In flow theory, autotelic personality is distinguished by meta-skills which predispose individuals to entering and remaining in flow, and to making the process evolve.

   – Flow Experience, Culture, and Well-being: How Do Autotelic Japanese College Students Feel, Behave, and Think in Their Daily Lives?

Where does positive affect during flow activities originate?

– Autotelic Personality

Students sometimes face challenging tasks and can get daunted by them, not only because of the difficulty level but also because of their estimation of their ability to handle the challenge and fears about how others, whose opinion matters, might react if they do not meet expectations. How can they perform well regardless of such understandable pressures?

They can learn to enjoy rather than worry about challenges. To do this, they can develop what is termed as an “autotelic personality” (Csikszentmihalyi et al. 1993 as cited in Baumann, 2012). The word autotelic is an adjective which is used to describe an activity or goal which is done because the person doing it enjoys it. By extension, an autotelic personality is one which actively seeks out rather than avoid challenges because of the enjoyment it brings (Baumann, 2012).

If an activity is autotelic, it will be possible to devote complete attention to it so that it is completed successfully. Worries will prevent such levels of attention. Autotelic personalities would not allow worries to hijack their attention.

When students with an autotelic personality have to complete what to them appears, at least when they first see it, difficult, they become energized. This does not mean that they do not experience pressure to do well. They do and they handle that pressure differently – by not handling it at all. They do this by forgetting themselves and their outside world and by immersing themselves deeply in the task.

Total immersion in a task can be described as being in the flow. The concept of ‘Flow’ has been described as the secret of “optimal performance” (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008). According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who described such immersive experiences as flow experiences, flow is “characterised by a merging of action and awareness, sense of control, high concentration, loss of self-consciousness, and transformation of time”.

It was Csikszentmihalyi who suggested that certain individuals are more likely to enjoy flow experiences and that they were autotelic. Autotelic individuals, he explained, were those who were naturally very curious and wanted to learn. They were motivated by the need for achievement. In the case of a challenging task, achievement would mean, applying oneself fully to the task and persisting until it is completed successfully.

Importantly, those who are autotelic are not “self-centred”. Self-centred here refers to being worried about the consequences of failure to oneself. They showed what he termed “disinterested interest” (Csikszentmihalyi, 2007 as cited in Baumann, 2012) – not worried about the consequences of success and failure.

Nicola Baumann (2012) wanted to know exactly how autotelic personalities engage with and succeed in challenging tasks. She turned to what is known as Personality Systems Interaction (PSI) Theory developed by psychologist Julius Kuhl to do this.

The PSI Theory suggests that a personality is the result of the interaction between two components. The first is emotional and the second is mental. Baumann (2012) explained how emotions and mental states interact to create an optimal flow experience when dealing with challenging tasks.

When students receive assignments, they would assess whether they are up to the task. When the task is deemed as difficult relative to their ability, they might respond in different ways.

Recall that earlier, it was suggested that autotelic students would be energized rather than daunted. This can be somewhat misleading, even discouraging because of the suggestion that autotelic students experience only positive emotions from the time they realise that they have a challenge to complete to the time they successfully complete it. According to Baumann (2012), this is not how the flow experience of autotelic students unfolds.

A student who is not autotelic might look at a difficult exercise, recognise that it is difficult and proceed to answer hurriedly, without any real intention or expectation of getting it right.

An autotelic student might look at that same exercise and recognise that it is difficult. This would certainly cause a negative mood in the student.

However, this student would not rush to answer so that the negative mood would go away. Instead, this student would form an intention to get it right. Importantly, at this stage, why the student wants to get it right would make a world of difference. The student wants to get it right for the following reasons. It would be fun to try. It would be a proud moment when the challenge has been completed.

According to Baumann (2012), there are students who complete a challenging task and do not feel pride but relief. This means that they are more concerned about the expectations (real or perceived) that others have of them.

A student who feels pride would instead have been focused on their own ability to master the challenge before them. Since they are anticipating how proud they can be of their achievement, they are more likely to enjoy the challenge. An intention to succeed formed this way would cause the negative mood, be it one of worry or fear to give way to one of buoyant readiness to apply oneself fully.

Having formed such intention, autotelic students would feel positive energy. With this positive energy, they would be fully able to concentrate and worries would seem to have disappeared.

We can see how an autotelic personality would be very beneficial to not only deal with but also enjoy challenging tasks. There is a certain type of environment which would be beneficial to nurture an autotelic personality.

According to Baumann (2012), in such an environment, students would be given opportunities to try challenges on their own while at the same time being offered support as is deemed necessary. Apart from trying challenges provided to them, autotelic personalities also actively seek out activities which they themselves feel would be a rewarding challenge. Therefore, they can be encouraged to be spontaneous. They can be assured that how much they are accepted is not dependent on how well they perform.

To sum up, all students face challenging exercises on occasion. It is very natural to feel anxiety or fear in such situations. It is important for students to recognise this. They can then stay calm and tell themselves, they can try and get it right because if they did get it right, they win and if they don’t, they do not lose.

Flowing is effortless.

The Brain Dojo