Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: biography of the father of flow theory

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Professor of Psychology of Hungarian origin. A figure that stands out for having been the creator of the concept of flow and one of the most cited psychologists today in different fields of psychology. His work stands out in areas such as happiness, creativity, subjective well-being and fun. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has handled these concepts in a new and surprising way that they gave rise to one of the most innovative psychological theories of the 20th century.

His life and entire professional career have been focused in that direction. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was a young man who emigrated to the United States to train in Psychology, and who has been able to masterfully develop one of the most complex concepts that occur in the human mind: the mental state of intrinsic motivation and maximum concentration. His work has served as the inspiration for many laboratory investigations and replications.

His flow theory describes a universal experience, which occurs in different classes, genders, ages and cultures; It can be experienced in various types of activities. If you have ever heard someone describe a time when their performance was excellent and they used the term “in the zone,” what they are describing is an experience of flow.. It happens when your skill level and the challenge at hand are the same. In this article, we compile some of the most interesting facts about the life of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his contributions to psychology.

His childhood

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was born in 1934 in the town of Fiume, present-day Rijeka. An independent state on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea that was the subject of territorial disputes between Italians, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after the First World War. His childhood was especially difficult. His two brothers died in quite tragic conditions when Mihalyi was still very young.. His father was a diplomat at the Hungarian Consulate in Fiume.

When the communists took over Hungary in 1949, his father refused to work for the new regime and his family was expelled and stripped of their citizenship. One of his brothers was killed in the Siege of Budapest and the other was sent to forced labor camps in Siberia by the Soviets.

Later, they emigrate to Rome, where Mihaly must abandon his studies to help the family finances. It is then, during a trip to Switzerland, that he sees Carl Jung for the first time at a conference on psychology. This marked a journey of no return for young Mihaly’s vocation.

At the age of 22, he would travel to the United States to study psychology at the University of Chicago, while working to pay for his studies. He obtained his doctorate in psychology in 1965 from the same University. For a time, he taught at Lake Forest College, until he became a professor at the University of Chicago in 1969, serving as chairman of the Department of Psychology. Currently, he works at Claremont Graduate University.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: career and contribution to psychology

During world war II, He spent time in an Italian prison camp where he discovered chess. He observed that this game was a very effective way to divert his attention from what was happening around him, something that helped him cope with his stay and come out better than others.

His theory of flow is set out in detail in his work Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990). According to this theory, when people enter a state of flow they are truly happy. For Mihaly, it’s about a state in which one is completely involved in an activity for its own sake. In this state, the ego fades and time flies. All actions, movements and thoughts emerge from the previous one. People use their abilities to the fullest in this state and are completely involved in them.

The ideas and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theories have influenced people from all professions and fields. That is, they have not only been of vital importance for psychology, but also for other areas such as: business, politics, education, the arts and, of course, positive psychology.

Mihaly was so influential that many have seen in the Hungarian a source of inspiration or a path to happiness, even such well-known personalities as Bill Clinton or Tony Blair have claimed to have read Mihaly. And Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written numerous books and more than 120 academic articles.

The theory of flow

Through his research, he began to understand that people became more creative, more productive, and often happier when they were in this state of flow.. He interviewed athletes, musicians, artists, etc. in order to know when they experienced the most optimal performance levels.

He developed the term flow state because many of the people he interviewed described their optimal performance states as examples where their work simply flowed out of them without much effort. Their goal was to discover how creativity leads to greater productivity.. For the flow state to occur, Csikszentmihalyi describes eight points that must coincide:

Complete concentration on the task. Clarity of goals, reward and immediate feedback. Time transformation (acceleration/deceleration of time). The experience is intrinsically rewarding. There is a balance between challenge and skills. Actions and awareness merge, losing the self-conscious rumination. There is a sense of control over the task.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s studies led him to conclude that happiness is an internal state of being, not an external state.. His popular book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, is based on the premise that happiness levels can be changed through the introduction of more flow. Happiness is not a rigid state that cannot be changed. On the contrary, happiness requires a committed effort to manifest. After the set point, there is a percentage of happiness that each individual has the responsibility to take control of.

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