About
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) was a Hungarian-American psychologist, born in Fiume (now Rijeka), who studied what makes a life feel worth living. He earned his BA and PhD at the University of Chicago, where he became a professor in 1969 and later headed the psychology department, before moving to Claremont Graduate University as Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management. In Beyond Boredom and Anxiety (1975) he described 'autotelic experience', activity done for its own sake, which his research team came to call flow. His Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990) brought the idea of complete absorption in an activity to a wide audience, and Martin Seligman called him the world's leading researcher on positive psychology.
Key Contributions
- Developed the concept of flow, the state of complete absorption in an activity
- Described 'autotelic experience', activity done for its own sake, in Beyond Boredom and Anxiety (1975)
- Wrote Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990)
- Wrote Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996)
- Researched autotelic personality and intrinsic motivation; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
