Flow State: The Equilibrium and Disequilibrium Associated with the Autoletic and Optimal Experience
Author : Dr. Sarita Mishra
Abstract :
Flow is an optimal experience where people become totally immersed in an activity and enjoy it immensely and intensely which is a desirable state with positive effects for employee well-being and innovation at work. The concept of Flow implies a balance of perceived challenges and skills in understanding optimal experience. Both the perceived challenges and skills must be at a moderate to high level so that the challenges stretch but do not surpass existing skills. Some predictors of Flow includes social support, support for innovative practices at work, having clear rules and norms at work, having clear goals. Skill variety, autonomy, job/task clarity, meaningfulness of job, job feedback, task identity and task significance. Since the Flow state is rewarding and appetitive, humans thrive to experience it more often and are more likely to engage in flow-eliciting activities. That is why highly flow-conducive activities carry at the same time a high risk for addiction. Examples are playing video games or internet surfing. Flow has been linked to online Gaming Addiction and Internet Addiction. The “optimal experience” of flow does not necessarily mean that the consequences of flow are always positive. While experiencing flow, individuals can become addicted to the euphoric feelings associated with flow, underestimate the personal risk of being led astray, derailing from other tasks and activities, willing to hurt or even kill other people. Typical Internet activities are general web browsing, e-mailing, news websites, telnet, and blogging. Reported researches have supported the flow-addiction link: the stronger the participants experience of flow, the higher the problematic Internet use. The term “optimal” refers to the inner state of sound physical and mental functioning, but not to the desirability of its outcome. Flow experience is not just a hedonic feeling that enhances an individual’s quality of life; it is also an optimal functional state that can lead to peak performance. One risk factor for addiction disorders seems to be hypodopaminergic functioning of the brain reward system so that dopamine-enhancing substances or activities are used to counterbalance the lack of dopamine in the system. A significant positive correlation between cortisol and flow-experience was observed in a complex video game. Elevated cortisol was also found in participants playing an optimally challenging level of the video game. The dark sides of flow needs theoretical, empirical, and practical attention as well as intervention by significant others. The challenge entails learning to distinguish the useful and the harmful forms of flow, and then making the most of the former while placing limits on the latter.
Keywords :
Flow, Autoletic and optimal experience, online gaming and internet addiction
