How does intrinsic motivation relate to the experience of flow with motorcycle racers?

Csikszentmihalyi (1975) reported that when a participant is immersed in an activity, this engagement produces feelings of extreme joy or ecstasy, with the resulting sensation termed flow. As flow is considered to be linked with intrinsic motivations (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991) it could be expected that correlations exist between the Sport Motivation Scale (Pelletier et al., 1995) to measure intrinsic motivation, and the Flow State Scale-2 (Jackson & Eklund, 2004) to measure flow. This study used both scales used with participants at different levels of motorcycle road racing in Australia as the study group. The written questionnaires were returned by 370 racers. Analysis of the results showed statistically significant correlations between the nine Flow State Scale-2 subscales and the three Sport Motivation subscales. Importantly, Intrinsic Motivation which is located on one end of the self-determination continuum was significantly and positively correlated with eight of the nine flow subscales, while Amotivation, which is located on the other end of the continuum, was significantly and negatively correlated with three flow state subscales. Results found that motorcycle road racers who were intrinsically motivated were significantly more likely to experience flow than a rider who was amotivated. Since flow has been reported as producing very pleasing effects, these flow effects may help racers to remain intrinsically motivated, engaged and committed to their sport.