NOTES ■ 253
the picture in their heads, which has no chance to grow and develop.
But to be successful in his open-ended process of creation, the original
artist must have well-internalized criteria for what is good art, so that
he can choose or discard the right elements in the developing painting
(Getzels & Csikszentmihalyi 1976).
56 Surgery as a flow experience is described in Csikszentmihalyi (1975,
1985b).
57 Exceptional sensitivities. The commonsense impression that different
children have a facility for developing different talents, some having an
affinity for physical movement, others for music, or languages, or for
getting along with other people, has recently been formalized in a theory
of “multiple intelligences” by Howard Gardner (1983). Gardner and his
collaborators at Harvard are now at work developing a comprehensive
testing battery for each of the seven major dimensions of intelligence he
has identified.
The importance of feedback for the blind is reported in Massimini,
Csikszentmihalyi, & Delle Fave (1988, pp. 79-80).
58 “It is as if.. .” is from Csikszentmihalyi (1975, p. 40).
58— “The court.. .” and “Kids my age.. .” are from Qsikszentmihalyi
59 (1975, pp. 40-41); “When you’re [climbing].. .” is from ibid., p. 81,
and “I get a feeling ..from ibid., p. 4 1. “But no matter how many
...” is from Crealock (1951, pp. 99-100), quoted in Macbeth (1988, pp.
221—22). The quotation from Edwin Moses is in Johnson (1988, p. 6 ).
59- “A strong relaxation.. .” and “... I have a general feeling.. .”
60 are from Csikszentmihalyi (1975, pp. 44, 45).
60 The attraction of risk and danger has been extensively studied by
Marvin Zuckerman (1979), who identified the “sensation seeking” per
sonality trait. A more popular treatment of the subject is the recent book
by Ralph Keyes (1985).
61 One of the earliest psychological studies of gambling is the one by
Kusyszyn (1977). That games of chance have developed from the divina-
tory aspects of religious ceremonials has been argued by Culin (1906, pp.
32, 37, 43), David (1962), and Huizinga (1939 [1970]).
62 Morphy and Fischer. The similarity between the careers of these two
chess champions who lived a century apart is indeed striking. Paul
Charles Morphy (1837-84) became a chess master in his early teens;
when he was 22 years old he traveled to Europe, where he beat everyone
who dared to play against him. After he returned to New York potential
competitors thought he was too good, and were afraid to play him even
at favorable odds. Deprived of his only source of flow, Morphy became
i
