How to think flow differently? Theoretical proposals for individual and collective flow.

Flow is one of the most extensively studied topics in positive psychology. Traditionally, the flow has been defined as the optimal experience of an autotelic activity marked by maximal concentration. It has been characterized by: balance between skills and challenges, clear proximal goals and perceived skills, clear proximal goals, immediate feedback, attentional-involvement, intrinsic motivation, hyper focus, temporary loss of reflective self-awareness, distortion of time perception, feeling of control, and merging of action and awareness. There is an extensive applied research on how flow impacts different aspects of human activity (education, sports, arts, etc.). In this respect, our first aim is to build a theoretical model of individual flow anchored in this extensive literature. Herein, a new theory is proposed: The Flow-Surfing Model for individual flow. Using the process model as framework, and focusing on the dimensions of flow already described in literature, we have built a dynamic model of flow. We consider these theoretical suggestions and their implications for the study of flow. Our second aim is to theoretically build and clarify the model of collective flow. There has been extremely little research about the flow in group-like, team-based, collective or interdependent activities. Instead of treating it as an aggregate of all individual flows of group members, we define collective flow as an optimal experience of the entire group, the cohesive collective unit. Inspired by two socio-psychological theories (the theory of self-categorisation and the theory of action identification), we present the Flow Rowing Model. Our conclusion is that individual flow and collective flow are qualitatively two distinct things, that they resemble processes rather than states, and that they are dynamic. These two models attempt to clarify the functioning of flow while providing an ongoing theoretical framework for future empirical research.