Katy Y. Y. Tam

We synthesize established and emerging research to propose a feedback process model that explicates key antecedents, experiences, and consequences of the emotion boredom. The proposed Boredom Feedback Model posits that the dynamic process of boredom resembles a feedback loop that centers on attention-shifts instigated by inadequate attentional enga...

Boredom is a ubiquitous emotion that has strong behavioral and mental health impacts. Research suggests that how people experience and regulate emotions is influenced by their beliefs about them. What lay beliefs about boredom do people have? The present research sought to answer this question using a mixed-methods approach. In Study 1, we conducte...

Boredom is unpleasant, with people going to great lengths to avoid it. One way to escape boredom and increase stimulation is to consume digital media, for example watching short videos on YouTube or TikTok. One common way that people watch these videos is to switch between videos and fast-forward through them, a form of viewing we call digital swit...

In an era where entertainment is effortlessly at our fingertips, one would assume that people are less bored than ever. Yet, reports of boredom are higher now than compared to the past. This rising trend is concerning because chronic boredom can undermine well-being, learning, and behaviour. Understanding why this is happening is crucial to prevent...

Gratitude and indebtedness are common emotions in response to a favor, yet research suggests that they are experienced differently depending on the situation. Tsang (2006) found that gratitude for a favor depended on perceived helper intention, whereas indebtedness did not. Specifically, Tsang (2006) proposed that perceived benevolent helper intent...

Gratitude and indebtedness are common emotions in response to a favour, yet research suggests that they are experienced differently depending on the situation. Tsang (Tsang JA. 2006 The effects of helper intention on gratitude and indebtedness. Motiv. Emot. 30, 198–204. (doi:10.1007/s11031-006-9031-z)), found that gratitude for a favour depended on...

In an era where entertainment is effortlessly at our fingertips, one would assume that people are less bored than ever. Yet, reports of boredom are higher now than compared to the past. This rising trend is concerning because chronic boredom can undermine well-being, learning, and behaviour. Understanding why this is happening is crucial to prevent...

[IMPORTANT: Abstract, method, and results were written using a randomized dataset produced by Qualtrics to simulate what these sections will look like after data collection. These will be updated following the data collection. For the purpose of the simulation, we wrote things in past tense, but no pre-registration or data collection took place yet...

How does one attain meaning? This age-old question is pivotal to well-being, yet its exploration has been predominantly within the symbolic and philosophic domains. A cognitive approach to this inquiry remains largely unexplored. Here, we propose that paying attention is a process through which one constructs and perceives meaning. In turn, meaning...

The concluding chapter of this book represents a collaborative effort between the editors and all contributing authors, resulting in a comprehensive overview of the current directions in boredom research. Summaries of each chapter not only underscore the multitude of perspectives on boredom but also elucidate the diverse approaches employed in its...

Bastian et al. (2012) argued that the ‘meat paradox’–caring for animals yet eating them–exemplifies the motivated moral disengagement driven by a psychologically aversive tension between people’s moral standards (caring for animals) and their behavior (eating them). One disengagement mechanism that is thought to play a central role is the denial of...

Convergence of emotions between people is ascribed in one area of research to the transfer of others’ emotions to oneself (emotional contagion), and in another as a projection of one’s own emotions onto others (emotional egocentricity). The current research sought to reconcile these two accounts by testing them simultaneously in a correlational stu...

Bastian et al. (2012) argued that the ‘meat paradox’–caring for animals yet eating them–is maintained by motivated moral disengagement driven by a psychologically aversive tension between people’s moral standards (caring for animals) and their behavior (eating them). One disengagement mechanism that is thought to play a central role is the denial o...

Objective: To examine the role of insomnia as a mediator between worrying and mental health and whether the association between worrying and insomnia is moderated by the levels of exercise frequency. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong (n = 988). Participants' insomn...

Boredom is unpleasant, with people going to great lengths to avoid it. One way to escape boredom and increase stimulation is to consume digital media, for example watching short videos on YouTube or TikTok. One common way that people watch these videos is to switch between videos and fast-forward through them when they come across content that is n...

Boredom is unpleasant, with people going to great lengths to avoid it. One way to escape boredom and increase stimulation is to consume digital media, for example watching short videos on YouTube or TikTok. One common way that people watch these videos is to switch between videos and fast-forward through them when they come across content that is n...

Both bystanders and journalists can play important roles in mobilizing and supporting social movements. However, there are few empirical studies examining and contrasting their violent and nonviolent collective-action motivations or perspectives on social movement goals. This study presents a comparative analysis of motivations to engage or stand a...

The present research examined the interplay of social threat and political mistrust on collective action intentions in the context of Hong Kong social unrest. We investigated perceived social threat from a dominant outgroup and mistrust in the political system as two antecedents of politicized identity, and as indirect predictors of intentions to p...

In three studies, we examined the role of distrust and perceived threat in intentions to engage in normative and violent non‐normative collective action. A field‐based qualitative study of 35 pro‐democracy protestors during the 2019 Hong Kong Anti‐Extradition protests revealed that perceived threat to Hong Kong values alongside distrust of politica...

Background: Academic boredom is ubiquitous, and it leads to a range of adverse learning outcomes. Given that students often make estimates of how boring lectures are, does anticipating a lecture to be boring shape their actual experience of boredom? Aims: The current research investigated whether anticipated boredom intensifies subsequent boredo...

Objectives: Young people's experience of boredom and its psychological health sequelae have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examined the moderating role of boredom beliefs-the extent to which one affectively dislikes boredom (boredom dislike) and cognitively accepts it (boredom normalcy)-on the association between bore...

Boredom is a ubiquitous emotion that has strong behavioral and mental health impacts. Research suggests that how people experience and regulate emotion are influenced by their beliefs about it. What lay beliefs about boredom do people have? The present research sought to answer this question using a mixed-methods approach. In Study 1, we conducted...

The stereotype content model provides a framework for understanding contextual and relational factors that may explain why some intergroup apologies are ineffective. Using actual and fictional scenarios, we examined whether the apology–forgiveness relationship and the apology–remorse relationship were dependent on the victim-group members’ perceive...

Objective Boredom proneness is associated with various problematic behaviors and mental health issues. Despite its wide‐ranging implication, boredom proneness as a trait‐like construct suffers from conceptual ambiguity and measurement issues. We examined whether boredom proneness represents individual differences in (a) the frequency of getting bor...

Background: Boredom is a common complaint among students. Boredom was previously found to be negatively associated with academic outcomes, such as academic motivation, strategies, and achievement. It is of interest to understand students' in-class boredom, especially factors that might exacerbate it. Aims: The current study examines the influenc...

Do we feel particularly lonely when we find what we are doing as pointless? A two-part study was conducted to examine the association between perceived meaning of an activity and loneliness. Part I was a cross-sectional study with 243 participants (Mage = 19.3, SD = 1.66, 70.8% female). The results demonstrate that meaningful life engagement was ne...

Theories of boredom assert that boredom is a product of situational meaninglessness. We conducted two studies to test if the perceived meaningfulness of a situation is associated with state boredom, above and beyond sadness, personality traits, and boredom proneness. In Study 1, 105 participants (72.4% female: mean age = 33.9 years, SD = 17.5) desc...