Relationships between High Ability (Gifted) and Flow in Music Performers: Pilot Study Results

Laura Moral-Bofill, Andrés López de la Llave and María Carmen Pérez-Llantada
Additional contact information
Laura Moral-Bofill: Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, The National Distance Education University (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Andrés López de la Llave: Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, The National Distance Education University (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain
María Carmen Pérez-Llantada: Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, The National Distance Education University (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Flow state is a positive mental state during which people are highly motivated and absorbed in their activity. This construct has been linked to the creative personality. Creative people differ from each other, but what they share is that they love what they do due to the pure pleasure they derive from their activity. We studied the possible relationship between people with high ability (HA) who dedicate themselves to music (students or professionals) and the flow state that occurs while they are engaged in musical activities (concert or informal event). The “Flow State for Musical Performers” ( Estado de Fluidez para Intérpretes Musicales —EFIM) was used in this study. The scores of musicians with HA were compared with those of musicians who are not identified as HA. The study used a sample of 101 Spanish people (HA 28.7%, general population 71.3%). No significant statistical differences were identified in any of the EFIM subscales, except regarding the Loss of Self-Consciousness. This suggests a relationship between HA and the experience of flow, particularly with regard to loss of self-consciousness, but also with characteristics of the creative personality (capacity for enjoyment, attention and learning). Limitations of the study and future lines of research are presented.

Keywords: high ability; creativity; flow; attention; music (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4289/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4289/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:10:p:4289-:d:362267

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().