An Autotelic personality...

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¹ Important Note

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (“Mee-High Chick-Sent-Mee-High”). R.I.P.

This section is based upon Csikszentmihalyi’s work on “Flow”…

Detailed Flow discussion

The Autotelic Personality

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes people who are internally driven, and who as such may exhibit a sense of purpose and curiosity, as autotelic. This is different from being externally driven, in which case things such as comfort, money, power, or fame are the motivating force. Csikszentmihalyi writes:

“An autotelic person needs few material possessions and little entertainment, comfort, power, or fame because so much of what he or she does is already rewarding. Because such persons experience flow in work, in family life, when interacting with people, when eating, even when alone with nothing to do, they depend less on external rewards that keep others motivated to go on with a life of routines”

“They are more autonomous and independent because they cannot be as easily manipulated with threats or rewards from the outside. At the same time, they are more involved with everything around them because they are fully immersed in the current of life”    (Csikszentmihalyi 2008)    (DHRF’s emphasis)

Learning Resources: Flow

DH’s comments

I found this part of Csikszentmialyi’s book very inspiring and upon reflection, I realised that I was an “autotelic person” and I had employed similar adversity flow techniques when I found myself an “unwilling guest” at a boarding school for naughty boys near Gloucester in the late ’60s

References:

Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2008. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Collins Publ. USA.