Flow on the rocks : motive - incentive congruence enhances flow in rock climbing

Flow is a state of optimal experience in which people get fully absorbed by a smoothly running activity that they pursue for the sake of it. Based on the classical approach to motivation, recent theoretical considerations suggest that incentives provided by the current activity that are congruent with one’s implicit motives will lead to flow. In a field experiment, we examined wall climbers’ achievement motive and compared their flow on four climbing routes with varying achievement incentive strengths. Only climbers with a high achievement motive experienced more flow after repeating an intra-individually skill exceeding route, which they had failed before. Performing better was a strong achievement incentive. The findings suggest that motive incentive congruence is another important precondition for flow. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7352/IJSP.2014.45.603 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-104469 Accepted Version Originally published at: Schattke, Kaspar; Brandstätter, Veronika; Taylor, Geneviève; Kehr, Hugo M (2014). Flow on the rocks : motive-incentive congruence enhances flow in rock climbing. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 45(6):603-620. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7352/IJSP.2014.45.603 Motive-incentive congruence enhances flow 1 Running head: MOTIVE-INCENTIVECONGRUENCE ENHANCES FLOW 1 2 Flow on the Rocks: 3 Motive-Incentive Congruence Enhances Flow in Rock Climbing 4 Kaspar Schattke 5 Technische Universität München, Lehrstuhl für Psychologie, Lothstraße 17, D-80335 München, 6 Germany, Email: [email protected] 7 Veronika Brandstätter 8 University of Zurich, Allgemeine Psychologie (Motivation), Binzmühlestrasse 14 / Box 6, CH9 8050 Zürich, Switzerland, Email: [email protected] 10 Geneviève Taylor 11 Université du Québec à Montréal, Département d’éducation et de pédagogie, C.P. 8888 Succ. 12 Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada, Email: [email protected] 13 Hugo M. Kehr 14 Technische Universität München, Lehrstuhl für Psychologie, Lothstraße 17, D-80335 München, 15 Germany, Email: [email protected] 16 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kaspar Schattke, now at 17 Management Department of John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, 1455 de 18 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8, Telephone: +1-514-848-2424 ext. 19 2912, Fax: +1-514-848-4292, Email: [email protected] 20 Accepted on June 24, 2014 in the special issue “Building Bridges between Motivation 21 and Self-Regulation in Sport, Exercise, and Physical Education” of the International Journal of 22 Sport Psychology. 23