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Flow in Nonachievement Situations

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Advances in Flow Research

Abstract

Flow research began with the study of activities which often occurred in achievement situations. To this day, most flow research still deals with achievement in the areas of sports, academia, and work where the balance of challenge and skill is important to foster flow. This chapter extends traditional flow theory by introducing the concept of implicit and explicit motives as personal needs that explain how individuals can experience flow not only in achievement situations but also in social situations like affiliative or power situations. We propose that flow emerges from the interaction of motive-specific incentives in a situation, such as challenge and skill balance, and a person’s motives. Those motives are conducive to structuring situations which in turn foster flow. In this context, we also present studies dealing with flow in groups. We end this chapter by revealing some perspectives on future research on flow in nonachievement situations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International Student Assessment (ZIB), TUM School of Education, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Anja Schiepe-Tiska

  2. Institute of Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany

    Stefan Engeser

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  1. Anja Schiepe-Tiska
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  2. Stefan Engeser
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Correspondence to Anja Schiepe-Tiska .

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  1. , Fachbereich I - Psychologie, Universität Trier, Trier, 54286, Germany

    Stefan Engeser

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Schiepe-Tiska, A., Engeser, S. (2012). Flow in Nonachievement Situations. In: Engeser, S. (eds) Advances in Flow Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2359-1_5

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