Proneness for psychological flow in everyday life: Associations with personality and intelligence

Flow is an experience of enjoyment, concentration, and low self-awareness that occurs during active task performance. We investigated associations between the tendency to experience flow (flow proneness), Big Five personality traits and intelligence in two samples. We hypothesized a negative relation between flow proneness and neuroticism, since negative affect could interfere with the affective component of flow. Secondly, since sustained attention is a component of flow, we tested whether flow proneness is positively related to intelligence. Sample 1 included 137 individuals who completed tests for flow proneness, intelligence, and Big Five personality. In Sample 2 (all twins; n = 2539), flow proneness and intelligence, but not personality, were measured. As hypothesized, we found a negative correlation between flow proneness and neuroticism in Sample 1. Additional exploratory analyses revealed a positive association between flow proneness and conscientiousness. There was no correlation between flow proneness and intelligence. Although significant for some comparisons, associations between intelligence and flow proneness were also very weak in Sample 2. We conclude that flow proneness is associated with personality rather than intelligence, and discuss that flow may be a state of effortless attention that relies on different mechanisms from those involved in attention during mental effort.

► Flow proneness is associated with low neuroticism and high conscientiousness.
► Associations between flow proneness and intelligence are weak.
► The mechanisms underlying flow and attention during mental effort may differ.