Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Essential Antecedents of Flow Experiences: Perceived Meaningfulness of the Activity as Crucial Factor

心流体验是一种以各种体验成分同时发生为特征的状态，特别是高度的内在动机和强烈的控制感，这经常与幸福感的增加有关。因此，确定影响这种状态发生的因素是有趣和重要的。流动发生在个人技能与情景需求相匹配的活动期间的假设得到了广泛支持。此外，已经确定了对心流体验有益或有害的人格特征。在本项目中，我们将重点放在活动的特定特征上，并检查其在心流体验的出现中的作用。我们的初步研究提供了证据，证明归因于一项活动的感知意义对心流体验有实质性的影响。根据工作心理学的定义，我们将感知意义理解为一个人(在工作场所)所做的事情具有个人意义的主观体验。在两项初步研究中，我们发现心流体验与感知意义之间存在正相关。当我们考虑到(A)心流体验的中心决定因素(即，技能和需求之间的感知匹配)，(B)基本人格特征，(C)不同背景下的活动(例如，工作和休闲)，以及(D)日常生活中的生态有效测量时，这种相关性仍然很强。这些发现将在下面描述的研究计划中进一步探索，该计划旨在复制我们之前的发现，并通过实验和纵向研究补充这些发现，以阐明感知的意义可能对心流体验的出现起到的因果作用。此外，我们拓宽了对因变量的视角，除了自我报告的流动测量外，还包括基于行为的内在动机指标。这个项目提供了测试一个因素的机会，这个因素已经在各种激励理论中被考虑到了，在心流的背景下。除了Csikszentmihalyi(1975)流动模型的理论发展，我们的研究项目还提供了机会，为提高流动体验和幸福感的干预提供新的起点。

Flow experience is a state characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of various experiential components, particularly a high degree of intrinsic motivation and a strong sense of control, which has been frequently associated with increased well-being. Accordingly, it is interesting and important to identify factors that influence the occurrence of this state. The assumption that flow occurs during activities in which individual skills match situational demands has been widely supported. Furthermore, personality traits have been identified that are beneficial or detrimental to the experience of flow. In the present project, we focus on a specific characteristic of the activity and examine its role in the emergence of the flow experience. Our preliminary studies provided evidence that the perceived meaningfulness attributed to an activity has a substantial impact on the flow experience. Following work psychology’s definition, we understand perceived meaningfulness as the subjective experience that what one is doing (at the workplace) has personal significance. In two preliminary studies, we found a positive correlation between flow experience and perceived meaningfulness. This correlation remains robust when we account for (a) the central determinant of flow experience (i.e., the perceived fit between skills and demands), (b) basic personality traits, (c) activities from different contexts (e.g. work and leisure), and (d) ecologically valid measurements in everyday life. These findings will be further explored in the research program described below, which is designed to replicate our previous findings and to complement them with experimental and longitudinal studies to shed light on the causal role that perceived meaningfulness might possibly play for the emergence of flow experiences. In addition, we broaden the perspective on the dependent variable by including behavior-based indicators of intrinsic motivation in addition to self-report measures of flow. This project offers the chance to test a factor that is already considered in various motivational theories in the context of flow. In addition to a theoretical development of Csikszentmihalyi's (1975) flow model, which is now almost fifty years old, our research project also offers the opportunity to provide new starting points for interventions to enhance flow experience and well-being.