Lecture 6: Flow

Question 1

flow

Answer 1

a sense of effortless action felt in moments that stand out as the best in our lives

Question 2

components of flow

Answer 2

• Clarity of goals
• Immediate feedback
• Challenges and skills are matched
• Absorbed in the task
• Sense of personal control
• Altered sense of time

Question 3

example of flow

Answer 3

Nova Scotians surfing in the winter

Question 4

prevalence of flow activities

Answer 4

90% of people have flow activities

Question 5

flow in sports vs. academic activities

Answer 5

• Csikszentmihalyi argues that school doesn’t have clear goals but sports do
• This is why we are more likely to experience flow in sports

Question 6

Csikszentmihalyi’s view of TV

Answer 6

“Mass leisure and mass culture are parasites of the mind: they absorb psychic energy without any substantive return.”

Question 7

Csikszentmihalyi’s advice on flow

Answer 7

• Figure out what your flow activities are and build your life around them
• This will help make your life feel meaningful

Question 8

daily experience sampling

Answer 8

Using pagers to have people report on their experiences randomly during the day

Question 9

the paradox of work and leisure study method

Answer 9

conducted a daily experience sampling method where people were asked what they were doing and who they were with

Question 10

the paradox of work and leisure study findings

Answer 10

• People were most likely to experience flow when doing sports and hobbies (there’s usually an initial barrier with sports and hobbies)
• Flow is moderately likely to happen when doing work or chores
• Flow is highly unlikely to happen when watching TV
• Participants reported more flow experiences at work than during their leisure time

Question 11

why are people more likely to experience flow when at work?

Answer 11

This is likely because people spend 75% of their leisure time watching TV when they are highly unlikely to produce flow

Question 12

daily variance in mood

Answer 12

There is a lot of variance in people’s moods

Question 13

prevalence of TV watching in Canada

Answer 13

• The average Canadian watches 4-5 hours of TV per day
• It increases as we get older with the exception of the young adult years

Question 14

TV vs. other activities

Answer 14

• Other activities are higher in potency, concentration, challenge, and skills
• TV is higher in relaxation than other activities
• Other activities and TV are equal in cheerfulness

Question 15

characteristics of watching TV

Answer 15

• Highly relaxing
• Moderately pleasant
• Highly unchallenging
• Highly passive
• Requires low concentration

Question 16

watching TV vs. reading

Answer 16

• Watching TV is lower in potency, cheerfulness, concentration, challenge, and skills
• Both are equally relaxing

Question 17

watching TV vs. reading over time

Answer 17

• Watching TV becomes a worse experience over time
• Reading becomes a better experience over time

Question 18

Koestner’s Three-Pronged Defence of Watching TV

Answer 18

1. It’s okay if you do it with others
2. Life as a professor is stressful. I watch TV when I feel exhausted and it helps me relax and recuperate
3. It’s okay if you watch good shows

Question 19

Doing activities with others

Answer 19

doing activities with others is more fulfilling, including TV

Question 20

watching TV and stress

Answer 20

• Having a stressful day has nothing to do with whether we watch TV
• Watching TV doesn’t help us recover from a stressful day (ex. We watch more TV on weekends during the weekdays)

Question 21

does the type of TV program make a difference?

Answer 21

no

Question 22

why do we watch TV?

Answer 22

• The natural state of our mind is entropy and chaos
• If we sit and don’t have a goal or any activity, our thoughts will be chaotic, anxious, and depressed
• At some level, we know this
• TV is the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way to get control over our thoughts is to turn on the TV

Question 23

how does TV hook us?

Answer 23

• We compulsively respond to jump cuts
• We’ve been negatively conditioned: when we turn off the TV, we’re flooded with anxious and empty feelings
• This teaches us that turning it back on will make us feel better

Question 24

the challenge of watching TV

Answer 24

• The content of TV shows has changed dramatically in the last 10 years
• Multiple threading and social networks require attention, patience, retention, and parsing of narrative threads
• You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you are exercising the parts of your brain that map social networks, that fill in missing information and that connect multiple narrative threads

Question 25

Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi’s recommendations

Answer 25

- Don’t try to give up TV totally - Watch with other people - Be a discriminating viewer - Make it goal-oriented - Record - Supplement with study