- Title
- Humour, anxiety, and Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow
- Creator
- Meany, Michael
- Relation
- 3rd Global Conference: Creative Engagements, Thinking with Children. 3rd Global Conference : Creative Engagements, Thinking with Children. Conference Program, Abstracts and Papers (Sydney 9-11 February, 2007) p. 1-9
- Relation
- http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/education/creative-engagements-thinking-with-children/project-archives/3rd/
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2007
- Description
- Csikszentmihalyi's concept of Flow suggests that the autotelic experience occurs when the skill level of the individual matches the challenge presented by a task or goal. An imbalance of skill and challenge leads to either a state of boredom (too much skill and/or too little challenge) or to a state of anxiety (too little skill and/or too much challenge). The state of anxiety is also a key feature of comedy and humour. Peter Waldeck argues, like Freud, that the psychological value of humour is the reduction of anxiety. Where they differ is that Waldeck argues that the comic experience is closely linked with the reduction of low level anxiety where elevated levels of anxiety greatly impair the ability to appreciate humour. The relationship between humour and anxiety is a useful instrument for the writer attempting to construct a comedy using the common structures of comedy; repetitions; inversions; and, the reciprocal interference of series. The focus of anxiety needs to be alluded to and then discharged. Through comic moments of superiority/inferiority, humane comedy, reality denial, verbal wit, and incongruity, anxiety can be discharged to humorous effect. This paper examines the association between anxiety and humour in relation to the concept of flow. Can the autotelic experience be achieved by a reduction in anxiety brought about by humour? Can we laugh ourselves into flow?
- Subject
- humour; anxiety; creativity; flow; autotelic experience
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/35455
- Identifier
- uon:3947
- Language
- eng
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