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Solitude––the absence of social interaction––can bring both positive and negative experiences. Drawing on self-determination theory, we conducted three experience sampling studies to investigate quality of experience and dispositions associated with activities varying on two dimensions––chosenness (chosen/unchosen) and social context (solitary/interactive). Participants (total N = 283) completed surveys 6–7 times each day over a 7-day period (total: 8,769 surveys). Multilevel modeling confirmed that participants reported the lowest quality momentary experiences when engaged in unchosen (vs. chosen) solitary activities. Further, individuals who spent more time on unchosen solitary activities reported lower meaning in life and satisfaction with life. Extraversion was positively associated with time spent on chosen interactive activities but negatively with chosen solitary activities. Post hoc analyses revealed that people low (vs. high) in extraversion reported lower productivity only during unchosen interactive activities. Chosen (vs. unchosen) solitary activities seem to have a relatively benign impact on quality of experience and well-being.

To discern what accounts for moment-to-moment fluctuations in well-being, the present study investigated how state-level autonomy relates to three aspects of well-being: affect, engagement, and mea...

One way to achieve a high level of well-being is by engaging in and enjoying everyday activities. Research has unveiled seven personal attributes (autotelic personality, collectively) that facilita...

Love is seen as interpersonal phenomenon in western society. The love of things that are non-interpersonal or ‘beyond-personal’ is less understood. A sample of 208 adults responded to a questionnai...

The current developmental perspective on flow theory focuses mainly on the growth of skills. Such perspective, however, may overlook how individuals find flow in the face of developmental losses. T...

This chapter discusses positive aging from a lifespan perspective. That is, it situates later life within the life as a whole and differentiates two periods within later life – the third (young-old) and fourth (oldest-old) ages. While discussing multiple dimensions of biopsychosocial aging, which include physical and cognitive health, the chapter gives primary attention to psychosocial aging, where great potential exists for cross-fertilization with positive psychology. The chapter begins with brief discussion of demographics (i.e., the aging of societies around the globe) and definitional issues, recognizing that there are multiple traditions within gerontology that have addressed positive dimensions of the aging process. Then, employing gerontology’s distinction between the third and fourth ages of life, we discuss the potential for positive experience during the fourth age and the more extensive areas of positive functioning that characterize the third age. In closing, we identify several interventions that promote aging well and suggest ways of approaching research in this area.

This article tests the utility of self-report and objective assessment of physical activity to predict increased positive affect. Participants wore Fitbit activity trackers and responded to single-item assessments of momentary affect and self-reported physical activity following an experience sampling method protocol. A test of the within-person mediation indicated that, on average, 63 percent of the relationship between objective physical activity and affect was accounted for by self-reported physical activity. This research adds to the body of literature demonstrating the benefits of physical activity and discusses the utility of perceived over actual assessments of physical activity in naturalistic settings.

Relative to high-arousal positive affect (HAPA), low-arousal positive affect (LAPA) is less likely to be included in research on positive affect and emotion. To gauge the possible cost of omitting LAPA from such research, two studies were conducted assessing the unique contribution of LAPA (e.g., calm, relaxed, content) in predicting variance in measures of well-being and mental health above and beyond HAPA (e.g., alert, excited, enthusiastic). In two studies, multiple regression analyses revealed that LAPA uniquely predicted life satisfaction, depression, feeling good, mindfulness, anxiety, and stress beyond HAPA. Furthermore, the results indicated that when both LAPA and HAPA were in the regression model, LAPA significantly predicted variance in mindfulness, anxiety, and stress whereas HAPA did not. These data indicate that the inclusion of LAPA in research can improve the field’s ability to investigate the causes and effects of positive affectivity. Theoretical perspectives on different types of positive affect and practical implications for researchers are discussed.

This symposium reports findings from a national experience-sampling study of 165 older adults (mean age=71, range=60-88 years) who are heavily involved in prosocial activity, contributing to their communities as leaders or high-commitment volunteers in social-purpose organizations. Gerontological research has linked prosocial activity to a set of positive outcomes for the older adults who engage in it (e.g., better health and reduced mortality), including global measures of well-being such as life satisfaction. However, little is known about the contributors to these individuals’ momentary well-being. Four presentations address this gap in knowledge. In the first presentation, Dwight Tse revisits the concept of successful aging as a within-person variable with day-to-day variations. Experience sampling data revealed great variations in successful aging indicators, and successful aging was associated with better well-being as hypothesized. In the second presentation, Ajit Mann extends beyond general control beliefs and explores the diversity in distribution of control beliefs across various daily activities (e.g., active leisure, prosocial activity, socializing, etc.), in addition to investigating the relationship between later life control diversity and subjective well-being. In the third presentation, Kelsey Finley explores Aristotle’s concept of the golden mean (an ideal state between deficiency and excess) for the number of hours spent in prosocial work on momentary well-being outcomes. In the fourth presentation, Jeanne Nakamura examines the relationship between global meaning in life and meaningful engagement in the moment, illuminating variation in this relationship through a comparison of the prosocial leaders and high-commitment volunteers.

Missing values are nearly inescapable within social science research. The problem of missing data is especially troubling in longitudinal and intensive longitudinal studies when participants miss an entire collection cycle compared to item nonresponse. The present study examines some of the contextual influences of missed study participation using unobtrusive measures of experience in conjunction with the experience sampling method (ESM). A sample of 66 participants generated 2,940 observations across a 7-day study, yielding a missing response rate of 34%. Multilevel binary logistic regression was used to estimate the probability of missing the study participation signal based upon study time and physical activity states. Results indicate that the probability of missing collection signals increases throughout the duration of the study and with high levels of physical activity. The strongest predictor of missed participation occurred when participants’ activity monitors were set to “asleep” mode. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future ESM studies are discussed.

Flow is an optimal psychological state characterized by the enjoyment of deep absorption in what one is doing. This psychological state is autotelic (i.e., rewarding in itself); experiencing flow intrinsically motivates individuals to engage in activities that are conducive to it. Research on the flow experience has shed light on the phenomenology of intrinsic motivation since Csikszentmihalyi (1975) first introduced the flow concept. This chapter (a) describes the dimensions and conditions of the flow experience, (b) reviews research on its psychological covariates, (c) highlights conceptual and operational differences among four flow-related constructs, (d) discusses theory and research on the temporal dynamics of flow experience, and (e) summarizes research on the neurophysiology of the flow state.

Recent years have seen growing interest in older adults’ sense of meaning in life, a core dimension of eudaimonic well-being throughout adulthood that has been associated in later life with reduced morbidity and mortality. Currently, the relations between this global sense of meaning in life and the experience of meaningful engagement in the moment remain largely unexplored, particularly in later lives that are distinguished by high levels of meaning. Multilevel analysis of ESM data from prosocial leaders and volunteers indicated that feelings of meaningful engagement fluctuated in daily life for both groups, even while questionnaire data showed that global sense of meaning in life was high. Examining basic sources of fulfillment (e.g., sense of relatedness) revealed type of involvement (leadership vs. volunteerism) affected the source(s) of fulfillment that connected meaning at the global and momentary levels. Implications for theory, research, and applied work on meaning and prosocial commitment are discussed.

Contemporary theories consider development to be lifelong, suggesting a potential for personal growth in older adulthood. Narrative studies have found benefits of having growth themes in older adults’ broad life stories, yet there is limited research focusing on the specific experiences in later life that elicit growth. One potential for personal growth during older age is through prosocial behavior, but studies have overlooked how older adults narrate such experiences and the perceived impact the narratives have on the self. We conducted interviews with a sample of 47 older adults engaged in prosocial commitments to examine the types of perceived self-change as well as patterns in high points and low points of the experience. Narrative analyses revealed the majority of participants reported a change in the self, and half of the sample used growth themes to characterize the self-change. Inductive coding of change narratives revealed an emergent category of virtuous change (e.g., transcendence, wisdom, humanity), as well as a variety of other change categories (e.g., competence, cognitive abilities, negative changes). Those who grew narrated high points and low points with more integration than those who did not, displaying a multifaceted, complex understanding of significant episodes through a blend of both positive and negative elements within one story. These findings suggest that an integrated understanding of prosocial experiences may provide an avenue toward personal growth. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Recent advancements in research on control beliefs have enabled the assessment of inter-individual differences in its intra-individual variability via a measure of control diversity. However, past research has focused on control diversity in relation to daily stressors. Among a sample of prosocial exemplars, this experience sampling study investigates control diversity across general daily activities and explores its relationship with subjective well-being. Participants indicated the activity they were primarily involved in, the extent to which they felt in control over the situation, and levels of positive and negative affect each time they were signaled; satisfaction with life was measured using a one-time survey at the end of the study. Results from multilevel structural equation modeling suggested that control diversity did not significantly predict positive or negative affect, or satisfaction with life. The study points toward the lack of association between control diversity and subjective well-being and highlights future directions for research.

Flow theory postulates that flow experience is the most intense under high-challenge/high-skill conditions, whereas an excess of challenge is aversive. This study explores potential moderators that may offset the negative impact of overly high challenge on flow state. The literature suggests that a situational factor, teamwork, and a dispositional factor, flow proneness, may moderate the relationship between challenge and flow state. We tested these moderators with Hong Kong Chinese students whose optimal condition for experiencing flow was biased toward low-challenge/high-skill. A total of 128 participants played puzzles in three challenge levels both alone and in pairs. Although challenge level was negatively associated with flow state, dyadic (team) game (compared with solitary game) and flow proneness mitigated the negative relationship between challenge and flow state. These findings shed light on factors that promote enjoyment in challenging activities even among people in cultures that are ...

As one form of productive aging, many older adults undertake significant prosocial activity. Alongside its contribution to the welfare of others, prosocial activity has been linked to a variety of positive outcomes for those undertaking it (e.g., higher life satisfaction). However, little is known about the impact of this activity on older adults’ day-to-day lives. We studied a national sample of about 150 older adults who give back to their communities on a regular basis in one of two ways: either by playing leadership roles in social-purpose organizations or as more traditional volunteer workers in such organizations. We employed the experience sampling method to describe and compare the experience of prosocial activity during a typical week for these two groups of highly engaged adults. While prosocial activity carries both costs and rewards, these show differences as well as similarities for the two groups. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Mentoring is a prosocial behavior in which an experienced person guides someone with less experience. Elevation refers to the responses elicited when a person witnesses others upholding the highest standards of moral virtue. Three experimental studies bring these two domains together. For all three studies, participants were randomly assigned to either read a story of someone exhibiting moral excellence or to a control condition. Participants in the elevation condition reported feeling more elevated, more positive attitudes toward mentoring, less negative attitudes toward mentoring, greater intentions to become a mentor (Study 1); an increased proclivity to gather information about becoming a mentor (Study 2a); and, an increased tendency to engage in mentoring directly via submitting advice to students (Study 2b). In their totality, the current studies link another prosocial outcome with elevation and demonstrate a condition under which individuals are more likely to be motivated to become a mentor.

To investigate meaning as experienced in daily life, where it has been linked to positive events and emotions, experience-sampling data were used to examine the positive emotion of pride. Recent empirical work emphasizes self-focused, self-enhancing action (i.e. achieving) as a source of pride, but theory suggests that other-focused action (i.e. caring) is also significant. Because work and family are common sources of meaning that offer opportunities to feel pride about both achieving and caring in daily life, working parents (247 mothers and 271 fathers) were studied. Achievement experience and prosocial experience both were associated with pride. However, pride’s comparatively neglected relationship to prosocial experience was even stronger than its relationship to achievement experience, in family life and work life, for women and men. Two recognized sources of meaning – both other-oriented – were associated with experiences of intense pride: being with one’s children and working with clients.

Background: Previous research has focused on the positive consequences of flow, an intrinsically rewarding state of deep absorption. In contrast, the present research links flow to impaired risk awareness and to risky behaviour. We expected flow to enhance self-efficacy beliefs, which in turn were hypothesised to result in low risk awareness and risky behaviour in sports. In addition, we predicted that individuals' level of experience in the activity would moderate the expected effects. Methods: One study with kayakers (Study 1) and two studies with rock climbers (Studies 2 and 3) were conducted. Kayakers completed a survey while still on the river; climbers responded during and upon completion of a climb. Results: In all studies flow was related to risk awareness. Study 2 additionally showed its association with risky behaviour. Studies 2 and 3 revealed that these relationships were mediated by self-efficacy. The mediations were moderated by level of experience (Study 3). Conclusions: The results indicated that inexperienced but not experienced participants respond to self-efficacy beliefs evoked by flow with impaired risk awareness and with risky behaviour. Theoretical implications for flow and risk research as well as practical implications for risk prevention are discussed.

In well-being research the term happiness is often used as synonymous with life satisfaction. However, little is known about lay people's understanding of happiness. Building on the available literature, this study explored lay definitions of happiness across nations and cultural dimensions, analyzing their components and relationship with participants' demographic features. Participants were 2799 adults (age range = 30-60, 50% women) living in urban areas of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, and United States. They completed the Eudaimonic and Hedonic Happiness Investigation (EHHI), reporting, among other information, their own definition of happiness. Answers comprised definitions referring to a broad range of life domains, covering both the contextual-social sphere and the psychological sphere. Across countries and with little variation by age and gender, inner harmony predominated among psychological definitions, and family and social relationships among contextual definitions. Whereas relationships are widely acknowledged as basic happiness components, inner harmony is substantially neglected. Nevertheless, its cross-national primacy, together with relations, is consistent with the view of an ontological interconnectedness characterizing living systems, shared by several conceptual frameworks across disciplines and cultures. At the methodological level, these findings suggest the potential of a bottom-up, mixed method approach to contextualize psychological dimensions within culture and lay understanding., Financial support was provided to some of the authors by the University of Rijeka, Croatia (project 13.04.1.3.05); the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA; grant PD 105685) the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; the National Research Foundation of South Africa (CPRR 13092547210-91557 and RN60571-NRF IPRR-UID 85649); the Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, USA; the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020; UNAM-PAPIIT IG300415 Mexico (UID/PSI/01662/2013)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Flow is a subjective experience of high but effortless attention, loss of self-awareness, control, and enjoyment that can occur during active performance of challenging tasks. Proneness to experien ...

Flow is an experience of enjoyment, concentration, and low self-awareness that occurs during active task performance. We investigated associations between the tendency to experience flow (flow proneness), Big Five personality traits and intelligence in two samples. We hypothesized a negative relation between flow proneness and neuroticism, since negative affect could interfere with the affective component of flow. Secondly, since sustained attention is a component of flow, we tested whether flow proneness is positively related to intelligence. Sample 1 included 137 individuals who completed tests for flow proneness, intelligence, and Big Five personality. In Sample 2 (all twins; n= 2539), flow proneness and intelligence, but not personality, were measured. As hypothesized, we found a negative correlation between flow proneness and neuroticism in Sample 1. Additional exploratory analyses revealed a positive association between flow proneness and conscientiousness. There was no correlation between flow proneness and intelligence. Although significant for some comparisons, associations between intelligence and flow proneness were also very weak in Sample 2. We conclude that flow proneness is associated with personality rather than intelligence, and discuss that flow may be a state of effortless attention that relies on different mechanisms from those involved in attention during mental effort.

Flow theory postulates that people enjoy the optimal experience when challenge level of an activity matches their skill level. However, little research has extended the theory to examine the effect of challenge-skill balance on older adults’ emotional experiences. This recently completed study investigated whether older adults experienced more frequent high arousal positive(HAP) and low arousal positive(LAP) emotions in challenge-skill balanced activities. 104 younger(Mage=25.8, SD=2.76) and 93 older adults(Mage=65.0, SD=4.78) identified underchallenging(challenge-lower-than-skill), challenge-skill balanced, and overchallenging(challenge-higher-than-skill) activities that they had chosen to do in the past, and reported their typical emotions in each activity. Results were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA and paired comparison t-tests. Consistent with flow theory, both younger and older adults reported more frequent HAP and LAP emotions in challenge-skill balanced activities than in underchallenging or overchallenging activities, F(2,392)=133.42, p

Social contribution is a source of meaning and purpose, viewed as closely related but distinct aspects of flourishing. In later life, one investment of accumulated experience and available time is a dedication to social contribution. We report on an experience sampling study of meaningfulness and purpose in the daily lives of 52 nominees for the Purpose Prize, a U.S. award recognizing social contribution after age sixty. Consistent with expected overlap between experiencing meaning and enacting purpose, average levels of the two were nearly identical. They also were moderately correlated. Further, social contribution was associated with both: participants reported experiencing more meaningfulness and more purpose (p’s

One step toward the actualization of successful aging in society is to unveil the lives of older adults who are thriving and flourishing. Specifically, the knowledge of the daily lives of civic engagement exemplars may shed light on how to live well and make day-to-day contributions to society. This symposium intends to provide researchers and practitioners with insight into the momentary experiences of civic engagement exemplars and recommendations on conducting experience sampling research with both exemplary and normative older populations. The symposium reports on an experience sampling study with nominees for the Purpose Prize, a national award in the U.S. that honors successful efforts to tackle difficult social problems after the age of 60. Participants filled out short surveys in response to six random signals per day for seven days. The 52 exemplars (age range=64–84) together completed 1617 momentary reports, with 40% of reports capturing the work on their social programs. The first presentation (Finley et al.) reports that the exemplars scored higher on all momentary indicators of successful aging when engaged in social contribution compared to when they were doing something else. The second presentation (Boeder et al.) highlights the contribution of solitary civic engagement activities to the exemplars’ perceived social connectedness. The third presentation (Nakamura et al.) discusses methodological considerations related to the study of older (exemplar) population’s momentary experiences. Finally, James Emerman as the discussant concludes the symposium with the applied implications of the presentations.

This presentation discusses methodological strengths and limitations of using experience sampling methods (ESM) with an older exemplar population. As illustrated in the preceding papers and in this presentation, ESM provided rich information about the dynamics of civic engagement exemplars’ experience and the ecology of their daily lives impossible to obtain with other methods. This study was conducted despite a number of apparent barriers. For example, the sample of civic engagement exemplars was dispersed across the country, precluding person-to-person walkthroughs. In addition, although technological advances enable ESM researchers to utilize increasingly sophisticated technology for data collection, there were also concerns as to whether the participant experience would be hindered by introducing novel technology to the sample. Lessons of general interest gleaned from both researchers and participants will be discussed and methods of addressing these issues will be described.

Over the last 50 years, theoretical, speculative, and empirical scholarship has examined the influence of early family context on subsequent accomplishments in children of high ability. Building upon 40 years of creativity literature focusing on optimal experience, this exploratory study applied the Complex Family Framework in a systematic analysis of creative adults’ recollections of their early family lives. The study identifies evidence of the interplay of integration and Differentiation, a catalyst for individual optimal experience, in the families of nine creative exemplars who have made significant contributions to contemporary culture. Five participants represented the Arts and Humanities, three the Social Sciences, and one the Physical Sciences. The study demonstrates the utility of the Complex Family Framework in understanding families’ contributions to children’s later creative achievement.

This article describes the phenomenon of flow, the subjective experience of being completely absorbed in a task or activity. We provide an overview of the flow model of optimal experience and affirm the flow state's close association with intrinsic and emergent motivation. We also describe the various ways that flow has been measured, discuss the antecedents and consequences of flow within the domains of work and leisure, and identify emerging areas of flow research.

Age is a basic source of difference, conditioning what “the positive” means in human functioning. In the life-worlds of infants, children, and adolescents, the nature and conditions of optimal functioning differ in many respects. Significant differences also exist in the nature of “the positive” during emerging, young, middle, and older adulthood. Furthermore, age and the individual life periods are experienced and valued differently across cultures. In this chapter, age differences in optimal functioning are viewed through the lens of positive lifespan developmental psychology. The chapter first briefly discusses age and life period from a lifespan perspective. Subsequent sections illustrate the perspective by outlining the lifespan trajectory of three important and widely studied positive-psychology phenomena, drawn from the affective, interpersonal, and cognitive domains, respectively: well-being, romantic relationships, and wisdom.

We agree with the general thrust of Carver and Scheier’s position on self-regulation and applaud their important effort to integrate complexity models in their synthesis.

Almost 700 years ago, William of Ockham proposed his famous rule that “entities should not be increased without necessity,” thereafter known as “Ockham’s razor”. During the heyday of behavioral psychology a generation ago, it was thought that “motivation” was one of those unnecessary entities that could be deleted from scientific vocabulary. If behavior was partly a direct function of some genetic programming and partly of some stimulus-response learning, then motivation was indeed a superfluous concept.

Creativity has become such a commonly used term in the past few decades that everyone has formed an opinion about what it means, and there is no need to define it further. In this chapter, however, we are going to use the word in specific ways, so a few words of explanation may be useful to orient the reader. There are three main dichotomies we use, and if these are not clear, what follows might be confusing.

This article illustrates how creativity is constituted by forces beyond the innovating individual, drawing examples from the career of the eminent chemist Linus Pauling. From a systems perspective, a scientific theory or other product is creative only if the innovation gains the acceptance of a field of experts and so transforms the culture. In addition to this crucial selective function vis-a-vis the completed work, the social field can play a catalytic role, fostering productive interactions between person and domain throughout a career. Pauling's case yields examples of how variously the social field contributes to creativity, shaping the individual's standards of judgment and providing opportunities, incentives, and critical evaluation. A formidable set of strengths suited Pauling for his scientific achievements, but examination of his career qualifies the notion of a lone genius whose brilliance carries the day.

Flow is a psychological state of high but subjectively effortless attention that typically occurs during active performance of challenging tasks and is accompanied by a sense of automaticity, high control, low self-awareness, and enjoyment. Flow proneness is associated with traits and behaviors related to low neuroticism such as emotional stability, conscientiousness, active coping, self-esteem and life satisfaction. Little is known about the genetic architecture of flow proneness, behavioral inhibition and locus of control – traits also associated with neuroticism – and their interrelation. Here, we hypothesized that individuals low in behavioral inhibition and with an internal locus of control would be more likely to experience flow and explored the genetic and environmental architecture of the relationship between the three variables. Behavioral inhibition and locus of control was measured in a large population sample of 3,375 full twin pairs and 4,527 single twins, about 26% of whom also scored the flow proneness questionnaire. Findings revealed significant but relatively low correlations between the three traits and moderate heritability estimates of .41, .45, and .30 for flow proneness, behavioral inhibition, and locus of control, respectively, with some indication of non-additive genetic influences. For behavioral inhibition we found significant sex differences in heritability, with females showing a higher estimate including significant non-additive genetic influences, while in males the entire heritability was due to additive genetic variance. We also found a mainly genetically mediated relationship between the three traits, suggesting that individuals who are genetically predisposed to experience flow, show less behavioral inhibition (less anxious) and feel that they are in control of their own destiny (internal locus of control). We discuss that some of the genes underlying this relationship may include those influencing the function of dopaminergic neural systems.

One suggested pathway to developing life meaning and contentment in older adulthood is by achieving generativity needs during the working years via mentoring. Although theoretically linked, there is little empirical evidence supporting the work mentoring and psychosocial development relationship. The current study examines this postulated link by sampling retirees from academia, an occupational domain where the generative activity of mentoring is prevalent and has been theorized to relate to psychosocial development. A national U.S. sample of 277 emeritus academics were surveyed about their past mentoring investments and current psychosocial development (generativity achievement and ego-integrity development). Regression analyses revealed that those who identified as past mentors had greater levels of generativity achievement compared to past nonmentors. Structural equation modeling showed that, for retired mentors, past mentoring investments directly predicted generativity achievement and indirectly predicted ego-integrity development. This study expands empirical knowledge about the connections between work behaviors and psychosocial development in retirement.

J.N. Cleveland, E.A. Fleishman, Series Foreword S. Donaldson, M. Seligman, Preface Part 1. Introduction S. Donaldson, Determining What Works, if Anything, in Positive Psychology Part 2. Core Areas in Applied Positive Psychology E.Diener, K. Ryan, National Accounts of Well-Being for Public Policy B.L. Fredrickson, L.E. Kurtz, Cultivating Positive Emotions to Enhance Human Flourishing C. Peterson, N. Park, Character Strengths and Virtues: Their Role in Well-being Part 3. Applications for Improving Health, Education, and Positive Human Development S. Taylor, How Psychosocial Resources Enhance Health and Well-Being N.L. Sin, M. D. Della Porta, S. Lyubomirsky, Tailoring Positive Psychology Interventions to Treat Depressed Individuals H.H. Knoop, Education in 2025: How Positive Psychology can Revitalize Education S.J. Lopez, V.J. Calderon, Gallup Student Poll: Measuring and Promoting What is Right with Students Part 4. Improving Institutions, Organizations, and the World of Work I. Ko, S.I. Donaldson, Applied Positive Organizational Psychology: The State of the Science and Practice J.E. Dutton, L.M. Roberts, J. Bednar, Prosocial Practices, Positive Identity, and Flourishing at Work K.S. Cameron, Effects of Virtuous Leadership on Organizational Performance J. Nakamura, Contexts of Positive Adult Development Part 5. Future Directions for Applying the Science of Positive Psychology M.Csikszentmihalyi, Positive Psychology and a Positive World-View: New Hope for the Future of Humankind S. I. Donaldson, Epilogue: A Practitioner's Guide for Applying the Science of Positive Psychology

It is with a slight sense of embarrassment that we embark on this task of writing about wisdom. Although it is clearly the case that one can be immersed in a subject without claiming kinship with it—an entomologist can write about spiders without having to be one—wisdom has an alluring aura suggesting that those who dare to write about it must be to some extent also wise. We would like to relinquish any claims to that effect, at the outset, and, relieved of the burden of appearing wise, start to analyze this important and interesting phenomenon with the conceptual tools of the social sciences.

This chapter describes flow, the experience of complete absorption in the present moment, and the experiential approach to positive psychology that it represents. We summarize the model of optimal experience and development that is associated with the concept of flow, and describe several ways of measuring flow, giving particular attention to the experience sampling method. We review some of the recent research concerning the outcomes and dynamics of flow, its conditions at school and work, and interventions that have been employed to foster flow. Finally, we identify some of the promising directions for flow research moving into the future.

Appearing at the dawn of a new paradigm, this volume affords a chance to reflect about the goals of the emerging psychology of strengths, its promise, and its limits. With Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi elsewhere has discussed psychology’s long neglect of positive functioning and identified some of the key problems that a positive psychology ought to address in the coming years (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). In the present chapter, we draw on work on optimal experience and development, in particular work on creativity, to illustrate the promise of a strengths approach.

Vital engagement, an absorbing and meaningful relationship between self and world, can be found in any sphere of life. This chapter describes the general phenomenon of vital engagement in adulthood to suggest what may lie ahead for engaged youth.