European inventory of
societal values of culture

Csikszentmihalyi - Creativity

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN: 978-0060171339

While the number of books on creativity and its development has continued to grow, Csikszentmihalyi's account remains among the most influential ones. While this can be partly attributed to its style, mixing the colloquial and scientific registers, thus making it accessible to general readers, the chosen approach does not compromise the scientific quality of its content. Drawing on more than 90 interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to politicians and business leaders, poets and artists, as well as his 30 years of research on the subject, Csikszentmihalyi uses his famous ‘flow’ theory to explore the creative process.

According to this theory, the distinctive characteristic of creative people is their capacity to experience ‘flow,’ described as the timeless and total involvement of individuals in the activity with which they are engaged. Such immersion in the creative process, likened to what is defined as ‘intrinsic motivation’, provides creative individuals with feelings of comfort or control. 

However, although creative people are known for valuing autonomy and independence, Csikszentmihalyi's clearly explains why creativity needs to be socially cultivated. In contrast to earlier theories, according to which creative individuals emerged from conflicted families and represented a sort of ‘tortured geniuses’, Csikszentmihalyi’s findings suggest that they had, for the most part, experienced normal childhoods and grown up in families that provided them with a solid set of values. Some of them had experienced parental loss, particularly the loss of a father, but had been influenced and inspired by other supportive adults. Likewise, those creatives who were negative about their early school experiences, experienced crucial learning elsewhere, either in college or other types of advanced training that linked them to mentors and significant teachers.