ABSTRACT
Enjoyment is considered to play a pivotal role in well-being (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1982, 1991, 1993; Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). In a pioneering study, Csikszentmihalyi (1975) set out to understand enjoyment in its own terms and to describe what characteristics make an activity enjoyable. Recognizing that enjoyment is an important but neglected aspect of human motivation, Csikszentmihalyi and colleagues conducted a series of studies of everyday life to ‘describe as analytically and objectively as possible, the experience of enjoyment and the structural contexts in which it occurs’ (p. xi). The goal of the study was ‘to begin exploring activities that appear to contain rewards within themselves that do not rely on scarce material incentives –in other words, activities that are ecologically sound’ (p. 5). For this reason the researchers started to look closely at such things as rock climbing, dance, chess and basketball. They also studied occupations which they considered one would expect to find enjoyable, including composers of music, surgeons and teachers. By understanding what makes particular leisure activities and satisfying jobs enjoyable it was hoped to be able to learn how to improve quality of life and decrease dependence on extrinsic rewards, such as money, power and prestige. The initial approach to the study was to contact people engaged in activities which required considerable commitment and energy but which provided few conventional rewards (autotelic activities), and ask them why they were performing these activities. Creative professionals, artists and athletes were also asked to describe the best times experienced in their favourite activities. The research concluded that the crucial component of enjoyment was the flow experience. A model of flow processes was developed to describe the common structure of activities that are experienced as enjoyable.
