What Boredom Is Really About
What is boredom? In a new study, psychologist John Eastwood of York University investigated the mental processes that underlie our feelings of boredom:
“In an article in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, Eastwood and colleagues define boredom as ‘an aversive state of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity,’ which arises from failures in one of the brain’s attention networks. People are bored when they:
When I was a child and complained about being bored while waiting in line or sitting on a park bench, my mother would say, “Let’s people-watch.” Just observing people, imagining what their stories might be, is fascinating. Not to mention slowing down and noticing what’s going on with your own thoughts and emotions. I can’t remember the last time I felt bored. How about you?
In the workplace, I’ve noticed that boredom or something similar to boredom, let’s say “extensive distracted-ness,” sometimes happens when we are facing a particularly difficult or challenging task, and we lack the confidence to move forward with it or even plunge headlong into what’s required to even start the task.
In such cases, the environment or the task have little to do with our behavior. We simply are procrastinating what we thing may be something quite difficult/something we’re not sure we can succeed at as easily as we can with other tasks or responsibilities.
I am an undergrad working at the University’s Center for Teaching and Learning. Recently I did some digging on this subject in relation to education. I never thought I would be so interested in boredom!
While it may seem obvious to the general public, scholars and researchers overwhelmingly affirm that “Boredom has long been a significant problem in education”. It is common for students to blame the teaching environment for banal feelings, but a recent study favored the concept that learners may have something to do with it:
”The individual student must be, at least to some extent, responsible for his or her experience of boredom. No matter how diligently teachers try to produce ‘not boring’ tasks and learning environments, in the end the student may still perceive and interpret the situation as boring. Thus, these perceptions may be more closely related to students’ experiences of boredom than the objective situation itself . . . When faced with situations that could be construed as boring, the way that students choose to perceive and deal with the situations may prevent the onset of boredom or influence how long boredom is endured. Towards this end, students seem to use different strategies to cope with, and therefore avoid or alleviate, boredom. Students who cope with boredom effectively might be more successful in school as well as happier, more satisfied, and self-confident.”
In other words, what students do when faced with boring situations can actually influence their GPA and overall well being. The researchers of the study above defined three categories of students in how they coped with boredom: Reappraisers, Criticizers, and Evaders. Reappraisers, the most adaptive and positive group, feel that boredom resides in themselves, so they try to change their perspective of the situation. Criticizers and Evaders, however, see boredom only in the situation (including the teacher). Criticizers believe they can change the situation by voicing their boredom, but Evaders merely try and avoid the fact that the setting is boring and they try and do something to keep their interest that will help them endure the situation in the best way possible.
Thanks for your post! I love people watching
Craig, S. D., Graesser, A. C., Sullins, J., & Gholson, B. (2004). Affect and learning: An exploratory look into the role of affect in learning with AutoTutor. Journal of Educational Media, 29(3), 241–50.
Nett, U. E., Goetz, T., & Daniels, L. M. (2010). What to do when feeling bored? Students’ strategies for coping with boredom. Learning And Individual Differences, 20(6), 626-638.