Keynote Why Flow Matters in Positive Psychology Chair: Kim Cameron Sue Jackson Why Flow Matters in Positive Psychology Susan A. Jackson, PhD drsuejackson.com DrSue jackson Purpose Overview foundational principles of Flow experience to demonstrate its importance to a field focused on helping people cultivate the best versions of themselves and to live a meaningful life. Dr Sue Jackson Overview: • Understanding Flow • A Flow Research Journey • Facilitating Flow • Why Flow Matters • Living a Good Life Dr Sue Jackson Premise: Living a Flow-Focused life = Living a Good Life. Dr Sue Jackson Flow & Positive Psychology • A point of focus of the field of positive psychology is on understanding what living a good life entails. • Through his flow concept, Csikszentmihalyi has given the field a thoughtful, and a thought-provoking concept for helping to build a good life. Dr Sue Jackson Flow a central construct in Positive Psychology • The field of Positive Psychology was developed with a focus on 3 main areas: - positive subjective experiences - positive individual traits - positive institutions • Understanding positive subjective experiences entails the study of contentment and satisfaction with the past, flow and happiness in the present, and having hope or optimism for the future. Dr Sue Jackson Understanding Flow "Flow is a subjective state that people report when they are completely involved in something to the point of forgetting time, fatigue, and everything else but the activity itself. . . The defining feature of flow is intense experiential involvement in moment-to-moment activity. Attention is fully invested in the task at hand, and the person functions at his or her fullest capacity." – Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh & Nakamura (2005) Dr Sue Jackson Understanding Flow – the bottom line Flow is "a discrete, highly enjoyable "optimal" state of consciousness" - Abuhamdeh, 2020 Dr Sue Jackson The Dimensions of Flow • Challenge Skill Balance • Clear Goals • Unambiguous Feedback • Action-Awareness Merging • Total Concentration on Task • Sense of Control • Loss of Self Consciousness • Time Transformation • Autotelic Experience Dr Sue Jackson The Condition-Experience Model Challenge-Skill Balance Clear Goals Unambiguous Feedback Flow Pre-Conditions Action-Awareness Merging Total Concentration on Task Sense of Control Loss of Self-Consciousness Time Transformation Autotelic Experience Experience of Flow Dr Sue Jackson How it all began. . Csikszent- mihalyi Author of Flow Beyond Boredom and Anxiety Experiencing Flow in Work and Play Dr Sue Jackson Stepping into the Study of Flow in Sport • Jackson, S.A., & Roberts, G.C. (1992). Positive performance states of athletes: Toward a conceptual understanding of peak performance. The Sport Psychologist, 6 (2), 156-171. • Jackson, S.A. (1995). Factors influencing the occurrence of flow in elite athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7 (2), 135-163. • Jackson, S.A. (1996). Toward a conceptual understanding of t