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Flow, the Experience of

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Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

Synonyms

Flow experience; Optimal experience

Definition

Flow is a complex subjective experience characterized by deep concentration and involvement, arising during the performance of a task perceived as a challenge that can be adequately faced through the investment of one’s skills. It represents a component of eudaimonic well-being and optimal human functioning (Huta and Waterman 2014), and it contributes to shape the lifelong process of psychological selection.

Description

An Optimal Experience that Promotes Well-Being

Flow was first identified by Csikszentmihalyi in the mid-1970s, through interviews aimed at investigating the phenomenology of subjective experience among persons who used to engage in highly complex and autotelic activities, that is, activities that are rewarding in and of themselves (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi 2009), ranging from music composition to surgery, from mathematics to creative writing. The term flowexpresses the feeling of fluidity and continuity in...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia Medico-Chirurgica e dei Trapianti, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Antonella Delle Fave

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche Luigi Sacco, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Marta Bassi

Authors
  1. Antonella Delle Fave
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  2. Marta Bassi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonella Delle Fave .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy

    Filomena Maggino

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Tugce Beycan

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Delle Fave, A., Bassi, M. (2021). Flow, the Experience of. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_1064-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_1064-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

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