Corinna Peifer

• PhD
• Professor at University of Lübeck

In this study, we investigate the relationship between stress and flow-experience with the help of psychophysiological arousal indicators. Whereas recent studies suggest a positive relation between flow and physiological arousal, so far nothing is known on the relation between flow and high arousal in response to a salient stressor. We here suggest...

Multitasking behaviour is a prevalent coping strategy to deal with stressful work-demands. There is evidence from laboratory studies that multitasking behaviour decreases performance quality and shows an inverted u-shaped relationship with performance quantity. Based on the Brixey Model of Interruption and on assumptions of the Zeigarnik Effect, we...

The beneficial potential of flow experience is highlighted by research demonstrating positive associations between flow and wellbeing. Flow has also been associated with stress—a relationship that has not received much attention in the context of work. Unfinished tasks have been identified as a crucial work-related stressor in recent occupational s...

Subjective time progression has been shown to serve as a heuristic cue for evaluating stimuli, tasks and events. The subjective feeling that “time flies” is a characteristic feature of flow experience. In four experiments, we investigated whether and how subjective time progression, as operationalized by announcing either shorter or longer time int...

Flow has been defined as a pleasant psychological state that people experience when completely absorbed in an activity. Previous correlative evidence showed that the vagal tone (as indexed by heart rate variability) is a reliable marker of flow. So far, it has not yet been demonstrated that the vagus nerve plays a causal role in flow. To explore th...

Gamification is a promising way to enhance performance and motivation at work. Flow experiences play a significant role in gamification design, while also being a possible gamification outcome and a predictor of performance. In a study with 89 participants, we compared gamified and non-gamified assembly tasks, examining flow and performance. While...

Happiness is a concept in positive psychology. Studies have shown links between happiness, courses of diseases and health. In dermatology the role of happiness has not yet been sufficiently investigated. What impact do skin diseases have on individual happiness and what contribution can happiness make to holistic dermatological care? Processing of...

Introduction Despite numerous papers focusing on mindfulness at work, our knowledge about how flow experience and stress as indicators of optimal functioning and wellbeing at work evolve over time during the common mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program remains limited. Drawing from the transactional model of flow and stress, we argue th...

In this chapter, we will focus on the link between humour, stress and flow experience at the workplace. Research shows that humour acts as a protective factor and can be used as a coping strategy to deal with stress. There are two potential pathways for how humour affects stress: (1) The use of humour fosters positive emotions which may change the...

In the complex work environments of firefighting teams, it is often human error or difficulties in teamwork that lead to dangerous situations. To prevent these, it is essential to know the teamwork-related stressors and resources in firefighting operations. A measurement tool is needed to evaluate these stressors and resources. A successive instrum...

Gamification elements are seen as a viable possibility to increase work and learning outputs as well as to boost engagement. While there exists a broad range of experiences in the educational area, gamified applications, as well as user studies in manual work contexts, remain rare. Therefore, it is unclear how gamification elements impact employees...

Human-centered AI at work is being theorized, investigated, and developed in various disciplines providing different definitions and interpretations. Involved disciplines range from information science, machine learning, engineering and robotics, medicine up to ergonomics/work science, psychology, sociology, pedagogics, philosophy, business studies...

Background and objectives Communication is a complex skill and key component for professionals in health care. Complex skills are best learned through experimental learning like role plays or simulated patient encounters. The aim of the present study is to explore how students and lecturers assess the conditions under which the use of an AI-based f...

Wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse belegen, dass sich Humor und Lachen positiv auf unsere physische und psychische Gesundheit auswirken und als effektive Bewältigungsstrategie für stressige und unangenehme Situationen genutzt werden können. Dieses Buch untersucht umfassend die direkten und indirekten Auswirkungen von Humor auf die Gesundheit und wie ma...

Flow experience is a state of complete absorption while performing an optimally challenging and enjoyable task. It is often experienced at work—both in the form of individual and team flow—and can have a positive effect on performance and well-being. However, start-up founders’ work situation differs from that in established companies, facing not o...

Introduction: With the advancement of technology and the increasing utilization of AI, the nature of human work is evolving, requiring individuals to collaborate not only with other humans but also with AI technologies to accomplish complex goals. This requires a shift in perspective from technology-driven questions to a human-centered research and...

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as a driver of change, especially in the context of business, due to its progressive development and increasing connectivity in operational practice. Although it changes businesses and organizations vastly, the impact of AI implementation on human workers with their needs, skills, and job identity i...

Modern work in team structures makes team building interventions increasingly important. A phenomenon known to have a positive effect on efficient teamwork, i.e. team performance and team satisfaction, is the experience of flow – on both individual level and team level. Approaches in positive psychology can contribute to efficient teamwork by foste...

Flow is often experienced under stress-related conditions and associated with improved performance and well-being. Different workplace stressors and resources demonstrably affect individual flow. Considering the team level, our study explores the associations between typical teamwork-related stressors and resources and team flow. Firefighters work...

Today's work is mostly organized in team structures, which makes successful teamwork a key factor for organizational success. To maximize the potential of teams, organizations use team building interventions. These can take a variety of forms, and also serious games are applied as team building tools. The present study shows the development of a bo...

Wenn Arbeit sich durch technologische Weiterentwicklung verändert, entstehen Herausforderungen und Chancen für die Beschäftigten. Damit der Einsatz Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) nicht dazu führt, dass die identitätsstiftenden Elemente eines Jobs verloren gehen, sondern Motivation und Vigilanz erhalten und gefördert werden, forscht das Projekt HUMAIN...

Purpose Prior research on the psychological consequences of skin diseases has focused on assessing mental comorbidities. The aim of this study was to investigate subjective well-being in a large sample of individuals affected by psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease, and to explore the associations with depression and disease-related param...

Flow is a gratifying state of deep involvement and absorption that individuals report when facing a challenging activity and they perceive adequate abilities to cope with it (EFRN, 2014). The flow concept was introduced by Csikszentmihalyi in 1975, and interest in flow research is growing. However, to our best knowledge, no scoping review exists th...

Background: The Dermatology Quality of Life Index (DLQI) is the most commonly used quality of life questionnaire in dermatology. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the DLQI to measures of wellbeing and general quality of life in patients with chronic inflammatory skin diseases. Materials & methods: A cross-sectional study among p...

Firefighters act within extreme environments, work under threatening conditions and are often exposed to goal conflicts (e.g., self-protection vs. mission objective) during their missions. However, what are the consequences of these safety and task goal conflicts, and what countermeasures could help to reduce their occurrence? In an online survey,...

Background: In today's performance-oriented society, burnout symptoms, defined as consequences of chronic work stress, are an increasing problem. To counteract this development, the important aims are (1) to find protective and modifiable factors that reduce the risk of developing and harboring burnout symptoms and (2) to understand the underlying...

Kurzfassung: Der Einsatz künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) in der Arbeitswelt ermöglicht es, Arbeit so zu gestalten, dass sie von Mensch-KI-Teams erbracht wird. Um die Bemühungen zur prospektiven Gestaltung von Mensch-KI-Teaming-Arbeitsplätzen zu evaluieren, wird das Bewertungsinventar JOPI (Job Perception Inventory) im Rahmen des Projekts "HUMAINE" ent...

Task allocation research is often efficiency-focussed, but procedural and work-psychological perspectives are required to enable human-centred human–robot interaction (HRI). Hence, the motivational and cognitive outcomes of the degree of worker influence over task allocation are relevant to research objects for allocation process design. In a labor...

Flow experience refers to a motivational state of complete concentration on a given task, which can immediately facilitate cognitive performance. Although research has identified feedback as strong antecedent of flow, differences between the effects of positive and negative feedback on flow and the moderating role of personality traits remain large...

Background The first analyses of the various consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic show that the risk to nurses’ psychological well-being is particularly high. As the pandemic and the demands imposed on nurses are not yet fully understood, there is a need to seek buffering factors to protect nurses’ psychological health. In line with the earliest e...

Background: Flow is often experienced under stress-related conditions and is associated with increased performance and well-being. There is evidence that different workplace stressors and resources affect individual flow. Bringing this research to the team-level, our study aims to investigate effects of typical teamwork-related stressors and resou...

Stress and teamwork in fire operations Successful teamwork plays an essential role for efficient and safe fire operations. By contrast, suboptimal teamwork processes are a frequent but avoidable source of danger and can lead to increased stress levels in firefighters. The project "Gemeinsam stark" (“Strong together”), aims to develop and evaluate t...

Fragestellung Was sind Stressoren und Ressourcen in der Teamarbeit in Brandschutzeinsätzen und wie lassen sich diese erfassen, um die Erkenntnisse für die Entwicklung eines Trainings für nicht-technische Fertigkeiten nutzen zu können? Untersuchungsdesign Es wurden 27 Interviews mit erfahrenen Feuerwehrkräften aus Berufs- und Werkfeuerwehren, sowie...

Fragestellung Bei Brandschutzeinsätzen der Feuerwehr kommt es aufgrund von schlechten Teamarbeitsprozessen immer wieder zu vermeidbaren Gefahrenquellen. Ziel dieser Untersuchung ist es, Stressoren und Ressourcen der Teamarbeit bei Brandschutzeinsätzen aufzudecken, um anschließend durch Trainings die Zusammenarbeit gezielt zu verbessern. Untersuchun...

In this chapter, we will focus on the link between humour, stress and flow experience at the workplace. Research shows that humour acts as a protective factor and can be used as a coping strategy to deal with stress. There are two potential pathways for how humour affects stress: (1) The use of humour fosters positive emotions which may change the...

More and more teams are collaborating virtually across the globe, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further encouraged the dissemination of virtual teamwork. However, there are challenges for virtual teams – such as reduced informal communication – with implications for team effectiveness. Team flow is a concept with high potential for promoting team e...

The media increasingly speak of a care crisis. Systematic support is needed to prepare nursing apprentices for the high demands of their profession and to reduce the number of nurses who finally quit. Particularly in stressful jobs like nursing, humor as a coping strategy can have a beneficial effect on perceived stress and overall work enjoyment....

Despite the high stress levels, paramedics seem to ignore or even negate the stress. This can be detrimental and lead to stress-related diseases. Therefore, we investigated the divergence between physiological and psychological stress responses of paramedics. Participants were 16 paramedics and 17 white-collar workers. We assessed psychological str...

In recent years, flow has been increasingly investigated from a physiological perspective and interest in such studies is growing fast. In order to contribute to this ongoing research, this chapter aims to report and integrate existing theories and findings concerning the physiology of flow experience and to stimulate further investigation. The fir...

This chapter introduces the flow concept by listing the components of flow as provided by Csikszentmihalyi. We will show that these components constitute the widely shared definitional ground of researchers in the field, with only minor variation between research groups and time periods. Next, we try to clarify some lingering ambiguities regarding...

The final chapter provides a short summary of all chapters of the book and points to similarities between the chapters and what these imply for future research. Future research topics that are discussed include the core components of flow, the differentiation of frequency and intensity of flow, and the duration of and dynamics within and between fl...

Flow can be experienced both during leisure activities and during work and research shows that flow is even more often experienced at work. Considering its positive consequences, fostering flow is a relevant topic for employees and organizations. The consequences and antecedents of flow at the workplace as described in the literature can be conceiv...

Motivation explains the direction, intensity and persistence of human behavior and thus plays a crucial role in the mobilization and allocation of available energy. An experience that occurs during motivated action is flow. Flow is perceived as highly rewarding for its own sake and, thus, in flow all attention is directed towards the task at hand,...

Self-efficacy is a well-known psychological resource, being positively associated with increased performance. Furthermore, results from field studies suggest a positive impact of self-efficacy on flow experience, which has not yet been tested experimentally. In this study, we manipulated self-efficacy by means of positive feedback and investigated...

While stress has been an important research area in the field of ergonomics, research on social stress and on the combination of stressors is largely lacking. This study examined the effects of social stress on psychological and physiological strain and performance. As an exploratory research question we looked at the combined effects of social str...

„Other people matter“ formulierte der US-amerikanische Psychologe Christopher Peterson auf die Frage, was Positive Psychologie sei. Pointiert machte er so deutlich, dass der Mensch im Fokus positiv-psychologischer Forschung steht: Der Mensch als Teil einer Gemeinschaft, geprägt von sozialen Interaktionen, tragfähigen, warmherzigen Bindungen und geg...

Der Schaltanlagenbau in Deutschland ist eine Branche, in der vorwiegend Fachkräfte in kleineren Betrieben die teils komplexen Aufbauten vornehmen. Diese Studie untersucht auf Basis einer überwiegend quantitativen Fragebogen-Befragung von 39 Beschäftigten aus vier Unternehmen, welche Bedeutung dem Arbeitsmerkmal Autonomie als Ressource in dieser Bra...

Background According to the World Health Organization, mental health is a state of well‐being and not merely the absence of disease. However, studies exploring subjective well‐being in patients with skin diseases are very rare. Objectives To assess subjective well‐being, i.e. ‘happiness’, in patients with different skin diseases and to compare the...

Zusammen wachsen – Förderung der positiv-psychologischen Entwicklung von Individuen, Organisationen und Gesellschaft war das Thema der 3. Konferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Positiv-Psychologische Forschung (DGPPF), die im Mai 2018 an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum stattfand. Basierend auf den dort präsentierten Beiträgen finden Sie in diesem Ban...

Patients with chronic diseases suffer under both physical and mental consequences of their diseases. Apart from worrying about their health, stigmatization can be an additional factor which negatively affects the patient's mental health. In order to measure the psychological burden of chronic diseases, medical research often relies on assessing men...

Background Emergency medical teams experience stress not only from traumatic events, but also from many small stressors during their everyday work. Despite the high stress level, paramedics seem to ignore or even negate the stress. As this can be detrimental and lead to stress-related diseases, the aim of this study is to empirically investigate th...

Flow ist ein Zustand der völligen Absorbiertheit während der Ausführung einer Tätigkeit. Das Flow Erleben wird durch zahlreiche Faktoren beeinflusst. Dabei gilt die Selbstwirksamkeit als eine psychologische Ressource, die mit erhöhter Leistung und höherem Flow Erleben einhergeht. Der positive Effekt der Selbstwirksamkeit auf das Flow Erleben wurde...

Wie wachsen Menschen kognitiv, emotional und motivational? Wie entwickeln sie sich optimal? Die Positive Psychologie sucht hier nach Antworten: Sie ist die Wissenschaft dessen, was Individuen, Organisationen und Gesellschaften dazu befähigt, sich bestmöglich zu entwickeln und „aufzublühen“. Gegenstand positiv-psychologischer Forschung sind daher St...

Positive Psychologie ist die Wissenschaft dessen, was Individuen, Organisationen und Gesellschaften dazu befähigt, sich bestmöglich zu entwickeln und aufzublühen. Sie orientiert sich an den Stärken, Ressourcen und Potenzialen, die Menschen mitbringen. Im Mittelpunkt des Forschungsinteresses stehen daher psychisches Wohlbefinden und positive Entwick...

stress-assoziierter physiologischer Parameter einhergeht, z. B. der sympathischen Aktivierung und des Stresshormons Cortisol. Steigen die Werte jedoch über ein moderates Maß hinaus an, sinkt der Flow wieder – es besteht also ein umgekehrt uförmiger Zusammenhang zwischen physiologischer Aktivierung und Flow. Flow erscheint daher als ein Zustand erhö...

In this chapter, we present new psychological and physiological research paradigms to assess and investigate flow-experience. We compare flow theory and research with concepts of challenge and threat, as well as with mental effort. By taking a closer look at physiological processes during challenge and threat and during mental effort, we outline ph...

It is almost common sense that work stress leads to sleep impairment, but the question of how work-related stressors impair employee sleep remains open. This study focuses on the role of rumination as the underlying mechanism for sleep impairment. Specifically, the authors contribute to recent research differentiating affective rumination from prob...

Rationale: Stress affects flow-experience, but the mediating psychobiological mechanisms remain unknown. Previous studies showed an association between flow-experience and endogenous cortisol levels, suggesting an inverted, u-shaped relation between flow-experience and cortisol. However, these studies could not exclude effects of other stress fact...

The present paper introduces a novel framework for negotiation research and practice by elaborating on the role of interest-relevant resources in negotiation on conflicts of interests. In the theoretical framework of Resource-Oriented Negotiations (RON) it is predicted that aside from psychological processes (motivation, cognition, emotion) the cha...

Flow—the pleasant state of absorption of a person with an activity—has rarely been investigated from a physiological perspective. However, interest in such studies is growing fast. Only recently, researchers started to apply psychophysiological measures to study flow-experiences. In order to contribute to this ongoing research, this chapter aims to...