Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom
Functional accounts of boredom propose that boredom serves as an impartial signal to change something about the current situation, which should give rise to adaptive and maladaptive behaviour alike. This seemingly contrasts with research on boredom proneness, which has overwhelmingly shown associati...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211998 |
| _version_ | 1827960657780146176 |
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| author | Maik Bieleke Leonie Ripper Julia Schüler Wanja Wolff |
| author_facet | Maik Bieleke Leonie Ripper Julia Schüler Wanja Wolff |
| author_sort | Maik Bieleke |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Functional accounts of boredom propose that boredom serves as an impartial signal to change something about the current situation, which should give rise to adaptive and maladaptive behaviour alike. This seemingly contrasts with research on boredom proneness, which has overwhelmingly shown associations with maladaptive behaviour. To shed light on this discrepancy, we disentangled boredom proneness from individual differences in (i) the urge to avoid and escape boredom and (ii) adaptive and maladaptive ways of dealing with boredom by developing corresponding trait scales. In a study with N = 636 participants, psychometric network modelling revealed tight associations between boredom proneness and less adaptive and (especially) more maladaptive ways of dealing with boredom. However, its associations with the urge to avoid and escape boredom were rather weak. Importantly, a higher urge to avoid and escape boredom was linked not only to more maladaptive but also to more adaptive ways of dealing with boredom. This pattern of results was robust across various specific behaviours that have previously been linked to boredom. Our findings provide novel evidence for functional accounts of boredom from an individual difference perspective, cautioning against a shallow view of boredom as being associated with purely maladaptive behaviour. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:12:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8004b1db934a433c96db2be5737b3cc6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:12:26Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-8004b1db934a433c96db2be5737b3cc62023-04-24T09:15:18ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032022-09-019910.1098/rsos.211998Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredomMaik Bieleke0Leonie Ripper1Julia Schüler2Wanja Wolff3Department of Sport Science, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, GermanyDepartment of Sport Science, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, GermanyDepartment of Sport Science, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, GermanyDepartment of Sport Science, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, GermanyFunctional accounts of boredom propose that boredom serves as an impartial signal to change something about the current situation, which should give rise to adaptive and maladaptive behaviour alike. This seemingly contrasts with research on boredom proneness, which has overwhelmingly shown associations with maladaptive behaviour. To shed light on this discrepancy, we disentangled boredom proneness from individual differences in (i) the urge to avoid and escape boredom and (ii) adaptive and maladaptive ways of dealing with boredom by developing corresponding trait scales. In a study with N = 636 participants, psychometric network modelling revealed tight associations between boredom proneness and less adaptive and (especially) more maladaptive ways of dealing with boredom. However, its associations with the urge to avoid and escape boredom were rather weak. Importantly, a higher urge to avoid and escape boredom was linked not only to more maladaptive but also to more adaptive ways of dealing with boredom. This pattern of results was robust across various specific behaviours that have previously been linked to boredom. Our findings provide novel evidence for functional accounts of boredom from an individual difference perspective, cautioning against a shallow view of boredom as being associated with purely maladaptive behaviour.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211998boredom pronenessfunctional theories of emotionadaptive and maladaptive behaviourpsychometric network modellingboredom avoidance and escapedealing with boredom |
| spellingShingle | Maik Bieleke Leonie Ripper Julia Schüler Wanja Wolff Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom Royal Society Open Science boredom proneness functional theories of emotion adaptive and maladaptive behaviour psychometric network modelling boredom avoidance and escape dealing with boredom |
| title | Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom |
| title_full | Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom |
| title_fullStr | Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom |
| title_full_unstemmed | Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom |
| title_short | Boredom is the root of all evil—or is it? A psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom |
| title_sort | boredom is the root of all evil or is it a psychometric network approach to individual differences in behavioural responses to boredom |
| topic | boredom proneness functional theories of emotion adaptive and maladaptive behaviour psychometric network modelling boredom avoidance and escape dealing with boredom |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211998 |
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