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Leisure

Society perceives activities such as woodworking, writing, and playing a sport differently when performed as a job than when performed as a hobby. This anomaly led psychologists to question the nature of leisure. What is it that makes an activity “leisure,” and are the consequences of performing these activities as a job different from the consequences of performing these as leisure?

Psychologists began the systematic study of leisure in the early 1970s. Two works influenced psychologists' study of leisure behavior. In his 1974 book The Psychology of Leisure, John Neulinger proposed that activities be distinguished based on the extent to which the activity was freely chosen and was motivated by a desire to receive intrinsic rewards (i.e., rewards that are unavoidable consequences of the act of participation). Leisure occurs when individuals freely chose intrinsically satisfying activities. Work occurs when individuals respond to behavioral constraints to achieve extrinsic rewards. Neulinger's view that leisure is more than the mere absence of work opened the door to psychological investigations of the similarities and differences in leisure and work activities.

Howard E. A. Tinsley and Diane J. Tinsley's 1986 theory of transcendent leisure experiences provided a more multifaceted paradigm for the study of leisure. The theory postulated four conditions that are necessary for an activity to be experienced as leisure: freedom of choice, intrinsic motivation, optimal arousal, and involvement. The theory identified seven attributes of leisure experiences and suggested that leisure experiences are necessary for physical health, mental health, and personal (psychological) growth.

Attributes of Leisure Experience

Leisure experiences vary from intense, life-transforming experiences to routine experiences that occur on a daily basis. Psychologists have focused on the most intense experiences because the attributes of intense leisure experiences are more readily identifiable than in routine experiences.

Five theorists have shaped psychologists' conceptions of leisure. Abraham Maslow's theory of peak experiences is the earliest and most comprehensive theory. Tinsley and Tinsley's transcendent leisure experiences theory was influenced by Maslow's work, but it deals more directly with leisure behavior. Maslow and Tinsley and Tinsley believe the attributes of routine leisure experiences are the same as, but less intense than, the attributes of transcendent leisure experiences. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi proposed a theory of flow experiences that formed the basis for Chester F. McDowell's theory of leisure consciousness. Kathleen D. Noble's theory of transcendent religious and meditation experiences has the narrowest scope.

Several common themes are discernible in these theories. The strongest consensus exists for the following attributes of leisure experiences:

  • Unity. The individual and the experience become integrated and participants report a sense of unification with the world.
  • Absorption. Participants focus exclusively on the activity and lose self-awareness.
  • Enriched perception. Continued participation across time leads to a greater awareness of the nuances and complexities of the experience.
  • Positive outcome. Leisure experiences provide a desirable way of truth finding that can lead to insights into universal truths.
  • Passive awareness. Participants relinquish their control and allow the experience to unfold.
  • Loss of inhibition. Participants feel confident, expressive, and daring; anxiety, defensiveness, restraint, and self-criticism are set aside.
  • Perceptual distortion. Participants lose track of time and space.
  • Feelings of freedom. Participants feel free and unconstrained by rules.
  • Intrinsic motivation. Participants gain enjoyment from the mere act of participating in the activity.

Causes of Leisure Experience

According to transcendent leisure experiences theory, freedom of choice, intrinsic motivation, optimal arousal, and psychological commitment are necessary prerequisites for an individual to experience leisure.

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