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Introduction
Flow refers to a state of complete immersion in a task, to the point that the individual becomes unaware of their personal needs and of
the environment around them. It is an aspect of positive psychology that was first identified by Mihali Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s
(Chen, 2007). Flow is often also referred to as being "in the zone" (2007), possibly a phrase more commonly known and relatable to. It is
claimed that research into flow may be able to unlock the secrets of a happy life. By understanding the roots and conditions necessary to
achieve this state of pure joy and immersion in an activity, it may be possible to further advance knowledge of how best to achieve
happiness and positivity (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002). Many aspects exist in the concept of flow, and it is through understanding
the different facets of its history and theories that it may become possible to fully understand this phenomenon.

History
Flow-like states have been experienced and described across cultures and throughout history . Examples of flow can been seen in
Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism.
In Buddhism and Taoism teachings talk of a state of mind know as the "action of non-action” or wu wei (Taosim),
which is very similar to the concept of flow (Wallace & Shapiro, 2006).
In Hinduism, writings such as Ashtavakra Gita, and writings from the Yoga of Knowledge, such as Bhagavad-Gita,
also make references to a mental state similar to that of flow. Notably important to the theme of flow are two of the
Puruṣārtha (life goals): Kama, meaning pleasure, sensuality, and emotional fulfillment; and Moksha, meaning
freedom, self-realization and self-knowledge (Sharma, 1999).
Flow research became popular in the 1980s - 1990s, with Csikszentmihalyi and his colleagues in Italy at the forefront of the ground-
breaking research. In 1975, an investigation by Csikszentmihalyi (Beyond boredum and anxiety: Flow) interviewed people of different
professions to see how they felt and thought throughout their work day, and found that their experience was similar during the most
engaging part of their job. The first of these interviews were with artists, such as sculptors, who became completely immersed in
sculpting their artwork, disregarding their basic needs, such as that for food, water and sleep . This was the first mention of the term
flow. In fact, the term "flow” is a metaphor taken from a participant that was interviewed. Cskiszentmihalyi was first to describe flow
as an independent process which could be achieved in a range of activities.

However, previous work related to the topic can be found in psychology and also other fields. Researchers interested in optimal
experiences and the emphasis of positive experiences also studied the theory of flow at this time. For instance, during the
development of the humanistic tradition in psychology, the theory of flow was used abundantly, in the theories of psychologist such as
Maslow and Rogerswho developed concepts of free will and self-determination, and created theories more centered around positive
facets of human nature (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2009).

Maslow (1964) described what he defined as peak experiences, which were transcendental experiences that induced a sense of
altered time and a loss of self-consciousness, much like flow. A similar concept, peak performance, was later proposed by Privette
(1983). Privette defined this as an "episode of superior human functioning”. Furthermore, Deci and Ryan's (1984) concept of intrinsic
motivation overlaps with the idea of flow. Finally, Rogers (1961, 1980) developed the concepts of the "fully functioning person” and
"the person of tomorrow” that seem to relate to Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) concept of "the autotelic personality”(discussed in detail
below).

As can be seen, flow has received a lot of attention over the past half decade. Today flow has become one of the most frequently studied
themes in positive psychology. Some of the more recent work can be seen below.

Current theories
Research into flow covers several bases, looking at aspects from the conditions needed for flow to occur, in terms of environment and the
task, to more intrinsically based individual differences in personality type.

Conditions for flow

Current theories suggest that the task must strike a delicate balance between being too challenging and too easy (Nakamura &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2002). A task that is too simple will be difficult to become fully engrossed in and therefore the individual will struggle to
achieve a state of flow. However, the same is true of a task that is too difficult. Too challenging and it is more likely that the individual will
give up or become frustrated and lose interest (Chen, 2007). The balance between challenge and ability can be illustrated effectively
through graph format:

Figure 1: Visual representation of the balance that must be achieved between challenge at ability

As can be seen in Figure 1, failure to achieve the optimum conditions in terms of the task can have detrimental consequences to the
ultimate achievement of a flow state. Apathy, boredom and anxiety are among the negative consequences that can be felt
(Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1991), highlighting the importance of achieving the correct conditions, as the theory states. It is also
claimed that the experience of the task must be so intrinsically rewarding that the final outcome or product of the activity is simply an
excuse for having engaged in it in the first instance (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002). At the same time, however, the task must be
able to provide instant feedback on the individual's progress, in order for them to maintain the flow state without losing interest
(Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002).

Autotelic personality
Current theories state that personality type may have an influence on the likelihood or not of an individual achieving a flow [Link]
autotelic personality has been described as one which possesses traits of internal drive, exhibiting elements of purpose and curiosity
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).

In essence, the autotelic personality is composed of curiosity, persistence and engaging in tasks for intrinsic reasons.

It is believed that individuals who score highly on ratings of being autotelic in nature will find it easier to enter a flow state, a claim studied
by Asakawa in 2004.
The study looked at Japanese college students to determine whether or not the balance between challenge and ability had to be met, and
if a difference existed between autotelic and non-autotelic individuals (Asakawa, 2004).
The results were found to support current theories on flow.
It was found that autotelic individuals were more likely to opt to engage in activities in which their perceived level of ability was lower than
he perceived challenge of the task, i.e. they opted for more challenging situations than non-autotelic participants. This implies that
inherent differences exist between these two groups of individuals, differences which may have consequences on not only their ability to
enter a flow state, but also their likelihood of engaging in situations where flow is possible.
Mechanisms
It is stated by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly (1990) that there are ten components of flow. However, not all are required simultaneously for flow
to occur; the more components fulfilled the more immersive the flow. These components are as follows:

1 - Clear, attainable but challenging goals.

2 - Strong concentration and focused attention.

3 - The activity being intrinsically rewarding.

4 - A loss of feeling of self-consciousness.

5 - Timelessness; being so focused on the activity that one becomes unaware of time passing.

6 - Immediate feedback.

7 - A balance between skill level and the challenge presented; skill level must match challenge.

8 - The feeling of having control over the situation and the outcome.

9 - Losing awareness of physical needs - e.g hunger, sleep.

10 - Complete focus on the activity itself.

These components were later refined by Schaffer (2013) into seven conditions:

1 - Knowing what to do

2 - Knowing how to do it

3 - Knowing how well you are doing

4 - Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved)

5 - High perceived challenges

6 - High perceived skills

7 - Freedom from distractions

In order to measure flow states, Schaffer published the Flow Condition Questionnaire (FCQ), which measures each of the seven
conditions. When all seven conditions are fulfilled, the ultimate state of flow is reached. Flow can only occur when the activity is active, as
opposed to passive. For example, watching TV is a passive activity whereas playing a video game is an active activity. The individual is
required to do something in order to experience flow. During a flow state, the individual is fully engrossed in the task, losing awareness of
their surroundings and bodily states. There are few activities which can have this effect. Csikszentmihalyi states that the mind can attend
to 126 bits of information per second. Simple tasks such as speaking require 40 bits of information per second, thus only 2 other tasks
can be focused on during this. It is for this reason that we actively decide what to focus our attention on. However, a flow state uses up all
of the attention, thus it is one of the only times the mind is completely engrossed. The key concept of flow is that the skill level matches
the challenge level, as illustrated in this graph.
If difficulty level rises above skill level, anxiety may occur as the individual cannot keep up and will stop enjoying the activity. For example,
a tennis player who plays opponents at a much higher skill level and consistently loses may give up if they feel they can never win.
However, if skill level rises too high above difficulty level the individual may lose interest as the activity is too easy for them, and thus
boring. The tennis player consistently winning games may get bored as there is no challenge for them. There is a delicate balance
between skill and difficulty level for inducing a flow state, as Csikszentmihalyi states "Enjoyment appears at the boundary between
boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person's capacity to act.”

Wild claims
There are numerous proposed benefits to achieving a flow state, some of which appear to be somewhat dramatic in their assertions. For
example, it was claimed that teenagers who were regularly successful in achieving a flow state - named high flow individuals - possess
higher levels of self-esteem than low flow teenagers (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). In addition to this, it was also claimed
that individuals who were successful in achieving flow states would experience greater long term happiness throughout life (1988). It
seems a somewhat bold claim to suggest that absorption in an activity from time to time could have such dramatic consequences for an
individual's future happiness and life satisfaction. Does this in fact mean that low-flow individuals are destined for a life of lower self-
esteem and greater unhappiness? Despite this claim, it has been suggested that when in the flow state, an individual is so absorbed that
they become unaware of their happiness or lack of. If this is the case, there must be an underlying change occurring in order for long term
happiness to be affected. The abstract nature of the area makes this difficult to investigate; yet it remains an interesting area for further
research.

Flow is often referred to simply as "the psychology of happiness" (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013). This in itself may be viewed as a somewhat
wild claim. Pinning down the exact definition of happiness is difficult, as it is an abstract and complex notion. Despite this, flow seems to
be heralded as one of the more prevalent research areas currently that may answer the question of how to make people happier.

This may in fact seem to imply that happiness is less of a choice, and to a certain extent is reliant on personality type. If certain
personality types are more likely to successfully enter a flow state, according to these claims it is also certain personality types that are
more likely to experience happiness. It is claimed that an ability to regularly achieve a flow state allows for personal growth and, to some
extent, a level of self-actualisation in the individual (Moneta, 2004).

This counters other theories that view happiness as a matter of choice, that any one can experience, creating an issue in that it is possible
people who do not often find themselves able to achieve flow may begin to feel anxious about their ability to find happiness, thereby
hindering their attempts further.
If it can be found that there is a definitive link between flow and happiness, perhaps the focus should be less on who can achieve flow,
and more on how can everyone achieve it, perhaps by the identifying individual differences involved and guiding people on how to
accurately determine the optimum conditions for achieving flow themselves. That it, if these wild claims are to be believed, of course.

Attempting to understand happiness is difficult, as it is so abstract as a concept. It is possible that the flow state may have an impact on
happiness to some degree, yet implying that it is one of the determining factors may remain a wild claim until empirical evidence can
support it fully.
 Is happiness a choice?

Consequences
Positive
"Flow is an innately positive experience, it produces intense feelings of enjoyment" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988).

Performance

Those who experience flow while engaging in their area of talent or in academic activities become more able and skilled in the activity,
and thus more likely to continue with it in the future. This allows for personal growth: when one is in a state of flow, one must work to
master said activity, but maintain the balance of this state by continuously attempting to master more difficult challenges, so as to expand
one's skill set. This generates feelings of competence, and finally personal growth (Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura, 2005).

Although the correlation between flow and high performance is well documented, the causal direction of the effect remains unclear. That
is, flow may induce better performance, but, good performance may make flow experiences more likely (Engeser & Rheinberg, 2008).
Ultimately, flow experiences in a specific activity may lead to higher performance as flow is positively correlated with a higher subsequent
motivation to perform and to improve performance (Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura, 2005)

Affect and life satisfaction

Studies have shown that experiences of flow lead to positive affect as well as to enhanced performance (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; 1997;).
Csikszentmihalyi suggests that increasing the time spent in flow makes us more happy and successful in our lives. Those activities which
are perceived as "work" and "play" simultaneously are more likely to make us happy (Schmit and Rich, 2000). However, further empirical
evidence is needed in order to infer the causal consequences of flow experiences.

Negative
Lack of motivation to endure
The lack of flow can have potentially negative effect in the endurance of a beneficial activity, in that people who do not experience flow in
such activities are more likely to abandon the activity as soon as possible. An example of this would be to drop playing the violin as soon
as your parents allowed it or you no longer required it for school.

Addictions
Researchers make a clear distinction between activities which are simply pleasurable and those which are meaningful, that may
contribute to a better life (for e.g. Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Seligman, 2011). For instance, drug and alcohol use are activities that offer
immediate pleasure, but with time can become dull, and meaningless, and could potentially have harmful negative psychological and
physical consequences. Even so called "productive" activities, such as computer use, may become addictive and harmful if one
becomes dependent on it (Sinnott, 2013). However, a study by Wan and Chiou (2006) on the relationship between players' flow state and
their online games addiction found that flow state was negatively correlated with addictive inclination in adolescents, and also that flow
state was lower in addicts than nonaddicts. Whats more, for addicts, unlike nonaddicts, a lack of game playing generated a sense of
dissatisfaction, indicating that their uncontrollable use of games stems from the relief of dissatisfaction rather than the pursuit of
satisfaction. In a nut shell, flow is negatively correlated to online games addiction, and may even entail the use of different underlying
motivational mechanisms.

Applications
The concept of flow can be applied to many activities, some to more extent than others.

Video games
The strongest example of flow in an activity is in video games. One of the many reasons video games create flow is that they often
become more challenging as the player becomes more skilled. Many games allow players to "level up” by gaining skill points, and as the
player's level gets higher the game becomes more difficult. If the player finds a mission or quest too difficult they can go back and do
alternate quests until they level up, then return to the challenge. This means that the game is usually always matched to the player's skill,
and it can challenge them but not to the point of creating anxiety or stress, thus ensuring they will not be dissuaded and continue to play.
It is for this reason that the games which implement this are the highest selling and most popular - such as World of Warcraft. Many game
developers now have a good understanding of how flow works, and thus how to ensure it is not disrupted while playing, and are applying
this to the design of games. Games can produce the perfect example of a flow state, as players will often find themselves fulfilling each of
Csikszentmihalyi's ten components. Games provide an enjoyable environment in which to learn and succeed, thus engaging attention
and raising motivation. (Chen, 2008)

Below is a short video further discussing the concept of flow in video games.

Can Video Games Make You Happy…

Education
Flow can also be applied to areas such as education, music and sports. Csikszentmihalyi describes "overlearning”, a technique used in
education. This occurs when the mind visualises performance as a singular action rather than a set of actions. As with the previous
example in video games, challenging tasks that require the individual to push themselves/their skills are the tasks that will lead to a flow
experience.

Music
Musicians often describe being in a state of flow. This can occur collectively when playing in a group or individually. Recently, research
has found that the frequency of entering flow states was influenced by the amount of time spent practicing, and even the level of
emotional intelligence, as well as there existing a positive relationship between flow and improved performance (Marin & Bhattacharya,
2013)

Sports
Sports psychology often refers to the experience of flow occurring during elite sports, such as motor racing, skiing and martial arts. Many
athletes and sportsman have described how their performance increases during flow states (Jackson, 1992) similar to musicians, as
previously mentioned.

Future Research
In addition to music, sports and video games, flow experiences can be found in a wide range of areas. For example, the designers of
computer software often aim for users to achieve a flow state. It has been found that flow was linked with exploratory use behaviour, and
in turn increased computer use (Ghani & Deshpande, 1993). This suggests that a flow state can positively influence the user experience,
and thus should be implemented in software design. However, research in this area has been limited, therefore future research could
attempt to explore this area in more depth.

Workplace
There is evidence to support that flow can be found in the workplace, depending on conditions. A study of 279 nurses found that
experiencing flow during work decreased exhaustion (Zito et al., 2015). Future research could focus on ways to create flow in the
workplace. Similarly, flow states can be experienced during education. It has been found that adolescents experienced flow during school
work when "the perceived challenge of the task and their own skills were high and in balance, the instruction was relevant, and the
learning environment was under their control” (Shernoff et al., 2003). If flow is able to increase productivity in high school students and
workers alike, future research should look at how this could be achieved. It has also been found that flow experiences are positively
related to team performance. Team members are motivated by the team goal commitment, and moderated by the information exchanged
between team members (Aube et al., 2013). This could be applied to workplaces, as managers and leaders could encourage information
exchange among their staff/members, in order to try and create the flow experience.

Marketing
In addition to this, the concept of flow can also be found in marketing/advertising. It has been found that flow can positively contribute to
online shopping experiences, and can increase purchase intention (Lim, 2014) Furthermore, it has been found that on a travel website,
flow mediated three website 'atmospheric cues' (informativeness, effectiveness and entertainment) with regards to purchase intention and
satisfaction with the website (Gao & Bai, 2014) By encouraging flow states to occur in consumers, businesses could increase profits.
Future research could aid in developing online shopping websites which are enjoyable and effective to use and thus create flow states.

Negative effects
Conversely, flow can have detrimental effects. Research has found that flow can have direct and significant effects on compulsive
smartphone use (Zhang et al., 2014), in addition to flow experiences contributing to individuals spending long periods of time playing
video games. This could potentially cause health problems if use becomes addictive. Future research should investigate the potential
negative effects of flow.

Further Reading
Experimental analysis
Keller, J., & Blomann, F. (2008). Locus of control and the flow experience. An experimental analysis. European Journal of Personality, 22,
589-607.

How to control flow

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Flow (pp. 227-238). Springer Netherlands

Games
Chen, J. (2008). Flow in Games. MFA Thesis

Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology

Delle Fave, A. (2015). Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology (1st ed.). Springer.

Consequences of Flow
Landhäußer, A., & Keller, J. (2012). Flow and its affective, cognitive, and performance-related consequences. In S. Engeser
(Ed.), Advances in flow research (pp.65-86). New York: Springer.

Music
Parncutt, R., & McPherson, G. (Eds.). (2002). The science and psychology of music performance: Creative strategies for teaching and
learning. Oxford University Press.
Exam performance
Schüler, J. (2007). Arousal of flow experience in a learning setting and its effects on exam performance and affect. Zeitschrift für
Pädagogische Psychologie, 21, 217-227.

Sport
Young,, J., & Pain, M. (n.d.). The Zone: An Empirical Study. The Online Journal of Sport Psychology.
[Link]
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Business and leadership

Visser, C. (2004). Good business: Leadership, flow, and the making of meaning. Choice Reviews Online, 41-4757.

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