ENGAGEMENT, CREATIVITY, PASSION AND FLOW

LAURIE PARMA, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

GETTING READY

WHAT DOES PASSION, FLOW, CREATIVITY AND ENGAGEMENT REPRESENT IN YOUR LIFE? CAN YOU IDENTIFY CORRESPONDING ACTIVITIES?

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN ABOUT IT? HOW COULD IT BE BENEFICIAL TO YOUR LIFE TO KNOW MORE?

PART 1 - ENGAGEMENT PART 2 - CREATIVITY PART 3 - PASSION PART 4 - FLOW

LET’S GO BACK TO THE DEFINITION OF WELL-BEING…

HEDONIC & EUDAEMONIC WELL-BEING

Seligman defines happiness as the combination of: Pleasure, engagement and meaning (Seligman 2002),

1) identifying pleasure as the hedonic component

2) engagement and meaning as the eudaimonic components.

PART 1 - ENGAGEMENT

THE PUZZLE OF ENGAGEMENT

THE PUZZLE OF ENGAGEMENT

MOTIVATION BACKFIRE

Simple task Problem solving

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: ENGAGEMENT WITHOUT EFFORT

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

EUDAEMONIA

THE PUZZLE OF ENGAGEMENT

94% SAID YES

Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the copy machine?

Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the copy machine because I’m in a rush?

Excuse I have 5 pages. May I use the copy machine because I have to make some copies?

60% SAID YES 93% SAID YES

THE PUZZLE OF ENGAGEMENT

SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY, MODEL FOR AN ENGAGED LIFE

the universal want to interact, be connected to, and experience caring for others

the desire to direct our own

lives

COMPETENCEAUTONOMY

RELATEDNESS

the urge to get better, or develop and master skills

ACTIVITY 1

SKETCHING PURPOSE WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACHIEVE OR WHAT CAUSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO IN THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE??

CREATIVITY PART 2

ACTIVITY 2

REFLECTION LOG - WHAT IS CREATIVITY? WHEN DO YOU EXPERIENCE IT?

CREATIVITY

DIFFERENT TYPES OF THINKING

CREATIVITY

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CREATIVITY

How many types of intelligence are there?

What are they?

CREATIVITY

TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE

CREATIVITY

ASSUMPTION CLEAN UP

CREATIVITY

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

What are the different steps of the creative process?

Can you guess how it occurs in the brain?

CREATIVITY

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

The entire creative process– from preparation to incubation to illumination to verification-- consists of many interacting cognitive processes (both conscious and unconscious) and emotions. Depending on the stage of the creative process, and what you’re actually attempting to create, different brain regions are recruited to handle the task.

CREATIVITY

PHYSIOLOGY OF CREATIVITY

Do you think there is a brain region associated with creativity? If so which one?

CREATIVITY

PHYSIOLOGY OF CREATIVE PROCESS

The Dorsal Attention / Visuospatial Network

The Language Network

CREATIVITY

CREATIVE COGNITION Three large-scale brain networks are critical to understanding the neuroscience of creativity:

Network 1: The Executive Attention NetworkNetwork 2: The Imagination Network

Network 3: The Salience Network

The key to understanding the neuroscience of creativity lies not only in knowledge of large-scale networks, but in recognizing that different patterns of neural activations and

deactivations are important at different stages of the creative process. Sometimes, it's helpful for the networks to work with each other, and sometimes such cooperation can

impede the creative process. When you want to loosen your associations, allow your mind to roam free, imagine new possibilities, and silence the inner critic, it's good to reduce activation of the Executive

Attention Network (a bit, but not completely) and increase activation of the Imagination and Salience Networks.

PART 3 - PASSION

PASSION

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASSION

HARMONIOUS PASSION OBSESSIVE PASSION

Intrinsic Joy

feel in control of the work

feel good about themselves during the activity

in harmony with other activities

Unstable and negative self concept

Uncontrollable urge to engage

conflict with other activities

PASSION

PERFORMANCE

What happens in the mind of artists who choke?

What’s the difference with those who, with similar abilities go to out perform themselves?

How would you feel faced with an unsympathetic crowd?

What if, just before performing, you feel that the tasks demands more than you can give? or are capable of giving?

PASSION

THE CHALLENGE VS THREAT MODEL

Evaluations Resources > Demands Resources < Demands

Emotions Pride/↑ self-esteem/anger Shame/anxiety/↓ self-esteem

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity

No change in CO ↑ VC ↑ TPR

Rigid, freeze, withdraw, closed posture, moving away from stimulus, defeat

Slow SNS, PNS & cortisol recovery

↑ CO (cardiac output)↑ VC (ventricle contractility)

↓ TPR (total peripheral resistance)

BehaviorOpen posture,

leaning toward approach

Recovery

Quick sympathetic nervous

CHALLENGE THREAT

PASSION

FACTORS INFLUENCING STATE

factors that influence

the evaluated demands

DANGER UNCERTAINTY

NOVELTY REQUIRED EFFORT

resources in a motivated

performance

DISPOSITIONS KNOWLEDGE AND

ABILITIES EXTERNAL SUPPORT

PASSION

DEFEND - DISCOVER AXIS

DEFEND DISCOVER

“survival circuit”, Fight or flight

Looking for threats

Imprecise

Off-lines the deliberate system

Physiological relaxation

Looking fro treats and pleasure

Keep deliberate system online

Contemplative

PART 4 - FLOW

ACTIVITY 3

1) WHAT IS AN OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE?

2) WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WORK TOWARDS YOUR PURPOSE?

FLOW AND ENGAGEMENT

WHAT IS FLOW?

flow — the optimal mental state of being completely present and fully immersed in a task. A peak state where you feel your best and perform your best.

FLOW AND ENGAGEMENT

WHAT IS FLOW?

flow — the optimal mental state of being completely present and fully immersed in a task. A peak state where you feel your best and perform your best.

FLOW AND ENGAGEMENT

STER

Selflessness (sense of self disappears)

Timelessness (hours seem like minutes, or micro-seconds can be seen in vivid detail)

Effortlessness (your tasks/mission seems much easier)

Richness (we gain insight and information in vivid detail)

FLOW AND ENGAGEMENT

COGNITIVE AND WELL-BEING BENEFITS

Increased Happiness

Increased positive emotions

Better coping

Better performance

400% increase in motivation and creativity

FLOW AND ENGAGEMENT

CAN YOU MEASURE? CAN YOU TRIGGER FLOW?

Environmental triggers

High consequences

Rich environment

Deep embodiment

Psychological triggers

intensely focused attention

Challenge skill ration

Immediate feedback

Social triggers shared, clear goals

Familiarity

Good communication

Creative triggers Pattern recognition

Risk taking

ACTIVITY 4

WHERE DO YOU GET FULFILMENT?

HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM SUCCESS?

THE ART OF FULFILMENT

DISTINCTION: SUCCESS VS FULFILMENT

Success = hit the target. Get the things you want.

Fulfillment = a feeling of satisfaction.

…is about Gratitude, Celebration and Contribution

ACTIVITY 5

NO PASSION YOU SAY??

TRIANGULATING TO FIND YOU PASSION

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step One: Make A List… of 25 things you’re curious about.

Curious? And by curious, all I really mean is that if you had a spare weekend, you’d be interested in reading a couple books on the topic and maybe having a conversation or two with an expert.

Be as absolutely specific as possible. EG food, football and punk-rock music are too vague.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step Two: Hunt for IntersectionsNow look for places where these 25 ideas intersect.

Curiosity alone is not enough to create true passion. There’s just not enough energy there. Not enough focus or commitment. Instead, you want to look for places where three or four items on your curiosity list intersect.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step Three: Play

Devote 10 or 20 minutes a day to listening to lectures, watching videos, reading articles, books, whatever, on the topic. Feed those curiosities a little bit at a time, but feed them on a daily basis.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING METHOD

Step 4: go public Why?

For starters, positive feedback from others. Thus, once you’re at this point in the process take things public. Talk to other folks. We humans are social creatures and adding social reinforcement to your passion is key.

PASSION

TRIANGULATING PASSIONS

Step Four: Turning Passion Into Purpose

write down a list of 15 massive problems you would love to see solved. (something everyone has to deal with or some of the world’s biggest problems.

Now look for places where your passion intersects with a grand, global challenge. A place where your passion is a solution to some giant problem. That linkage—now that’s purpose.