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Dynamics of Flow: A Nonlinear Perspective

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Abstract

The aims of this study are to consider the experience of flow from a nonlinear dynamics perspective. The processes and temporal nature of intrinsic motivation and flow, would suggest that flow experiences fluctuate over time in a dynamical fashion. Thus it can be argued that the potential for chaos is strong. The sample was composed of 20 employees (both full and part time) recruited from a number of different organizations and work backgrounds. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used for data collection. Once obtained the temporal series, they were subjected to various analyses proper to the complexity theory (Visual Recurrence Analysis and Surrogate Data Analysis). Results showed that in 80% of the cases, flow presented a chaotic dynamic, in that, flow experiences delineated a complex dynamic whose patterns of change were not easy to predict. Implications of the study, its limitations and future research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Pendragon 4.0 allows the data from the PDA to be automatically transferred into a database, each time the PDA is synchronized with a computer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Psychology Department, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron, 171, s/n, 08035, Barcelona, Spain

    Lucia Ceja & José Navarro

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  1. Lucia Ceja
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  2. José Navarro
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Correspondence to Lucia Ceja.

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Ceja, L., Navarro, J. Dynamics of Flow: A Nonlinear Perspective. J Happiness Stud 10, 665–684 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-008-9113-6

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