Locus of control and the flow experience: An experimental analysis

The present research addresses the notion that the compatibility of skills and task demands involved in a given activity elicits a flow experience that renders the respective activity rewarding. The study employed an experimental paradigm to document the causal impact of skills–demands compatibility on the emergence of flow and revealed that participants characterized by a strong internal locus of control (LOC) were most sensitive to the manipulation of skills–demands compatibility and experienced flow under conditions of a fit of skills and task demands, whereas individuals with a weak internal LOC did not enter the state of flow. In line with previous findings, this suggests that distinct personality attributes are of critical relevance for the experience of flow to emerge. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work,leisure, and psychological well-being in a sample of young adults

This study of 20 ‘white-collar’ workers aged 20–30 measured motivation, enjoyment and access to various categories of experience in both work and leisure, and examined their relationship with psychological well-being on a number of dimensions. The method used a short questionnaire, psychological scales and the innovatory ‘experience sampling methodology’ (ESM) where respondents answer questions in a diary on the receipt of a signal from a pre-programmed watch or radio pager eight times a day for 1 week. The results show, in line with other studies, that intrinsic motivation in daily life is correlated with happiness but that, not previously reported, when motivation at work is examined both extrinsic motivation and instances where a person had to do the activity but did not wish to be doing something else, i.e. ‘positive motivational change’, are correlated with positive aspects of psychological well-being, while instances where a person wanted to do the activity but wished to be doing something else, i.e. ‘negative motivational change’, correlated with negative aspects. The results also show that enjoyment in both work and leisure correlates with aspects of psychological wellbeing; and that macro ‘flow’ experiences, where high skills and high challenges are perceived as equal, are enjoyable and interesting and come primarily from work. The study also shows that categories of experience considered important for psychological well-being and deemed to come primarily from work can be obtained in leisure. The results are discussed in the context of person—situation interactions and processes, and it is advocated that these should be studied in a variety of samples.     

Effect of Daily Life Reward Loop Functioning on the Course of Depression

Engagement in activities increases positive affect (Reward Path 1), which subsequently reinforces motivation (Reward Path 2), and hence future engagement in activities (Reward Path 3). Strong connections between these three reward loop components are considered adaptive, and might be disturbed in depression. Although some ecological nomentary assessment (EMA) studies have investigated the cross-sectional association between separate reward paths and individuals’ level of depression, no EMA study has looked into the association between individuals’ reward loop strength and depressive symptom course. The present EMA study assessed reward loop functioning (5x/day, 28 days) of 46 outpatients starting depression treatment at secondary mental health services and monitored with the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology—Self-Report (IDS-SR) during a 7-month period. Results of multilevel regression analyses showed significant within-person associations for Reward Path 1 (b = 0.21, p < .001), Reward Path 2 (b = 0.43, p < .001), and Reward Path 3 (b = 0.20, p < .001). Stronger average reward loops (i.e., within-person mean of all reward paths) did not relate to participants’ improvement in depressive symptoms over time. Path-specific results revealed that Reward Paths 1 and 2 may have partly opposite effects on depressive symptom course. Together, our findings suggest that reward processes in daily life might be best studied separately and that further investigation is warranted to explore under what circumstances strong paths are adaptive or not.     

Mediation analysis of the association between use of NRT for smoking reduction and attempts to stop smoking

Objectives: Use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for smoking reduction (SR) is linked to higher quit attempt rates than SR without NRT. This study aimed to assess the possible mediating roles of confidence in ability to quit, enjoyment of smoking and motivation to quit in this association.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Main outcome measures: Smokers were asked if they were currently attempting SR, and if they were, whether they were using NRT. Motivation to stop, enjoyment of smoking, confidence in ability to stop, and previous quit attempts, were also assessed.

Results: There was no evidence that confidence in ability to quit or enjoyment of smoking mediated the association between the use of NRT for SR and attempts to quit. Only motivation to stop partially mediated between the use of NRT for SR and attempts to stop (indirect effect: odds ratio 1.08, p?<?0.001).

Conclusion: Although this study is limited by its cross-sectional design, the findings point towards the possibility that the use of NRT to aid SR may promote attempts to stop through increasing motivation to quit but not by increasing confidence or by reducing enjoyment of smoking. Longitudinal studies are required to draw firmer conclusions about the possible mediating effects of motivation to quit.     

Flow Versus Life Satisfaction: A Projective Use of Cartoons to Illustrate the Difference Between the Evaluation Approach and the Intrinsic Motivation Approach to Subjective Quality of Life

In this paper, differences between life satisfaction and intrinsic motivation (flow) are addressed. Theories are presented on evaluation, flow and openness to experience. Data from a Norwegian panel study are analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. Young adults (n = 264) participated in a projective study with cartoon frames showing Donald Duck in challenging situations. Measures of satisfaction with life and the personality trait of openness to experience were added to the analysis. Subjects scoring high on openness rated Donald Duck's feelings as positive. A slightly opposing tendency was found for persons scoring high on satisfaction with life. The results are discussed with reference to the philosophical distinction between hedonism and eudaemonia.     

The everyday dynamics of rumination and worry: precipitant events and affective consequences

ABSTRACT

Rumination and worry are two perseverative, negatively valenced thought processes that characterise depressive and anxiety disorders. Despite significant research interest, little is known about the everyday precipitants and consequences of rumination and worry. Using an experience sampling methodology, we examined and compared rumination and worry with respect to their relations to daily events and affective experience. Participants diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), co-occurring MDD–GAD, or no diagnosis carried an electronic device for one week and reported on rumination, worry, significant events, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA). Across the clinical groups, occurrences of everyday events predicted subsequent increases in rumination, but not worry. Further, higher momentary levels of rumination, but not worry, predicted subsequent decreases in PA and increases in NA. Thus, in these clinical groups, rumination was more susceptible to daily events and produced stronger affective changes over time. We discuss implications for theory and clinical intervention.     

Physiological aspects of flow experiences: Skills-demand-compatibility effects on heart rate variability and salivary cortisol

This research addresses flow theory according to which the compatibility of skills and task demands involved in an activity elicits flow experiences that render the activity intrinsically rewarding. Departing from correlational research, we applied experimental paradigms designed to test the impact of a skills-demands-compatibility on the emergence of flow in computerized tasks. On the one hand, the results from self-reports support the balance hypothesis and indicate that skills-demands-compatibility results in a pleasurable flow experience. On the other hand, the results also indicate that skills-demands-compatibility resulted in (a) reduced heart rate variability indicating enhanced mental workload, and (b) stress as indicated by relatively high levels of salivary cortisol. These results indicate that flow experiences combine subjectively positive elements with physiological elements reflecting strainful tension and mental load.     

学业自我效能感与在线学习投入的关系：学习动机和心流体验的链式中介作用

为探讨学业自我效能感对在线学习投入的影响及其作用机制,采用学业自我效能感量表、学习动机量表、心流体验量表和在线学习投入量表,对310名在线学习者进行问卷调查。结果发现：（1）学业自我效能感对在线学习投入具有正向预测作用;（2）学习动机和心流体验分别在学业自我效能感和在线学习投入之间起部分中介作用;（3）学习动机、心流体验在学业自我效能感和在线学习投入之间起链式中介作用。     

Social Anxiety and the Quality of Everyday Social Interactions: The Moderating Influence of Alcohol Consumption

Most research on the link between social anxiety and alcohol consumption has examined problematic outcomes without consideration of potential adaptive functions. Alcohol is an anxiolytic that has the short-term benefit of reducing anxiety; consumption may act as a social lubricant that facilitates higher quality social interactions. Using experience-sampling methodology, we examined how consuming alcohol attenuates the adverse effects of social anxiety in naturally occurring social interactions. Participants (N = 160) completed demographic and trait measures, then completed daily assessments for 14 consecutive days. Results from multilevel model analyses revealed that during face-to-face social interactions, state social anxiety was inversely related to 10 indicators of healthy social interactions (e.g., enjoyment, laughter, feelings of acceptance). Alcohol consumption moderated seven of these associations, such that when participants consumed alcohol in social situations, state social anxiety was no longer associated with social interaction quality. The quantity of alcoholic drinks consumed moderated two of these associations. Furthermore, we found evidence for directionality, such that social anxiety in a given social interaction predicted alcohol consumption in a subsequent social interaction, but not the reverse (i.e., alcohol consumption did not prospectively predict state social anxiety). In social situations that involved alcohol, experiences of social anxiety no longer thwarted one’s ability to derive social benefits. These results should be interpreted in the context of a participant sample with relatively low levels of trait social anxiety and frequency of alcohol use. Nonetheless, obtaining social rewards may be a reinforcement mechanism that maintains the link between social anxiety and alcohol consumption.     

An exploration of attitudes toward the use of patient incentives to support diabetes self-management

Objective: To improve our understanding of the potential of incentives to enhance diabetes self-management (type 1 and type 2) and to integrate incentives into a conceptual model of diabetes self-management over time.

Design: A qualitative analysis of in-depth individual interviews with 12 patients and 9 providers.

Main outcome measures: Influence of time on patients’ needs for diabetes self-management technologies and on the use of incentives to drive behavioural changes.

Results: Ten of the 12 participants with diabetes (83%) were interested in using financial incentives to improve their diabetes self-management. We found that incentives can play two key roles in diabetes self-management: guide the learning phase during the creation of habits; and serve as an acknowledgement of efforts made in the stable phase, when providers typically only focus on the patients’ failures at self-management.

Conclusion: Patients seem receptive to the idea of financial incentives, which have the potential to support diabetes self-management through either small monetary amounts or tangible rewards. Incentives hold promise for supporting behaviour changes, especially in early stages of diabetes, but they require careful planning to avoid the undesired consequence of decreased intrinsic motivation.     

Openness to Experience Enhances Creativity: The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation and the Creative Process Engagement

Studies indicate that there is a positive relationship between openness to experience and creativity. However, relatively little attention has been given to the mechanism of this relationship. On the basis of previous findings, we hypothesized a conceptual model and tested the mediating role of intrinsic motivation and the creative process engagement in the relationship between openness to experience and creativity. One hundred and ninety‐eight undergraduates in Malaysia participated in the study and completed an online measure of openness to new experience, creativity, intrinsic motivation, and the creative process engagement. Consistent with the hypothesis, people who scored high on openness reported high intrinsic motivation. The high motivation enhanced engagement in creativity‐related activities, which in turn, improved self‐rated creativity. The findings not only shed light on mechanisms that underlie in the openness‐creativity linkage but they also highlight the importance of intrinsic motivation and creative process engagement in the linkage. Together, the study extends the effect of personality trait on creativity and offers a new direction for future studies.     

When openness to experience and conscientiousness affect continuous learning: A mediating role of intrinsic motivation and a moderating role of occupation1

Research on the effects of personality on work behaviors has adopted either the motivational meditation perspective or the person‐situation interaction perspective. This study attempted to integrate both of the perspectives in a single causal model. Specifically, using data collected from systems engineers and car salespeople in Japan, we investigated the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the links from openness and conscientiousness to continuous learning, and the moderating role of occupation on the mediation mechanism. The results indicated that, for systems engineers, the effects of those personality traits on continuous learning were completely mediated via intrinsic motivation. For car salespeople, however, the trait effects on the outcome variable are direct, rather than transmitted through intrinsic motivation. The meanings of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

When lending an ear turns into mistreatment: An episodic examination of leader mistreatment in response to venting at work

Venting—an emotion‐focused form of coping involving the discharge of negative feelings to others—is common in organizational settings. Venting may benefit the self via the release of negative emotion, or by acting as a catalyst for changes to problematic work situations. Nonetheless, venting might have unintended consequences via its influence on those who are the recipients of venting from others. In light of this idea, we provide a theoretical explanation for how leaders in particular are affected by venting receipt at work. Drawing from the transactional model of stress, we theorize that venting tends to be appraised as a threat, which triggers negative emotion that, in turn, potentiates deviant action tendencies (i.e., interpersonal mistreatment). Yet, our theory suggests that not all leaders necessarily experience venting in the same way. Specifically, leaders with higher need for cognition are less influenced by surface‐level cues associated with others’ emotional expressions and find challenging interpersonal situations to be less aversive, thereby attenuating the deleterious effects of receipt of venting. In an experience sampling study of 112 managers across 10 consecutive workdays, we find support for our theoretical model. Altogether, our findings provide insight into the costs incurred when leaders lend an ear to those who vent, which can result in negative downstream consequences.     

Affect and between-meal snacking in daily life: the moderating role of gender and age

Objective: Affect-related energy intake from snacks remains relatively unexplored in daily life. This study examines the associations between momentary positive affect (PA) and momentary negative affect (NA) and subsequent energy intake from snacks. In addition, the moderating role of BMI, gender, age and level of education is investigated.

Design: Adults (N = 269), aged 20–50, participated in this study. Demographics were assessed in an online composite questionnaire. An experience sampling smartphone application was used to map momentary NA/PA and energy intake (kilocalories) from snacks in the context of daily life.

Main outcome measures: Energy intake from moment-to-moment self-reported snacks in real-life settings.

Results: A significant negative main effect of momentary NA on moment-to-moment energy intake was found. The higher the momentary NA, the lower the subsequent amount of kilocalories consumed. There was no main effect with regard to PA. Interaction analyses showed that men decreased their energy intake after experiencing NA, and increased their intake after experiencing PA. No associations were found in women. Additionally, young adults (20–30) increased their energy intake after experiencing PA. No associations were found in the other age groups.

Conclusion: Interventions aiming at reducing energy intake might also address PA-related snacking in young adults and men.     

Limits of control: The effects of uncontrollability experiences on the efficiency of attentional control

Two experiments were conducted to explore the effects of experiencing uncontrollability on the efficiency of attentional control. The experience of uncontrollability was induced either by unsolvable tasks (Experiment 1) or by tasks in which non-contingent feedback was provided (Experiment 2). A version of the Attentional Network Test-Interactions with an additional measure of vigilance (ANTI-V) was used to evaluate the efficiency of the attentional networks (i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive). Results of both experiments revealed a decreased efficiency of executive attention in participants who experienced stable control deprivation but no negative effects in participants who were able to restore their sense of previously deprived control. Additionally, when participants were asked to perform unsolvable tasks and did not receive feedback (Experiment 1), detrimental effects on the orienting network and vigilance were observed. The motivational and cognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of various uncontrollability experiences on conflict resolution and attentional control are discussed.     

Music to the inner ears: Exploring individual differences in musical imagery

In two studies, we explored the frequency and phenomenology of musical imagery. Study 1 used retrospective reports of musical imagery to assess the contribution of individual differences to imagery characteristics. Study 2 used an experience sampling design to assess the phenomenology of musical imagery over the course of one week in a sample of musicians and non-musicians. Both studies found episodes of musical imagery to be common and positive: people rarely wanted such experiences to end and often heard music that was personally meaningful. Several variables predicted musical imagery, including personality, musical preferences, and positive mood. Musicians tended to hear musical imagery more often, but they reported less frequent episodes of deliberately-generated imagery. Taken together, the present research provides new insights into individual differences in musical imagery, and it supports the emerging view that such experiences are common, positive, and more voluntary than previously recognized.     

Exploring athletes' perceptions of the relationship between mental toughness and dispositional flow in sport

ObjectivesDespite considerable scholarly attention over the last two decades, little is known about the influence of dispositional attributes on flow in sport. In achievement settings, mental toughness (MT) is a personal capacity supporting the process of high performance. Based on common overlaps with peak performance, confidence, control, concentration, and thriving in demanding situations, the present research aimed to explore the relationship between MT and dispositional flow and elucidate the psychological variables underlying dispositional flow.DesignA mixed method explanatory participant-selection design was adopted, whereby a quantitative approach was used to identify individuals for a qualitative follow-up phase to explore the relationship between MT and dispositional flow.MethodAn intensity sampling strategy was used to identify individuals with higher/lower MT and dispositional flow. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 athletes (M age = 25, SD = 3.24; female n = 10; male n = 6). An inductive content analysis was undertaken to interpret data.ResultsSeven general dimensions describing the psychological attributes related to dispositional flow in athletes with higher and lower MT emerged. Specifically, differences in confidence, perfectionism, goal orientation, coping mechanism selection, locus of control, optimism and concentration were apparent and could account for differences in dispositional flow.ConclusionWhile all athletes experienced flow, there were differences in dispositional flow and the processes involved in entering, maintaining and restoring flow between higher and lower MT subgroups. Findings are discussed in relation to the existing literature, and recommendations for future research into the MT-flow relationship are outlined.