Engaging Environmental Violence

The first half of this chapter is dedicated to outlining the detrimental consequences of materialistic values in order to highlight how materialism can be considered a form of cultural violence, which facilitates the persistence of environmental violence. In outlining the problems presented by materialistic values, I also want to highlight that all hope is not lost. The second half of the chapter is, therefore, dedicated to a potential antidote to materialistic values and lifestyles, in the form of flow experiences. Flow experiences could thus offer a means of limiting environmental violence. I end by considering how to encourage flow experiences and reduce the prevalence of materialistic values across society.

16.1 The Emergence of Materialism

Striving for happiness and well-being has long been considered a feature of the human experience [Reference Reshotko1]. However, understanding of the factors that lead to happiness differs across time and space [Reference McMahon2]. This is because the understanding of what makes for happiness or “the good life” is socially constructed and results from the interaction of people with each other and their environments. In the contemporary societies of Europe, North America, and Australasia, the materialistic understanding of the good life is commonplace.

On an individual level, materialism is considered a value or goal orientation [Reference Kasser and Ryan3, Reference Richins4]. People with strong materialistic values and goals consider the acquisition and ownership of material goods to be a major life goal [Reference Richins5], which takes precedence over concerns for freedom, aesthetics, and civil power [Reference Inglehart6]. They also consider the acquisition of material goods as essential for their own happiness [Reference Belk7], with Richins [Reference Richins, Wallendorf and Anderson8] highlighting that, for materialists, the possession of goods is seen as a means to achieve life satisfaction, rather than religious contemplation, a simple life, or social interaction. Materialism, therefore, seems to involve viewing consumer objects as a determinant of happiness and placing relatively more importance on their acquisition than other life aspects, such as relationships or religion.

Definitions of materialism also commonly emphasize the use of material goods to portray status or a particular image. For example, Bauer et al. [Reference Bauer, Wilkie, Kim and Bodenhausen9] stressed that highly materialistic individuals are not only engrossed by possessions, but also the social messages they are able to project. The inclusion of possessions as a means of portraying a certain image and status was echoed by Dittmar et al. [Reference Dittmar, Bond, Hurst and Kasser10], p. 880, who defined materialism as “individual differences in people’s long-term endorsement of values, goals, and associated beliefs that center on the importance of acquiring money and possessions that convey status.” Likewise, Csikszentmihalyi [Reference Csikszentmihalyi, Kasser and Kanner11] emphasized that materialism not only involves excessively wanting to own material items, but also the desire to showcase possession of them. Therefore, there appears to be a strong social aspect to materialism whereby individuals seek to influence how others perceive them through a public display of their possessions.

Accordingly, materialism is more than just an interest in getting and spending. It involves placing material possessions at the center of one’s existence and pursuing their acquisition as a means of becoming happier and appearing successful, both in your own eyes and the eyes of others. Note also that, although the definitions outlined here have been concerned with individual materialism, materialism is sometimes discussed at the cultural level, with certain cultures (e.g., the USA) considered to be more materialistic than others [Reference Belk and Pollay12]. A materialistic culture is one in which the majority of the members place a lot of value on material objects [Reference Srikant13]. This aligns with definitions of “consumer culture” which emphasize a social system whereby consumption is used as a means of allocating status and prestige, perceived well-being, and creating social bonds [Reference Featherstone14]. Materialistic values could, therefore, be seen as the individual manifestation of participating in a consumer culture.

The extent to which someone holds materialistic values is typically determined using one or more survey assessments that have been devised within the fields of consumer research and applied social psychology. Popular measures include the Material Values Scale, which includes items such as “I like a lot of luxury in my life” and “I’d be happier if I could afford to buy more things,” [Reference Richins and Dawson15] and the Aspiration Index [Reference Kasser and Ryan3], which asks individuals to rate how important different goals (e.g., “to be rich” and “to grow and learn new things”) are to them. Respondents rate their agreement with each item on Likert-type scales, with responses to individual items being summed to create an overall materialism score. The extent to which an individual is considered materialistic is therefore represented along a continuum with some individuals scoring higher and, therefore, considered to be more materialistic than others. There are no strict cut-off points from which an individual is either considered to be materialistic or not.

Prevalent materialistic values and goals are a logical consequence of consumer capitalism, which remains the dominant economic framework within the Western world [Reference Ritzer and Jurgenson16]. Under this paradigm, the success of a nation’s economy is judged via its gross domestic product (GDP), which rises as a greater number of goods are produced and consumed. While no theory of GDP explicitly proposes this measure to be indicative of societal welfare, it has often come to be viewed as such [Reference van den Bergh17]. A nation’s economic development and social well-being would, therefore, require that individuals within that nation choose to go out and shop. To stimulate these increasing levels of consumer spending, the advertising industry projects messages that happiness can be achieved via the acquisition of material goods [Reference Dittmar18].

In line with the association between materialistic values and consumer capitalism, much academic research exploring materialism has been focused on the contemporary societies of Europe, North America, and Australasia [Reference Dittmar, Hurst and Maddux19]. Scholars have suggested that materialistic values may be expressed differently across cultures [Reference Andersson and Nässén20], and although studies using samples from non-Western and less developed/developing economies are emerging [Reference Unanue, Vignoles, Dittmar and Vansteenkiste21], findings concerning how materialism links to well-being and the environment in these contexts in less well established [Reference Dittmar, Hurst and Maddux19]. In this chapter, therefore, I focus primarily on the consequences of materialistic values in contemporary societies, and how flow may be a means of reducing environmental violence for individuals in these contexts.

Research shows that exposure to advertising is a key promoter of strong materialistic values and goals, especially among children and adolescents [Reference Dunkeld, Wright, Banerjee, Easterbrook and Slade22, Reference Nairn and Opree23]. The relationship between television advertisement exposure and materialistic values may also be reciprocal, such that those individuals who already hold stronger materialistic values and goals show greater interest in television commercials [Reference Goldberg, Gorn, Peracchio and Bamossy24]. Hence, once an individual starts adopting materialistic tendencies, they are susceptible to falling into a cycle of increasing materialistic values and goals due to heightened attention to consumer advertising. Materialistic values and goals can also be passed down through generations. Studies have shown that highly materialistic children tend to have parents who are also very materialistic [Reference Goldberg, Gorn, Peracchio and Bamossy24] and that mothers who greatly value their teens’ financial success are more likely to have children who value their own financial success, over and above self-acceptance [Reference Kasser, Ryan, Zax and Sameroff25]. The experience of personal or economic insecurity has also been suggested to encourage stronger materialistic values and goals [Reference Chang and Arkin26, Reference Sheldon and Kasser27]. Evidence suggests that the prevalence of materialistic values increased over the latter half of the twentieth century in the USA [Reference Twenge and Kasser28] and, when global news reports are documenting increasing levels of economic insecurity and a mental health crisis [Reference Shoib, Isioma Ojeahere, Mohd Saleem, Shariful Islam, Yasir Arafat, De Filippis and Ullah29, Reference Strauss30], we may predict that the prevalence of materialistic values and goals will continue to increase.

16.2 Materialism as a Form of Environmental Violence

Despite the apparent encouragement of materialistic values and goals within consumer capitalist societies, such values and goals are highly problematic for human health and well-being [Reference Jackson31]. Here, I will argue that there are two key pathways through which materialistic values and goals can work to have detrimental impacts on human well-being. The first is a direct pathway, informed by findings from psychology and consumer research documenting that increases in the strength of materialistic values and goals lead to reductions in different facets of personal well-being. The second is a more indirect pathway through environmental degradation. Research increasingly documents that individuals with strong materialistic values and goals are less likely to care for the environment and engage in pro-environmental behaviors. The environmental degradation that materialistic values and goals contribute to can then negatively impact human health and well-being. This latter pathway represents an instance of environmental violence.

Environmental violence describes the process through which human-produced pollution and other forms of environmental damage have subsequent negative impacts on human health and well-being [Reference Marcantonio and Fuentes32]. It can operate at individual, community, regional and global scales. The founders of the environmental violence framework discussed in this volume, Marcantonio and Fuentes, highlight that environmental violence arises through dynamic, socio-ecological processes, whereby structural, cultural, and behavioral factors all have a role to play. Materialism represents an individual action that can cause environmental violence, and this individual action is facilitated through a consumer culture that normalizes materialistic behaviors, thus, allowing them to continue to occur unchallenged.

16.3 Flow Experiences

Given the problems presented by materialistic lifestyles, it is important that we explore alternative ways of living that may enhance both human well-being and planetary health and, hence, be a means of combating environmental violence. I wish to focus on the potential benefits that flow experiences can offer to these areas. Flow describes a state of optimal experience whereby a person’s attention is completely focused on the activity they are engaged in [Reference Jackson and Eklund75]. This state of concentration can be so intense that individuals become temporarily unaware of their everyday worries and feel transported into a new reality. There is no attention left over that can process any stimuli other than those directly relevant to the activity [Reference Csikszentmihalyi76, Reference Csikszentmihalyi77]. Although normally one would need to expend a lot of effort to maintain such intense concentration, during flow there is less perceived effort required to stay focused on the task [Reference Jackson and Eklund75].

This intense concentration helps create other phenomenological characteristics of flow. For example, individuals often stop perceiving themselves as separate from the actions they are performing [Reference Csikszentmihalyi77]. This blurring of the boundaries between the self and the action can give rise to an experience of effortless movement, as individuals are not aware of any conscious effort to initiate their actions. They can also begin to experience a sense of oneness with the activity for the same reasons. Granting all attention to the activity also means that there is no attention available for self-scrutiny, and self-consciousness temporarily disappears. Rather than being pre-occupied with living up to a certain standard, one is free to engage with a challenge in the absence of fear of failure, ridicule, or embarrassment. Self-consciousness returns after the flow experience subsides [Reference Csikszentmihalyi76, Reference Csikszentmihalyi77]. Similarly, individuals are not paying attention to the passing of time and, hence, during flow, perception of time is altered such that hours may seem to go by in minutes, or alternatively, minutes may feel like hours [Reference Csikszentmihalyi77]. The former experience appears to be more common [Reference Jackson and Eklund75]. Descriptions of what it feels like to be in flow are given as follows [Reference Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi78].

Being in a flow state is highly enjoyable. So much so that the experience is said to be intrinsically motivating. That is, it is so enjoyable and rewarding to be in flow that individuals will choose to engage in the activity providing flow for them simply for the sake of doing the activity, and not to gain any external rewards such as money or praise. This may occur even if engagement in the activity incurs great costs against the person. For example, a person who experiences flow when playing football may choose to continually practice the sport, even in bad weather or when dealing with other life pressures. For these reasons, the flow experience is often referred to as an “autotelic” (auto = self, telos = goal) experience because the activity is seen as an end worth striving for in itself. Each experience of flow increases the actor’s motivation to experience it again [Reference Jackson and Eklund75, Reference Csikszentmihalyi76].

Flow experiences are suggested to be more likely to occur when certain conditions are present. Often flow is spoken of as a “high challenge high skill” experience because it is suggested to occur when there is both a matching of the level of challenge presented by an activity and the individual’s skillset, and this matching occurs above an individual’s average skill level for the activity [Reference Engeser and Rheinberg79]. This means that people feel that they are being stretched to perform at a level that is good for them, but still able to eventually overcome any challenges. It is important to highlight that everyone’s own perception of their skills in comparison to the challenges present in a situation is more important than their objective skillset. If an individual perceives there to be a match between their skills and the activity, then this is more important than any objective matching in terms of experiencing flow [Reference Moneta and Csikszentmihalyi80].

Other conditions that support flow include that the task has clear goals. Having clear goals helps people to know what they need to achieve and, thus, what they need to focus on to get there. Being aware of the purpose of one’s actions also helps to maintain connection with the task [Reference Jackson and Eklund75]. Alongside perceiving clear goals, flow is also more likely to occur if individuals are receiving unambiguous feedback concerning their progress toward these goals. Feedback could be in the form of bodily awareness or cues from the environment [Reference Csikszentmihalyi76]. Feedback does not have to be positive; its purpose is to help the actor adjust their behavior appropriately in response to the demands of the task. Receiving feedback concerning the consequences of one’s actions also helps to support the feelings of control that are common during flow [Reference Csikszentmihalyi77]. Individuals feel as though they are acting freely and can directly influence the outcome of the activity.

Although Csikszentmihalyi [Reference Csikszentmihalyi77] highlighted that, theoretically, any activity could be molded to support flow, certain activities have been shown to support flow experiences more frequently than others. For instance, work activities have been suggested to be well equipped to support flow in that people often have clear goals that they are working toward. Outside of work, the leisure activities that have been found to better support the experience of flow include reading, sports, and creative activities [Reference Magyaródi and Oláh81]. Many of these are “everyday” activities that do not have to require significant investments of time or money. In line with this, recent work by Isham and Jackson [Reference Isham and Jackson82] has explored the demographic associates of the extent to which people experience flow among a largely representative sample of adults in the UK. Findings document that factors such as age, gender, educational attainment, and socioeconomic status had a very little role to play in accounting for how often individuals reported experiencing the characteristics of flow, explaining less than 7% of variation in scores overall. Accordingly, within contemporary societies, such as the UK, flow experiences appear to be fairly dispersed across different demographic groups. Much of the research that has been conducted on flow to date has tended to focus on individual experiences of flow. Nevertheless, emerging work documents that flow can also occur in group contexts whereby flow is sometimes experienced on a more collective level as teams effectively cooperate to perform a task together [Reference Pels, Kleinert and Mennigen83].

16.4 Flow as an Antidote to Environmental Violence

It may not be immediately obvious why flow experiences should be an antidote to environmental violence. Within the field of positive psychology, flow is considered an optimal and largely beneficial experience. However, many of these benefits have been confined to the areas of individual well-being and performance. Athletes who experience flow during practice and competitions, or students who experience flow when studying, are shown to have better finishing positions and grades than those who do not experience flow [Reference Bakker, Oerlemans, Demerouti, Slot and Ali84, Reference Sumaya and Darling85], for example. In this chapter, I aim to highlight that flow’s benefits extend beyond individual outcomes to ecological well-being. By being able to enhance individual and ecological well-being in tandem, flow experiences offer a powerful tool for limiting environmental violence.

16.4.2 Flow Supports Ecological Well-Being

While research has been documenting a positive association between flow and personal well-being for several decades, academics and practitioners have only recently turned their attention to the links between flow and ecological well-being [Reference Isham, Elf and Jackson95], which describes the well-being of the Earth’s natural systems alongside that of its inhabitants. One of the first studies to explore this link came from Isham et al. [Reference Isham, Gatersleben and Jackson96]. They examined experience sampling data taken from the members of 500 families in the United States. Experience sampling is a method whereby people are prompted to report what they are doing, who they are with, and how they are feeling at random times during the day. It is a useful method for getting real-time measures of people’s everyday experiences. Isham et al. used data surrounding how participants were feeling to infer in which cases they were having stronger experiences of flow. They then correlated this with the greenhouse gas intensity of the activities in which they reported having varying degrees of flow. Results demonstrated that people reported having stronger experiences of flow in activities with lower greenhouse gas intensities. In other words, flow experiences appeared to be more likely to occur in less environmentally costly activities. There were particular types of activities that appeared to often support the experience of flow while having low environmental costs. These revolved around the five categories of: (1) positive, romantic relationships (e.g., spending time with a partner and physical/sexual intimacy); (2) contemplative activities (e.g., prayer, yoga, and meditation); (3) creative activities (e.g., arts and crafts and performing arts); (4) sports and physical exercise (e.g., cycling, running, aerobics, and ball games); and (5) social engagement (e.g., playing with children and talking with neighbors). The authors of this work were at pains to note that they are not suggesting that flow experiences only occur in less environmentally costly activities, but the fact that these types of actions can effectively support flow is a promising sign that well-being can be achieved in the absence of a reliance on material consumption.

By allowing people to find intrinsic reward in more sustainable activities, flow experiences should prompt further engagement in those activities due to the intrinsically motivating nature of flow. This is one way in which flow can encourage participation in more sustainable lifestyles [Reference Isham and Jackson97]. A more recent study can be seen to further support this notion. Whittaker et al. [Reference Whittaker, Mulcahy and Russell-Bennett98] found that if people experienced flow as they were using an app that featured games promoting sustainable behaviors, they evaluated the act of engaging in sustainable behavior more positively and had stronger intentions to enact sustainable behaviors themselves in the future. Accordingly, when people experience flow in more sustainable activities or those promoting sustainable behaviors, they may come to have more positive views on acting in ways that will support environmental well-being.

A further way in which flow may support environmental well-being is by influencing the strength of personal values. Values represent people’s beliefs about what is important to strive for in life [Reference Rokeach99]. They are important because they are a strong guide for people’s judgments and actions. People will act in ways that are in line with their values. For example, as we have already noted in this chapter, if someone has strong materialistic values, whereby they believe it is important to acquire money and material goods, then they are likely to spend more time shopping [Reference Fitzmaurice and Comegys63]. Although values are suggested to be somewhat stable over time [Reference Eisentraut100], they are still subject to change as an individual matures or experiences situations which challenge their perceptions of what is desirable [Reference Cieciuch, Schwartz, Davidov, Wright and Wright101].

Isham and Jackson [Reference Isham and Jackson102] aimed to test whether having frequent flow experiences could influence the strength of people’s personal values. They focused on a specific category of values known as self-transcendent values. Self-transcendent values cover the importance people place on the well-being of the environment and other people [Reference Schwartz and Zanna103]. When people hold strong self-transcendent values, they are more likely to engage in pro-environmental and prosocial behaviors [Reference Daniel, Bilgin, Brezina, Strohmeier and Vainre104, Reference Schoenefeld and McCauley105], report greater support for environmental charities [Reference Joireman and Duell106], and have more favorable attitudes toward policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions [Reference Nilsson, von Borgstede and Biel107]. Promoting the uptake of self-transcendent values can, therefore, be an important step in encouraging practices that support ecological well-being.

The reason Isham and Jackson [Reference Isham and Jackson102] predicted that having experiences of flow may be able to encourage stronger self-transcendent values is because flow can be considered a self-transcendent experience [Reference Isham, Elf and Jackson95, Reference Elf, Isham and Jackson108, Reference Yaden, Haidt, Hood, Vago and Newberg109]. During flow, people lose self-consciousness and so are not focused on themselves as an isolated entity. There is also a reduction in the salience of the boundaries between the self and “other” as people start to experience a sense of oneness with the activity that they are engaged in. Given that people are less self-focused during flow, it may encourage them to care more about nonself-entities, such as other people and nature [Reference Leary, Tipsord, Tate, Wayment and Bauer110]. Indeed, other experiences that have been described as self-transcendent, such as mindfulness and awe, have also been shown to lead to greater engagement in prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors [Reference Sun, Su, Guo and Tian111, Reference Wamsler, Brossmann, Hendersson, Kristjansdottir, McDonald and Scarampi112]. To test their prediction, Isham and Jackson administered surveys to a sample of UK adults at three points over the six-month period. At each time point, participants completed measures of the strength of their self-transcendent values and how often they were experiencing flow in their day-to-day lives. Their analysis revealed that as people increased how often they were experiencing flow, they showed subsequent increases in the strength of their self-transcendent values. This study therefore offers a sign that flow experiences may be able to cause people to value ecological well-being more strongly; see Figure 16.1.

Figure 16.1 Graphical representation of materialism, flow, and their links to environmental and human health and well-being

16.5 Practical Steps for the Reduction of Environmental Violence

The reduction of environmental violence will require deliberate steps across governments, institutions, and individuals. In line with its theoretical focus, this chapter makes two general recommendations to support the reduction of environmental violence. First, the prevalence of materialistic values and goals needs to be reduced. Second, the experience of flow needs to be promoted. These two recommendations must both be undertaken, as neither is sufficient on its own. If materialistic values, goals, and activities are reduced, then people will need alternative values and actions to fill the void, which is where flow experiences can make a valuable contribution. Equally, research has shown that strong materialistic values and goals undermine people’s tendency to experience flow [Reference Isham, Gatersleben and Jackson113–Reference Isham and Jackson115]. Therefore, flow experiences are unlikely to be experienced frequently while materialistic values and goals are still rife.

There are several ways in which the strength of materialistic values and goals could be reduced [Reference Kasser116]. One key route would be to reduce the prevalence of consumer advertising within societies. Research demonstrates that exposure to consumer advertising and brand logos encourages materialistic values [Reference Bauer, Wilkie, Kim and Bodenhausen9, Reference Nairn and Opree23]. In São Paulo, billboard advertising is banned under the Clean City Law, with Mayor Gilberto Kassab calling outdoor advertisements “visual pollution” [Reference Madhawi117]. Advertisements targeted at children could also be banned, as they have been in places such as Norway and Quebec [Reference Kent118]. This latter point is especially important given the issues I have highlighted surrounding how children from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds are more susceptible to adopting materialistic values and goals due to more time spent watching television [Reference Nairn and Opree23]. If we cannot limit the amount of advertising people are exposed to, then parents should be encouraged to discuss the intent/accuracy of advertising regularly with their families. Research has shown that children are less susceptible to advertising and consumer messages if their family regularly discuss advertising and consumption issues [Reference Buijzen and Valkenburg119]. Such education around the purpose of advertising could also be included within the school curriculum.

Materialistic values are often viewed favorably by governments and advertisers in the belief that such values and associated behaviors help to fuel economic growth [Reference Ritzer and Jurgenson16]. Given this, consideration of alternative economic models may help to reduce encouragement of materialism on a more macro scale. Academic research in the fields of “degrowth” and “postgrowth,” for example, is exploring how we might live in societies whereby rising consumption, productivity, and economic growth are not at the heart of prosperity and government policy [Reference Jackson31, Reference Kallis120]. Governments would do well to pay genuine attention to such research and implement appropriate policies accordingly, in order to help mold societies that are focused on pro-environmental and prosocial practices, rather than the endless acquisition of materials goods.

A further means of reducing materialistic values and goals is to encourage the types of personal values that conflict with materialism. Individual values do not exist in a vacuum, but are rather part of a complex, interrelated system [Reference Schwartz and Zanna103]. Within this system, some types of values are complementary and so easy to hold at the same time. For example, it is logical to both be concerned with upholding family traditions and conforming to rules. However, some types of values conflict with one another and are, thus, harder to hold at the same time. For example, it is difficult to care strongly about helping other people while also highly valuing having power and control over others. If certain types of values are hard to hold at the same time, then emphasizing and promoting those values that conflict with materialism could help to reduce the strength of materialistic values and goals. Materialism conflicts with self-transcendent values, which place importance on nonself-entities such as family, charity, and the environment [Reference Burroughs and Rindfleisch121, Reference Schwartz, Sander and Brosch122]. Research has shown that getting people to reflect on two personal self-transcendent values [Reference Lekes, Hope, Gouveia, Koestner and Philippe123] can successfully increase the strength of this value type. This form of reflection could therefore be practiced by individuals to reduce the strength of their materialistic values. Advertisers are also well equipped to use their creative skills to help people see alternative, positive visions of the future. Organizations such as Purpose Disruptors (www.purposedisruptors.org/) and Glimpse (https://weglimpse.co/) in the UK are already developing campaigns which focus on promoting the importance of self-transcendent values such as love, nature, and community.

It is my hope that encouraging the incidence of flow experiences could also act as a means of reducing materialistic values. For one, flow experiences appear to be able to encourage stronger self-transcendent values [Reference Isham and Jackson102] which conflict with materialistic values. Further, research shows that when people are experiencing self-doubt or poor well-being, they are more likely to orient toward materialistic values and goals [Reference Chang and Arkin26]. This is because they may view material goods either as a distraction or as a means of building a “better” self [Reference Kasser124]. Existing work has shown that gratitude could reduce materialistic values because it boosts people’s feelings of security be enhancing their awareness of other people’s kindness [Reference Froh, Emmons, Card, Bono and Wilson125, Reference Polak and McCullough126]. If flow experiences can enhance individual well-being, then they may reduce the need for people to seek satisfaction through material goods.

Encouraging flow experiences can involve two processes. On the one hand, we can focus on altering the environment to make it more supportive of flow. On the other hand, we can try to alter the individual such that they hold the characteristics or capabilities that make them more suited to crafting flow experiences. One way in which we could alter the environment to make it more supportive of flow would be to increase free access to flow-supportive activities. Local provision of sports or arts clubs would help to give people the opportunity to find flow. It is important that these activities are free and accessible to all to make sure that participation is not limited to certain socioeconomic or demographic groups. It is also important that people have time to engage in activities that may be supportive of flow for them. To this end, a shorter working week may be beneficial. Several organizations are currently trialing a four-day work week, with advocates arguing that it could raise individual well-being while reducing carbon emissions [Reference Stronge127]. On top of this, it has been suggested that a shorter work week could help create jobs for groups (e.g., women) who might otherwise be excluded from work due, for example, to greater caring responsibilities [Reference Harper, Stronge, Guizzo and Ellis-Petersen128]. This may, therefore, also increase access to flow experiences at work for different demographic groups. When participating in flow-supportive activities, it is important that people are not being externally motivated, as research shows that flow experiences are more likely when people are intrinsically motivated (i.e., doing something primarily for enjoyment) [Reference Mills and Fullagar129]. Therefore, parents should not try to force their children to partake in activities using rewards such as new toys or more pocket money. Instead, they should allow children to explore and let them know that it is okay to do something just because you like it.

There are several individual characteristics that research has shown to be linked to more frequent experiences of flow. When an individual holds many of these characteristics, we might suggest they have something like a “flow personality” [Reference Baumann and Engeser130]. Examples of traits that might be part of this flow personality include high levels of openness to new experiences. This trait encourages individuals to seek opportunities to engage in new, challenging activities that may be better suited to supporting flow, rather than staying on routine or boring actions that are not conducive to flow. While research suggests that interventions to encourage the trait of openness often do not result in significant or large changes [Reference Roberts, Luo, Briley, Chow, Su and Hill131], some studies have had success using cognitive training such as learning new puzzles [Reference Jackson, Hill, Payne, Roberts and Stine-Morrow132]. Another quality of highly flow-prone individuals is that they often have good self-control [Reference Isham, Gatersleben and Jackson114]. This characteristic allows people to be better at regulating and focusing their attention, such that they are not so easily distracted and are more likely to have the high levels of concentration that occur during flow. Research has shown that higher levels of self-control can be developed through practices such as mindfulness [Reference Masicampo and Baumeister133] and cognitive training that focuses on exposure to reward delays, goal setting, or breaking habits [Reference Allemand, Keller, Gmür, Gehriger, Oberholzer and Stieger134, Reference Smith, Panfil, Bailey and Kirkpatrick135].

16.6 Conclusions

Environmental violence refers to the process through which humanity comes to harm its own health and well-being through unsustainable patterns of action [Reference Marcantonio and Fuentes32]. In this chapter, I have outlined how materialistic values and goals, and the corresponding lifestyles that they promote, can be considered as a form of environmental violence that is normalized across consumer cultures. I also suggest that flow experiences can be a beneficial means of reducing environmental violence and improving human health and well-being because of how they can both directly enhance human well-being and promote more sustainable values and behaviors. The key aim now is to find pathways that orient people away from lifestyles dominated by materialism toward lifestyles that provide ample opportunities for finding flow.