Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was a Hungarian-American psychologist renowned for his work on happiness and creativity. He is best known for identifying and naming the concept of "flow", a mental state of deep concentration and immersion.

Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi was born on 29 September 1934 in Fiume, then part of the Kingdom of Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia). His father, a Hungarian diplomat, moved the family to Rome after the Second World War. In 1949, when the communist regime took over Hungary, his father resigned from his post, and the family lost their Hungarian citizenship. To support his family, Csikszentmihalyi worked in his father's restaurant in Rome and later attended a lecture by Carl Jung in Switzerland, which sparked his interest in psychology.

In 1956, at 22, Csikszentmihalyi immigrated to the United States. He earned a B.A. in 1959 and a Ph.D. in 1965 from the University of Chicago. He began teaching at Lake Forest College and became a professor at the University of Chicago in 1969.

Csikszentmihalyi's research focused on optimal human experience. His seminal work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990), introduced the concept of "flow". He described it as a state in which an individual is completely absorbed in an activity, losing awareness of time and self. In his words: "The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought inevitably follows the previous one.

Csikszentmihalyi outlined nine key components to achieving flow: a balance between challenge and skill, clarity of purpose, and loss of self-consciousness. He also explored the "autotelic personality," characterised by individuals who find intrinsic joy in challenging experiences.

His notable works include Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996) and Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (1997). He has received numerous awards for his contributions to psychology, including the Széchenyi Prize (2011) and the Hungarian Order of Merit (2014).

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi married Isabella Selega in 1961. They had two sons, Christopher and Mark. He died on 20 October 2021 in Claremont, California, at the age of 87.