Nonlinear Dynamics of Motivational Flow

Motivational flow is the experience of intrinsic motivation, which is in turn the result of the levels of challenge and skill involvement for a particular task. The level of flow is predictive of the amount of time a person will spend in that task, and it is thought to form a basis for an individual's time allocation between occupational and leisure activities. In this study, 28 university students, many of whom were employed, completed a 7-day log of their daily activities, their duration, and provided ratings of the level of skills and challenges inherent in the task. The logs provided a time series of several hundred points for each participant, which were each subjected to nonlinear dynamical analysis through nonlinear regression. Principal results were: (1) Flow was chaotic for all subjects. (2) The average R2for the nonlinear models was .22, compared to .02 for the linear counterpart. (3) R2was higher for people who spent more time at paying jobs. Evidence for individual differences in dynamical character were uncovered.

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