THE ROLE OF ACADEMIC FLOW IN STUDENTS' ACHIEVEMENT AND WELL-BEING

Flow experience is related to well-being. Still, the question arises as to whether the flow is beneficial because of its intensity and frequency, or its contribution to well-being depends on the domain in which it is experienced. It was hypothesized that flow experienced in a domain that is perceived important and useful (i.e., the academic domain) contributes more to students’ well-being than flow experienced in domains that are perceived as less important and less useful (leisure and routine activities) even though it is in academic domain experienced less often and less intensely. This hypothesis was tested in two separate studies. In the first study, the flow was operationalized as a trait and the frequency of flow was measured via questionnaires. In the second study, the flow was operationalized as a state and the intensity of flow was measured via the experience sampling method. The samples were comprised of university students from Zagreb, Croatia. Both studies showed that flow in a domain that is perceived as more important and useful (i.e., the academic domain), although is experienced less often and less strongly, is more related to students’ well-being than flow in domains perceived by students as less important and less useful (leisure and routine activities). It was also tested if the association between academic flow and well-being is mediated by academic achievement. This hypothesis was not accepted. The results of this study indicate that it is important for students to have opportunities to experience flow in their studies because it is a pleasant state, related to better achievement, and it adds to their overall well-being. Keywords: flow experience, sampling method, flourishing, flow in learning, life satisfaction, optimal experience

Flow and the dynamics of conscious thought

The flow construct has been influential within positive psychology, sport psychology, the science of consciousness, the philosophy of agency, and popular culture. In spite of its longstanding influence, it remains unclear [a] how the constituents of the flow state ‘hang together’—how they relate to each other causally and functionally—[b] in what sense flow is an ‘optimal experience,’ and [c] how best to describe the unique phenomenology of the flow state. As a result, difficulties persist for a clear understanding of the flow state’s structure and function. After explicating the standard view of the flow construct (section one), I articulate several basic questions regarding its nature and functional roles (section two), and I argue that these questions are best answered by integrating flow within broader streams of research on the dynamics of thought, on cognitive control resource allocation, and on creative thought (sections three and four).

Empirical Research of the Hardiness of the Personality in Critical Conditions of Life

Uncertainty and instability haunt us every day in today’s new reality. The purpose is a theoretical justification and empirical study of the hardiness of the personality in critical conditions of life. Psychodiagnostic complex of hardiness is indicated as a factor of personality adaptation. High average and high levels of hardiness are characteristics of an independently developed personality with a high ability to adapt. It has been established that the average level of hardiness contributes to the optimal experience of situations of uncertainty and involves a person’s choice of coping strategies to counteract the new difficulties in professional and personal life. It has been substantiated that respondents who have high rates of hardiness have a higher level of adaptation efficiency. It has been stated that “risk acceptance” as the component of hardiness of participants of the “Work and Travel” program is more pronounced than in the respondents of other samples (t = -1.54). It has been proved that empirical research of semantic psychological parameters of personality hardiness in critical conditions of life allowed to draw significant conclusions. It is noted that the results of the study need to be operationalized in training, educational and developmental and psycho-correctional practices. It is emphasized that the obtained empirical results should be used in the training of applicants for psychological specialties.

Improving productivity in large scale testing at the compiler level by changing the intermediate language from C++ to Java

This paper is based on research results achieved by a collaboration between Ericsson Hungary Ltd. and the Large Scale Testing Research Lab of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. We present design issues and empirical observations on extending an existing industrial toolset with a new intermediate language1. Context: The industry partner’s toolset is using C/C++ as an intermediate language, providing good execution performance, but “somewhat long” build times, o ering a sub-optimal experience for users. Objective: In cooperation with our industry partner our task was to perform an experiment with Java as a different intermediate language and evaluate results, to see if this could improve build times. Method: We extended the mentioned toolset to use Java as an intermediate language. Results: Our measurements show that using Java as an intermediate language improves build times significantly. We also found that, while the runtime performance of C/C++ is better in some situations, Java, at least in our testing scenarios, can be a viable alternative to improve developer productivity. Our contribution is unique in the sense that both ways of building and execution can use the same source code as input, written in the same language, generate intermediate codes with the same high-level structure, compile into executables that are configured using the same files, run on the same machine, show the same behaviour and generate the same logs. Conclusions: We created an alternative build pipeline that might enhance the productivity of our industry partner’s test developers by reducing the length of builds during their daily work.

¿Qué piensan las Pacientes sobre la presencia de los Estudiantes de Medicina?

La interacción con el paciente real es indispensable para la formación del estudiante de Medicina, pero para que la experiencia clínica sea completamente inmersiva, es necesario que exista una adecuada relación paciente-estudiante. En esta sencilla experiencia se muestra cuál es la opinión de los alumnos en cuanto a qué piensan las pacientes de Obstetricia y Ginecología sobre su presencia en el entorno clínico, así como la percepción real de las pacientes. En líneas generales, las pacientes entienden la necesidad de formación de los profesionales médicos del futuro y les gusta formar parte de su aprendizaje. Sin embargo, hay una serie de detalles que hay que tener en cuenta para optimizar la relación paciente-estudiante y lograr una experiencia de rendimiento óptimo para el estudiante, pero que sea segura y confortable para los pacientes. Interaction with the real patient is essential for medical students training, but an adequate patient-student relationship is necessary to obtain an inmersive and complete clinical experience. This article shows the opinion of the students about what the Obstetrics and Gynecology patients think about their presence in the clinical environment, as well as the real perception of the patients. In general, patients understand the need for training of future medical professionals, and they like to be part of their learning. However, there are several details that must be taken into account to optimize the patient-student relationship and achieve an optimal experience for the student, but that is safe and comfortable for the patients.

THE THEORY OF AN OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE AS A SPECIAL VIEW ON THE CONCEPT OF “HAPPINESS”

The article analyzes M. Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of an optimal experience and its links with the system of personal attitudes as a component of personal growth and life quality improvement. The factors and conditions are examined that support formation of the autotelic personality, who “independently determines the goals and reflects the idea that most of such person’s goals are intrinsic”. A person, having learned to set goals, developing own skills, attentive to results of their actions, focusing and fully dedicating to a process or an activity, is able to achieve an optimal experience, a flow state in any area of relations with the world, other people, themselves, or in any activity. Key words: personality, attitude, system of attitudes, optimal experience, flow.

SELF-REGULATION AND SELF-EFFICACY ON FLOW/ OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE OF EARLY CHILHOOD’S TEACHER

This study aim was tested the Flow/ Optimal Experience in PAUD (early childhood) teachers based on Self-Regulation and Self-Efficacy in Wirobrajan sub-district of Yogyakarta. This study used a quantitative approach. The subjects were 110 of PAUD teachers. Data collection used three psychological scales, i.e. Flow scale, SSRQ scale, and Self-Efficacy scale. Data analysis has used multiple regression analysis. The results showed that 1). There was a very significant contribution of Self-Regulation and Self-Efficacy simultaneously on the Flow of PAUD teachers in Wirobrajan sub-district of Yogyakarta. 2). There was a very significantly contribution of Self-Regulation on Flow in PAUD teachers in Wirobrajan sub-district of Yogyakarta, and 3). There was a significant contribution of Self-Efficacy on Flow in PAUD teachers in Wirobrajan sub-district of Yogyakarta.