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Rich environments, dull experiences: how environment can exacerbate the effect of constraint on the experience of boredom.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Struk, AA; Scholer, AA; Danckert, J; Seli, P
Published in: Cognition & emotion
November 2020

We examined the hypothesis that boredom is likely to occur when opportunity costs are high; that is, when there is a high potential value of engaging in activities other than the researcher-assigned activity. To this end, participants were either placed in a room with many possible affordances (e.g. a laptop, puzzle, etc.; affordances condition; n = 121), or they were ushered into an empty room (control condition; n = 107). In both conditions participants were instructed to entertain themselves with only their thoughts (hence, participants in the affordances condition were to refrain from engaging with the available options). As predicted, participants in the affordances condition reported higher levels of boredom compared with those in the control condition. Results suggest that under some conditions, environments that afford alternative activities may be more boring than those that are void of such activities.

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Published In

Cognition & emotion

DOI

EISSN

1464-0600

ISSN

0269-9931

Publication Date

November 2020

Volume

34

Issue

7

Start / End Page

1517 / 1523

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Social Psychology
  • Pain
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Environment
  • Boredom
  • Adult
  • Adolescent
 

Citation

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Struk, A. A., Scholer, A. A., Danckert, J., & Seli, P. (2020). Rich environments, dull experiences: how environment can exacerbate the effect of constraint on the experience of boredom. Cognition & Emotion, 34(7), 1517–1523. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2020.1763919
Struk, Andriy A., Abigail A. Scholer, James Danckert, and Paul Seli. “Rich environments, dull experiences: how environment can exacerbate the effect of constraint on the experience of boredom.Cognition & Emotion 34, no. 7 (November 2020): 1517–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2020.1763919.
Struk AA, Scholer AA, Danckert J, Seli P. Rich environments, dull experiences: how environment can exacerbate the effect of constraint on the experience of boredom. Cognition & emotion. 2020 Nov;34(7):1517–23.
Struk, Andriy A., et al. “Rich environments, dull experiences: how environment can exacerbate the effect of constraint on the experience of boredom.Cognition & Emotion, vol. 34, no. 7, Nov. 2020, pp. 1517–23. Epmc, doi:10.1080/02699931.2020.1763919.
Struk AA, Scholer AA, Danckert J, Seli P. Rich environments, dull experiences: how environment can exacerbate the effect of constraint on the experience of boredom. Cognition & emotion. 2020 Nov;34(7):1517–1523.

Published In

Cognition & emotion

DOI

EISSN

1464-0600

ISSN

0269-9931

Publication Date

November 2020

Volume

34

Issue

7

Start / End Page

1517 / 1523

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Social Psychology
  • Pain
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Environment
  • Boredom
  • Adult
  • Adolescent