Cultural Pathways to Flow: Parental Influences Shaping Engagement in Learning

• In Event: Fostering Engagement for All: Advancing Socioculturally Inclusive Theory, Research, and Practice in Student Engagement

Abstract

This presentation explores the interplay between universality and cultural specificity in the experience of flow, a psychological state of deep engagement and intrinsic enjoyment, especially in educational contexts. While flow has been described in remarkably consistent phenomenological terms across cultures—including loss of self-consciousness, intense focus, and intrinsic motivation—research suggests that the pathways to flow are shaped by culturally embedded values and practices. We draw on flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) to define the core features of this optimal experience and use Super and Harkness’s (1986) developmental niche framework to examine how cultural ethnotheories—particularly those of parents—mediate children’s engagement with learning.

Through a combination of original interview data with Chinese and European American schoolchildren and their mothers, as well as a synthesis of existing cross-cultural studies, we argue that parental beliefs play a central role in scaffolding children’s dispositions toward flow. While Western parents often view enjoyment in learning as arising from a match with the child’s interests, East Asian parents frame enjoyment as a product of persistence and overcoming difficulty. These differing ethno-theories shape children’s motivation and experiences of flow in school contexts, helping to explain why students in Eastern cultures report more frequent flow during academic tasks, while students in Western contexts more commonly report flow during leisure or extracurricular activities.
These insights challenge simplistic views of motivation as individual or innate, highlighting instead how motivation is cultivated within cultural and developmental systems. We discuss the educational implications of these findings, particularly the importance of designing learning environments that are responsive to students’ cultural backgrounds, goals, and motivational profiles. We conclude with implications for culturally sustaining pedagogy and future research on how flow may serve as a lens for understanding engagement across diverse sociocultural settings.

The presentation will highlight the following provocative/novel insights:
● Flow is universal in form but culturally shaped in function. The phenomenological core of flow remains consistent across cultures, but the activities that elicit it—and the values surrounding those activities—are deeply influenced by cultural beliefs about learning, effort, and enjoyment.
● Parental ethno-theories act as motivational engines. Rather than being neutral caregivers, parents actively guide children’s interpretations of challenge, success, and enjoyment. This shaping of motivational orientation occurs through culturally patterned narratives and expectations about what “counts” as worthwhile engagement.
● Educational disengagement in the West may be informed by academic engagement in Eastern cultures. Prevailing Western pedagogies may inadvertently undermine the experience of flow by emphasizing only enjoyment without adequately supporting the development of persistence and self-regulation – essential mediators fostering flow in Eastern contexts.

Authors

• David J. Shernoff, Rutgers University

• Janine Bempechat, Boston University