rls223 3. intensity, unpleasant emotions, changes, and savoring in leisure experiences

intensity of leisure participation

• Leisure experiences often extend beyond the immediate moment and they are often deeper than “casual” engagement.

• Heavy involvement in leisure activities can get to the point where other aspects of our lives may be neglected and/or it becomes part of our identity.

• Has been investigated in a range of fields.

• Has four concepts relevant to understanding intensity of leisure participation:

  • Involvement

  • Passion

  • Specialization

  • Serious leisure

• They aim to understand intensity of leisure participation.

  • There is overlap between. (they are not totally separate from each other)

  • The lines may be blurry.

  • There are some key distinctions, but differences are not always addressed.

involvement

• The extent to which people engage cognitively, emotionally, and behaviourally with an activity. How invested we are with an activity.

  • It is the degree of engagement.

• Involvement is a first step for further intense leisure participation.

• May be situational and temporary (i.e., short-term interest) or more enduring (i.e., long-term and tied to identity).

• Typically five facets that help us measure how involved someone is:

  • Attraction

  • Centrality

  • Identity expression

  • Identity affirmation

  • Social bonding

• Attachment to a location, event, or place can enhance involvement as well as serious leisure and specialization

five facets to measure involvement

• Attraction

  • Importance and pleasure associated with the activity.

  • Is it appealing or nah? is it interesting? do i get relaxed or satisfied? What got me into this in the first plac?)

• Centrality

  • value of the activity relative to other activities and responsibilities

• Identity expression 

  • the extent to which identify is reflected through or in the activity

  • how much do i dress, speak, or act that reflects the leisure activity? (ex. a runner dressing like a runner)

• Identity affirmation 

  • the extent to which one feels authentic in the activity

  • When someone does an activity they feel at their most expressed, the most at home when doing an activity. “i feel like me when doing this.”

  • Hard to see as an observer but very clear as a participant

• Social bonding 

  • being with others who share the same interest

  • “i feel connected to and i like the others who are doing this activity as well.”

  • people who are more socially bonded tend to feel more involved

passion

• ______ is a strong inclination toward an activity that one loves, finds important and meaningful, and in which one invests time and energy.

• It is not being engaged or not, it is when the activity becomes central to who someone is.

• Activities that people are passionate about may become so self- defining that they represent a central feature of one’s identity.

• There are positive and negative aspects of passion that are equally relevant to leisure activities:

  • harmonious _____

  • obsessive _____

harmonious passion

• Occurs when someone freely chooses to engage or not engage in an activity.

  • The activity is an important part of their identity, but is not overpowering; Their life does not revolve around an activity / be controlled by the activity

  • The activity does not conflict with other facets of their life.

  • The individual can fully focus on the activity and experiences beneficial outcomes during and after participation.

obsessive passion

• Occurs when someone feels pressured externally or internally to engage in an activity or if they have an uncontrollable urge to participate because of the associated excitement. “i NEED to do this activity”

• Individuals may demonstrate a rigid persistence toward the activity.

  • Can lead to frustration with the activity. (might not get as many or any positive outcomes)

  • May conflict with other aspects of one’s life.

true or false: harmonious passion is better than obsessive passion

false (they are equal!)

specialization

• The progression of involvement in an activity, where participants move from being novices to more skilled and experienced participants.

• A relatively small percentage of novice participants continue toward specialization.

• Similar to serious leisure participants in that:

  • Participants seek out new challenges and solutions within the activity

  • Specialization in an activity can evolve into a career-like pursuit.

• Different from serious leisure participation in that:

  • Specialization does not focus as much on the broader social world and connection.

  • Focus more on behaviour within the activity rather than the nature of the experience and deeper involvement.

• Overlap, but specialization is focused primarily on the “doing”, and serious leisure is also about the “being”

difference between specialization and serious leisure

• Specialization is focused on the SKILL and getting better at it (by reading, experiencing it more, learning techniques, etc.)

• Serious leisure is more focused on SOCIAL aspects and IDENTITY. more broad

serious leisure

• The systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity that participants find so substantial and interesting that they may launch themselves on a “career” centred on acquiring and expressing its special skills, knowledge, and experience.

• Pain, discomfort, and/or personal sacrifice are common to these activities. Soreness, bruises, tiredness, etc. but it is all worth it and a part of their serious leisure (the “sacrifice” to participate in this leisure). Leisure is not all sunshine and rainbows!

• Commitment to groups often bring work-like conditions regarding practice, events, and general scheduling. Almost like a second job.

• As leisure activities become more serious in their importance to an individual, inconveniences are often accepted as part of the experience.

obligation and sense of commitment in serious leisure

• A sense of commitment and obligation can enhance enjoyment in two ways.

  • Feeling like one belongs to a group or activity can serve as a structure around which life can be organized.

    • Despite a degree of relinquishing choice, doing so in pursuit of commitment can enhance the experience.

    • Identify with the activity and the other who participate seriously

    • Social world or shared understanding with fellow participants

    • Sense of enduring benefits that stem from participation

  • If there is stake, or investment, (e.g., time, financial, physical) in an activity, intensity is often deepened. The more you put into it the more dedicated and involved you become

    • Often leads to self-justification (i.e., rationalizing costs).

• Importantly, despite obligation and commitment, the action is still acknowledged as voluntary.

unpleasant emotions in leisure experiences

• Frustration may occur if someone does not have the skills necessary to participate in the task.

• Anxiety may be present if someone has inadequately prepared, or does not have the appropriate skill, for an activity.

• Boredom may arise if someone is too skilled for a challenge and/or failed to seek an appropriate challenge.

• A wide range of emotions may be present in leisure experiences, and both positive and negative emotions should be considered.

• Sometimes they are inherent in the activity or built in (which makes negative emotions not a bad thing!! it can still lead to a good experience overall (e.g. if you watch a sad movie to be sad then that’s a good thing))

• Sometimes they are unanticipated or unwanted consequences

• Unwelcome feelings common in serious leisure include:

  • Disappointments (when anticipated outcomes and benefits from high expectations aren’t realized)

  • Dislikes (when others or conditions do not behave as desired and constrain rather than facilitate the activity)

  • Tensions (conflicts, stressors, or negative events that arise during the activity)

  • Being stereotyped (being marginalized as “not in the know”)

experience changes during leisure

• Leisure activities may involve a variety of different meanings and experiences that may change during the course of the activity.

• As such, leisure activities may be best thought of multi-phase experiences consisting of five phases:

  • Anticipation

  • Travel to

  • On-site

  • Travel back

  • Recollection

    • first three phases are typically a lot of fun because there is a lot of anticipation!!

five phases of leisure activities

• Anticipation 

  • a period of imagining and planning the trip or event

  • looking forward to something and being excited about it

• Travel to 

  • getting to the activity site (right before activity)

• On-site 

  • the actual activity or experience at the site yayy

• Travel back 

  • the return home from the site (right after activity)

• Recollection

  • the recalling or savoring of the activity or experience

  • reflecting on the experience. could be shortly after, days after, or even years after. leisure experiences should be memorable!

savoring

• A process by which people bring about, appreciate, and enhance positive experiences in life. Taking it all in and reflecting on it.

• Characterized by:

  • Sharing with others

  • Memory building

  • Self-congratulating

  • Positive comparing

  • Sensory and perceptual sharpening

  • Behavioural expressiveness

  • Temporal awareness

  • Counting blessings

• Applies to past (i.e., pleasurable reminiscence; “that was so fun”), present (i.e., staying in the moment; “this is so fun and i need to take it all in now”), and future (i.e., positive anticipation; there are good things ahead and i already know they’re gonna be super positive”)

savoring characteristics defined

• Sharing with others

  • doing events and connecting with others — “hey aren’t you glad we did this?”

• Memory building

  • ‘i’m gonna try to deliberately remember this moment”, taking photos, journalling, scrapbooking

• Self-congratulating

  • looking back and being proud of yourself and your efforts, things accomplished, work put in and savouring that positive feeling

• Positive comparing

  • “this is way better than ____” thinking about the current moment and comparing it to a previous moment

• Sensory and perceptual sharpening

  • we try to purposely take extra notice of things during the moment and sharpening those senses and perceptions so we can remember it better when reflecting

• Behavioural expressiveness

  • when savouring, expressed behaviours (actions, emotions, attitudes) will probs be positive (relaxed posture, smiling, feeling peace, excitement)

• Temporal awareness

  • noticing that this isn’t gonna last forever/time is going by fast and taking a second to realize things are going by fast (being TEMPORary) and maybe trying to slow it down

• Counting blessings

  • “that was fun. life is good and this was really nice and i was lucky and grateful to be able to to this experience