The second volume in the collected works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
covers about thirty years of Csikszentmihalyi's work on three main and
interconnected areas of study: attention, flow and positive psychology.
Describing attention as psychic energy and in the footsteps of William
James, Csikszentmihalyi explores the allocation of attention, the when
and where and the amount of attention humans pay to tasks and the role
of attention in creating 'experiences', or ordered patterns of
information. Taking into account information processing theories and
attempts at quantifying people's investment, the chapters deal with such
topics as time budgets and the development and use of the Experience
Sampling Method of collecting data on attention in everyday life.
Following the chapters on attention and reflecting Csikszentmihalyi's
branching out into sociology and anthropology, there are chapters on the
topic of adult play and leisure and connected to that, on flow, a
concept formulated and developed by Csikszentmihalyi. Flow has become a
popular concept in business and management around the world and research
on the concept continues to flourish. Finally, this volume contains
articles that stem from Csikszentmihalyi's connection with Martin
Seligman; they deal with concepts and theories, as well as with the
development and short history, of the field and the "movement" of
positive psychology.