When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Csikszentmihalyi once said: 'Repression is not the way to virtue. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology. Work Ĭsikszentmihalyi 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. He then taught at Lake Forest College, before becoming a professor at the University of Chicago in 1969. in 1965, both from the University of Chicago. Ĭsikszentmihalyi emigrated to the United States at the age of 22, working nights to support himself while studying at the University of Chicago. At this time, the young Csikszentmihalyi, then travelling in Switzerland, saw Carl Jung give a talk on the psychology of UFO sightings. To earn a living, his father opened a restaurant in Rome, and Csikszentmihalyi dropped out of school to help with the family income. The Communist regime responded by expelling his father and stripping the family of their Hungarian citizenship. When Communists took over Hungary in 1949, Csikszentmihalyi's father resigned rather than choosing to work for the regime. His father was appointed Hungarian Ambassador to Italy shortly after the Second World War, moving the family to Rome.

Decades later Mihaly and Moricz were re-united in Budapest. In 1944, when Mihalyi 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. He was the third son of a career diplomat at the Hungarian Consulate in Fiume. His family name derives from the village of Csíkszentmihály in Transylvania. Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi was born on 29 September 1934 in Fiume, now known as Rijeka, then part of the Kingdom of Italy. He was also the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College. He was the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He recognized and named the psychological concept of ' flow', a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity. Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi ( / ˈ m iː h aɪ ˈ tʃ iː k s ɛ n t m iː ˌ h ɑː j iː/, Hungarian: Csíkszentmihályi Mihály Róbert, pronounced ( listen) 29 September 1934 – 20 October 2021) was a Hungarian-American psychologist. Artistic problems and their solutions an exploration of creativity in the arts.

Csikszentmihalyi creativity