Boredom, the uncomfortable feeling of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity... more Boredom, the uncomfortable feeling of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity [1,2] is associated with a high level of selfconsciousness. That is, when bored we are painfully stuck in ourselves, unable to connect, and unable to loose ourselves in activity. In this regard boredom can be categorized as a self-referential feeling (akin to other feelings such as guilt and shame). However, only a handful of studies have explored the links between boredom and self-consciousness and have found disparate, and potentially confusing, patterns. We propose that the confusion arises because boredom has a differential relationship with two aspects of self-consciousness that must be distinguished. Whereas boredom is positively correlated with the tendency to scrutinize and direct focus towards oneself (i.e. self-directed attention), it is negatively correlated with the ability to identify and categorize one’s inner experiences (i.e. selfinsight) [3,4,5,6]. We will report empiri...
This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
This study examined individuals' ability to accurately anticipate how cognitively effortful and u... more This study examined individuals' ability to accurately anticipate how cognitively effortful and uncomfortable a task will feel based on a short sample of the task. Participants completed a sustained attention or working memory task. Post-practice, participants rated the effort and discomfort that they anticipated their task would require and engender, respectively. Participants also rated their effort and discomfort during task-administration and the effort and discomfort they recalled feeling after task-administration. Sustained attention task participants anticipated significantly less effort than working memory task participants. Sustained attention task participants felt significantly more effort during the task and remembered feeling more effort than they had anticipated. Working memory task participants felt significantly less effort during the task than they had anticipated. Sustained attention task participants anticipated, experienced, and recalled feeling more discomfort than working memory task participants. Individuals' anticipation of effort required depends on the task and is different from the effort they actually feel during the task and later recall feeling.
Objective: The avoidance of mental effort is a symptom criterion for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactiv... more Objective: The avoidance of mental effort is a symptom criterion for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but the experience of mental effort has received relatively little attention in the empirical study of individuals at-risk for ADHD. We explored a novel method to assess the experience of effort and discomfort during a working memory task in a sample of young adults at-risk and not at-risk for ADHD. Method: A sample of 235 undergraduate students (Mean age = 21.02, 86 males) were included in this study. Based on an ADHD-screener (ASRS), 136 participants met criteria for the ADHD-risk group and 99 were in the non-ADHD risk group. Results: Individuals at-risk for ADHD reported higher mental effort and discomfort than individuals not at-risk for ADHD, even when performance on the working memory task was comparable or statistically controlled. Mental effort required and discomfort were more strongly correlated for at-risk compared to not at-risk participants. Individuals ...
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, 2016
Boredom researchers have yet to agree upon a singular definition of boredom propensity. The most ... more Boredom researchers have yet to agree upon a singular definition of boredom propensity. The most prominent conceptualizations of boredom propensity are discussed below. Boredom propensity may be tentatively understood as a characteristic tendency or vulnerability to experiencing boredom.
Boredom is an important personal and social problem, but the phenomena itself remains poorly unde... more Boredom is an important personal and social problem, but the phenomena itself remains poorly understood. Recent work has shown that boredom is highly related to attention, and that this relationship may be instrumental in revealing boredom's causes and consequences. In this paper, experimental findings on trait boredom, state boredom, and sustained attention performance are presented. We demonstrate that trait boredom uniquely predicts sustained attention performance, over and above depression and self-report attention problems. We also present exploratory findings consistent with the claim that attention failures may cause boredom and that sustained attention tasks may themselves be boring. Discussion of each of these findings, and potential ramifications for cognitive research as a whole, is included.
Abstract The present study investigated the contributions of an overall personality taxonomy (HEX... more Abstract The present study investigated the contributions of an overall personality taxonomy (HEXACO) and boredom proneness to creativity and curiosity. Past research has indicated that creativity and curiosity are related processes that are informed by personality variables. Prior, largely theoretical, work also suggests that the tendency to experience boredom may be linked to creativity and curiosity. In the present study, hierarchical multiple regressions were used to evaluate the role of personality and boredom proneness in the prediction of creativity and curiosity. The results confirmed the importance of personality (especially Openness to Experience) as an important predictor of creativity and curiosity. Furthermore, we found that boredom proneness was a positive predictor of curiosity in several forms once its shared variance with overall personality structure was partialled out. In addition, while the literature has found that boredom as a state triggers creativity, the results of this study indicate that boredom as a personality trait is not predictive of creativity. These findings suggest several interesting possibilities. Of note, if its inhibited qualities could be overcome, boredom proneness might be able to play a positive role in curiosity.
Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Jan 19, 2016
to design and pilot a reliable observer-based scale of client reflexivity that can be used on sho... more to design and pilot a reliable observer-based scale of client reflexivity that can be used on short segments of time ("coding intervals") across therapy sessions. Reflexivity was defined as the level of a client's awareness and exploration of his or her interiority. Interiority was defined as thoughts, feelings, sensations, intentions, and desires. The Client Reflexivity Scale (CRS) was designed through the coding of public access therapy videos featuring demonstrations of therapy. Along with the Experiencing Scale, the CRS was then piloted on one good outcome and one poor outcome session of cognitive-behavioural therapy for anxiety. Each session of therapy featured the same therapist but different clients. Two raters coded the sessions. Weighted kappas for inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.74 to 0.81. The level of reflexivity was significantly higher in the good outcome session than the poor outcome session, though the trajectory of reflexivity for both sessions w...
Some theories emphasize the role of the situation, some emphasize the role of the person, and som... more Some theories emphasize the role of the situation, some emphasize the role of the person, and some emphasize the interaction between situation and person in causing boredom. The present study examines these models by determining whether boredom propensity (person) and/or experimental condition (situation) independently or in interaction affected state boredom. The study also examined the relative contribution of behavioural activation and inhibition to state boredom. Boredom propensity and condition significantly and independently predicted state boredom, as did the interaction between behavioural inhibition and condition. Implications are discussed, including the possibility of two distinct causes of boredom.
Participants completed self-report scales of boredom, emotional awareness and external orientatio... more Participants completed self-report scales of boredom, emotional awareness and external orientation. Structural equation modeling indicated that boredom, emotional awareness and external orientation are distinctly measurable but correlated-the bored individual is unaware of emotions and externally-oriented. Furthermore, although the bored person typically complains that the external world fails to engage them, the present findings suggest the underlying problem may be in the person's inability to consciously access and understand their emotions. The present findings and accompanying literature review challenge the simplistic notion that boredom is never more than a trivial annoyance resulting from an under-stimulating environment.
Page 1. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2009, pp. 307-340 307 LACK OF ... more Page 1. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2009, pp. 307-340 307 LACK OF LIFE MEANING Fahlman et al. does a laCk oF lIFe meanIng Cause Boredom? results From psyChometrIC, longItudInal, and experImental analyses ...
... is conceptualised as an under-aroused state or as a negative mood state. ... studies have fou... more ... is conceptualised as an under-aroused state or as a negative mood state. ... studies have found a positive association between sensation seeking and problem gambling (eg Gupta ... The relationship between dissociative-like experiences and sensation seeking among social and ...
There are two commonly used measures of boredom: the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) and the Boredo... more There are two commonly used measures of boredom: the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) and the Boredom Susceptibility Scale (ZBS). Although both were designed to measure the propensity to experience boredom (i.e., trait boredom), there are reasons to think they may not measure the same construct. The present research sought to evaluate this proposition in several stages. Specifically, relationships between the BPS, ZBS, and important causal (Study 1, N = 837), correlational (Study 2, N = 233), and outcome variables (Study 3, N = 137) were examined in university students. Taken together, results support the notion that the BPS and ZBS do not measure the same construct. Specifically, higher BPS scores were associated with higher levels of neuroticism, experiential avoidance, attentional and nonplanning impulsivity, anxiety, depression, dysphoria, and emotional eating. Conversely, higher ZBS scores were associated with higher levels of motor impulsivity, sensitivity to reward, gambling, an...
... Gilboa-Schechtman, Foa, and Amir (1999) examined the time required by individuals with social... more ... Gilboa-Schechtman, Foa, and Amir (1999) examined the time required by individuals with social phobia and control participants to find a discrepant happy or angry face in a crowd of 12 neutral faces. Individuals with social ...
European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 2014
During the preparation of your manuscript for typesetting, the queries listed below have arisen. ... more During the preparation of your manuscript for typesetting, the queries listed below have arisen. Please answer these queries by marking the required corrections at the appropriate point in the text. Electronic file usage Sometimes we are unable to process the electronic file of your article and/or artwork. If this is the case, we have proceeded by: h Scanning (parts of) your article h Rekeying (parts of) your article Precopyedited Manuscript h While processing the precopyedited manuscript some oversights were noted. These have been listed below.
Boredom, the uncomfortable feeling of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity... more Boredom, the uncomfortable feeling of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity [1,2] is associated with a high level of selfconsciousness. That is, when bored we are painfully stuck in ourselves, unable to connect, and unable to loose ourselves in activity. In this regard boredom can be categorized as a self-referential feeling (akin to other feelings such as guilt and shame). However, only a handful of studies have explored the links between boredom and self-consciousness and have found disparate, and potentially confusing, patterns. We propose that the confusion arises because boredom has a differential relationship with two aspects of self-consciousness that must be distinguished. Whereas boredom is positively correlated with the tendency to scrutinize and direct focus towards oneself (i.e. self-directed attention), it is negatively correlated with the ability to identify and categorize one’s inner experiences (i.e. selfinsight) [3,4,5,6]. We will report empiri...
This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
This study examined individuals' ability to accurately anticipate how cognitively effortful and u... more This study examined individuals' ability to accurately anticipate how cognitively effortful and uncomfortable a task will feel based on a short sample of the task. Participants completed a sustained attention or working memory task. Post-practice, participants rated the effort and discomfort that they anticipated their task would require and engender, respectively. Participants also rated their effort and discomfort during task-administration and the effort and discomfort they recalled feeling after task-administration. Sustained attention task participants anticipated significantly less effort than working memory task participants. Sustained attention task participants felt significantly more effort during the task and remembered feeling more effort than they had anticipated. Working memory task participants felt significantly less effort during the task than they had anticipated. Sustained attention task participants anticipated, experienced, and recalled feeling more discomfort than working memory task participants. Individuals' anticipation of effort required depends on the task and is different from the effort they actually feel during the task and later recall feeling.
Objective: The avoidance of mental effort is a symptom criterion for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactiv... more Objective: The avoidance of mental effort is a symptom criterion for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but the experience of mental effort has received relatively little attention in the empirical study of individuals at-risk for ADHD. We explored a novel method to assess the experience of effort and discomfort during a working memory task in a sample of young adults at-risk and not at-risk for ADHD. Method: A sample of 235 undergraduate students (Mean age = 21.02, 86 males) were included in this study. Based on an ADHD-screener (ASRS), 136 participants met criteria for the ADHD-risk group and 99 were in the non-ADHD risk group. Results: Individuals at-risk for ADHD reported higher mental effort and discomfort than individuals not at-risk for ADHD, even when performance on the working memory task was comparable or statistically controlled. Mental effort required and discomfort were more strongly correlated for at-risk compared to not at-risk participants. Individuals ...
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, 2016
Boredom researchers have yet to agree upon a singular definition of boredom propensity. The most ... more Boredom researchers have yet to agree upon a singular definition of boredom propensity. The most prominent conceptualizations of boredom propensity are discussed below. Boredom propensity may be tentatively understood as a characteristic tendency or vulnerability to experiencing boredom.
Boredom is an important personal and social problem, but the phenomena itself remains poorly unde... more Boredom is an important personal and social problem, but the phenomena itself remains poorly understood. Recent work has shown that boredom is highly related to attention, and that this relationship may be instrumental in revealing boredom's causes and consequences. In this paper, experimental findings on trait boredom, state boredom, and sustained attention performance are presented. We demonstrate that trait boredom uniquely predicts sustained attention performance, over and above depression and self-report attention problems. We also present exploratory findings consistent with the claim that attention failures may cause boredom and that sustained attention tasks may themselves be boring. Discussion of each of these findings, and potential ramifications for cognitive research as a whole, is included.
Abstract The present study investigated the contributions of an overall personality taxonomy (HEX... more Abstract The present study investigated the contributions of an overall personality taxonomy (HEXACO) and boredom proneness to creativity and curiosity. Past research has indicated that creativity and curiosity are related processes that are informed by personality variables. Prior, largely theoretical, work also suggests that the tendency to experience boredom may be linked to creativity and curiosity. In the present study, hierarchical multiple regressions were used to evaluate the role of personality and boredom proneness in the prediction of creativity and curiosity. The results confirmed the importance of personality (especially Openness to Experience) as an important predictor of creativity and curiosity. Furthermore, we found that boredom proneness was a positive predictor of curiosity in several forms once its shared variance with overall personality structure was partialled out. In addition, while the literature has found that boredom as a state triggers creativity, the results of this study indicate that boredom as a personality trait is not predictive of creativity. These findings suggest several interesting possibilities. Of note, if its inhibited qualities could be overcome, boredom proneness might be able to play a positive role in curiosity.
Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Jan 19, 2016
to design and pilot a reliable observer-based scale of client reflexivity that can be used on sho... more to design and pilot a reliable observer-based scale of client reflexivity that can be used on short segments of time ("coding intervals") across therapy sessions. Reflexivity was defined as the level of a client's awareness and exploration of his or her interiority. Interiority was defined as thoughts, feelings, sensations, intentions, and desires. The Client Reflexivity Scale (CRS) was designed through the coding of public access therapy videos featuring demonstrations of therapy. Along with the Experiencing Scale, the CRS was then piloted on one good outcome and one poor outcome session of cognitive-behavioural therapy for anxiety. Each session of therapy featured the same therapist but different clients. Two raters coded the sessions. Weighted kappas for inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.74 to 0.81. The level of reflexivity was significantly higher in the good outcome session than the poor outcome session, though the trajectory of reflexivity for both sessions w...
Some theories emphasize the role of the situation, some emphasize the role of the person, and som... more Some theories emphasize the role of the situation, some emphasize the role of the person, and some emphasize the interaction between situation and person in causing boredom. The present study examines these models by determining whether boredom propensity (person) and/or experimental condition (situation) independently or in interaction affected state boredom. The study also examined the relative contribution of behavioural activation and inhibition to state boredom. Boredom propensity and condition significantly and independently predicted state boredom, as did the interaction between behavioural inhibition and condition. Implications are discussed, including the possibility of two distinct causes of boredom.
Participants completed self-report scales of boredom, emotional awareness and external orientatio... more Participants completed self-report scales of boredom, emotional awareness and external orientation. Structural equation modeling indicated that boredom, emotional awareness and external orientation are distinctly measurable but correlated-the bored individual is unaware of emotions and externally-oriented. Furthermore, although the bored person typically complains that the external world fails to engage them, the present findings suggest the underlying problem may be in the person's inability to consciously access and understand their emotions. The present findings and accompanying literature review challenge the simplistic notion that boredom is never more than a trivial annoyance resulting from an under-stimulating environment.
Page 1. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2009, pp. 307-340 307 LACK OF ... more Page 1. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2009, pp. 307-340 307 LACK OF LIFE MEANING Fahlman et al. does a laCk oF lIFe meanIng Cause Boredom? results From psyChometrIC, longItudInal, and experImental analyses ...
... is conceptualised as an under-aroused state or as a negative mood state. ... studies have fou... more ... is conceptualised as an under-aroused state or as a negative mood state. ... studies have found a positive association between sensation seeking and problem gambling (eg Gupta ... The relationship between dissociative-like experiences and sensation seeking among social and ...
There are two commonly used measures of boredom: the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) and the Boredo... more There are two commonly used measures of boredom: the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) and the Boredom Susceptibility Scale (ZBS). Although both were designed to measure the propensity to experience boredom (i.e., trait boredom), there are reasons to think they may not measure the same construct. The present research sought to evaluate this proposition in several stages. Specifically, relationships between the BPS, ZBS, and important causal (Study 1, N = 837), correlational (Study 2, N = 233), and outcome variables (Study 3, N = 137) were examined in university students. Taken together, results support the notion that the BPS and ZBS do not measure the same construct. Specifically, higher BPS scores were associated with higher levels of neuroticism, experiential avoidance, attentional and nonplanning impulsivity, anxiety, depression, dysphoria, and emotional eating. Conversely, higher ZBS scores were associated with higher levels of motor impulsivity, sensitivity to reward, gambling, an...
... Gilboa-Schechtman, Foa, and Amir (1999) examined the time required by individuals with social... more ... Gilboa-Schechtman, Foa, and Amir (1999) examined the time required by individuals with social phobia and control participants to find a discrepant happy or angry face in a crowd of 12 neutral faces. Individuals with social ...
European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 2014
During the preparation of your manuscript for typesetting, the queries listed below have arisen. ... more During the preparation of your manuscript for typesetting, the queries listed below have arisen. Please answer these queries by marking the required corrections at the appropriate point in the text. Electronic file usage Sometimes we are unable to process the electronic file of your article and/or artwork. If this is the case, we have proceeded by: h Scanning (parts of) your article h Rekeying (parts of) your article Precopyedited Manuscript h While processing the precopyedited manuscript some oversights were noted. These have been listed below.
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