What Boredom Actually Does to Your Brain

In one lab study, bored people ate more chocolate. In another, they gave themselves more mild electric shocks than sad people did. What is boredom actually doing to us? What boredom really is (wanting to engage and failing), why too much can bore you as much as too little, what it looks like in your body, why some researchers call it an alarm, and the claim everyone repeats: does boredom make you creative? Plus mind wandering, the famous doodling study, and what you can actually do with boredom. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:57 What it is 2:44 In your body 3:23 An alarm 4:31 Creative? 5:49 Wandering minds 7:18 What to do 8:23 Outro Sources Eastwood, Frischen, Fenske & Smilek (2012), Perspectives on Psychological Science Westgate & Wilson (2018), Psychological Review Chin, Markey, Bhargava, Kassam & Loewenstein (2017), Emotion Merrifield & Danckert (2014), Experimental Brain Research Danckert (2020), Behavioral Scientist; Danckert & Eastwood (2020), Out of My Skull Bench & Lench (2019), Emotion Havermans et al. (2015), Appetite; Nederkoorn et al. (2016), Psychiatry Research Camerini, Morlino & Marciano (2023), Computers in Human Behavior Reports Mann & Cadman (2014), Creativity Research Journal Nettinga, Gutglick & Danckert (2023), Journal of Boredom Studies Park, Lim & Oh (2019), Academy of Management Discoveries Baird et al. (2012), Psychological Science Killingsworth & Gilbert (2010), Science Andrade (2010), Applied Cognitive Psychology; Spencer-Mueller & Fenske (2024), QJEP General psychology for curiosity, not medical or mental health advice. Little Gray Matter explains why your brain does what it does, with simple drawings and real research. Subscribe for more. #psychology #boredom #brain