A psychological model of freedom and leisure experience was tested in a laboratory experiment used to simulate a leisure interlude. Leisure experience was operationalized as the extent to which subjects became absorbed or achieved flow in a game. The independent variables were objective freedom of choice, locus of control and setting structure (the extent to which the leisure setting provided clear and unambiguous expectations for behavior). As predicted, the personality factor, locus of control acted as a moderator variable in conditions of low setting structure. Externally oriented subjects failed to become more absorbed in the game with greater objective choice compared to internals who did. The impact of personality was suppressed when setting structure was high with both internals and externals showing greater absorption with greater objective freedom of choice. “Perceived” freedom of choice appeared to mediate the impact of the independent variables on the quality of leisure experiences.
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Mannell et al. (1986) studied this question.
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