Flow and Individual Differences – A Phenotypic Analysis of Data from More than 10,000 Twin Individuals

Abstract

Earlier studies suggest that individual differences in flow experiences depend on both situational variables, e.g. the environmental opportunities to engage in flow promoting activities, and personal traits. Here, we present results of phenotypic analyses of associations between flow proneness and five major modalities of individual differences, i.e. personality, cognitive abilities, motivation, emotional competence (alexithymia) and performance on chronometric tasks. The data was collected using self-report questionnaires in a cohort of more than 10,000 Swedish twin individuals. The aim of the study was partly exploratory, but we also addressed three specific hypotheses suggested by earlier literature, i.e. that flow proneness is (i) correlated with personality, specifically with traits reflecting emotional stability (low neuroticism) and conscientiousness; (ii) unrelated to cognitive ability; and (iii) correlated with trait intrinsic motivation. The results confirmed all three hypotheses. Additional main findings were that flow proneness is related to extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, low schizotypy, and emotional competence (low alexithymia). Sex differences in flow proneness were mostly negligible, but flow proneness increased weakly with age. In summary, individual differences in flow proneness show substantial relations to personality related traits but appear essentially independent of cognitive abilities. We conclude that the results taken together support the notion of flow proneness being related to an autotelic personality, and discuss the potential implication of relations between the observed correlates of flow proneness and outcomes related to health and well-being.