With this type of passion, the activity occupies a significant but not overpowering space in the person’s identity and is in harmony with other aspects of the person’s life
Furthermore, Self-determination theory and research has shown that elements from the environment can be internalized in either a controlled or an autonomous fashion (see ; Vallerand et al. 1997). Thus, in line with the above, the DMP proposes that there are two types of passion, obsessive and harmonious, that can be distinguished in terms of how the passionate activity has been internalized into one’s identity.
A controlled internalization originates from intra and/or interpersonal pressure typically because certain contingencies are attached to the activity such as feelings of social acceptance or self-esteem (see Mageau et al. in press), or because the sense of excitement derived from activity engagement is uncontrollable. People with an obsessive passion can thus find themselves in the position of experiencing an uncontrollable urge to partake in the activity they view as important and enjoyable. The passion for the activity comes to control the person. They cannot help but to engage in the passionate activity leading to rigid persistence toward the activity. While such rigid persistence may at times lead to some benefits (e.g., improvement on the activity over time), it may also incur some costs, potentially leading to less than optimal functioning within the confines of the passionate activity because of the lack of flexibility that it entails. Such a rigid and defensive style should lead to self-closure from intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences (Aron 1992), to a poor integrative experience during task engagement (Hodgins & Knee 2002), and thus to negative emotional experiences, while reducing the positive affective outcomes that would normally be experienced (Hodgins & Knee 2002). Furthermore, such a rigid persistence may lead to the experience of conflict with other aspects of the person’s life when engaging in the passionate activity (when one should be doing something else, for instance), as well as to frustration and rumination about the activity when prevented from engaging in it because of the lost opportunity.
It produces a motivational force to engage in the activity willingly and engenders a sense of volition and personal endorsement about pursuing the activity
Conversely, harmonious passion results from an autonomous internalization of the activity representation into the person’s identity. An autonomous internalization occurs when individuals have freely accepted the activity as important for them without any or little contingencies attached to it. This type of internalization emanates from the intrinsic and integrative tendencies of the self (). When harmonious passion is at play, individuals do not experience an uncontrollable urge to engage in the passionate activity, but rather freely choose to do so. In other words, with harmonious passion the authentic integrating self () is at play allowing the person to fully partake in the passionate activity with a flexibility and a mindful (Brown et al. 2007) open manner that is conducive to positive experiences (Hodgins & http://hookupdate.net/escort-index/bend/ Knee 2002).
Consequently, people with a harmonious passion should be able to fully focus on the task at hand and experience positive outcomes both during (e.g., flow, positive affect, concentration) and after task engagement (e.g., satisfaction, general positive affect). Thus, there should be little or no conflict between the person’s passionate activity and his/her other life activities. Furthermore, when prevented from engaging in their passionate activity, people with a harmonious passion should be able to adapt well to the situation and focus their attention and energy on other tasks that need to be done. Finally, with harmonious passion, the person is in control of the activity and can decide when to and when not to engage in the activity. Thus, behavioral engagement in the passionate activity can be seen as flexible.