Shoot the Canon from a Cannon – Optimistic Psychology Information

Editor’s word: This can be a very delayed article in appreciation of one of many founders of the optimistic psychology area. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi died on October 20, 2021 on the age of 87, having proposed and examined most of the concepts central to the sphere, particularly the idea of circulate.

Classes on Changing into a Scientist from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Throughout a lab dialogue about human growth, my fellow grad scholar inquired, “How [exactly] is upward striving outlined?” With out lacking a beat, our advisor quipped “That you simply wish to take the elevator.”

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi was all the time firing off one-liners like that, whilst he threw me soiled seems for my very own punnery (most likely as a result of it takes pun to know pun).

Mike was by no means huge on formalities, which is why everybody who knew him referred to as him “Mike”. However he additionally revered that my cultural background didn’t permit me to be on a first-name foundation with my advisor till I completed my doctorate. That juxtaposition of informality and acceptance of others’ culturally-inspired formality was one among many nice qualities that I admired in “Dr. Csíkszentmihályi,” as I referred to as him, and emblematic of his capacity to navigate this numerous, advanced world. A diplomat’s son, Mike grew up with a deep understanding of the rules of heterodoxy. He lived them all through his profession.

Which Thought Do You Suppose is Proper?

My first yr as a doctoral scholar was my seventh as a researcher, so I used to be no stranger to the vagaries of educational politics after I began creating concepts for impartial analysis that might complement my duties on the grant-funded initiatives of the lab. I met with Mike and Jeanne Nakamura (Mike’s doctoral scholar a few years prior, a co-founder of the lab at Claremont, and collectively my advisor) for espresso, and punctiliously laid out a set of theories I had been creating to research one thing referred to as microflow that appeared solely in just a few disparate publications. There have been three potential routes I might take for this challenge, however I used to be a bit cautious about one among them as a result of it blatantly disagreed with a few of Mike’s earlier work on the topic and had the potential to problem primary tenets of his theories.

So, I cautiously introduced the idea with a whole lot of caveats, together with it as one among many potential routes to take. Mike and Jeanne each seen what I used to be doing, and within the ensuing dialogue it got here out that I used to be involved about stepping on toes, being disrespectful by difficult my advisor’s prior work, and so forth.

Mike, nevertheless, was considering just one factor: “Which [theory] do you assume is true?”

I shyly admitted that I assumed the contradictory one was really the right one, and Mike and Jeanne instantly inspired me to work on that one, pledging their efforts to assist me convey the idea to fruition even when we discovered it contradicted the findings of the previous.

Don’t Get Too Hooked up to Your Personal Concepts

Irrespective of how established Mike’s work was, and regardless of how a lot proof there was, there was all the time loads of room for him to be unsuitable about issues. He all the time valued the variations and inspired me to be an impartial thinker, even when it meant trampling on the canon. Actually, he went as far as to chide me as soon as for being too dogmatic about his personal idea. I used to be shocked as a result of I had by no means seen a scientist so humble about his personal work that he wouldn’t let folks get hooked up to his theories. However, his admonishment stayed with me all through my analysis profession, reminding me by no means to get so enamored of an concept that I used to be unwilling to view alternate options.

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

Mike strengthened this educating over many various discussions concerning the analysis on circulate, creativity, and human growth. I keep in mind any variety of discussions the place one among us made a degree that contradicted the established view, and every time I identified that we have been successfully contradicting an earlier level, he stated the equal of “That was so final yr!”

Concepts Change Over Time

Simply because he held a selected viewpoint for many years didn’t imply he would maintain it without end, and he demonstrated repeatedly that studying his publications was so much like seeing a snapshot of his thoughts in movement. It regarded fastened solely due to the medium. It served as a continuing reminder by no means to let my considering stagnate, and to view my very own publications as an understanding of the second. That lesson stayed with me as I wrestled with the inevitable imposter syndrome of being a scientist, and helped me to jot down down my work whilst I knew that it didn’t utterly replicate my understanding of what I had found.

Look to the World of Concepts At Massive

In true dialectical vogue, Mike was additionally relatively exacting in his calls for of his college students, always pushing us to do higher and be higher, however all the time in that refined, mild manner that he had each with folks and with phrases. He needed us to transcend the boundaries of our considering, which regularly meant drilling right down to first rules and likewise treating no thought as too sacred to rebut or evolve. Respectful disagreement was a should each in seminars and within the lab, as was analyzing (nay, scrutinizing!) a number of sides of a problem of curiosity. We have been anticipated to attract upon outdoors influences, such that our work was knowledgeable not simply by the canonical sources, however by the world of concepts at massive. He inspired us all the time to hunt extra analogies and attain deeper ranges of understanding.

Have Enjoyable

In fact, there was enjoyable. We have been by no means allowed to be so damned severe that we weren’t having time, which might be why Mike randomly regarded my manner in the course of a lab assembly, nodded in the direction of the bag of soy nuts from which I used to be snacking, and requested, “Is that birdseed?”

References

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2004). Stream, the key to happiness. TED speak.

Upward striving: Wollack, S., Goodale, J. G., Wijting, J. P., & Smith, P. C. (1971). Improvement of the survey of labor values. Journal of Utilized Psychology, 55, 331–338.

First main point out of microflow after 1975: Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002, 2005). The idea of circulate. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez, Handbook of optimistic psychology, pp. 89-105.

My dissertation on microflow: Davis, O.C. (2010). Utilizing ready time effectively: Towards a idea of microflow. (Doctoral thesis, Claremont Graduate College, 2010). Thesis Abstracts Worldwide, 72, 1.

Reference to dialectics: Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Stream and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: HarperPerennial.