NOTES ■ 267134- The four quotations from Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific
135 Revolutions (1962) are from pages 24, 38, 38, and 36, respectively. One
of the most exciting promises of flow theory is that it may help explain
why certain ideas, practices, and products are adopted, while others are
ignored or forgotten—since at this point the histories of ideas, institu
tions, and cultures work almost exclusively within a paradigm informed
by economic determinism. In addition, it might be revealing to consider
how history is directed by the enjoyment people derive or anticipate
from different courses of action. A beginning in that direction is Isabella
Csikszentmihalyi’s analysis of the reasons for the success of the Jesuit
order in the 16th and 17th centuries (1988).
136 Breakthroughs. It would go against the central message of this book
to claim that the flow experience is “good for you” in the sense that it
helps people achieve scientific or any other kind of success. It needs to
be stressed again and again that what counts is the quality of experience
flow provides, and that this is more important for achieving happiness
than riches or fame. At the same time, it would be disingenuous to
ignore the fact that successful people tend to enjoy what they do to an
unusual extent. This may indicate that people who enjoy what they are
doing will do a good job of it (although, as we know, correlation does
not imply causation). A long time ago, Maurice Schlick (1934) pointed
out how important enjoyment was in sustaining scientific creativity. In
an interesting recent study, B. Eugene Griessman interviewed a pot
pourri of high achievers ranging from Francis H. C. Crick, the codiscov
erer of the double helix, to Hank Aaron, Julie Andrews, and Ted
Turner. Fifteen of these celebrities completed a questionnaire in which
they rated the importance of thirty-three personal characteristics, such
as creativity, competence, and breadth of knowledge, in terms of helping
them achieve success. The item most strongly endorsed (for an average
of 9.86 on a 10-point scale) was enjoyment of work (Griessman 1987,
pp. 294-95).
Another indication of how flow may be linked to success is sug
gested by the work of Larson (1985, 1988). In a study of high school
juniors writing a month-long assignment, he found that the students
who were bored wrote essays expert English teachers found boring,
students who were anxious wrote disconnected essays that were confus
ing to read, whereas students who enjoyed the writing task created essays
that were enjoyable to read—this controlling for differences in intelli
gence or ability among the students. The obvious suggestion is that a
person who experiences flow in an activity will end up with a product
that others will find more valuable.The interview with the wife of Susumu Tonegawa appeared in USA
Today (Oct. 13, 1987, p. 2A).