Psychology of Boredom (And How To Turn It Into a Skill)

Psychology of Boredom (And How To Turn It Into a Skill) This video breaks down why boredom isn't the problem you think it is, and why the real trouble is that you're never bored long enough to hear what it's telling you. We get into John Eastwood's 2012 definition of boredom at York University, Erin Westgate and Timothy Wilson's 2018 MAC model at the University of Virginia and its two dials, attention and meaning, the 2014 Science study where two-thirds of the men and a quarter of the women shocked themselves rather than sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes, and Nicholas Buttrick's 2019 replication across 11 countries. We also look at Shane Bench and Heather Lench's case for boredom as an emotion with a job, and Andreas Elpidorou's idea of boredom as an internal alarm. Then the 5 ways you silence that alarm without noticing: the instant fix, the skip button, the background noise, the wrong filler, and the unread message, with Jonas Dora's 2021 smartphone study, Katy Tam and Michael Inzlicht's 2024 experiments at the University of Toronto Scarborough on skipping through videos, and Stefan Pfattheicher's 2021 study on boredom and sadistic aggression. And 4 principles for being bored well: let it ring, name the dial, give your mind something to hold, and finish one thing at normal speed. You don't need a more exciting world. You need to hear the quiet one again. Which of the 5 is yours: the instant fix, the skip button, the background noise, the wrong filler, or the unread message? Be honest. Tell me in the comments. #psychology #boredom #attention #dopamine #selfimprovement #mentalhealth #selfawareness #psychery --- Research referenced: Eastwood, J. D., Frischen, A., Fenske, M. J., & Smilek, D. (2012). The unengaged mind: Defining boredom in terms of attention. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 482-495. Westgate, E. C., & Wilson, T. D. (2018). Boring thoughts and bored minds: The MAC model of boredom and cognitive engagement. Psychological Review, 125(5), 689-713. Wilson, T. D., Reinhard, D. A., Westgate, E. C., Gilbert, D. T., Ellerbeck, N., Hahn, C., Brown, C. L., & Shaked, A. (2014). Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind. Science, 345(6192), 75-77. Buttrick, N., Choi, H., Wilson, T. D., Oishi, S., Boker, S. M., Gilbert, D. T., et al. (2019). Cross-cultural consistency and relativity in the enjoyment of thinking versus doing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(5), e71-e83. Bench, S. W., & Lench, H. C. (2013). On the function of boredom. Behavioral Sciences, 3(3), 459-472. Elpidorou, A. (2015, July 30). The quiet alarm. Aeon. Dora, J., van Hooff, M., Geurts, S., Kompier, M., & Bijleveld, E. (2021). Fatigue, boredom and objectively measured smartphone use at work. Royal Society Open Science, 8(7), 201915. Tam, K. Y. Y., & Inzlicht, M. (2024). Fast-forward to boredom: How switching behavior on digital media makes people more bored. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(10), 2409-2426. Moynihan, A. B., van Tilburg, W. A. P., Igou, E. R., Wisman, A., Donnelly, A. E., & Mulcaire, J. B. (2015). Eaten up by boredom: Consuming food to escape awareness of the bored self. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 369. Pfattheicher, S., Lazarević, L. B., Westgate, E. C., & Schindler, S. (2021). On the relation of boredom and sadistic aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(3), 573-600. van Tilburg, W. A. P., Igou, E. R., & Sedikides, C. (2013). In search of meaningfulness: Nostalgia as an antidote to boredom. Emotion, 13(3), 450-461. Mann, S., & Cadman, R. (2014). Does being bored make us more creative? Creativity Research Journal, 26(2), 165-173. Zeißig, A., Kansok-Dusche, J., Fischer, S. M., Moeller, J., & Bilz, L. (2024). The association between boredom and creativity in educational contexts: A scoping review on research approaches and empirical findings. Review of Education, 12(1), e3470. Westgate, E. C., Wilson, T. D., Buttrick, N. R., Furrer, R. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2021). What makes thinking for pleasure pleasurable? Emotion, 21(5), 981-989. Russell, B. (1930). The conquest of happiness. George Allen & Unwin. --- Disclaimer: This video is made for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional psychological, medical, or therapeutic advice. If you are going through a hard time, please consider talking to a licensed therapist or a qualified mental health professional.