Penultimate draft.

Final version is available here:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11097-017-9515-1

The Bored Mind is a Guiding Mind:

Toward a regulatory theory of boredom

Andreas Elpidorou
Department of Philosophy | University of Louisville
andreas.elpidorou [at] Louisville.edu

1. Introduction
Boredom appears to be ubiquitous. It affects both healthy individuals and patient populations
(Binemma, 2004; Eastwood et al., 2007; Hamilton et al., 1984; Seel & Kreutzer, 2003;
Vodanovich, 2003). It affects individuals of all genders and ages, and from all cultures (see,
e.g., Gana & Akremi, 1998; Musharbash, 2007; Ng et al., 2015; Sundberg et al., 1991;
Vodanovich et al., 1997; Weinstein et al., 1995). It finds us at home or at work (Chin et al.,
2017; Fisher, 1993; Game, 2007; Grubb, 1975; Iso-Ahola & Weissinger, 1987; Van Hooff &
Van Hooft, 2014). It finds drivers behind the wheel, students in classrooms, and inmates in
prison (Acee et al., 2010; Belton & Priyadharshini, 2007; Drory, 1982; Grassian, 2006; Larson
& Richards, 1991; Mann & Robinson, 2009). One survey found that 91 percept of North
American youth experience boredom (The National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse, 2003; cited in Eastwood et al., 2012), another reported that 51 percent of teenagers are
bored easily (GPC Research & Health Canada, 2003; cited in Eastwood et al., 2007), and a
third, conducted by PewResearch in 2015, cited our desire to avoid boredom as the second
most common reason for using smartphones, and we all know how often we use our
smartphones.1
To a first approximation, boredom is an aversive experience that signifies a failure to
engage with one’s environment in a desired manner despite one’s motivation to do so
(Danckert & Merrifield, 2016; Eastwood et al., 2012). Boredom is such a common affective
experience that most of us have little trouble of both recognizing it and distinguishing it from
other related emotions and affective states (Goldberg et al., 2011; Van Tilburg & Igou, 2012).

1 http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/pi_2015-04-
01_smartphones_25/

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Yet despite its prevalence and our familiarity with it, boredom’s precise nature remains to this
day elusive. A quick look to the psychology literature on boredom corroborates this judgment.
One finds not only no consensus as how to define boredom (Belton & Priyadharshini, 2007;
Kanevsky & Keighley, 2003; Vodanovich & Watt, 2015), but also an honest admission that
boredom “remains a construct that is difficult to define” (Malkovsky et al., 2012, p. 59; see
also Goldberg et al., 2011, p. 649).
The central objective of this article is to contribute to our understanding of the nature
of boredom. Given what we know about boredom—its affective character, physiology,
antecedents, causes, relationship to cognition and volition, and neurological underpinnings—
the article asks: What is boredom exactly? What does it do?
Although boredom used to be a neglected topic of investigation, it is no more. In 2015
alone, there were 326 papers published on boredom (Van Tilburg & Igou, 2017a), compared
to an average of less than one paper published per year between 1926 and 1980 (Smith, 1981
cited in Fahlman et al., 2009). Boredom’s antecedents, cognitive and perceptual effects and
concomitants, experiential profile, and neurophysiological correlates have become topics of
active study, and as a consequence a proliferation of claims and findings about boredom has
ensued. In light of this situation, there lies great value in offering a comprehensive review of
the literature on boredom. Whether we like it or not, boredom is a major part of our human
existence. It affects and permeates our social, practical, and even moral existence. It shapes
our lives by demarcating the interesting and the meaningful from that which is not. And it sets
us in motion insofar as its presence can give rise to a plethora of behaviors. An understanding
of human existence demands thus that we address boredom head-on.
By presenting and synthesizing findings on the character of boredom, the present
article advances a theoretical account of the character and function of the state of boredom
that underlines its significance and importance in our everyday lives. It argues that boredom is
functional insofar as it is both informative and regulatory of one’s behavior: it informs one of
the presence of an unsatisfactory situation and, at the same time, it motivates the pursuit of a
new goal when the current goal ceases to be satisfactory, attractive, or meaningful. Ultimately,
boredom acts as a regulatory state that keeps one in line with one’s projects: it promotes the
restoration of the perception that one's activities are meaningful and congruent with one's
interests and desires (Bench & Lench, 2013; Elpidorou, 2014, 2015, and 2016; Sansone et al.,
1992; Smith et al., 2009; Van Tilburg & Igou, 2011 and 2012).

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 The present article advances the literature on boredom in at least two ways. First, by
offering a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the empirical literature on the nature of
boredom, it builds upon and updates previous attempts to specify the function of boredom.
Hence, it offers a useful reference guide to researchers interested in the functional aspects and
capacities of boredom and its role in our everyday lives. Second, the article demonstrates how
the adoption of a regulatory perspective on boredom is theoretically advantageous. A
regulatory perspective informs our views about boredom and highlights its importance in our
mental economy, but it does more than that. It also permits us to synthesize the diverse
literature on boredom by making sense of how the different components of boredom
correlate and work together in order to promote the exercise of the regulatory function of
boredom. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a regulatory perspective allows us to move
forward in our investigation of boredom by opening up unexplored avenues for research. We
have much to gain by adopting a regulatory perspective on boredom and the present article is
an attempt to show precisely that.

2. State Boredom
The majority of research on boredom has focused on the personality trait of boredom (trait
boredom or boredom proneness) (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986; Zuckerman, 1979). Trait
boredom is a tendency, propensity, or susceptibility to experience boredom frequently and in a
wide range of situations and it is typically assessed by multi-item, self-report scales. Over the
last few decades, several measures of trait boredom have been established (Acee et al., 2010;
Farmer & Sundberg, 1986; Grubb, 1975; Iso-Ahola & Weissinger, 1987; Lee, 1986; Passik et
al., 2003; Ragheb & Merydith, 2001; Zuckerman, 1979) and are now used to study its
numerous and often harmful correlates (for reviews see Elpidorou, 2017; Vodanovich, 2003;
Vodanovich & Watt, 2015).
From a strictly theoretical perspective, it is somewhat surprising that most research on
boredom has focused on trait boredom. The notion of trait boredom as a propensity to
experience boredom is conceptually anterior to the notion of state boredom. Trait boredom is
predicated on the antecedent experience of boredom: that is, one can be said neither to be
prone to boredom nor to possess the trait of boredom if one never experienced boredom.
The dependence of trait boredom on state boredom is obvious by the manner in which trait
boredom is being measured (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986). Thus, one would expect that

3
measures of trait boredom would be developed only after both a clear definition and a reliable
and valid measurement of the state of boredom have been provided (Fahlman et al., 2013, p.
81). It is a serious shortcoming of the rich and variegated literature on boredom that state
boredom has been neglected. In recent years, such a shortcoming of the boredom research
has been acknowledged (Vodanovich, 2003) and attempts to explicate and measure state
boredom have been proposed (e.g., Fahlman et al., 2013; Todman, 2013; Van Tilburg & Igou,
2012).
What is state boredom? A complete characterization of state boredom would need to
proceed at two levels. First, the characterization would need to explain what state boredom is
qua a psychological state. That is to say, the characterization should delineate the formal
properties that state boredom as a state possesses and that render it distinct from a personality
trait. Second, and most obviously, the characterization needs to explicate the character of the
state of boredom. Among other things, the characterization ought to describe its affective
nature, its causes and antecedents, its relationship to cognition and volition, and its
physiological signature.

2.1. Formal features

Drawing upon the work of Allport (1937), Chaplin et al. (1988), Epstein (1979), Nesselroade
(1988), Spielberger (1966a, 1966b, and 1972), Fridhandler (1986), and Zuckerman (1976 and
1983), among others, we can distinguish state boredom from trait boredom in the following
four ways.

(a) Duration: State boredom is short-lived or transitory (e.g., Danckert & Allman, 2005;
Fisher, 1993; Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993). Although its duration may vary—seconds,
minutes, perhaps even hours— it is much shorter than the corresponding trait that can last for
many years. Traits are highly enduring, whereas states are not (Allport, 1961; Costa et al., 1990;
Fleeson et al., 2002; Fridhandler, 1986; Norman, 1967; Spielberger, 1972).

(b) Continuity: State boredom is continuous; trait boredom is not (Spielberger, 1966a, 1966b,
and 1972). To say that an emotional state such as the state of boredom is continuous is to
assert that any given occurrence of the experience of boredom is gap-free. Any break in the
manifestation of a state would mean that the state has ended. For example, if one experiences

4
boredom during time interval 9:00pm – 9:04pm and then again during time interval 9:10pm –
9:15, then one has experienced two episodes (or tokens) of boredom, not one that is
discontinuous. In contrast, traits do not have to be continuous. A subject possesses a
personality trait even if the trait is not continuously manifested.

(c) Concreteness: State boredom is concrete; trait boredom is abstract (Fahlman et al., 2013,
p., 81). To assert that the former is concrete whereas the latter abstract is not to suggest that
the latter is somehow less real than the former. An emotional or affective state is concrete
insofar as it occurs in a specific timeframe and its presence is directly observable. At the time
that a person is experiencing state boredom, such a state must be either introspectively
available to the subject or amenable to some kind of behavioral or physiological measurement.
On the contrary, no single feeling, thought, behavior, or physiological manifestation is enough
to demonstrate the existence of trait boredom. As Fridhandler (1986, p. 170) points out,
“states, as generally conceptualized, can be directly detected, whereas a trait, in its common
conceptualization, must be inferred.”

(d) Susceptibility to situation: Given that state boredom is a state and not a personality trait, it
must be capable of both being induced and alleviated by proximal situational factors (see, e.g.,
Daniels et al., 2015; Fahlman et al., 2013, study 4; Fisher, 1993; Van Tilburg et al., 2013 cf.
Neu, 1998; Fenichel, 1951; O’Hanlon, 1981; Todman, 2003). This is not to say that state
boredom cannot be brought about by endogenous factors. Rather, this feature of state
boredom is singled out in order to underscore the importance of the situation on state
boredom. It also demonstrates how state boredom differs from trait boredom insofar as the
latter can neither be caused nor taken away by a singular exposure to a certain (boring)
situation.

The aforementioned features are properties that state boredom possesses in virtue of the fact
that it is a state. A formal characterization of state boredom is important not only because it
shows how it differs from trait boredom, but also because such features should be reflected in
any measure of state boredom. After all, the measurement of any construct is intimately
related to the way in which it is conceptualized (Vodanovich & Watt, 2015).

5
2.2. The character of state boredom
Definitions of boredom abound in the literature. Even though they contain significant
overlap, there is no agreed-upon account of boredom (for detailed reviews see Belton &
Priyadharshini, 2007; Eastwood et al., 2012; Kanevsky & Keighley, 2003; Vogel-Walcutt,
2012). Still, what emerges out of a review of the literature is that boredom is a
multidimensional construct.
In what follows, my aim is to capture the experiential and physiological signature of
boredom. That it to say, I wish to describe what it is like to be in a state of boredom—what it
feels like, what is its volitional and cognitive character, and what kind of physiological changes
one undergoes when one experiences boredom. Since my aim is neither to provide a new
definition of boredom nor to support an existing one, it will not be integral to the discussion
to delineate clearly which of the commonly discussed features of boredom are proper parts of
the state of boredom or simply its antecedents or consequences. For instance, it is not
important to determine whether the perception of meaninglessness should be considered to
be a part of the state of boredom or one of its causes (Barbalet, 1999; Binnema, 2004; de
Chenne, 1998; Fahlman et al., 2009; Fiske & Maddi, 1961; Perkins & Hall, 1985; Raposa,
1999). For present purposes, a lengthy discussion about how to properly define state boredom
is beside the point. The aim of the discussion of the nature of state boredom is to articulate its
function and its relationship to self-regulation. Such a task requires only an accurate
characterization of boredom and not a settled definition.
A review of the literature reveals the following nine characteristics of the state of
boredom:

(a) Dissatisfaction with one’s present state: Being in a state of boredom does not feel good; it
is unpleasant. Many definitions of boredom emphasize its aversive nature (e.g., Harris, 2000;
Hartocollis, 1972; Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993; Pekrun el al., 2010; Todman, 2003). In fact,
in their review of the literature, Vogel-Walcutt et al. (2011) found thirty-six manuscripts that
define boredom as an unpleasant state during which the subject experiences dissatisfaction
with his or her present state. Furthermore, in a large scale study that captured 1.1 million
emotional and time-use reports from almost 4000 subjects, Chin and colleagues (2017)
reported that boredom often co-occurs with other negative affective states and emotions
(loneliness, anger, sadness, and worry).

6
(b) Disengagement from the environment: Disengagement from the environment also appears
to be an integral part of many definitions and characterizations of boredom (e.g., Anderson,
2007; Fahlman et al., 2009; Fenichel, 1951; Goldberg et al., 2011; Passik et al., 2003). Bored
individuals experience a withdrawal from their environment and cannot identify with what the
environment is offering them (e.g., Greenson, 1953; Fahlman et al., 2013; Mercer &
Eastwood, 2010). Definitions that emphasize the role of monotony and repetition are in
agreement with this feature of boredom (DeChenne & Moody, 1988; Hill & Perkins, 1985;
O’Hanlon, 1981). And so are approaches to boredom that emphasize the bored individual’s
desire to engage in some kind of rewarding or stimulating activity even though one is unable
to do so (e.g., Eastwood et al., 2012; Fahlman et al., 2013; Greenson, 1953; Fenichel, 1951,
Lewinsky, 1943). It is important to emphasize that many theorists take the fact that boredom
involves a desire to do something other than what one is currently doing to be a crucial aspect
of boredom (Zuckerman, 1979). While bored, one is not content with one’s current situation
and one wishes to be doing something else (e.g., Berlyne, 1960; Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; De
Chenne, 1988; Fahlman et al., 2013; Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993; Todman, 2003; van Tilburg
and Igou, 2012).

(c) Failure to sustain attention: Many definitions of boredom point out that bored individuals
experience difficulty in concentrating and maintaining attention (Ahmed, 1990; Hamilton,
1981; Hamilton et al., 1984; Damrad-Frye & Laird, 1989; Eastwood et al., 2012; Fisher, 1993;
Gordon et al., 1997; Harris, 2000; Wallace et al., 2003). Some accounts go even as far as to
maintain that attentional failure is the underlying mechanism of boredom (Eastwood et al.,
2012; cf. Leary et al., 1986; Skowronski, 2012).
Evidence for the importance of attention in boredom comes primarily from findings
that show that manipulation of attention can affect the experience of boredom (Damrad-Frye
& Laird, 1989) and from the observation that boredom is experienced often by individuals
with compromised attentional capacities (Hunter & Eastwood, 2016). Other findings
consistent with this hypothesis include the following: (i) tasks that require sustained attention,
which are passive in nature, are often perceived as boring (Malkovsky et al., 2012; Pattyn et al.,
2008; Scerbo et al., 1992); (ii) people who have jobs that require sustained vigilance tend to
perceive their jobs as boring (Charlton and Hertz, 1989; Hitchcock et al., 1999); and (iii) bored

7
individuals often report inattention and engage in mind-wandering (Game, 2007; Harris, 2000;
Martin et al., 2006). The relationship between (task-unrelated and stimulus-independent) mind
wandering and boredom is a topic that demands further investigation. It would be important
to know whether mind wandering is a precursor or a consequence of boredom. The former
would be suggestive of a causal relationship between mind wandering and boredom and
would provide us with a reason to discourage mind wandering. But even if mind wandering is
only a consequence of boredom, its effects still ought to be explored. For example, it could be
that the presence of mind wandering during boredom contributes both to the aversive
experience of boredom (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010) and to the sense of feeling stuck that
is characteristic of boredom (Eastwood et al., 2012). Also, if mind wandering is common
during boredom, then it could allow one to think of more fulfilling and meaningful
alternatives. In doing so, mind wandering may be a useful tool in allowing bored individuals to
figure out what to do next and how to alleviate their boredom.

(d) Altered perception of the passage of time: Many descriptions or definitions of boredom
emphasize a distorted sense of time. During a state of boredom, time appears to move slowly,
to linger, or even to stand still (Gabriel, 1998; Greenson, 1953; Hartocollis, 1972; Heidegger,
1983/2001; Tze et al., 2013; Wangh, 1975; Watt, 1991). Qualitative studies have found that
bored individuals experience such an altered passage of time (Martin et al., 2006). Watt (1991)
found that when completing a tedious number-circling task highly boredom-prone individuals
perceived time as passing more slowly during the task than low boredom-prone individuals.
Furthermore, it was found that the perception of a slow passage of time could give rise to the
feeling of boredom. London & Monello (1974) asked subjects to perform a task while
manipulating a clock (running fast or slow) that was in their presence. Individuals who were
engaged with a task for twenty minutes but the clock indicated that the task lasted only ten
minutes reported more boredom than individuals who were engaged with the task for twenty
minutes but the clock indicated that the task lasted for thirty minutes. London and Monello
argued that subjects in the “ten minute” condition became more bored because time from
their perspective passed more slowly—on average, one clock minute was perceived to last two
minutes. Finally, individuals who are prone to boredom are likely to make mistakes in judging
the duration of perceptual events (Danckert & Allman, 2005). The tendency to misjudge
duration could be due to an altered perception of time that is present in the subjective

8
experience of boredom.
The most successful and commonly used model of our perception of the passage of
time has been a cognitive or informational processing model that postulates the existence of
an internal clock (e.g., Church, 1984; Gibbon et al., 1984; Meck 1996; Treisman, 1963;
Treisman et al., 1990; Zakay & Block 1997). The internal clock consists of a pacemaker that
produces pulses or time units at a given rate, a switch that controls how the pulses are gated,
and finally an accumulator. When an individual is instructed to measure or estimate the
temporal duration of an event, she opens the switch and allows the pulses that are always
generated by the pacemaker to enter the accumulator. Once the event is finished, the
individual closes the switch and working memory, long-term memory, and decision-making
are used in order to estimate the duration. Specifically, the number of pulses that have been
recorded during the period and are stored in working memory are being compared with stored
representations of temporal duration in long-term memory (Pouthas & Perbal, 2004). The
longer the duration of an event is, the more pulses are accumulated. And the more pulses are
accumulated, the longer the event is judged to be. Although the internal clock model is widely
used, it is lacking in neurological specificity (Matell & Meck, 2000) but attempts to either
complement or propose alternative models are currently available (Cordes et al., 2007;
Karmarkar & Buonomano, 2007; Matell & Meck, 2004; Wackermann & Ehm, 2006;
Wittmann & Wassenhove, 2009).
Focusing on the internal clock model and applying it to boredom one can account for
the experience of a seemingly longer boring experience by implicating the role of attention in
boredom. When timing a situation, the observer has to divide attentional resources between
temporal and non-temporal information (Grondin & Macar, 1992; Hansen & Trope, 2013;
Taatgen et al., 2007). In a boring task, the subject will allocate more of her attentional
resources to the perception of time. As a result, the subject will perceive (count) more
temporal pulses than usual and judge that a boring situation has lasted for longer. This model
of accounting for the seemingly longer duration of boring events fits well with
characterizations of boredom that emphasize the subject’s disengagement with the
environment (e.g., Anderson, 2007; Fahlman et al., 2009; Fenichel, 1951; Goldberg et al.,
2011; Passik et al., 2003). In a situation in which the subject cannot be entertained by her
environment it is expected that more of her attention will be allocated to the passage of time.
Furthermore, the internal-clock model also works nicely in tandem with characterizations of

9
boredom that hold that attention is a key factor or mechanism of boredom (e.g., Eastwood et
al., 2012). In fact, an inability to attend to the situation or task at hand would be the main
cause of the perception of a slower passage of time.
Two complications must be acknowledged. First, longer time estimates are not only
explained by increased attention to the passage of time, but also by increased physiological
arousal. During moments of increased physiological arousal the pacemaker will be producing
pulses (or time units) at a higher rate. This will result in an increased number of pulses being
collected by the accumulator and consequently, in an overestimation of temporal duration.
For example, studies in which the physiological arousal of subjects was increased—e.g., by the
presentation of high-arousing stimuli (Angrilli et al. 1997; Noulhiane et al. 2007), altering body
temperature (Wearden & Penton-Voak, 1995), or the administration of certain drugs that
modulate arousal (Meck, 1983)—an overestimation of the duration of time was reported.
Somewhat paradoxically it was found that emotional stimuli can both lead to the over- and
under-estimation of temporal duration. For example, in a study by Noulhiane et al. (2007) it
was found that unpleasant sounds were judged to last longer than pleasant sounds but high-
arousing stimuli were perceived to be shorter than low-arousing ones. The authors attributed
the overestimation of the duration of unpleasant sounds to the increased arousal and thus
pacemaker rate, whereas underestimation of the duration of high-arousing stimuli was
accounted in terms of decreased attention to the passage of time (cf. Angrilli et al., 1997).
More work needs to be done in order to determine the precise relationship between
attentional influences and arousal. Intuitively, one would expect that all high-arousing stimuli
would lead to the overestimation of temporal duration. It is, however, possible that in certain
contexts the effects of attention (i.e., the fact that highly arousing emotional stimuli capture
the subject’s attention and thus direct her attention away from the passage of time) dominate
the effects that highly-arousing stimuli have over the pacemaker. This issue relates to boredom
in the following way: If boredom is a state of high-arousal (e.g., Bench and Lench, 2013;
Berlyne, 1960; Hill & Perkins, 1985; London et al., 1972; Smith, 1981), then there will be two
factors that contribute to the overestimation of temporal duration: attention to the passage of
time and increased rate of the pacemaker. If, however, boredom is understood as a low-
arousal state (e.g., Hebb, 1955; Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993; Russell, 1980), then the
overestimation of temporal duration during a state of boredom must be due to a factor that
counteracts the presumed decrease in the rate of the pacemaker. Arguably what would cause

10
the overestimation would be the fact that in a boring situation one cannot sustain attention on
the task at hand (Eastwood et al., 2012) and instead focuses on the passage of time.
The second complication has to do with a distinction between two different types of
temporal estimations: prospective versus retrospective estimations (Block & Zakay, 1997;
Zakay & Block, 2004). In a prospective time estimation, the individual estimates the duration
of an interval or event that is presently experienced and the individual is aware that he or she
will have to make a judgment about the duration of the event. In retrospective estimation, the
individual estimates the temporal duration of an event that has already passed. The internal-
clock model of time estimation is applied to prospective time estimations and a different
mechanism is assumed to account for retrospective estimations (Zakay & Block, 2009;
Wittmann, 2009). Specifically, retrospective duration judgments are explained by memory-
based models which hold that the duration of a past event is reconstructed on the basis of
what one remembers (Block & Reed, 1978; Ornstein, 1970; Fraisse, 1963; Flaherty et al., 2005;
Poynter, 1983). So, the more variegated, changing, or complicated a past experience is the
longer it would be remembered to be. That is why novel activities are often remembered to
have lasted longer than routine ones (Avni-Babad & Ritov, 2003).
Initially, such an explanation of retrospective time estimation seems to run counter to
the claim that the experience of boredom is one in which time appears to last longer (Gabriel,
1998; Greenson, 1953; Hartocollis, 1972; Heidegger, 1983/2001; Martin et al., 2006; Tze et al.,
2013; Wangh, 1975; Watt, 1991). After all, boring experiences are ones during which the
subject is disengaged from a situation (either because it is monotonous, repetitive, too easy, or
too hard) so presumably not a lot of features of the situation are stored in the subject’s
memory. So, in trying to recollect the boring situation, it would appear that the situation is
shorter compared to more engaging situations. Although this line of reasoning seems
coherent, it leads us astray when applied to boring situations (Block & Zakay, 1997; Zakay &
Block, 2004). That is because in boring situations, the attention of the individual would be
diverted away from the situation (Eastwood et al., 2012) and it would be turned to the passing
of time itself. Thus, in retrospective time estimations of boring situations one would recall that
time was passing slowly. As a result, one would overestimate the duration of a boring situation
even in a retrospective estimation.

(e) Perception of insufficient meaning or non-optimal challenge: Another prominent theme in

11
characterizations of boredom is the claim that boredom is experienced in situations that are
somehow non-optimal for the subject (e.g., Damrad- Frye & Laird, 1989; de Chenne, 1988;
Mann & Robinson, 2009; Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993). Non-optimal can be defined in terms
of meaning, complexity, or challenge. Such situations include ones in which are perceived as
meaningless or trite (e.g., Barbalet, 1999; Fahlman et al., 2009; Fiske & Maddi, 1961; Perkins &
Hall, 1985; Van Tilburg & Igou, 2012); ones that lack challenge or are somehow below the
cognitive level of the individual (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; Van Tilburg & Igou, 2012); and
even ones that are too challenging (e.g., a lecture that is way above one’s intellectual level)
(e.g., Daschmann et al. 2011; Goetz et al., 2006; Perkun et al., 2010; Robinson, 1975). The
observation that too simple or too difficult situations are both capable of inducing boredom
relates nicely both to the disengagement theme and to the issue of attention. Too simple or
too difficult situations will be ones that fail to grasp the subject’s attention and as a result the
subject will become disengaged from the situation. Similar remarks seem to apply to situations
that are perceived as meaningless. Such situations will not attract the subject and will
presumably leave her disengaged.
Studies of optimal experiences indicate that a state of flow is a useful counterpoint to
the state of boredom. Flow is a pleasant, effortless, and autotelic experience during which the
individual loses track of time, experiences optimal arousal and a loss of self-consciousness,
and is attentionally engrossed in the activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975 and 1990). Thus, where
flow is, boredom is not, and vice versa. Still, it would be a mistake to identify boredom with
the opposite of flow. Many emotions or affective states, and not just boredom, are non-
optimal experiences. Hence, lack of flow is a feature of boredom, but not a defining
characteristic. Furthermore, Csikszentmihalyi’s account of flow conceptualizes boredom as a
state during which one is underwhelmed by challenges. Given what we know about boredom,
it is incorrect to hold that boredom always arises in situations during which our skills are
greater than the challenges that we face. At least within academic contexts, boredom may be
experienced when academic activities exceed one’s skills (Acee et al., 2010; Lohrmann, 2008;
Perkun et al., 2010; Robinson, 1975).

(f) Arousal: Undoubtedly, the most contentious feature regarding the character of boredom is
its relationship to arousal. Boredom has been described as a state of low arousal (e.g., Hebb,
1955; Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993; Russell, 1980), high arousal (e.g., Bench and Lench, 2013;

12
Berlyne, 1960; Fisher, 1993; Hill & Perkins, 1985; London et al., 1972; O’Brien, 2014; Smith,
1981), or both (Bernstein, 1975; Eastwood et al. 2012; Elpidorou, 2014; Fahlman et al., 2013;
Fenichel, 1953; Fiske & Maddi, 1961; Goetz et al., 2014; Malkovsky et al., 2012; Van Tilburg
& Igou, 2012). A review of the literature indicates that most definitions and characterizations
of boredom are ones that render boredom a state of low arousal (see references in Vogel-
Walcutt et al., 2012), something that is consistent with the folk understanding of boredom as
an apathetic state. However, qualitative data on the character of the experience of boredom
(Goetz & Frenzel, 2006; Harris, 2000; Martin et al., 2006) do not provide conclusive support
for the claim that boredom should be understood as a low arousal state. Although individuals
often comment that in a state of boredom they feel tired and lethargic, they also report
feelings of restlessness, anxiety, irritability, and frustration (Harris, 2000; Martin et al., 2006;
Steinberger et al., 2016). Furthermore, boredom has been linked to both decreased and
increased levels of physiological arousal (e.g., Barmack, 1937; Braby et al., 1992; Geiwitz, 1966;
Giakoumis et al., 2010; London et al., 1972; Lundberg et al., 1993; Pattyn et al., 2008). For
example, Pattyn et al. (2008) found that during a prolonged target detection task—a task that
most likely was found by participants to be boring—participants’ heart rate decreased over
time. London et al. (1972) reported that a boring task produces an increase in levels of
galvanic skin potential (Study I) and heart rate (Study II). Chanel et al. (2008) recorded
peripheral physiological activity while participants played Tetris at varying difficulty levels.
They reported that in the easy level condition (which was classified as boring), participants
showed higher skin resistance, higher skin temperature, but lower heart rate than participants
who played the game at medium or hard difficulty levels (cf. Thackray et al., 1977). Merrifield
& Danckert (2014) observed that during boredom induction there was an increased in heart
rate but a decrease in skin conductance levels.
Faced with such mixed results on the physiological nature of boredom, one can adopt
a number of distinct approaches. First, one could identify boredom with a state of high
arousal (or low arousal) and then explain away the reported findings that link boredom to low
arousal (or high arousal). For instance, Bench and Lench (2013) take low-arousal (apathetic)
boredom to be a form of apathy and not boredom. In this way, evidence in support of the
view that boredom lowers arousal will be interpreted as evidence showing that apathy is
related to low arousal (Bench & Lench, 2013, p.468). Such a reading of the literature removes
the tension between the above reported findings, yet it does so at the price of failing to take

13
seriously more than half of the reported findings on the relationship between arousal and
boredom. Given the state of the literature, it seems premature to discount all findings that link
boredom to low arousal.
A second approach is to maintain that boredom itself is not a unified construct and
there are different types of boredom, some of which are associated with high arousal and
some of which are associated with low arousal. Goetz et al. (2014) argue precisely that. Using
the experience sampling method in order to collect participants’ responses regarding their
experiences of boredom and then performing a latent profile analysis on the data, they
suggested that five different types of boredom should be distinguished in terms of valence and
arousal. Two types of boredom had very low levels of arousal (“indifferent boredom” and
“apathetic boredom”), two had medium levels of arousal (“calibrating boredom” and
“searching boredom”), and one had a high level of arousal (“reactant boredom”). Further
empirical work, however, is needed in order to assess the validity of the findings reported in
Goetz et al. (2014). For one, the levels of arousal were measured by self-reports (participants
had to complete a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (calm) to 5 (fidgety)). So, it is possible that
the subjects’ self-perception of arousal fails to correspond with other measures of arousal such
as galvanic skin responses and heart rate that have been used in other studies. Furthermore,
the temporal relationship (if any) between the different types of boredom was not
investigated. This is a topic that deserves more attention for it might turn out to be that under
certain conditions boredom’s physiological arousal changes as a function of time (low arousal
boredom can become high arousal or vice versa). Finally, and perhaps most problematically, it
is unclear whether what the subjects were reporting to be an experience of boredom was in
fact boredom and not boredom mixed with other feelings or emotions. Outside of control
environments, individuals experience simultaneously a plethora of emotions. Thus, by being
asked to report on their experience of boredom it is likely that individuals were reporting
implicitly on their emotional experiences in general. For example, if one is both frustrated and
bored and is asked to rate the arousal level of his experience of boredom, it is very likely that
such rating will reflect the arousal levels of not only his experience of boredom but also of
frustration.
For the above reasons, I will not follow Goetz et al. (2014)’s five-fold division of the
construct of boredom. Rather, I will adopt a third approach, one which maintains that
boredom is a state that can be related to both increases and decreases of physiological arousal

14
(Eastwood et al., 2012; Merrifield & Danckert, 2014). In support of this interpretation,
Eastwood et al. (2012) suggested that in the presence of inadequate external situations the
bored individual may try to overcome such lack of exogenous engagement by exerting effort
in an attempt to maintain attention (see also Fahlman et al., 2013; Damrad-Frye & Laird, 1989;
Hamilton, 1981; O’Hanlon, 1981). As such, boredom can be both a state of low arousal (when
the bored individual fails to engage with the environment) and a state of high arousal (when
the bored individual makes an internal/endogenous effort). Such a proposal is consistent with
optimal arousal theory which (a) posits the existence of person- and situation-relative optimal
levels of arousal or challenge and (b) maintains that individuals initiate behavior that will allow
them to achieve such optimal levels (Berlyne, 1960 and 1967; Csikszentmihalyi, 1975 and
1993; Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; Eysenck, 1967; Klonowicz, 1987; Walker,
1980; Zuckerman, 1979 and 1987). If in a state of boredom an individual is under-aroused,
then it is likely that the individual will try to achieve a higher level of arousal. Furthermore, if
the boring situation is inescapable, then the individual could experience an increase in arousal
while still feeling bored (Berlyne, 1960, pp. 186-92; Steinberger et al., 2016; cf. Chin et al.,
2017). This hypothesis could explain findings that show that sensory deprivation and social
isolation are often boring, highly aversive experiences of high arousal (Fiske, 1961).

(g) Motor expressions: The motor expressions of an emotion include its facial, vocal, and
bodily expressions. In terms of its bodily expressions, Wallbott (1998) reported that bored
individuals tend to lean their head backwards (i.e., to raise their chin), to collapse their upper
bodies, and to restrain from movement (see also Lhommet and Marsella, 2015). Bull (1987)
presents similar findings and adds that during boredom it is common for one to support one’s
head with one hand. Such characterizations of the bodily expressions of boredom would
suggest a state of low arousal. However, Kroes (2005) notes that although bored individuals
do not move a lot, when they do move they tend to make sudden movements. Furthermore,
Martin et al. (2006)’s phenomenological investigation of boredom reported fidgeting as a
response to boredom. Such bodily movements could be construed as attempts to increase
one’s levels of arousal.
Bored speech is slow and soft, has a low pitch, and exhibits a narrow pitch range
(Johnston & Scherer, 2000; Scherer, 2013). Recognition of boredom by its vocal features is

15
high. For instance, a study by Banse & Scherer (1996) documented that individuals were able
to recognize boredom with 76% accuracy.
Lastly, the facial expressions of boredom are still not well understood and extant
studies do not give rise to conclusive results. For instance, in a study of the facial features of
emotions that accompany deep-level learning of conceptual material, McDaniel et al. (2007)
were unable to associate any action units with boredom. However, in a similar study, Craig et
al. (2008) reported a significant association between boredom and action unit 43 (i.e., eye
closure) (see also Kroes 2005). Scherer and Ellgring (2007) used professional actors to portray
different emotions and found that action unit 14 (dimpler) discriminates boredom and shame
from other twelve emotions. Raccanello and Bianchetti (2014) represented boredom and other
achievement emotions through pictorial representations of their corresponding faces using
criteria described by Ekman and Friesen (1978). When they asked children and adult
participants to match the names of those achievements emotions to their pictorial
representations they found that the participants were able to do so with good accuracy.
However, when they asked them to name the emotions, most participants failed to give an
accurate linguistic label for the drawing that meant to represent the face of boredom. Thus,
even if there is a face of boredom, it does not seem to be one that is easily recognized.

(h) Neural correlates: Tabatabaie et al. (2014) provided evidence that boredom might be
correlated with lower beta activity in the left DLPFC. Such a finding supports the close
connection between attention and boredom (e.g., Eastwood et al., 2012). Children with
ADHD, who suffer from attentional impairments (e.g., Rubia, 2011; Willcutt et al., 2005),
exhibit decrease in beta mean frequency (e.g., Chabot & Serfontein, 1996; Clarke et al. 1998;
Lazzaro et al., 1998) and this decrease is observed in the left DLPFC (Sangal & Sangal, 2015).
Relatedly, Yoshida et al. (2014) found that there was a decrease in oxygen-hemoglobin
concentration in the prefrontal cortex in the boredom condition compared to the flow
condition.
Oswald (1962) observed that alpha waves are present during boredom. This is
consistent with results from studies of the neural correlates of mental fatigue that found an
increase in alpha waves (e.g, Barwick et al., 2012; Kecklund & Akerstedt, 1993; Fan et al.,
2015; Lal & Craig, 2002; Phipps-Nelson, et al., 2011; Schier, 2000; Zhao et al., 2012).
Danckert & Merrifield (2016) compared fMRI scans of individuals in a resting state,

16
during boredom mood induction, and during a sustained attention task (Starry Night). In all
three conditions, they observed common activation of components of the default mode
network (DMN). Their findings suggest that boredom, similar to both the resting state and the
sustained attention task, is a state of disengagement from one’s environment. Intriguingly,
Danckert & Merrifield (2016) noted one difference between observed brain activation in the
resting state versus that during boredom induction. Only in the case of the latter was there
anticorrelated activity in the anterior insular cortex. They postulate that activity in that region
may indicate a failed attempt to engage with the situation. This corroborates the claim that in a
state of boredom one is not simply disengaged from the environment but one also strives to
find meaning in the environment or to somehow engage with it.
Finally, Jiang et al. (2009) compared the event-related potentials (ERPs) of high
sensation seekers to those of low sensation seekers during a classification task that involved
repeated visual stimulus exposure. Their results showed that individuals who scored high on
the boredom susceptibility subscale of the Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckerman, 1979) showed
delayed frontal LPC responses, something which suggests that these individuals habituated
more quickly to repeated presentation of the stimulus (Eastwood et al., 2012; see also,
Hamilton, 1981; Zuckerman, 1979).
The neural correlates of the state of boredom are still not well understood. Yet the
need to understand them is pressing. As Eastwood and colleagues (2012) point out, figuring
out the neural correlates of boredom is important not the least because boredom affects
participants in neuroimaging studies. As such, boredom might potentially be influencing or
obfuscating the results of such studies.

(i) Constraint and agency: Some characterizations of boredom relate boredom to constraint
or lack of agency (e.g., Eastwood et al, 2012; Fahlman et al., 2011; Fenichel, 1951; Geitwitz,
1986; Hill & Perkins, 1985; Todman, 2013; Vodanovich & Kass, 1990). This idea is captured
nicely by Fenichel’s claim that boredom “arises when we must not do what we want to do, or
must do what we do not want to do” (1951, p. 359; quoted in Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1953).
Eastwood and colleagues (2012) hold that feelings of constraint are a part of the experiential
component of boredom and contribute to the aversive character of boredom. Furthermore,
such feelings are likely to cause the bored individual to experience a desire to escape his or her
boring situation. Empirical evidence in support of the view that boredom is related to feelings

17
of constraint comes from the observation that manipulating the control that individuals have
over a task can affect their levels of boredom (Troutwine & O’Neil, 1981).
Having said that, we should not insist that a feeling of constraint (or a perceived lack
of agency) is either a necessary cause or a necessary feature of the experience of boredom.
Boredom may arise not only during leisure (Iso-Ahola & Weissinger, 1987) but also during
situations in which we are free to act as we see fit (e.g., flipping through channels while
watching television, browsing the internet without a purpose, or aimlessly wandering about).

2.3. Summary
We are now in a position to provide a synthetic characterization of boredom. I propose to
divide the experiential character or signature of boredom into four components: affective,
cognitive, volitional, and physiological. In terms of its affective character, boredom is a
transitory, aversive state. While bored, one experiences feelings of dissatisfaction with one’s
current situation. One feels weary and often even frustrated. In terms of its cognitive
character, boredom is characterized by an inability to sustain attention, the perception of a
slower passage of time, mental fatigue, and mind-wandering. In terms of its volitional
character, a desire to do something else is both prominent and strong in boredom. Finally, in
terms of its physiological character, boredom is characterized by a decrease in arousal,
although an increase may also occur. As a low arousal state, boredom is disengaging, whereas
as a high arousal state it prepares our body for action or change. All in all, boredom is an
unpleasant state from which one seeks escape and solace.

3. Boredom as a Self-Regulatory Emotion

Boredom, I propose, should be understood to be a functional emotion. That is, boredom is an
emotion that serves a specific function in our lives. In order to fully present and ultimately
defend such an assertion about boredom, I need to explain why I think boredom is an
emotion and then specify its function.

3.1. Boredom as an emotion

Emotions form a proper subset of the superordinate class of affective phenomena. They are
relatively short-lived, flexible, multicomponent patterns and tendencies that occur in response
to specific physical and social situations. They are distinguished from moods (Parkinson et al.,

18
1996) insofar as they are shorter in duration (Ekman, 1984; Nowlis & Nowlis, 1956), they
typically have narrower or more specific intentional objects, and they give rise to specific
behavioral response tendencies that are relevant to those objects (Frijda, 1986; Isen, 1984;
Morris, 1989; Oatley & Jenkins, 1996). They are distinguished from affective traits insofar as
affective traits are predispositions or tendencies to experience certain emotions (Rosenberg,
1998).
Typically, emotions begin with an individual’s appraisal or assessment of an event that
bears some personal significance to the individual (Frijda, 1986; Oatley & Johnson-Laird,
1987; Roseman, 1984; Scherer, 1993; Smith & Lazarus, 1994; Lazarus, 1991). Such an
appraisal can be either conscious or unconscious and it gives rise to a cascade of interrelated
responses in the individual, such as changes in subjective (felt) experiences, physiology, motor
expressions, cognition, and behavior.
Given the above characterization of emotions, the state of boredom should be
understood to be an emotion: boredom, considered as a state and not as a trait, is a transitory,
multicomponent response to a situation. Once a subject appraises a situation to be
meaningless, non-optimally challenging, incongruous to her goals and desires, or even beyond
her control (Pekrun et al., 2010), the subject is likely to experience boredom and thus undergo
changes in her subjective, felt experiences (e.g., negative feelings, mental fatigue, feelings of
constraint), cognition (e.g., inattention, perception of slower passage of time, mind-
wandering), behavior (e.g., changes in posture), and physiology (e.g., low or high arousal,
changes in brain waves).
The contention that boredom is an emotion in its own right is corroborated by recent
empirical findings that show that boredom can be distinguished from other related emotional
states. Van Tilburg & Igou (2012) reported that, compared to sadness, anger, and frustration,
boredom has a unique experiential content (study 1): during boredom, one feels unchallenged,
thinks that one’s situation is meaningless, and desires to engage in an alternative situation.
Furthermore, Van Tilburg and Igou demonstrated that the induction of state of boredom (via
a repetitive task) resulted in a distinct pattern of experiences characteristic of boredom (those
reported in study 1) and that such an induction did not affect the emotional states of anger,
sadness, and frustration (study 4). Finally, using structural equation modeling, Goldberg et al.
(2011) found boredom to be distinct from three phenomenologically-related: apathy,
anhedonia, and depression.

19
 Such findings are important not only because they provide evidence that boredom is
an independent affective construct, but also because they suggest that the role that boredom
plays in our lives is not likely one that can be played by other related emotional or affective
states. As Van Tilburg and Igou (2012) showed, boredom is differentiated from anger,
frustration, and sadness insofar as it is the only state that involves a perception that one’s
situation is meaningless and unchallenging (see also Van Tilburg and Igou, 2016). Boredom
thus appears to be uniquely equipped to inform us of the presence of a meaningless and
unchallenging situation. In addition, boredom’s volitional component differentiates it from
apathy, anhedonia, and depression. Whereas apathy, anhedonia, and depression all involve
some kind of motivational loss, boredom involves a strong desire to engage in an alternative
situation. Boredom is both a “call” to stop doing what we are doing and a “push” to do
something else.

3.2. The function of boredom

What does boredom do? My proposal is that the state boredom serves a two-fold function:
first, it informs us of the presence of non-interesting situations; second, it promotes escape
from such situations. In other words, boredom’s function is to get us unstuck when we find
ourselves stuck (Fahlman et al. 2013, p. 68). It should be noted that if this is boredom’s
function, then when boredom fulfills its function it is self-effacing. Boredom attempts to get us
out of what precisely brings about the state of boredom. Boredom’s function is to alleviate us
of boring situations.
In order to provide support for the above claims, we need to revisit the specific
features of the state of boredom explicated above. Each of the four aspects of the experiential
signature of boredom that were highlighted in section 2.2—its affective, cognitive, volitional,
and physiological aspects—contributes in its own way to the function of boredom.
First, boredom is an unpleasant state. During boredom, one is often disengaged from
one’s situation. One feels tired and/or frustrated with his or her situation (e.g., Goetz &
Frenzel, 2006; Harris, 2000; Martin et al., 2006). Furthermore, the bored individual
experiences feelings of constraint (e.g., Eastwood et al, 2012; Fahlman et al., 2011; Fenichel,
1951; Geitwitz, 1986; Hill & Perkins, 1985; Todman, 2013). Due to its affective character,
boredom can be classified as a negative emotion. Negative experiences and events typically
have a greater impact on an individual than positive ones (for reviews see Baumeister et al.,

20
2001; Rozin & Royzman, 2001). For example, negative moods promote more thorough
information processing than positive moods (e.g., Clore, Schwarz, & Conway, 1994; Schwarz,
1990); negative events influence impressions more strongly than positive ones (e.g., Anderson,
1965; Peeters & Czapinski, 1990; Skowronski & Carlston, 1989); and there is a greater search
for understanding and meaning for bad than good events (Baumeister et al., 2001). As such,
the state of boredom is well suited to promote change in one’s behavior.
Second, boredom is also characterized by a desire to escape one’s current
(unsatisfactory) situation (e.g., Berlyne, 1960; Fahlman et al., 2013; Fenichel, 1953; Fiske &
Maddi, 1961; Greenson, 1953; Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993; Pekrun et al., 2010; Todman,
2003; Van Tilburg and Igou, 2012). Thus, not only is boredom unpleasant, but the individual
who experiences boredom does not want to be in this state. And the individual will try, if
possible, to escape from it. The motivational power of the unpleasantness of boredom is
demonstrated by research which found that when participants were forced to spend time
alone with only their thoughts, they were willing to self-administer electric shocks (Wilson et
al., 2014). Furthermore, Havermans et al. (2015) showed that individuals in a monotonous,
boring condition ate more chocolate and shocked themselves both more often and with
higher intensity than individuals in a neutral condition. In line with Wilson and colleagues,
Havermans et al. (2015) concluded that boredom is such an aversive state that some
individuals would choose negative stimuli in order to alleviate it. In yet another study,
Nederkoorn et al. (2016) not only confirmed the findings of Wilson et al. (2014) and
Havermans et al. (2015), but they also showed that only the onset of boredom and not that of
sadness increased the number of voluntary self-administered electric shocks. The authors thus
concluded that the reason why individuals chose to self-administer electrics is not to avoid
emotional experiences in general but to escape boredom specifically. Lastly, findings that
relate risk-taking behavior to boredom proneness (e.g., Dahlen et al., 2005; Kass et al., 2010)
also demonstrate the capacity of boredom to motivate individuals to search for situations that
will alleviate their experience of boredom, even if such situations are costly to them.
In addition to the affective and volitional aspects of boredom, its cognitive features
also contribute to its function. In a state of boredom one is disengaged from one’s activities. It
is hard to sustain attention on a boring task (e.g., Eastwood et al., 2012). Often one
experiences mental fatigue and mind-wanders (Harris, 2000; Martin et al., 2006). The bored
individual even experiences a slower passage of time (Gabriel, 1998; Greenson, 1953;

21
Hartocollis, 1972; Heidegger, 1983/2001; Martin et al., 2006; Tze et al., 2013; Wangh, 1975;
Watt, 1991). The cognitive elements of boredom thus render the present situation
unsatisfactory. It cannot grab the individual’s attention. It is not appealing to one. In turn,
given that the individual is not engaged with the situation, the individual is moved to consider
alternative situations, goals, and course of actions (Bench & Lench, 2013; Fahlman et al., 2013;
Van Tilburg & Igou, 2012). Hence, the cognitive features of boredom contribute to its
function (a) by disengaging one from a boring situation and (b) by allowing alternative and
potentially more satisfactory and interesting situations to become salient.
Finally, and in terms of its behavioral aspects, during a state of boredom there can be
either a decrease or an increase in physiological arousal. The former contributes to the sense
of disengagement that the bored individual experiences. The latter facilitates the pursuit of
alternative goals and situations (Bench & Lench, 2013). Danckert & Merrifield (2016)’s finding
that there is anticorrelated activity in the anterior insular cortex during the state of boredom is
a further indication that during boredom one is looking for stimulation, even though one is
not currently meaningfully stimulated.
Putting theses elements together makes a strong case for the claim that boredom’s
function is to move us out of non-stimulating and boring situations and into situations that
are stimulating and interesting.

3.3. The end of boredom

A regulatory perspective on boredom strongly suggests that, when it functions optimally,
boredom is self-effacing: the goal of boredom is to move us out of the unsatisfactory situation
that is the cause of its existence. Understood in this manner, boredom does not seek merely to
promote movement but to facilitate a type of goal-directed movement (Elpidorou,
forthcoming). While bored, one does not want change for the sake of change. Rather, one
seeks change in order to escape boredom. And one escapes boredom only if one finds a
situation that is interesting, exciting, fulfilling, or meaningful. Hence, boredom fulfills its
function successfully when it motivates us to get out of a state of discontent and helps us to
propel ourselves into a state that is closer to our interests and in line with our desires.
Such a feature of boredom is reflected in its volitional character. Bored individuals
report a strong desire to escape their current situation. Yet they do not simply wish to replace
their situation with any alternative situation—say, to move from one boring situation to a

22
different boring situation. Instead, bored individuals express a desire to do something that is
interesting, exciting, or meaningful, and that is the case even when they do not know exactly
what that is (Fahlman et al., 2013).
Moreover, past research has explored the self-regulatory processes that may be
triggered by the experience of boredom as a way to counteract its causes. For instance,
Sansone et al. (1992) reported that individuals who had a reason to persist in a boring task
engaged in interest-enhancing strategies that transformed the boring task into something more
enjoyable. Roy (1959) observed that workers who are forced to work in extremely
monotonous conditions can find ways to occupy themselves by gamifying work procedures
(see also Skowronski, 2012). In an intriguing study, van Aart and colleagues (2010) asked
participants to play the role of Alice from Alice in Wonderland and found that the induction of
boredom was followed by an increase of curiosity and agitation. Other work has suggested
that a state of boredom may promote creativity (Gasper & Middlewood, 2014; Harris, 2000;
Mann & Cadman, 2014)—although such findings should be considered in conjunction with
Hunter et al. (2016)’s study which reports that boredom as a personality trait is not predictive
of creativity. Finally, in a series of studies, Van Tilburg and Igou found that boredom is not
only related to a perception of a lack of meaning, but importantly, it can give rise to various
attempts to reestablish a sense of meaningfulness (Van Tilburg & Igou, 2011, 2012, 2016,
2017b; Van Tilburg et al., 2013). All of the aforementioned studies highlight in different ways
and to various extents the manner in which boredom acts as a self-regulatory state that
promotes the pursuit of activities that are perceived to be meaningful and interesting to the
individuals. By doing so, boredom puts us in line with our own projects and promotes a good
fit between activities and personal motives, needs, and values (Schueller, 2014).
An appeal to self-determination theory is useful in elucidating further the motivational
character of boredom. Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000)
draws a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The construct of intrinsic
motivation is meant to capture one’s “propensity to engage one’s interests and exercise one’s
capacities, and in so doing, to seek to conquer optimal challenges” (Deci & Ryan, 1985, p. 45).
Intrinsic motivation is generated internally (i.e., it is the product of internal tendencies) and
does not require the aid of external rewards or punishments in order to drive behavior. When
one is intrinsically motivated to engage in an activity, one does so for the sake of the activity
itself. Whereas intrinsically motivated behavior is autotelic, extrinsically motivated behavior is

23
done for reasons external to the activity. That is to say, one is extrinsically motivated to engage
in a task if such an engagement may lead to the attainment of an outcome other than the
performance of the activity itself. A situation that is perceived by a subject to be boring is
clearly not a situation with which one is intrinsically motivated to engage—after all, boredom
is characterized by a lack of flow. At the same time, boredom acts as extrinsic motivation to
alter one’s behavior. In a state of boredom, one is motivated to bring about change in one’s
behavior (be it physical or mental) in order to escape the aversive experience of boredom.
It is important to emphasize that although boredom can facilitate escape from an
unsatisfactory situation and promote the pursuit of tasks that are in line with one’s goals and
desires, it does not always succeed in doing so. Indeed, boredom will function optimally only
when the right conditions (personal or situational) obtain. For one, it is not always obvious
what will alleviate our boredom (Fahlman et al., 2013). In our attempt to escape one boring
situation it is thus possible to find ourselves in another boring situation. Such a possibility
highlights the need for self-awareness. To deal with boredom one needs not only to be able to
motivate oneself to change one’s situation—when such a change is possible—but also to
know what alternative situations will be interesting or meaningful to one. In line with such a
contention, previous research has indicated that boredom is best alleviated by activities that
produce feelings of competence and self-determination (Weissinger et al., 1992). What those
activities are, however, might not be obvious to the bored individual.
Furthermore, depending on the situation, there will be different strategies for dealing
with boredom (Cummings et al., 2016; Daniels et al., 2015; Game, 2007). The most obvious
strategy is to seek escape from boredom by quitting or disengaging with the activity that is
perceived to be the cause of boredom. Of course, it would not always be possible (let alone
desirable) for an individual to adopt such a strategy. If behavioral escape is not possible but
the individual lacks a sufficient reason to perform the boring activity well (or if the boring
activity is easy), one may adopt a cognitive-avoidance strategy by engaging in mind-wandering
(Fisher, 1993; Harris, 2000). However, if one is highly motivated to maintain engagement with
an activity that is perceived to be boring and which is demanding, one may change the manner
in which he or she engages with the activity. This could involve a cognitive reappraisal of the
situation. For example, one could try to find meaning or value in the activity by seeing it under
a new light (Nett et al., 2010; Tze et al., 2013). Alternatively, one might change the manner in
which one is performing the activity in an attempt to make it more interesting or meaningful.

24
One could, for example, gamify the activity (Hamilton et al., 1984), modify its complexity
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1975), change goals (Fisher, 1993), or perform it in novel ways (Sansone et
al., 1992; Schweizer, 2006).
Lastly, it should be emphasized that a regulatory stance on boredom does not
necessitate that the exercise of the function of boredom always promotes one’s well-being.
There is no guarantee that the more interesting situation into which one moves on account of
boredom will be beneficial for the individual. Risk-taking activities are ones that many will find
interesting and as such will provide a solace from boredom, but they are also ones associated
with potential dangers (e.g., Blaszczynski et al., 1990; Dahlen et al., 2005; Kass et al., 2010;
Mercer & Eastwood, 2010). What is more, individuals might find a situation uninteresting and
thus experience boredom, but they should not. For example, boredom often arises in
academic contexts (Belton & Priyadharshini 2007; Mann & Robinson, 2009; Pekrun et al.,
2010; Vogel-Walcutt, et al., 2011). The fact that students find their classes, lessons, readings,
or teachers boring is valuable in itself for it is informs the students of the presence of a
situation that is not in line with their interests; the presence of boredom can also inform the
instructor that certain educational methods are not effective. However, not all such situations
should be avoided, even if they are deemed to be boring. Boredom signifies a lack of interest
and not a lack of importance. Interest is subjective, but importance is not (at least not
necessarily). As a consequence, boredom has to be, at least sometimes, endured (B. Russell,
1996) and thus its “call” for change should be resisted.

4. The value of a regulatory approach

As I hope to have shown, the adoption of a regulatory perspective on boredom contributes to
our understanding of boredom by underscoring its function and place in our mental economy.
However, in addition to being informative about the state of boredom, a regulatory model on
boredom is, as a conceptual approach, theoretically advantageous in the following three
respects: it permits the synthesization of the diverse literature on boredom; it is consistent
with both functional and evolutionary accounts of emotions; and it opens up unexplored
avenues for research.

Comprehensiveness and coherence: Adopting the view that boredom is a regulatory

emotion allows us to see how its experiential, cognitive, volitional, and physiological

25
components work together in facilitating the performance of its function. In doing so, the
regulatory model brings together numerous and diverse findings on the character of boredom
and offers a natural and compelling explanation of findings that show that the onset of
boredom may lead to interest- or meaning-enhancing processes. A regulatory approach thus
provides a synoptic picture of our current knowledge of boredom.
What is more, the regulatory model is line with the contention, expressed by some
emotion theorists, that emotions require coherence amongst their various components
(Reisenzein, 2000; Rosenberg & Ekman, 1994). According to the proposed model, boredom is
understood as an essentially unified phenomenon: boredom is a regulatory state precisely
because its various components work together in order to execute its function.

Consistency: The account offered is consistent with what is perhaps the most commonly
accepted view on emotions: namely, that emotions are functional processes shaped by
evolutionary forces (e.g., Hasselton & Ketelaar, 2006; Keltner & Gross, 1999; Keltner & Haidt
Keltner et al. 2006; Tooby and Cosmides, 2008). Such a view emphasizes that emotions are
responses to problems of physical or social survival and are best understood in terms of the
functions that they serve. Clearly, a regulatory approach renders boredom a functional state.
What remains to be seen is whether boredom, in addition to serving a function in our mental
economy, confers to one an adaptive advantage.
A regulatory approach to boredom provides one with the conceptual tools to consider
this important question. Indeed, there are at least three distinct sets of considerations that
make it plausible that boredom carries adaptive value. First, self-regulation is crucial for the
well-being and survival of an organism (Baumeister et al., 2001). Through self-regulatory
processes an organism can adapt to a changing environment by changing itself and such a
strategy is bound to be adaptive: an organism that is flexible and malleable in this manner is
one that is more likely to survive and eventually to reproduce. Boredom is capable of
contributing to the well-being of an organism by promoting self-regulation.
Second, negative emotions tend to narrow our thought-action repertoire (e.g. Frijda,
1986; Lazarus, 1991; Levenson, 1994; Oatley & Jenkins, 1996). Boredom does the same. It
pushes us out of an uninteresting situation and promotes the pursuit of alternative situations.
It is not implausible to think that what we find meaningful and interesting are situations that
matter to us (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). Of course, not all situations that matter to us will be

26
ones that confer to us an evolutionary advantage. Nor is it true that any situation that
alleviates boredom has adaptive value. Still, it is likely that overall an organism that is equipped
with a mechanism that allow it to stop wasting resources in a situation that is not meaningful
to it is better off than an organism that cannot do that. The latter organism is likely to get
stuck in meaningless or irrelevant to it situations. Given that resources are limited (e.g.,
Baumeister et al., 1998; Muraven & Baumeister, 2000), it would be advantageous for an
organism to be equipped with a psychological mechanism that not only signals a need for
movement but which also promotes the pursuit of projects that are meaningful to the
individual.
Finally, even though boredom is not a positive emotion, it can still promote the
experience of the positive emotion of interest (e.g., Fredrickson, 2013; Silvia, 2008). Positive
emotions are held to be evolved adaptations whose function is to build lasting and valuable
resources for the organism (Fredrickson, 1998; Fredrickson & Cohn, 2008). Interest arises in
contexts in which the organism feels safe and allows for exploration and engagement (Izard,
1977; Silvia, 2008). It has been argued that interest helps to expand the self by broadening
one’s repertoire of thoughts and actions (Cohn et al., 2009; Fredrickson, 2013) and
consequently, it can eventually lead to the buildup of durable personal resources. Thus, in line
with the broaden-and-build hypothesis developed by Fredrickson and colleagues (e.g.,
Fredrickson, 1998 and 2013; Fredrickson & Cohn, 2008), boredom can bring about some of
the many benefits that are associated with the positive emotion of interest. It can do so not
directly, but indirectly insofar as boredom promotes the pursuit of interesting situations.

Fruitfulness and testability: The adoption of a regulatory perspective allows us to draw a

connection between the state of boredom and the personality trait of boredom. Once we
understand boredom as a functional emotion, we can consider what happens in cases where
boredom malfunctions. According to the regulatory account, boredom fails to fulfill its
function either because it fails to move us out of uninteresting or meaningless situations or
because it moves us into new situations that are not capable of alleviating our boredom (that is,
boredom brings about a change, but such a change is not the desired one). Thus, the
regulatory account predicts that when boredom systematically malfunctions one is likely to
experience either prolonged or frequent boredom. Given how the personality trait of
boredom is measured (e.g., Farmer and Sundberg, 1986), both experiences of boredom would

27
be assessed to be indicative of the presence of the personality trait of boredom. Consequently,
a regulatory approach draws a connection between the dysfunction of the state of boredom
and the presence of the personality trait of boredom.
What is important to note is that by drawing a connection between the two constructs,
the regulatory approach leads to empirically testable predictions. On the one hand, it predicts
that individuals who experience difficulties to initiate behavioral change would experience
boredom more frequently—either because they would be incapable of moving out of
uninteresting situations when such situations arise, or because they would remain stuck in the
same situation for a prolonged period of time and as a result they would lose interest in their
situation. On the other hand, the regulatory model predicts that the ability to initiate change
and commit resources to carry out such a change should make it less likely that one
experiences boredom. Initial confirmation for this prediction comes from evidence that shows
that high locomotion is strongly negatively correlated with boredom proneness (Struk et al.,
2016). Given the many psychological, bodily, and social harms with which the personality trait
of boredom is associated, it is worth investigating this potential relationship between
locomotion and boredom further: an induction of a locomotion perspective may turn out to
be a way of thwarting trait boredom’s influence on one’s life.
Lastly, if a systematic failure of the performance of boredom leads to the personality
trait of boredom, then the proposal suggests that there might be at least two mechanisms that
give rise to the trait of boredom even if measures of this trait are not capable of distinguishing
between the two. That is to say, the personality trait of boredom can be due either to
motivational difficulties (when one systematically fails to initiate change) or to cognitive or
affective difficulties (when one systematically chooses to alleviate boredom in ways that are
ultimately unsatisfactory).

5. Conclusion
In this paper, I have offered a theoretical model for understanding boredom. By reviewing the
empirical literature on the state of boredom, I described its character and showed that
boredom serves a function in our mental economy. As a transitory and often situationally
caused affective state, it is unpleasant and a sign of the presence of an unsatisfactory or
meaningless situation. Still, boredom contains a way out of itself and into a life that is worth
living. By separating the interesting from the non-interesting it has a unique capacity to shape

28
our world. Given its motivational capacity, it has the power to set us in action and to promote
the pursuit of projects and goals that are congruous with our interests, values, and desires.

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