In the mood for flow: mood intervention effects on flow experiences

Flow is an intrinsically enjoyable state of complete engagement with an activity. The current study was aimed at testing mood induction as a novel flow intervention. In an online experiment, N = 280 participants played the computer game Tetris twice while undergoing a randomised between-subjects mood intervention (viewing pictures of either positive, negative, or neutral valence) in between both rounds. Flow was measured via self-reports after each round of Tetris, and linear mixed modelling was employed to test the interaction effect of measurement point and mood intervention on flow. Results confirmed a significant interaction, driven by higher post-intervention flow scores in the positive group. These results demonstrate a causal effect of mood on flow, which goes beyond the correlational or reverse relationships that have been reported to date. Moreover, they represent a promising starting point for flow interventions that employ positive mood induction.