper presented at the meetings of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, 1978; and H. R. Gray, “Enjoyment Dimensions of Favorite Leisure Activities of Middle-and Old-aged Adults Based on the Flow Theory of Enjoyment,” unpublished doctoral thesis, Pennsylvania State University, 1977.
5.
M. Csikszentmihalyi, “Intrinsic Rewards and Emergent Motivation,” in M. R. Lepper and D. Greene (eds.), The Hidden Costs of Reward (New York: Erlbaum, 1978): 205–216; and M. Csikszentmihalyi, “Love and the Dynamics of Personal Growth,” in K. S. Pope (ed.), On Love and Loving (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1980).
6.
M. Csikszentmihalyi and R. Graef, “Flow and the Quality of Daily Experience,” manuscript submitted for publication, 1979.
7.
K. Koch, Wishes, Lies and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry (New York: Chelsea House, 1970); and K. Koch, I Never Told Anybody: Teaching Poetry Writing in a Nursing Home (New York: Random House, 1977).
8.
M. Csikszentmihalyi, “The Release of Symbolic Energy,” paper presented at the American Art Therapy Association meetings, Baltimore, 1976; M. Csikszentmihalyi, “Attention and the Holistic Approach to Behavior,” in K. S. Pope and J. L. Singer (eds.), The Stream of Consciousness (New York: Plenum, 1978): 335–358; and M. Csikszentmihalyi and E. Rochberg-Halton, “People and Things: Reflections on Materialism,” The University of Chicago Magazine, 1978, 70(3): 6–15.
9.
B. Smith, “Competence and Socialization,” in J. A. Clausen (ed.), Socialization and Society (Boston: Little, Brown, 1968).
10.
M. Csikszentmihalyi, R. Larson, and S. Prescott, “The Ecology of Adolescent Activity and Experience,” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1977, 6(3): 281–294; and P. Mayers, M. Csikszentmihalyi, and R. Larson, “The Daily Experience of High School Students,” paper presented at the meetings of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, 1978.
11.
P. Mayers, “Flow in Adolescence and Its Relation to School Experience,” unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, 1978.
12.
M. Csikszentmihalyi and R. Graef, “Flow and the Quality of Daily Experience,” manuscript submitted for publication, 1979.
13.
R. Graef, M. Csikszentmihalyi, and P. Griffin, “Flow and Work Satisfaction,” unpublished manuscript, University of Chicago, 1978.
14.
M. Csikszentmihalyi, “Love and the Dynamics of Personal Growth,” in K. S. Pope (ed.), On Love and Loving (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1980).
15.
J. H. Holcomb, “Attention and Intrinsic Rewards in the Control of Psychophysiologic States,” Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1977, 27: 54–61.
16.
A. McGhie and J. Chapman, “Disorders of Attention and Perception in Early Schizophrenia,” British Journal of Medical Psychology, 1961, 34: 103–116; and R. Grinker, “Anhedonia and Depression in Schizophrenia,” in T. Benedek and E. Anthony (eds.), Depression (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975).

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Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, USA
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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Correspondence to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi .

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Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Learning, “Flow,” and Happiness. In: Applications of Flow in Human Development and Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9094-9_7

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9094-9_7
Published: 09 August 2014
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9093-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9094-9
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