Csikszentmihalyi may suggest that a simple reframing of the situation should remedy the dissatisfaction and lead to flow states however, Self-determination Theory (SDT) would claim that a truly optimal experience cannot be realized when a person perceives they are working for external causes (Ryan & Deci, 2000). It could be assumed that if flow conditions may be induced through reeducation and provisions of task design, that people could be manipulated into self-dissociative production machines of flow, no matter how grizzly the circumstances.įrankl was not free from criticisms for his ideas, and Csikszentmihalyi echoes Frankl’s most contentious point of personal accountability for experience when he states that it “depends more on a person’s approach to than on actual working conditions (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).” The question arises: Is it psychologically sustainable to be in a job we do not identify with, so long as we readjust our “approach”? Csikszentmihalyi (1990) appears to notice the juxtaposition of job dissatisfaction and people’s general feeling that their job is “something they have to do, a burden imposed” externally. While there may be overlap of the two concepts, it is hard to imagine someone having the “optimal human experience” in an internment camp.

Further, Csikszentmihalyi seems to conflate Viktor Frankl’s (1963) notion of finding meaning to life in even the most horrid of conditions with an autotelic personality. It is postulated that even those in forced labor or internment hold the ability to find the “optimal experience” via an achieved flow state, and thus even though “that person is objectively a slave, subjectively he is free (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).” Challenge, adversity, and particular character strengths may give rise to either an individual immersing themselves into productivity as a means of distraction, a coping mechanism for a brutal situation, akin to workaholics (Huljich, 2012). While flow states seem to have legitimacy and merit to them, as evidenced by countless researchers supporting the concept (Harmat, Andersen, Ullen, Wright, & Sadlo, 2016), a particularly concerning reoccurrence appears in Csikszentmihalyi’s 1990 book: achieving flow in unideal conditions. Csikszentmihalyi goes on to suggest that those most likely to experience a flow state have an “autotelic” personality, an accumulation of low self-centeredness, curiosity, and self-motivation to name a few traits (1990).

Flow is described as a nearly euphoric, immersive state of ecstasy during focused productivity that occurs when a nearly one to one ratio of challenge-to-ability is achieved and some basic conditions, such as clear goals, immediate feedback, and flexible challenges are met. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines “the optimal experience” in Flow (1990).

Csikszentmihalyi flow