Definition of "autotelic" in English

adjective

1. (psychology, of an activity, process, person or personality) Containing its own meaning or purpose; deriving meaning and purpose from within.

   • 1988, Antonella Della Fave, Fausto Massimini, 12: Modernization and the changing contexts in work and leisure, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Isabella Selega Csikszentmihalyi (editors), Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness, Cambridge University Press, 1992, Paperback, page 208, It is possible that these three people have jobs that are more autotelic than those of the rest of this group; that they have more responsibility, more initiative and challenge at their workplace than is usual for employees of their type.

2. Of or pertaining to the quality of (a thing's) being autotelic.

   • 1988, Kevin Rathunde, Optimal experience and the family context, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Isabella Selega Csikszentmihalyi (editors), Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness, 1992, Paperback, Cambridge University Press, page 251, The autotelic score was negatively correlated with the anxiety/ambiguity score r = −.57 and negatively correlated with the boredom/rigidity score r = −.36.

3. (art, of a work of art or literature) Not motivated by anything beyond itself; thematically self-contained.

noun

1. An autotelic person, a person with an autotelic personality.