Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Wikipedia and age

April 2024 · 4 minute read

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has a Wikipedia page that contains detailed information about him. The page shares information spanning his work, awards, and personal life. He was 87 years old when he died. He was born on September 29, 1934, and died on October 20, 2021.

Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi was a Hungarian-American psychologist. He recognized and named the psychological concept of “flow,” a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity. He was the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University.

Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi was born on September 29, 1934, in Fiume, now known as Rijeka, then part of the Kingdom of Italy. His family name derives from the village of Csíkszentmihály in Transylvania. He was the third son of a career diplomat at the Hungarian Consulate in Fiume.

In 1944, when Csikszentmihalyi was ten years old, one of his two older half-brothers was killed in the Siege of Budapest, and the other, Moricz, was sent to labor camps in Siberia by the Soviets. Decades later, Mihaly and Moricz were reunited in Budapest.

His father was appointed Hungarian Ambassador to Italy shortly after the Second World War, moving the family to Rome. When Communists took over Hungary in 1949, Csikszentmihalyi’s father resigned rather than choosing to work for the regime. The Communist regime responded by expelling his father and stripping the family of their Hungarian citizenship.

To earn a living, his father opened a restaurant in Rome, and Csikszentmihalyi dropped out of school to help with the family income. At this time, the young Csikszentmihalyi, then traveling in Switzerland, saw Carl Jung give a talk on the psychology of UFO sightings.

Csikszentmihalyi emigrated to the United States at the age of 22, working nights to support himself while studying at the University of Chicago. He received a B.A. in 1959 and a Ph.D. in 1965, both from UChicago. He then taught at Lake Forest College before becoming a professor at UChicago in 1969.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi career

Csikszentmihalyi was noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world’s leading researcher on positive psychology.

Csikszentmihalyi once said, “Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are, by necessity, diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason.” His works are influential and are widely cited.

In his seminal work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csíkszentmihályi outlined his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow—a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The flow state is colloquially known as being in the zone or in the groove.

It is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what they are doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfilment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.

In an interview with Wired magazine, Csíkszentmihályi described flow 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. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Wikipedia and age

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s notable achievements and personal background are extensively documented on his Wikipedia page, offering comprehensive insights into his professional endeavours, accolades, and personal life. Regrettably, he passed away at the age of 87 on October 20, 2021, having been born on September 29, 1934.

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