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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi a Hungarian by blood and was born in Fiume, Italy in 29 September 1934 and grew up in Europe during world war II between the ages of 7-10. As a teenager Dr. Csikszentmihalyi tried to read philosophy, learn religion, and take on forms of art to try to find an answer to how people affected by the war were able to withstand the tragedies that they had witnessed; and how they could even try to live normal lives. Csikszentmihalyi claims to have come upon psychology while at a ski resort in Switzerland. At the time the snow at the resort had melted so he couldn’t ski, and he was too poor to go to a movie. Instead he found a free presentation in Zurich on flying saucers. Csikszentmihalyi was intrigued by the presentation in Zurich and began reading books by Kyle Young before immigrating to the United States in 1952. While studying psychology in the U.S. Csikszentmihalyi started trying to understand the roots of happiness and the results of people being happy. Csikszentmihalyi began looking at creative people/artists, and tried to understand what makes them feel happy even though what they were doing didn’t exactly mean they would become rich or famous from it. He is known for his study of happiness and creativity , but he is best known for his years of research on study of flow. He is described by former the president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman as the world’s leading researcher on positive psychology. Professor Csikszentmihalyi once said "Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only

through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason." His works are influential and are often cited. Csikszentmihalyi is the former head of the department of psychology at he University of Chicago

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