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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
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Flow and Regulatory Compatibility: An Experimental Approach to the Flow Model of Intrinsic Motivation

Johannes Keller

Université Catholique de Louvain and University of Mannheim, jkeller{at}uni-mannheim.de

Herbert Bless

University of Mannheim

The authors propose that the experience of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) as reflected in the deep involvement in an activity perceived as intrinsically rewarding represents a regulatory compatibility experience. The research addresses the notion that the compatibility of critical person (e.g., skills) and environmental factors (e.g., demands) involved in a given activity elicits subjective experiences that render the respective activity rewarding. Two studies are reported that investigate the consequences of compatibility of skills and task demands during task engagement. Departing from correlational research, the present studies employ a newly developed experimental paradigm to document the causal impact of such a skills/demands compatibility on the emergence of flow. Experiment 2 revealed that individuals characterized by a strong habitual action-orientation were most sensitive to the manipulation of the skills—demands compatibility.

Key Words: action-orientation • flow experience • intrinsic motivation • regulatory compatibility

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 2, 196-209 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167207310026
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