Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Biographical Information

"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a professor and former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago who has devoted his life's work to the study of what makes people truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled. Mr. Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee) is chiefly renowned as the architect of the notion of flow in creativity; people enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction.

"Flow is being described as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.“ Martin E.P. Seligman, President of the American Psychological Association, describes Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on a subject that is near and dear to his heart, positive psychology. He says Csikszentmihalyi's work on improving lives has been important in his own effort to encourage psychologists to focus on building human strengths. Csikszentmihalyi is also a leading researcher on creativity. Csikszentmihalyi explored the lives of more than 90 of the world's most creative people, such as author Madeline L'Engle and scientist Jonas Salk, to find out how creativity has been a force in their lives. His findings are described in his book 'Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention' (HarperCollins, 1996). Dr. Csikszentmihalyi has published over 120 articles or chapters, and several books."

Affiliations

• Honorary Member, Club of Budapest: Members
• Advisory Council, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
• Member, General Evolution Research Group