Antonella Delle Fave

Quality of Experience and Risk Perception in High-Altitude Rock Climbing

Six climbers were monitored during an expedition in the Himalaya, comprising 13 days of traveling and 26 days of mountaineering. The aim was the investigation of the quality of experienceand risk perception associated with high-altitude rock climbing. By means of experience sampling method, participants provided on-line repeated self-reports about activities carriedout, and the associated quality of the experience, in terms of mood, intrinsic motivation, potency, confidence, engagement, and risk assessment. The experience fluctuation model wasapplied to identify experiential profiles on the basis of the perception of environmental challenges and personal skills. When both challenges and skills were positive, flow experience wasreported. In particular, we found that the opportunity for experiencing flow can motivate climbers to take part in a risky expedition. The results showed that risk played a minor role in climbing,in line with a goal-directed approach to risk seeking. These findings have two implications: (a) Studies on motivation in sport should distinguish between risk and search for challenges andopportunities for action, especially in dealing with extreme sports; (b) In the recreational domain, outdoor programs, among other things, should aim at providing opportunities for flowand personal development.

Academic Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Quality of Experience in Learning.

This study investigated learning activities and associated quality of experience of students with different levels of perceived academic self-efficacy. Two groups were formed out of 130 Italian adolescents (age 15–19), one with high and one with low academic self-efficacy beliefs (31 and 32 participants, respectively). Students provided valuation of academic pursuits and aspirations, and were monitored for one week with experience sampling method (ESM). Attention was paid to the association of learning activities with optimal experience, characterized by high perceived environmental challenges matched by high personal skills, involvement, concentration and intrinsic reward. High self-efficacy students reported higher academic aspirations and pursuits than low self-efficacy students. They also spent more time in homework, and primarily associated learning activities with optimal experience. Results have educational implications in fostering motivation and enjoyment in learning. They also provide empirical support for the combination of self-efficacy beliefs and quality of experience in motivational research.

The contribution of diversity to happiness research

The significant contributions of Kashdan and Colleagues, and Waterman are acknowledged and some suggestions are brought forward. In particular, qualitative studies, and a cross-cultural perspective taking into account non-Western traditions are needed to disentangle happiness and related constructs. Moreover, the importance of contextualizing the eudaimonic construct of optimal experience within the framework of psychological selection is highlighted.

Sharing optimal experiences and promoting good community life in a multicultural society

This study focused on immigrants’ quality of daily experience, sources of well-being and future expectations. Theoretical frameworks were research on cross-cultural adaptation and studies on optimal experience. Participants were 159 first-generation immigrants, who moved to Italy from Africa, India, South America, and Eastern Europe. Data were collected through Flow Questionnaire and Life Theme Questionnaire, providing information on optimal experience and associated activities, present challenges and future goals, and on the quality of experience perceived in daily life domains. Results showed that the occurrence of optimal experiences and the features of the associated activities, as well as perceived challenges and goals were primarily connected with the life opportunities offered by the hosting country, along with participants’ cultural distance and length of stay. This suggests that information on optimal experiences, perceived quality of daily life and future goals can be useful in designing programs to support immigrants’ psychological well-being and socio-cultural adjustment.

Sources and motives for personal meaning in adulthood

This study examined sources and motives for personal meaning in adulthood using a mixed methods approach. Participants (N = 666) from seven Western countries reported sources of life meaning, and why they were meaningful. They rated their perceived meaningfulness of 10 life domains and completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Family and personal life – indicating personal growth, well-being, harmony and self-actualization – emerged as main sources of meaning. Personal life, referring mainly to self-transcendent values, was the prominent motive underlying sources of meaning. Participants grouped according to age and family role revealed life stage differences in meaningfulness across domains. Hierarchical regressions indicated meaningfulness was not a significant predictor of life satisfaction, confirming that hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions are distinct components of well-being. Findings elucidate the importance of self-generated accounts of meaning as these blend personal, self-transcendent and demographic factors and offer insight not typically provided by standardized surveys.

Individual Development and Community Empowerment: Suggestions from Studies on Optimal Experience

In the social and behavioural sciences, the concepts of selection and adaptation have been fruitfully applied to the analysis of human behaviour. While most researchers agree that humans are bio-cultural entities, theoretical approaches differ in their emphasis on the role and relevance of natural selection (Barkow et al. 1992), cultural pressures, or the interaction between the two systems in influencing human behaviour (Durham 1991; Richerson and Boyd 2005). The aim of this chapter is to emphasize the role of individuals as active agents in shaping their cultural environment and in promoting its complexity. From this perspective, attention will be paid to psychological selection, that is the individual processing of bio-cultural information (Csikszentmihalyi and Massimini 1985), and to its potential in fostering personal growth and culture empowerment.

Coping with Boundaries: The Quality of Daily Experience of Rom Nomads in Europe

In the globalisation process, the social organisation of sedentary cultures represents the uni versal model. Few nomadic communities resist this trend, facing difficulties in survival and intercultural relations. To analyse the daily life and future expectations of these populations from the individual perspective, 60 Rom people living in Italy were administered Flow Questionnaire and Life Theme Questionnaire. These instruments investigate the quality of experience in daily life, particularly focusing on optimal experiences, characterised by engage ment, intrinsic motivation, and skill development. The joint family emerged as the main source of optimal experiences in daily life of Rom participants. The constraints of semi- sedentary lifestyle, and the integration problems due to cultural differences were also high ligbted. Results suggested that the experience associated with daily contexts should be taken into account in projects with minority communities, to design programmes promoting the perception of opportunities for optimal experiences and development in a foreign environ ment.

Impact of extreme weather conditions on high-altitude climbers' goals and quality of experience.

Abstract Goal setting and quality of experience play a key role in sustaining motivation during climbing expeditions. This study investigated these dimensions during a Himalayan expedition affected by prolonged weather emergency preventing climbers from reaching the peak. For one month, six climbers were monitored through experience sampling method (ESM), providing real-time information on their activities, goals and associated experience. Results showed that both quality of experience and goals varied significantly according to weather conditions. Goals were broadly focused on mountaineering, allowing climbers to retrieve opportunities for action even after failure to reach the peak. Optimal experience or flow was prominently reported before and after weather emergency, whereas apathy prevailed during it. Implications for promoting enjoyment and safety in recreational climbing are discussed.

Hedonism and Eudaimonism in Positive Psychology

Positive psychology aims at catalyzing a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities. A key interest of positive psychology is the analysis of happiness which has been broadly defined according to two opposing philosophical traditions: hedonism and eudaimonism. The hedonic view equates happiness with pleasure, comfort, and enjoyment, whereas the eudaimonic view equates happiness with the human ability to pursue complex goals which are meaningful to the individual and society. Besides analyzing the antecedents, correlates and consequences that happiness entails for human well-being at the individual and community levels, recent trends in positive psychology call for the integration of the hedonic and eudaimonic views into a global theory of human well-being, and stress the need to adopt a cross-cultural perspective on happiness which would take into account a world-wide concept of a life worth living.

Religion, Spirituality, and Well-Being Across Nations: The Eudaemonic and Hedonic Happiness Investigation

The aim of this chapter was to explore perceived happiness and meaningfulness experienced by 666 adults in the spirituality/religiousness life domain across seven Western countries. Participants concurrently evaluated spirituality and religiosity with regard to their perceived levels of happiness and meaningfulness. Results showed significant cross-country differences in happiness and meaningfulness ratings in the spiritual/religious domain. Findings indicated that religion is perceived to be strongly associated with spirituality but spirituality need not be associated with religion. We also identified groups of individuals with similar profiles of spiritual/religious happiness and meaningfulness and compared the overall levels well-being of these groups across countries. Individuals high in spiritual meaning and happiness were more satisfied with their lives and reported higher general meaning and happiness ratings than participants in the other three clusters. As expected, participants reporting low happiness and meaningfulness in the spiritual/religious domain had the lowest level of meaning. In most countries, high spiritual/religious happiness ratings (in the absence of high meaning ratings) were associated with higher satisfaction with life and general happiness, than were high spiritual/religious meaningfulness ratings (in the absence of high happiness ratings). Conversely, high levels of spiritual/religious meaning overall contributed to well-being in terms of meaningfulness in general. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between hedonic and eudaemonic components of well-being and more specifically between happiness and meaningfulness.