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The Definition, Assessment, and Mitigation of State Boredom Within Educational Settings: A Comprehensive Review
Abstract
Mitigating the situational factors that give rise to state boredom is a consistent challenge facing educators. Despite the growing amount of literature devoted to the construct, the field has yet to arrive at a consensus regarding a clear theoretical or operational definition. Subsequently, inconsistencies exist in the assessment methodologies, research findings lack generalizability, and strategies for mitigation in educational settings remain elusive. In this cross-disciplinary analysis, the extant literature on state boredom is critically reviewed and synthesized, and a two-dimensional definition of state boredom as an unpleasant (subjective), low-arousal (objective) experience is proposed. Findings from the technological advances of the last decade that allow for the objective measurement of physiological states are used to inform recommendations for empirically sound assessment methodologies. Finally, the proposed definition of state boredom and related assessment strategies are discussed with respect to implications for enhancing educational practices. Emotions are of critical importance for cognitive development and optimal learning (Linnenbrink-Garcia and Pekrun 2011; Schultz and Pekrun 2007). However, not all emotions are equally relevant to academic achievement. In fact, research has suggested that "basic" emotions (anger, sadness, fear, disgust, happiness, and surprise; Ekman 1992) are rarely experienced during learning sessions (Craig et al. 2008; Lehman et al. 2008a, b). Consequently, researchers have recently begun to distinguish between "basic" and "academic" emotions (Pekrun 2011). Academic emotions refer specifically to those that
... Boredom can be defined as a transient experience of low levels of arousal and unpleasant feelings [5]. Despite predominantly subjective reports of low arousal, boredom has been demonstrated to be physiologically a high state of autonomic arousal, i.e., increased electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR; for a review, see [6]). ...
... These unpleasant feelings may be accompanied by an experienced lack of control, interest, goals, and/or motivation, disengagement, mental inactivity, and a desire for stimulation. Boredom results from the interaction of certain environmental factors (e.g., under-or overstimulation, monotony, a lack of challenge) and the individual tendency to feel bored under such circumstances [1,5,7]. This tendency is called "trait boredom" or "boredom proneness" and describes the individual propensity to experience states of boredom [8]. ...
... Three-Factorial EFA of the BPS For the 28-item BPS, the initial parallel analysis identified three factors to be extracted. Communalities h 2 < 0.30 were observed for thirteen items (2,3,5,6,7,9,17,18,22,23,24,27,28). Five of these items had factor loadings of less than λ = 0.40 (items 3, 6, 7, 22, 27). ...
We aimed to validate four established questionnaires related to time perception in German (Consideration of Future Consequences-14 scale (CFC-14), Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS), Metacognitive Questionnaire on Time (MQT), and Self-Awareness Questionnaire (SAQ)) using a back-translation method. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the data of 273 German-speaking participants to evaluate the factorial structures. Internal consistencies indicated good reliability values of the questionnaires and the respective subscales, except for the MQT. Intercorrelations between the questionnaires were examined to test their external validities and gain additional insight into the associations among the constructs. The consideration of future consequences was negatively linked to boredom proneness, whereas interoceptive awareness of one's bodily sensations was positively associated with boredom proneness. Additionally, interoceptive awareness was linked to metacognitive beliefs about which factors influence time perception. The results are discussed in regard to human time perception. Conclusion: The validated German questionnaires can now be used in research projects. Initial observations on how the questionnaires are related to each other fit the current knowledge on how human time perception works, yielding the first evidence for the external validity of the German versions of these established questionnaires. For evidence of criterion validity, future studies should more thoroughly investigate the external validities analyzing the correlations with other validated measures.
... Currently, boredom can be divided into two types: state boredom and trait boredom (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). Among them, state boredom is an emotion that appears in a specific situation. ...
... It will occur when a person experiences both the (objective) low arousal neural state and the (subjective) low arousal response of the depression, dissatisfaction, or disinterest. Therefore, state boredom is a transient emotional state (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012;Gana et al., 2019). Trait boredom, on the other hand, refers to the general lack of interest and the view that the environment is static, leading to disconnection with the environment. ...
The adolescent addiction to short video applications is becoming increasingly prominent, which has brought great challenges to the physical and mental health and daily life of the adolescents. This manuscript conducts an empirical study on the contributing factors of the adolescent addiction to short video applications based on the user generated content (UGC). In our study, 96 participants aged 15–25 were surveyed by questionnaire, and then cross-analysis of individual factors and SEM analysis of UGC content factors were carried out. Through the analysis of individual factors of the adolescent addiction from the perspective of gender, age, and family environment, this study reveals that male users are more addicted to the use of applications (APP), and such addiction varies with age, and prolonged family members’ use of short video APP can also exacerbate the adolescent addiction degree. Furthermore, through verification of the theoretical model, it indicates that UGC perception and the degree of boredom in daily life have a significant positive effect on the level of addiction to short video applications, and the degree of boredom in daily life plays a significant mediating role between them. Based on the research on the influences of UGC on the adolescent immersive experience, this study proposes a mechanism of the adolescent addiction to the use of short video applications in the mobile Internet age to provide a better service guarantee for the adolescents.
... Today, educational environments need more and more hardworking and committed human resources, and the realization of the goals of education, more than anything else, should be considered as the effort of teachers (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012;Mellati et al., 2013;Wang G. et al., 2021). Among these, one of the most important factors and areas studied is the organizational or professional commitment of teachers. ...
... In contrast, Vogel-Walcutt et al. (2012) and Talebzadeh et al. (2020) highlighted the crucial role of teacher. They stated that any type of behavior from teachers at any time can be considered as a model. ...
Boredom is a psychological phenomenon that is defined as a state of hatred or incompatibility with any kind of repetitive experience in situations where liberation from instability is not possible and has several consequences. Boredom is one of the important causes of decreased motivation in EFL learners, and it is necessary to identify the factors affecting it. Therefore, this literature review addresses the state of boredom in relationship with teachers’ immediacy and professional commitment. Reviewing the literature has revealed that while teachers’ immediacy and professional commitments affect EFL learners’ boredom, other factors such as individual differences and environmental factors are in action. However, many studies confirmed that teachers play the most important role in decreasing or increasing learners’ state of boredom. The findings are significant for teacher educators to design more appropriate teacher education programs.
... Boredom appears to be unambiguously a psychological state of negative valence. It is phenomenologically an unpleasant experience (Harris, 2000;Hartocollis, 1972;Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993;Pekrun et al., 2010;Todman, 2003;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012); it motivates withdrawal behaviour and involves a desire to escape from it (Berlyne, 1960;Fahlman et al., 2013;Fenichel, 1953;Fiske and Maddi, 1961;Greenson, 1953;Mikulas and Vodanovich, 1993;Pekrun et al., 2010;Todman, 2003;Van Tilburg and Igou, 2012); it is triggered by situations that are perceived as negatively valued (uninteresting, trite, meaningless, etc.) (Van Tilburg & Igou, 2012, 2017a; it leads to a negative appraisal of one's situation (Eastwood et al., 2012); and its presence is judged by subjects to be incongruent to their wishes and valued goals (Van Tilburg & Igou, 2012). ...
... What is more, individuals might find a situation boring even though they should not. Consider, for instance, the experience of boredom within academic contexts (Belton and Priyadharshini 2007;Mann and Robinson 2009;Pekrun et al., 2010 andVogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). Assuming that the academic activity is important for the subject, the experience of boredom does not allow the subject to focus on the activity, leading potentially to an outcome that is not beneficial to the subject. ...
The functional theory of boredom maintains that boredom ought to be defined in terms of its role in our mental and behavioral economy. Although the functional theory has recently received considerable attention, presentations of this theory have not specified with sufficient precision either its commitments or its consequences for the ontology of boredom. This essay offers an in-depth examination of the functional theory. It explains what boredom is according to the functional view; it shows how the functional theory can account for the known characteristics of boredom; and it articulates the theory's basic commitments, virtues, and limitations. Ultimately, by furthering our understanding of the functional theory of boredom, the essay contributes to a better theoretical grounding of boredom.
... Academic emotions are defined as emotions which are experienced by learners in educational settings, and which are directly related to academic learning, classroom activities and learning achievement [1,2]. Academic emotions notably include anxiety, pride, surprise, and boredom. ...
... While we focused on Pekrun and colleagues' [5] control and value theory to predict boredom, other models such as the meaning and attention (MAC) model describes when boredom arises [51]. The MAC model more specifically suggests that boredom occurs (1) when people are not able to engage their attention in a given activity (attention component) and (2) when they perceive this activity as low in meaning (meaning component). Stated differently, boredom occurs when people feel (1) unable and (2) unwilling to engage in the cognitive activity. ...
Boredom is an emotion that often arises in an educational context. Past research suggests that boredom depends on specific cognitive appraisals, such as how people can control the task and how much they value it. Research further suggests that boredom is related to negative academic outcomes such as lower grades and a higher risk of dropping out. Here, we tested a mediation model on 324 pre-service teachers during the first lockdown of 2020 in Switzerland to assess (1) how control and value predicted boredom, and (2) how boredom was related to the intention to persist at university. We hypothesized that (1) the more participants felt lacking in control and low in value, the higher their boredom and (2) the more intense their boredom, the lower their intention to persist. We further hypothesized that both control and value would be positively related to the intention to persist, and this link may be mediated by boredom. Our results provide partial support for our mediation model as we found a significant indirect link between control and intention to persist through boredom. More specifically, the more participants lost control over their studies, the more they felt bored, which in turn was negatively related to their intention to persist.
... Therefore, it is vital to explore strategies for coping with boredom during the pandemic quarantine period. Similar to anxiety and other emotions, boredom can be divided into two typesstate boredom (an emotion that appears in a specific situation) and trait boredom (an individual's propensity to experience feelings of disinterest) -where the former is more suitable for exploring strategies for coping with boredom (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). Thus, the boredom explored in this article is specifically state boredom. ...
... To date, researchers have explored boredom from the perspectives of cognition, arousal, and functionality (Todman, 2003;van Tilburg and Igou, 2011;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). Cognitive theories of boredom suggest that when individuals experience it means that their cognitive resources are not optimally utilized during the current task (Danckert et al., 2018b). ...
Governments have adopted strict home quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. A monotonous, barren, and under-stimulating environment can cause state boredom, and people often deal with boredom via novelty-seeking behavior. Novelty-seeking behavior can be divided into “novelty input” and “novelty output”. The former refers to obtaining novel information such as browsing the Web; the latter refers to engaging in creative behavior such as literary creation. This study explores the relationship between two types of novelty-seeking behavior and individual state boredom during home quarantine, along with the moderation effect of trait creativity. The study sample consists of 582 Chinese college students who were quarantined at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale, the Williams Creativity Aptitude Test, and self-compiled questionnaires of novelty input and novelty output. The results show that there is no significant relationship between novelty input or novelty output and boredom during the COVID-19 quarantine. Trait creativity is found to negatively moderate the relationship between the two means of novelty seeking and boredom. Specifically, novelty output negatively predicts the state boredom of individuals with high creativity, while novelty input positively predicts the state boredom of individuals with low creativity. Our findings suggest that different novelty-seeking behaviors may have different effects on the boredom level of individuals with high versus low creativity during quarantine. During a quarantine period, individuals should avoid excessively engaging in novelty input behaviors aimed at escaping boring situations.
... This has been described directly as "low arousal" [e.g., 17,34], as a "deactivated state that is manifested in emotions such as weariness and lethargy" [20, p. 479], or "apathetic" [33]. In circumplex models, boredom is considered a deactivated/unpleasant state [35][36][37], distinct from other low-arousal states, including apathy, anhedonia, and depression [38]. It has been described as the space between misery and sleepiness [39,40]. ...
... Others have argued that boredom may also involve high arousal [e.g., 17], or a restless or agitated state in which one fails to find satisfactory engagement with the environment despite motivation to do so [33,45]. However, this agitated high arousal may not be boredom itself, but rather a psychological state of frustration that results from the negative experience of low arousal [37]. In other words, high arousal may result from a tendency to feel distressed upon experiencing boredom and attempts to escape that distress [20]. ...
Difficulty with boredom was eliminated from the formal diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) in 1994 based on significantly limited, unpublished data. However, it is apparent in clinical practice that boredom remains relevant to BPD. This review synthesizes empirical research, with consideration of theoretical accounts, to critically examine the relevance of boredom to BPD. We first briefly review issues in defining and measuring boredom and offer an expanded conceptualization for BPD, which includes the notion of boredom reactivity, before turning to boredom's differentiation from and overlap with feelings of emptiness, with which it was paired prior to its removal from the DSM. We then discuss perspectives on boredom's significance in BPD, briefly touching on its relevance in other personality disorders. We propose a Boredom Cascade Model that articulates how boredom and boredom reactivity interact with identity disturbance and chronic emptiness to create escalating patterns of behavioral dysregulation and make recommendations for research and treatment.
... Many theorists have defined boredom as a low arousal state (e.g. lethargy, fatigue and listlessness) in combination with a negative feeling such as dissatisfaction or displeasure (M.J. Apter, 1989;Daniels, 2000;Mikulas & Vodanovich;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). For example, Vogel-Walcutt et al. (2012) conducted a comprehensive review of the literature and found support for a two-dimensional definition of state boredom consisting of: a low arousal neurological state (objective) and an unpleasant affective state in response to the low arousal (subjective). ...
... lethargy, fatigue and listlessness) in combination with a negative feeling such as dissatisfaction or displeasure (M.J. Apter, 1989;Daniels, 2000;Mikulas & Vodanovich;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). For example, Vogel-Walcutt et al. (2012) conducted a comprehensive review of the literature and found support for a two-dimensional definition of state boredom consisting of: a low arousal neurological state (objective) and an unpleasant affective state in response to the low arousal (subjective). M.J. Apter's (1989) seminal work on reversal theory of motivational and emotional state also classified boredom as a partelic or low arousal state in comparison to excitement. ...
Boredom proneness is a predictor of depression, loneliness, and job dissatisfaction. As such, the methods of measuring boredom proneness have gained additional scrutiny particularly regarding their little-understood psychometric properties and a heavy reliance on university student samples. The aim of the current research is to revalidate Vodanovich, Wallace and Kass's 12-item Boredom Proneness Scale Short From (BFS-SF; 2005) with a public consumer panel. We present three studies on two large-scale online surveys (n = 970) respondents from general public to test the dimensionality, reliability, and validity of the BFS-SF. Study 1 confirmed the two-factor model of the BFS. Study 2 validated BFS-SF against potential confounds of state boredom and curiosity. Study 3 demonstrated measurement invariance across samples and genders using the combined samples. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the BFS-SF can be further reduced to 9 items, is well explained by a two-factor model, and most importantly it is valid and reliable measurement of boredom proneness.
... Brown et al. (2008) showed that boredom was one of the most prevalent reasons learners do not continue with mathematics after secondary school. There is also a negative relationship between boredom and interest (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012;Pekrun et al., 2014). ...
This study aimed to investigate the impact of demographic and contextual variables on boredom in English and mathematics, and to test structural models of boredom, learner burnout, learner engagement, and life satisfaction. Using a cross-sectional survey design and employing a convenience sampling technique, 544 secondary school learners in the Sedibeng District, Gauteng, South Africa, took part in the study. The participants completed the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire – English, the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire – Mathematics, the Schoolwork Engagement Inventory, the School Burnout Inventory, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Latent variable modeling was used to test measurement and structural models of boredom, burnout, engagement, and life satisfaction. The indirect effects of boredom on life satisfaction were also computed. The results showed that Afrikaans as the home language, the final mark for English in the previous examination, caregivers that cannot help with English homework, and disliking the English teacher predicted boredom in English. Afrikaans as the home language, marks for mathematics in the previous examination, not having the ability to focus on schoolwork at home, and disliking the mathematics teacher predicted boredom in mathematics. Boredom in mathematics and English resulted in an increase in learner burnout and a decrease in learner engagement. Furthermore, boredom in mathematics and English indirectly affected life satisfaction via learner burnout and engagement.
... Although this epistemic state could be described as one of arrogance (Carson 2018), I don't wish to call it that. It is true that jadedness involves the ascription of a thick property (Väyrynen, 2021) to its object insofar as it involves a judgment not just about our current engagement with its object but also about future engagements with it. Yet, it isn't clear that such an attitude is arrogant or somehow epistemically defective. ...
The essay contributes to the philosophical literature on emotions by advancing a detailed analysis of jadedness and by investigating whether jadedness can be subject to the various standards that are often thought to apply to our emotional states. The essay argues that jadedness is the affective experience of weariness, lack of care, and mild disdain with some object, and that it crucially involves the realisation that such an object was previously, but is no longer, significant to us. On the basis of such a characterisation, jadedness is shown to be an affective call to restructure our commitments and values in a manner that we no longer assign any kind of significance to its object. Precisely because of its potential to affect our lives in such a fashion, jadedness is shown to carry philosophical, psychological, and even social importance.
... As boredom has negative effects on students' motivation, cognitive resources, and self-regulation (Goetz and Hall, 2014), measures need to be taken to help these students mitigate their boring feeling. It is thus advocated that future studies should pay more attention to the intervention of students' boredom along the trend of exploring its relationship with various antecedents (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). Most students showed a moderate level of academic engagement (M = 3.46, SD = 0.91). ...
As an important contextual factor influencing various aspects of students’ learning, teacher support has been widely explored in general education but largely overlooked in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Given its potential positive role in students’ academic performance, the present study intended to investigate the relationship between perceived teacher support, enjoyment, boredom, and academic engagement in the EFL context. In so doing, 1094 Chinese high school students were recruited to complete the online questionnaire of the four variables. SPSS and PROCESS macro were used for descriptive, correlational, and mediation analyses. The results showed that students had moderate levels of perceived teacher support, enjoyment, and academic engagement and a low level of boredom. Further correlation analyses indicated medium to large correlations between perceived teacher support, enjoyment, boredom, and academic engagement. Enjoyment and boredom collectively mediated the relationship between perceived teacher support and academic engagement. Directions for future research and implications for researchers and educators are presented at the end.
... Though not exclusively by any means, the study of academic boredom has remained a largely psychological affair and approached and interpreted from a psychological perspective using psychological tools (PIOTROWSKI, 2016). While arousal and attention-related theories from within psychology remain commonplace (VOGEL-WALCUTT et al., 2012;FAHLMAN et al., 2013), Control-Value Theory (CVT) has emerged as offering a more comprehensive and trans-theoretical educational perspective within which the complexity of academic boredom at university KKKKKKKKKK or college is better explained. As the pioneer of CVT, and one of several leading authors in the field of achievement-related emotions generally, Reinhard Pekrun at the University of Munich in Germany also considered academic boredom a multidimensional and integrated network of psychophysiological processes working together in coordinated ways linked directly to both achievement activities and their outcomes. ...
... Though not exclusively by any means, the study of academic boredom has remained a largely psychological affair and approached and interpreted from a psychological perspective using psychological tools (PIOTROWSKI, 2016). While arousal and attention-related theories from within psychology remain commonplace (VOGEL-WALCUTT et al., 2012;FAHLMAN et al., 2013), Control-Value Theory (CVT) has emerged as offering a more comprehensive and trans-theoretical educational perspective within which the complexity of academic boredom at university KKKKKKKKKK or college is better explained. As the pioneer of CVT, and one of several leading authors in the field of achievement-related emotions generally, Reinhard Pekrun at the University of Munich in Germany also considered academic boredom a multidimensional and integrated network of psychophysiological processes working together in coordinated ways linked directly to both achievement activities and their outcomes. ...
Este Caderno de Formação Pedagógica – 2ª Edição reflete o compromisso da UNIFAL-MG com a formação didático-pedagógica docente, no sentido de perenizar, pela escrita, as ações realizadas.
O Plano de Formação Pedagógica do Programa de Desenvolvimento Profissional Docente da UNIFAL-MG (PRODOC) se estrutura em ações que tomam os processos de ensinar, aprender e avaliar no ensino superior como norte para a construção de novos saberes e competências docentes. Pauta-se em um processo de reflexão sobre os desafios pedagógicos que a universidade vivencia, que, por consequência, influenciam a prática pedagógica docente, considerando as muitas variáveis que impactam esses processos, situando-os e contextualizando-os.
No ano de 2020, com a suspensão das atividades presenciais por decorrência da pandemia da Covid-19, o sistema educacional foi compelido a uma acelerada reorganização na modalidade de oferta de ensino, transpondo o presencial para o ensino remoto emergencial (ERE), o que provocou profundas e intensas reflexões sobre os processos de ensinar e aprender no ensino superior. Naquele ano, com uma resposta bastante temporal ao contexto, a UNIFAL-MG, por meio de seus setores pedagógicos vinculados à Prograd, desenvolveu uma série de ações formativas vinculadas ao PRODOC, com vistas a promover reflexões (e não receituários) junto ao corpo docente da instituição, na busca por mínimas condições para se iniciar, institucionalmente, tal transição, abrupta e imprescindível. Já em 2021, contudo, o avanço do cenário provocado pela pandemia sinalizou que a situação, ao contrário do que se pensava e esperava, não seria passageira. A tendência pela adoção a um ensino híbrido se mostrava como alternativa ao desenvolvimento das atividades letivas.
Em tal conjuntura, reconhecemos que não somente o ensino remoto ou híbrido provocaram transformações na prática e nas lógicas da universidade. Muitas variáveis estiveram e ainda estão envolvidas nas questões que adentram ao ensino superior e a ele
provocam impactos, requerendo dos docentes estratégias que garantam a qualidade do ensino e da aprendizagem. Essas variáveis são anteriores ao ERE e ao ensino híbrido, já com resultados prévios a eles, mas, com a suspensão de atividades presenciais e a
emergência de construir espaços virtuais de aprendizagem, todos esses desafios ao ensino superior foram, em muito, potencializados.
Neste quadro atuou o Plano de Formação do PRODOC 2021, quando oportunizou a organização de um espaço coletivo de reflexão, que visasse a construção de saberes e de competências docentes que fizessem frente a esses desafios, numa lógica de
intencional continuidade à formação iniciada em 2020. Assume-se, no Programa, que somente a partir destes espaços coletivos de construção de conhecimentos é que podemos avançar, tomando decisões pedagógicas que permitam o alcance do sucesso
acadêmico, com a qualidade pretendida em uma instituição pública de ensino superior.
... Boredom exists in educational settings and perniciously affects students' learning, academic outcomes, and even social interactions (Tze, Daniels, and Klassen 2016;Vogel-Walcutt et al. 2012). ...
Given the significance of boredom and its detrimental effects on the English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ academic achievements, this study utilised an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design to initially explore the boredom factors in EFL classes among a sample of 139 university students and then develop and validate the Precursors of Students’ Boredom in EFL Classes (PSBEC) in the context of Iran. Confirmatory factor analysis, based on the data from 991 university students, resulted in the confirmation of eleven-factor model of the PSBEC scales introducing eleven factors as the main precursors: (a) teaching practices, (b) excessive class control, (c) inattentive behaviour, (d) overchallenge, (e) underchallenge, (f) intrinsic values, (g) extrinsic values, (h) negative affective factors, (i) boredom proneness, (j) classroom-related factors, and (k) curriculum design. Moreover, the PSBEC scales showed good convergent validity with the Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and the Perceived Teachers’ Enthusiasm (PTE) scales. The PSBEC scales also negatively correlated with students’ academic achievements except for boredom due to underchallenge, supporting the ecological validity. The findings help teachers assess the boredom-inducing factors in EFL classes and find ways to avoid boredom and its detrimental effects on their EFL students.
... While boredom is prototypically understood as something that occurs in situations that are under-challenging and of low arousal (Van Tilburg & Igou, 2017;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012; see also Westgate & Wilson, 2018), a recent study showed that boredom can even occur during very hard efforts that are performed until exhaustion (Hirsch et al., 2021). In another vein, a study that was conducted with ultra-endurance runners competing in a 24-hour running competition showed that trait measures of boredom predicted how much the athletes struggled with boredom during their competition, and that the experience of boredom during the competition was a predictor of whether an athlete had experienced a crisis during their run (Weich et al., 2022). ...
Recent research has identified boredom as a guiding signal in goal-directed behavior. As boredom activates a search for more valuable activities, it can consequently challenge goal-directed behavior; this is also expected to be the case in the sporting context. Here, we examined the experience of boredom in athletic training for a competition among 153 athletes with a cross-sectional questionnaire. We developed the questionnaire based on theoretical approaches to boredom. Specifically, we considered two core triggers of boredom (i.e., the ability to remain engaged with the training and the value that athletes ascribe to the training). We found that the positive relationship between the difficulty of engagement in athletic training and the experience of boredom was moderated by the value ascribed to the training. In other words, it seems that the value ascribed to the training can play a protective role, in that high levels of value nullify the positive relationship between difficulty of engagement and boredom experienced in sports. Future research is needed to better understand the antecedents and consequences of boredom experiences in specific sporting contexts, which could be achieved, for example, by differentiating between individual and collective activities or competitions and training situations.
... As calls are made to better understand adolescent boredom and intervene to promote healthy coping (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012), findings, such as from the current study, inform key mechanisms that may be useful targets for intervention. It is normal to find oneself in a boring situation. ...
The current study sought to better understand how leisure boredom is associated with alcohol use and how peer factors moderated the relationship between state and trait leisure boredom and past month alcohol use. The 2004 to 2008 multi-cohort study sample included 3,837 high school students (50% female; 91% mixed race; M age = 14 years; SD = .83) in the Cape Town area of South Africa. Results of generalized multilevel models found peer factors (time spent with peers, injunctive friend norms, descriptive peer norms) and trait, but not state, leisure boredom significantly predicted past month alcohol use. Findings can inform alcohol prevention efforts and suggest both peer factors and trait leisure boredom are worthy targets for intervention. Specifically, supporting adolescents to effectively navigate experiences of leisure boredom may, in turn, reduce alcohol use.
... Children increased screen time to cope with boredom and limited options for recreation and social interaction during COVID-19 lockdowns. These findings reinforce the need to foster resilience [31], which is pivotal for the maintenance and promotion of psychological wellbeing among children [32], and helps buffer negative psychosocial outcomes [33] and manage boredom [34][35][36]. ...
Emerging evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures, including lockdowns and school closures, have been negatively affecting school-aged children’s psychological wellbeing. To identify supports required to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we gathered in-depth information on school-aged children’s and parents’ lived experiences of COVID-19 and perceptions of its impact on psychological wellbeing in grade 4–6 students in Canada. In this qualitative study, we conducted telephone-based semi-structured interviews with parents (n = 15) and their children (n = 16) from six schools in small and mid-sized northern prairie communities in Canada. Interviews were analyzed through thematic analysis. Three interrelated themes have emerged. First, the start of COVID-19 brought sudden and stressful changes to children’s lives. Second, disruptions to daily life led to feelings of boredom and lack of purpose. Third, limited opportunities for social interaction led to loneliness and an increase in screen time to seek social connection with peers. Results underscore the need for resilience building and the promotion of positive coping strategies to help school-aged children thrive in the event of future health crises or natural disasters.
... While widespread in the literature (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012), the assumption of boredom as a deactivating unpleasant emotion is not without controversy, as there are also findings linking it to heightened arousal . To address these inconsistencies, Elpidorou (2018) suggested that boredom may be related to high or low arousal, depending on the effort of the individual to reach an optimal state of arousal for the situation. ...
The emotion of boredom is commonly experienced by students. Nevertheless, hardly any research has focused on the evolution of this emotion over time by also considering individual differences. The aim of this study was to identify groups of students with different trajectories of boredom over a school year, and compare these profiles on academic achievement, motivation and intention to drop out. Participants were 546 students (55% male, 94% born in Italy, Mage = 14.24, SDage = 0.53). We found four trajectories of boredom: starting not bored and (a) increasing, or (b) rearing up; starting bored and (c) decreasing, or (d) maintaining. Trajectories of boredom were related to academic outcomes both at the beginning and at the end of the school year, with students showing a steep increase reporting the most detrimental outcomes. The results are discussed in terms of their educational and practical implications, as they emphasize the need to pay attention to an emotion that is often overlooked in the school context.
... While arousal and attention-related theories from within psychology remain commonplace in the general study of boredom (Malkovsky et al. 2012;Vogel-Walcutt et al. 2012;Fahlman et al. 2013), Control-Value Theory (CVT) offers a more comprehensive and trans-theoretical educational perspective within which the complexity of academic boredom at university and college is better explained. As the pioneer of CVT, Pekrun (2000Pekrun ( , 2006 considers academic boredom a multi-faceted and integrated network of cognitive, affective, motivational, expressive and physiological processes working together in coordinated ways linked directly to both achievement activities and their outcomes. ...
In this article, we present details of a new Academic Boredom Survey Instrument (ABSI) incorporating different measures of academic boredom's trait, state and other characteristic attributes for the exploratory study of student engagement in Higher Education (HE). Developed from a review of international research literature and our own empirical work in the field, validation of the ABSI proceeded in detail from a sample of 408 undergraduates enrolled on 16 arts, humanities and science degree programmes at two universities and two further education colleges in the UK. In terms of the ABSI's embedded trait and state questionnaires alone, Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis resulted in the establishment of three scales, with associated subscales, for general use (boredom proneness and class-and study-related boredom). Together with other characteristic attributes (e.g. sites and triggers, boredom frequency, feelings , coping strategies and revision and assignment boredom), additional data obtained from a modified version of the Shortened Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (SETLQ) and course grades from student records, correlation and cluster analysis contributed further in terms of determining the robustness and value of the ABSI as an exploratory tool, as well as highlighting the predictive and diagnostic potential afforded when using complementary research instruments in combination. Offering availability for interdisciplinary use and critical comment across the UK HE sector as a whole, the ABSI has particular relevance in terms of designing and delivering courses, the professional development of staff, student profiling and the provision of student support.
... Most of us have little trouble recognizing boredom and distinguishing it from other related affective experiences (Goldberg et al. 2011; Van Tilburg and Igou 2012; but see Svendsen 2005). First and foremost, boredom is a felt psychological state characterized by its aversive phenomenology (Harris 2000;Hartocollis 1972;Mikulas and Vodanovich 1993;Pekrun et al. 2010;Todman 2003;Vogel-Walcutt et al. 2012). ...
This is the introductory chapter to The Moral Psychology of Boredom (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). It discusses the various ways in which boredom is morally significant and offers a summary of the experiential profile of boredom.
... (Pekrun et al., 2011: 36) . (Pekrun, 2006;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2011;Kim and Hodges, 2012) . طرح وقد (Barrett, 2006;Russell, 2003;Feldman, 1995) Linnenbrink, 2007 ;Acee et al., 2010: 17) . ...
The current study aimed to determine the academic boredom among students of Special Education Department in College of Education at King Khalid University and students' perceptions of the learning environment. Moreover, the study aimed to determine the relationship between academic boredom and the perception of learning environment by student study and achievement levels. In addition, the study assessed whether learning environment predicts academic boredom. The participants (150 students, M = 20. 33, SD = 0.77) were selected randomly from second, third, and forth semester (level). For the purpose of the study, the researchers developed two scales: Academic Boredom Scale and Perception of Learning Environment. Validity and reliability of the two scales were obtained. Statistical analysis used included mean, SD, correlation alpha, ANOVA, Schefft's test, and Multiple Regression analysis. The results indicated that the participants' perceptions of academic boredom were within the normal level and their perception of learning environment was positive. Moreover, the results indicated a negative correlation and significant (.05) between academic boredom and the perception of learning environment domains. Furthermore, the results revealed no effect of students' level on academic boredom. The low achieving students perceived the Learning Environment as more negative compared to other students. Students in fourth level of their study perceived the learning environment more positively compared to students in the second and forth level. Lastly, the study showed that students' perception of learning environment influenced student achievement. Discussion and recommendations are offered based on the findings of this study. 1. النظرية وخلفيتها الدراسة مقدمة ً دور الدافعية تلعب ا ً مهم ا الداخلي اهتمامهم تحدد حيث الطالب؛ سلوك في وسعيهم األكاديمية، األعمال أداء ملجرد باملتعة وإحساسهم التعلم، بعملية ع اهتم وقد األكاديمية. أهدافهم وتحقيق التفوق نحو التربويين النفس لماء طويلة ولسنوات الدافعية بحوث في املتأمل لكن للتعلم. األكاديمية بالدوافع األجنبية اسات الدر في-األخيرة العشر السنوات في-االهتمام مدى يرى عليه يطلق ما أو التعلم، بيئة في للمتعلم الوجداني الجانب على املنصب األكاديمية االنفعاالت academic emotions و. ا تؤثر على األكاديمية النفعاالت والصحة الهوية، وتطوير واإلنجاز، واألداء والتعلم، الطالب، لدى الدافعية املواقف من كثير وفي التعلم، بيئة في االنفعاالت هذه وتظهر عام. بشكل عن والحديث التعلم، وعملية اسة، الدر حجرة في التواجد مثل: األكاديمية و ات، االختبار االمتحان موقف (Pekrun et al., 2011: 36). والتعلم املعرفي النمو في حاسمة أهمية ذات االنفعاالت أن من الرغم وعلى لكن ال. َّ الفع ليس تحتل االنفعاالت كل القدر نفس ه التأثير في األهمية من األساسية االنفعاالت بين الباحثون ز ِّ ي َ م ُ ي ولذا، األكاديمي. اإلنجاز على ، األكاديمية االنفعاالت وتشير األكاديمية. واالنفعاالت إلى التي االنفعاالت تلك ً سواء التعلم بنتائج مباشرة ترتبط مثل: الفشل حالة في أو النجاح حالة في والخوف، القلق، مثل: بالتعلم املرتبطة األنشطة أو والفخر، والخزي، عملية أثناء املتعلم تنتاب التي امللل مشاعر أو واألمل، بالتعلم، االستمتاع التعلم النموذج البعد الثنائي ُ ب فيه واستخدموا لالنفعاالت، عدي التكافؤ : valence ، والتنشيط activation ، املعرفة، على بأثرها والتنبؤ األكاديمية االنفعاالت لتصنيف وذلك خبرة أنه على االنفعال إلى النظر إلى التكافؤ ويشير واإلنجاز. والدافعية، التنشيط يشير بينما سلبية، أو إيجابية التأثير على االنفعال قدرة مدى إلى هذين وباستخدام الدوافع. في م َّ قد البعدين، Pekrun et al. (2002) النموذج مجموعات: أربع إلى االنفعاالت فوا َّ وصن لالنفعاالت، الدافعي املعرفي تنشيطية إيجابية انفعاالت positive-activating (املتعة، واألمل، والفخر)، إيجا وانفعاالت تعطيلية بية positive-deactivating (التنفيس relief ،) تنشيطية سلبية وانفعاالت negative-activating والغضب، (القلق، تعطيلية سلبية وانفعاالت والخجل)، negative-deactivating (امللل boredom واليأس hopelessness السلب االنفعاالت أحد األكاديمي امللل فإن وبالتالي .) ية ا ً دافعي ا ً حاجز تعد التي التعطيلية motivational barrier
... Finally, assessing the phenomenology of boredom could also help to understand more precisely the relationship between boredom, mind wandering, and memory. Indeed, boredom can be viewed in two ways: either a low arousal state ("apathetic boredom") characterised by a feeling of disinterest (Mikulas & Vodanovich, 1993;Pattyn et al., 2008;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012), or a high arousal state ("agitated boredom") associated with a feeling of restlessness (Jang et al., 2015;Martin et al., 2006;Merrifield & Danckert, 2014). While mind wandering is consistently associated with boredom, it was also found to be specifically associated with restlessness, but not sleepiness . ...
Mind wandering, defined as focusing attention toward task unrelated thoughts, is a common mental state known to impair memory encoding. This phenomenon is closely linked to boredom. Very few studies, however, have tested the potential impact of boredom on memory encoding. Thus, the present study aimed at manipulating mind wandering and boredom during an incidental memory encoding task, to test their differential impact on memory encoding. Thirty-two participants performed a variant of the n-back task in which they had to indicate if the current on-screen object was the same as the previous one (1-back; low working memory load) or the one presented three trials before (3-back; high working memory load). Moreover, thought probes assessing either mind wandering or boredom were randomly presented. Afterward, a surprise recognition task was delivered. Results showed that mind wandering and boredom were highly correlated, and both decreased in the high working memory load condition, while memory performance increased. Although both boredom and mind wandering predicted memory performance taken separately, we found that mind wandering was the only reliable predictor of memory performance when controlling for boredom and working memory load. Model comparisons also revealed that a model with boredom only was outperformed by a model with mind wandering only and a model with both mind wandering and boredom, suggesting that the predictive contribution of boredom in the complete model is minimal. The present results confirm the high correlation between mind wandering and boredom and suggest that the hindering effect of boredom on memory is subordinate to the effect of mind wandering.
... Constructs about value has been studied for over 80 years (Wigfield et al., 2017). Those studies proved that it played a significant role, positively, in student's emotion (Frenzel et al., 2007;Pekrun, 2017;Pekrun et al., 2011;Pekrun & Perry, 2015), learning (Artino Jr & Jones II, 2012;Fardah, 2017;Luo et al., 2016;Marchand & Gutierrez, 2012;Wigfield et al., 2017), and achievements (Bandura, 1977;Buric & Soric, 2012;Goetz et al., 2006;Heckhausen & Heckhausen, 2008;Pekrun et al., 2010;Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). ...
Perceived value had a major role in an academic activity, including in thesis writing. Unfortunately, there was no study that validated perceived value inventory in the thesis writing setting using empirical evaluation. Thesis writing has specific characteristics that make it unique compared to the general academic activity. Therefore, specific measurement is needed to accurately measure it. The present study aimed to validate the perceived value scale using construct validity approach. The research participants (N = 219) were university students from several faculties. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to validate the construct. Reliability was also estimated in this study. The result showed that the modified model was fit. The goodness of fit was estimated using Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI), Normed Fit Index (NFI), and Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI). The factor loading of each item was in range of .58-.87, the Construct Reliability (CR) of each dimension were .81 and .77, and the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) of each dimension were .52 and .54. The reliability of the whole construct and its factors were satisfying (>.70). This result indicated that this scale was satisfying in overall structure and its convergence.
... Baylor's type of boredom in the research literature is state boredom (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012), indicating that it is associated with direct experience in under stimulating contexts. In this circumstance, boredom should be time-limited and not necessarily generalized to other school contexts. ...
Students’ experiences of boredom at school are receiving increased research attention. Most inquiries to date have focused on how often students experience boredom in classroom situations and in specific subject areas. Despite its frequency, limited research efforts have explored how students’ boredom experiences might inform positive education initiatives. This paper examines students’ school boredom experiences from a positive education lens through which school mental health professionals can evaluate students’ school boredom experiences systematically. We introduce the School Boredom Mindset (SBM) concept that identifies a subset of high-risk students expressing unfavorable school attitudes. A preliminary analysis of 2,331 California secondary (Grades 7-12) students’ responses on well-being indicators explored the SBM’s viability. The findings show that students with the strongest SBM reported substantially lower well-being than their peers. The discussion offers suggestions for future research needed to evaluate the SBM concept’s meaning and the value of its contribution to positive education. While this research moves forward, we provide practitioners with resources to better evaluate students’ boring feelings at school and consider its meaning within the broader effort of fostering thriving well-being
... Boredom's most obvious characteristic is its felt quality. Phenomenologically speaking, boredom is a negative state characterized by a felt dissatisfaction with one's situation (Fahlman et al. 2013;Harris 2000;Mikulas and Vodanovich 1993;Pekrun et al. 2010;Todman 2003;Vogel-Walcutt et al. 2012). The subjective experience of boredom, however, is neither simple nor necessarily uniform. ...
There is little question as to whether there is good boring art, though its existence raises a number of questions for both the philosophy of art and the philosophy of emotions. How can boredom ever be a desideratum of art? How can our standing commitments concerning the nature of aesthetic experience and artistic value accommodate the existence of boring art? How can being bored constitute an appropriate mode of engagement with a work of art as a work of art? More broadly, how can there be works of art whose very success requires the experience of boredom? Our goal in this paper is threefold. After offering a brief survey of kinds of boring art, we: i) derive a set of questions that we argue constitutes the philosophical problem of boring art; ii) elaborate an empirically informed theory of boredom that furnishes the philosophical problem with a deeper sense of the affect at the heart of the phenomenon; and iii) conclude by offering and defending a solution to the problem that explains why and how artworks might wish to make the experience of boredom key to their aesthetic and artistic success.
... In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), there has been a growing recognition of emotions as individual learner differences (ID) that play a vital role in second/foreign language (L2) learning (Nakamura, 2018;Arnold, 2011;Dewaele, 2015;D€ ornyei & Ryan, 2015;MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012;Sampson, 2018). Boredom is one such emotion found to be frequently experienced among students at school (Jean & Simard, 2011;Loewen et al., 2009;Nett, Goetz, & Daniels, 2010;Pekrun, Goetz, Daniels, Stupnisky, & Perry, 2010;Tze, Daniels, & Klassen, 2016;Vogel-Walcutt, Fiorella, Carper, & Schatz, 2012). Research has indicated that boredom is associated with a range of negative learning behaviors and outcomes (Pekrun, 2006;Pekrun et al., 2010;Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002;Robinson, 1975;Tze et al., 2016;Tze, Klassen, & Daniels, 2014), and SLA researchers argue that the efficient regulation of it is a vital part of autonomous and self-regulated L2 learning (D€ ornyei, 2001;Kormos & Csiz er, 2014;Tseng, D€ ornyei, & Schmitt, 2006). ...
This classroom-based study investigated the antecedents of boredom among Thai university students enrolled in an English oral communication course. The primary data collection tool was a whole-class survey (n = 25) eliciting the learners’ boredom experiences in a particular class over the course of seven weeks. Concurrently, focus group interviews (n = 5) were conducted five times to gain in-depth views about boredom and its antecedents in the L2 learning context in general, as well as the learners’ boredom experiences in the class. A modified version of constant comparative analysis of the survey data yielded nine thematic factors as the antecedents of boredom, which were supported by the interview findings. Activity mismatch, lack of comprehension, insufficient L2 knowledge/ability, task difficulty, input overload, and lack of ideas were shown to create conditions under which internal learner factors and external classroom factors were ill-balanced or mismatched, resulting in the emergence of boredom. Learners’ physical fatigue, unfavorable appraisals of classroom tasks, and negative behaviors of classmates were also identified as the antecedents of boredom. Adopting a situated approach to exploring L2 learners’ boredom, this study sheds light on the situated, context-dependent view of how and why learners experience boredom through an emic perspective.
... Academic emotions refer to those that are directly linked to learning outcomes (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012). A review of boredom research in educational settings suggested boredom is some combination of an objective lack of neurological excitement and a subjective psychological state of dissatisfaction, frustration, or disinterest, all of which result from a lack of stimulation (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). As a self-disruptive academic emotion, boredom often contributes adversely toward motivation, cognition, and overall performance (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012). ...
This exploratory qualitative case study investigates how graduate students in education experience, attribute, and combat academic boredom. Three areas of concern are addressed: (a) the contributing factors to boredom, (b) how attributional style (internal vs. external) relates to coping with boredom, and (c) the differences between combating class-related boredom and learning-related boredom. Results showed that the onset of boredom was mostly influenced by a lack of interest, lack of utility value, and autonomy frustration. This study extended the existing literature by discovering an interaction between students’ attributional style and their coping strategies for boredom during classroom instruction. Specifically, students who argued that the instructor should hold more responsibility for boredom in class tended to take avoidance coping as their primary strategy (e.g., doodling). By comparison, students who opted to approach the problem positively (e.g., taking notes) are prone to attribute internally. Attribution does not appear to have a mediating effect on the relationship between experience of boredom and coping strategies for learning-related boredom. Implications for graduate and adult education and findings in the context of recent theoretical frameworks are discussed.
... Students experience frustration in response to obstacles that hinder successful task completion, such as the inability to reach the desired solution when performing an achievement activity (Muis et al. 2015b). Finally, boredom is understood as an achievement emotion consisting of negatively valenced feelings, disinterest, lack of stimulation, and low physiological arousal Vogel-Walcutt et al. 2012). ...
Achievement emotions are emotions linked to academic, work, or sports achievement activities (activity emotions) and their success and failure outcomes (outcome emotions). Recent evidence suggests that achievement emotions are linked to motivational, self-regulatory, and cognitive processes that are crucial for academic success. Despite the importance of these emotions, syntheses of empirical findings investigating their relation with student achievement are scarce. We broadly review the literature on achievement emotions with a focus on activity-related emotions including enjoyment, anger, frustration, and boredom, and their links to educational outcomes with two specific aims: to aggregate all studies and determine how strongly related those emotions are to academic performance, and to examine moderators of those effects. A meta-analytical review was conducted using a systematic database of 68 studies. The 68 studies included 57 independent samples for enjoyment (N = 31,868), 25 for anger (N = 11,153), 9 for frustration (N = 1418), and 66 for boredom (N = 28,410). Results indicated a positive relation between enjoyment of learning and academic performance (ρ = .27), whereas the relations were negative for both anger (ρ = − .35) and boredom (ρ = − .25). For frustration, the relation with performance was near zero (ρ = − .02). Moderator tests revealed that relations of activity emotions with academic performance are stronger when (a) students are in secondary school compared with both primary school and college, and (b) the emotions are measured by the Achievement Emotions Questionnaires – Mathematics (AEQ-M). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... A su vez, numerosos estudios han demostrado que dicha carencia de estímulos durante la infancia y la adolescencia es causa fundamental de problemas tan importantes como el fracaso escolar (Wegner et al., 2008), el desarrollo de cuadros depresivos (Cosgrave et al., 2000), la drogadicción (Willging, Quintero y Lilliott, 2014), la delincuencia (Spaeth et al., 2015) e incluso la aparición de desórdenes alimenticios (Crockett, Myhre y Rokke, 2015). La escuela no puede quedarse atrás en la lucha contra estos problemas, siendo por ello que desde hace años viene modificando sus prácticas, con el fin de que el aburrimiento deje de estar presente en las aulas (Vogel-Walcutt et al., 2012). «La arquitectura estéril, la dirección burocrática, la superficial enseñanza para el examen, espacios vacíos que silencian toda expresión singular, todo contribuye a este fenómeno» (Gary, 2013, 427) y todo esto es lo que aparentemente hay que cambiar. ...
El aburrimiento en tanto que sentimiento de apatía e indiferencia es normalmente vivido como experiencia negativa. De hecho, desde un punto de vista educativo, se ha considerado tradicionalmente la necesidad de erradicarlo. Ahora bien, ésta no es la única manera de entenderlo. Un análisis más profundo puede llevarnos a encontrar en él ciertos aspectos positivos. Desde una perspectiva filosófico-educativa y, por tanto, fundamentalmente a través del análisis crítico de textos, este artículo analizará en detalle dichos aspectos. Mostraremos que el aburrimiento no es otra cosa que tiempo para uno mismo, el cual es esencial para el desarrollo de la auténtica subjetividad. La sociedad del conocimiento exige individuos autónomos y responsables, pero paradójicamente siempre está ocupando nuestro tiempo. Así pues, con el fin de solventar esta paradoja, concluiremos que el aburrimiento debe ser considerado en la actualidad como competencia básica y fundamental.
Academic boredom and self-compassion are among the numerous variables that affect the academic life quality of university students, although the literature investigating these variables together is scarce. In this study, we develop a model to indicate the direct and indirect relationships and effects between academic boredom, self-compassion, and the quality of academic life of university students. The research sample comprised 478 male and female students from the Faculty of Education at Assiut Al-Azhar University. Academic boredom, academic quality of life, and self-compassion scales were used for data analysis. The results revealed that the proposed structural model achieved a satisfactory goodness-of-fit level with the participants’ data and that the research variables had direct and indirect relationships and effects. The findings also demonstrated that self-compassion partly mediated the relationship between academic boredom and academic quality of life. Recommendations and research suggestions are also provided.
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 boredom felt in lectures.
Samples:
We recruited undergraduate students to participate in three studies.
Methods:
Study 1 (N = 121) and study 2 (N = 130) were conducted in natural university lecture environments. We found that students who anticipated a lecture to bore them more subsequently felt more bored by it. In study 3 (N = 92), we experimentally manipulated anticipated boredom before participants watched a lecture video. We found that those who were led to anticipate higher levels of boredom felt more bored by the video.
Results and conclusions:
Results converged to indicate that the mere expectation that a lecture will be boring may be sufficient to exacerbate its subsequent occurrence. We discuss these findings in the contexts of affective forecasting and education.
Proofs as epistemic tools are central to mathematical practice, as they establish and provide explanations for the validity of mathematical statements. Considering the challenge that proof construction poses to learners of all ages, prior research has investigated its cognitive determinants, but the impact of affective-motivational experiences on proof construction has been insufficiently investigated. Emotions related to knowledge acquisition (i.e., epistemic emotions) are assumed to play a key role in epistemic processes. In this study we investigated how the performance of 80 mathematics undergraduate students in a geometric proof construction task relates to the epistemic emotions experienced during proof construction. Controlling for geometry knowledge, we included control and value appraisals as antecedents in our investigation of epistemic emotions, and attention and motivation as mediators of their effects on proof construction performance. The results indicate that positive as well as negative emotions are influenced by students’ appraisals, also indicating an interaction of both appraisal dimensions. Primarily enjoyment and curiosity mediate the effects of these appraisals on attention and motivation. These two markers of the proof construction process, in turn, mediate the effects of enjoyment and boredom on proof construction performance. In this study we investigated systematically the role of epistemic emotions in geometric proof construction and we offer insights that complement the existing research on the cognitive determinants of proof performance. Moreover, this study extended research on epistemic emotions into the area of proof construction, an epistemic process central to mathematics.
In this essay, I argue for the value of studying boredom as a social and organizational phenomenon. Recently, an interest in the more active side of boredom has led to the publication of a number of popular psychology books on boredom’s motivational capacities. A key point in this literature is the focus on the individual ability to distinguish between activity and productivity, and to exploit boredom for self-development purposes. I argue that this trend in boredom studies should prompt us to look closer, not only at the moral history of boredom, and at how social reality has organized around it, but also on what boredom, and the countermeasures it represents, “produce” as a central experiential component of alienated labor.
The lockdowns and quarantines within the global COVID-19 pandemic have been associated with an epidemic boredom resulting from shrunken life-spheres. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has been framed as an experiment in both experiencing boredom and studying it. Starting with the pandemic moment of affective flatness, this chapter explores continuities, discontinuities and paradoxes in zeitgeist diagnoses of boredom in cultural inquiry. It addresses the argued specificity of boredom as a modern mood and form experience, asking what methodological choices have contributed to broad consensus on the issue. Moving from cultural theory to contextual circumstance and back again, the chapter asks what kinds of worlds boredom is seen to build as it is presented as a problem, a solution and a more ambiguously positioned rhythm of experience. Finally, by addressing ambiguity in studies of affect, it argues against dualistic divides drawn between that which paralyses (boredom) and that which animates (excitement) bodies, tending towards seemingly irreconcilable yet coexisting dynamics of feeling instead.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the well-being of individuals worldwide. Due to the scarcity of information in the Malaysian context, this study aimed at investigating the changes in well-being before and during the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia and its association with mental health status. This cross-sectional study was part of a Malaysian non-probabilistic online survey on psychosocial well-being in Malaysia, under the Personal and Family Coping with COVID-19 Global South Research Consortium. A total of 543 respondents (≥18 years old) were recruited using snowball sampling. A validated self-administered questionnaire for assessing sociodemographic characteristics, well-being, anxiety, boredom, and loneliness was circulated on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp) and emails. Paired samples t-test, chi-square test, and multinomial logistic regression analyses were applied during data analysis. Results revealed significant changes in the mean scores of well-being, anxiety, boredom, and loneliness before and during MCO (p < 0.05). When comparing with no change in the well-being group, changes in boredom were less likely to be observed in the decreased well-being group (Adj OR = 0.874; p = 0.003) but were more likely to be observed in the group with increased well-being (Adj OR = 1.110; p = 0.002). The findings indicated that the pandemic did not necessarily create adverse effects. Instead, a different perspective is offered, which can be used as a public health strategy to help individuals cope with their mental health needs more positively.
This book contributes to overcoming the deficit in research on emotions in foreign language learning in the domain of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in both traditional and virtual settings.
The authors divide emotions into positive (i.e., enjoyment and curiosity) and negative (i.e., boredom and language anxiety) and explore their role in L2 teaching and learning in CALL environments from theoretical, empirical and pedagogical perspectives. The book begins with a theoretical overview of selected issues concerning positive and negative emotions and surveys the studies that have dealt with this issue in L2 learning in conventional settings and CALL. The empirical part of the book is devoted to a research project which explores the experience of positive and negative emotions in learning English in the virtual world Second Life, the relationships of the emotions in question and factors influencing them. The book concludes by recommending a selection of practices which can help maximize the positive emotions and minimize the negative emotions in foreign language learning in CALL environments.
This is an important and illuminating read for students and scholars of applied linguistics, second language education and educational technology who are interested in CALL and in incorporating VW/VR-based language learning programs into their studies and teaching.
Despite the fact that boredom appears to be one of the most commonly experienced emotions in school settings, this negative emotion remains vastly underappreciated in the field of SLA. This is the gap this article seeks to rectify by reporting the findings of a classroom-based study whose purpose was to investigate changes in the experience of boredom in an English language classroom during reading sessions. The sample consisted of 18 second-year students studying English at a Polish high school. The data were collected by means of session logs, observations and reading session plans. The gathered data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings showed that the participants reported different levels of boredom over the course of single reading sessions and from one session to the next. Factors responsible for the detected variation in the levels of boredom were related, among other things, to inactivity, performance of too easy/difficult tasks, teacher’s decisions regarding choice and use of language materials, the design of the reading sessions or individual characteristics of the learner.
The purpose of this study is the role of negative perfectionism, difficulty in emotional regulation and self-disability in predicting academic boredom of high school male students in the second year of Kermanshah. The statistical population of the study included all students studying in the second year of high school in Kermanshah (n=3821). 600 people were selected as a sample using multi-stage cluster sampling. To collect data from the Packran et al. Academic Boredom Questionnaire, the Jones & Rodwalt Self-Disability Questionnaire, the Terry Short et al. Negative Perfectionism Scale, and the Emotional Regulation Difficulty Questionnaire Graz and Roemer was used. The results of Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the dimensions of emotional regulation difficulties, negative perfectionism and self-disability with academic boredom (P≥0.001). Also, the results of multiple regression by stepwise method showed that 65% of the variance of academic boredom is explained by the components of emotional regulation difficulties and self-disability. Therefore, it is suggested that the necessary coordination between counseling centers and school counselors be emphasized more while improving emotion regulation, self-disability and perfectionism, to provide the ground for reducing academic boredom.
Keywords: Negative perfectionism, Difficulty in emotional regulation, Self-disability, academic boredom, Student
The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence the occurrence of boredom of learning among Santri in a boarding school in Garut. Then, the researcher continuously tested the relationship of the factors that were assumed to be related variables including character strength, Islamic religiosity and ethnic identity which were considered to be contributive variables that determined the occurrence of boredom learning in Santri. The mixed method research was carried out using thematic content analysis to obtain comprehensive information about boredom learning that occurred in Santri through an open questionnaire. Meanwhile, the partial correlation technique is used to identify how strong the relationship between predetermined factors is. The results of the study of 60 respondents who were selected by purposive technique sampling showed that the factors that caused the students to feel bored included the limited accessibility of leaving the pesantren, not being able to gather with their families, some programs that did not work and the learning process was monotonous. Meanwhile, the factors that cause students to survive are due to the dominant strength of character for studying religious knowledge, the emergence of the notion that pesantren is a good place to develop themselves and the amount of social support from peers. Meanwhile, there is a relationship between the strength of the character being tested, namely creativity, curiosity and persistence with Islamic religiousness (r = .3, p = 1%). Other results indicate that culture becomes a partial variable that has a direct effect on Islamic religiousness and character strengths.
Keywords: ethnic identity; boredom learning; character strengths; Islamic religiousness; Santri
Abstrak: Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk melakukan eksplorasi terhadap faktor-faktor yang berpengaruh terhadap terjadinya kejenuhan belajar pada santri di salah satu pondok pesantren di Garut. Kemudian, peneliti menguji secara berkelanjutan hubungan dari faktor-faktor yang diasumsikan menjadi variabel terkait meliputi kekuatan karakter, religiusitas Islam dan identitas suku yang dianggap menjadi variabel kontributif yang menentukan terjadinya kejenuhan belajar pada santri tersebut. Metode penelitian campuran dilakukan dengan menggunakan analisis konten tematik untuk mendapatkan informasi komprehensif tentang situasi kejenuhan belajar yang terjadi pada santri melalui kuesioner terbuka. Sementara itu, teknik korelasi parsial digunakan untuk mengidentifikasi seberapa kuat keterkaitan dari faktor-faktor yang sudah ditentukan. Hasil penelitian dari 60 responden yang dipilih dengan purposive technique sampling menunjukkan bahwa faktor yang menyebabkan santri merasa bosan diantaranya yakni terbatasnya aksesibilitas keluar pesantren, tidak bisa berkumpul dengan keluarga, program ada yang tidak jalan dan proses pembelajaran yang monoton. Sedangkan faktor yang menyebabkan santri bisa bertahan karena adanya kekuatan karakter yang dominan untuk mempelajari ilmu agama, munculnya anggapan bahwa pesantren adalah tempat yang baik dalam mengembangkan diri serta banyaknya dukungan sosial dari teman sebaya. Sementara itu, terdapat hubungan dari kekuatan karakter yang diujikan yaitu kreativitas, keingintahuan dan ketekunan dengan religiusitas Islam (r = .3, p = 1 %). Hasil lainnya menunjukkan bahwa budaya menjadi variabel parsial yang mempunyai efek secara langsung terhadap religiusitas Islam dan kekuatan karakter.
Kata Kunci: identitas etnik; kejenuhan belajar; kekuatan karakter; religiusitas Islam, Santri
The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence the occurrence of boredom of learning among Santri in a boarding school in Garut. Then, the researcher continuously tested the relationship of the factors that were assumed to be related variables including character strength, Islamic religiosity and ethnic identity which were considered to be contributive variables that determined the occurrence of boredom learning in Santri. The mixed method research was carried out using thematic content analysis to obtain comprehensive information about boredom learning that occurred in Santri through an open questionnaire. Meanwhile, the partial correlation technique is used to identify how strong the relationship between predetermined factors is. The results of the study of 60 respondents who were selected by purposive technique sampling showed that the factors that caused the students to feel bored included the limited accessibility of leaving the pesantren, not being able to gather with their families, some programs that did not work and the learning process was monotonous. Meanwhile, the factors that cause students to survive are due to the dominant strength of character for studying religious knowledge, the emergence of the notion that pesantren is a good place to develop themselves and the amount of social support from peers. Meanwhile, there is a relationship between the strength of the character being tested, namely creativity, curiosity and persistence with Islamic religiousness (r => .3, p = 1%). Other results indicate that culture becomes a partial variable that has a direct effect on Islamic religiousness and character strengths.
Over the last decade or so, boredom has attracted tremendous media and scholarly attention. Historians, however, remained largely uninterested, which is all the more surprising considering the wide consensus among scholars about the historicity of modern boredom, and its distinctiveness from earlier forms of tedium. This article joins a handful of works that discussed boredom in concrete historical contexts, focusing on the late Ottoman Empire. The article places boredom in two different discourses, developed by different generations of writers. The first was promoted by the Hamidian regime (1876–1908) and some of the most prominent writers of the time. In this discourse, the boredom of subalterns, including soldiers, women, and youngsters was considered a social problem. Hegemonic writers blamed boredom on the bored, warned that it could breed “harmful” ideas and behaviors, and spurred their addressees to become productive subjects promoting their own personal, and imperial, progress. But for young and educated urbanites, probably the foremost target group of this discourse, the motivational talk was itself dull. Pinned down by their elders, by their social superiors, by an oppressive political system that offered little true prospect of “advancement,” all these youngsters could do was to disengage and wait. Their own discourse therefore associated boredom not with indolence but with estrangement, melancholy, and frustration. So while hegemonic writers interpreted these emotions in terms of lethargy and decadence, they in fact held potential political energy, which later fed the uprising against the Hamidian order in the summer 1908.
Background:
Trait boredom is associated with several internalizing and externalizing problems. Addressing existing research gaps in the field, the present study investigated the map of cognitive processes for boredom, based on the rational emotive behaviour therapy model (REBT).
Aims:
The general aim of the study was to investigate the organization of irrational and rational evaluative cognitions related to boredom, and the association between boredom and depression symptoms and state/trait anxiety.
Methods:
The 233 participants (84% women) completed online scales of evaluative cognitions, trait boredom, trait/state anxiety and depression. Multiple mediation models via the SPSS extension PROCESS were employed.
Results:
The REBT psychopathology and psychological health models were partially confirmed, as the evaluative primary cognitions predicted positively and significantly the secondary ones in both cases. Low frustration tolerance (LFT) and global evaluations (GE), and frustration tolerance (FT), respectively, had significant effects. We found a positive significant association between boredom proneness and the negative dysfunctional emotions investigated.
Conclusions:
Both results offer further support for the hierarchy of cognitions and the distinction between the level of irrationality and rationality in REBT. This is the first attempt to assess a cognitive map of boredom, underlining the importance of (L)FT in relation to boredom. The significance of GE in boredom suggests that people might see themselves responsible, or even blame themselves, others or life itself while bored. The associations of boredom with anxiety and depression are relevant, as its role in those contexts is not yet fully understood.
This book focuses on the dynamic relationships among individual difference (ID) variables (i.e., willingness to communicate, motivation, language anxiety and boredom) in learning English as a foreign language in the virtual world Second Life. The theoretical part provides an overview of selected issues related to the four ID factors in question (e.g., definitions, models, sources, types, empirical investigations). The empirical part reports the findings of a research project which aimed to examine the changing nature of WTC, motivation, boredom and language anxiety experienced by six English majors during their visits to the said virtual world, the main contributors to the changes in the levels of the constructs under investigation, as well as their relationships. The book closes with the discussion of directions for further research as well as pedagogical implications.
المستخلص:
الضجر الدراسي في ضوء بعض المتغيرات لدى طلبة المرحلة المتوسطة المتفوقين دراسيا .
يهدف البحث الحالي ما يلي:
التعرف على الضجر الدراسي لدى (عينة البحث) طلبة الصف الاول والثالث متوسط المتفوقين دراسيا من خلال الفرضيات الصفرية الاتية:
1- لا يوجد فرق دال احصائياً عند مستوى دلالة (05,0) بين الوسط الحسابي لدرجات عينة البحث ككل والوسط الفرضي لمقياس الضجر الدراسي .
2- لا يوجد فرق دال احصائياً عند مستوى دلالة (05,0) بين الوسط الحسابي لدرجات عينة الذكور والوسط الحسابي لدرجات عينة الاناث على مقياس الضجر الدراسي .
3- لا يوجد فرق دال احصائياً عند مستوى دلالة (05,0) بين الوسط الحسابي لدرجات عينة الطلبة على مقياس الضجر الدراسي وفق متغير الصف (الاول - الثالث) متوسط .
اشتملت عينة البحث (335) طالب وطالبة من الصف (الاول والثالث متوسط) اختيرت بطريقة عشوائية طبقية من مديريات (الكرخ و الرصافة) . بينما بلغت عينة التحليل الإحصائي على (350) طالب وطالبة تم اختيارهم بطريقة عشوائية من الصف (الاول والثالث متوسط) من مديريات التربية (الكرخ والرصافة) ،وقد قامت الباحثتان ببناء مقياس لقياس الضجر الدراسي ، وتم استخراج الخصائص السايكومترية (التمييز، الصدق، الثبات) للمقياس، كما استخدمت الباحثتان عدداً من الوسائل الاحصائية ومنها (الإختبارالتائي لعينة واحدة ولعينتين، معادلة ارتباط بيرسون، اختبار شيفيه)، وتوصلت الباحثتان إلى النتائج الآتية:
1- ان (عينة البحث) طلبة الصف الاول والثالث متوسط لا يعانون من الضجر الدراسي .
2- ليس هنالك فروق ذات دلالة احصائية عند مستوى (05,0)على مقياس الضجر الدراسي وفق متغير النوع (ذكور – اناث) .
3- هنالك فروق ذات دلالة احصائية عند مستوى (05,0)على مقياس الضجر الدراسي وفق متغير الصف (الاول - الثالث) متوسط ولصالح الثالث متوسط
وتوصلت الباحثتان لعدد من التوصيات والمقترحات ومنها ما يلي:-
1- الاستفادة من مقياس الضجر الدراسي الذي قامت الباحثتان ببنائه من قبل الوحدات الارشادية في المدارس لمعرفة حالات الطلبة الذين يعانون من الضجر الدراسي .
The purpose of this study was to better understand the causes of boredom using psychologically based and social control models of boredom. For this study, 82 8th grade students completed two questionnaires, a face to face interview, and participated in a four day activity diary over a two week period of time. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to assess the extent to which adolescents' level of boredom differed depending upon their reason for participating in the activity and on the individual characteristics they brought to the situation. Both psychological and social control variables helped to explain boredom. The results are discussed from a developmental and practical perspective.
Work avoidance is a term that describes the behavior of students who seem to make little effort to understand or complete academic tasks. Although the condition has been described in earlier studies, the causes of work avoidance have not been explored. In this study, grades 5 and 6 students who were identified as work avoidant were interviewed to determine the causes of their work avoidance. It was hypothesized that boredom, hostility, and helplessness were three possible reasons for students not exerting effort. Students' protocols indicated that they do withdraw effort for several reasons: because they are bored, as an expression of hostility toward the teacher, or because of feelings of helplessness.
This paper examines the experiences of boredom, time stress and lack of choice (lack of control) in the daily lives of adolescents, and especially in their free time activities. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used from a survey (n = 73) and interview (n = 20) study of grade 10 students from Ontario, Canada. The findings indicate that while free time activities were common everyday occurrences, many of the students (especially females) reported high levels of time stress, which affected out-of-school as well as in-school situations. A large number of students also reported a considerable amount of boredom in their daily activities. Boredom related not only to lack of options, but also to participation in adult-structured activities. In addition, some students (especially females) reported that at times they participated in leisure activities to please others rather than to please themselves. These findings are discussed in terms of social control theory, with particular attention to the degree to which adolescent free time is controlled or structured by the dominant adult culture. The analysis leads to the suggestions that social control mechanisms do affect the free time activities of adolescents, and that these mechanisms have a stronger influence on the lives of female compared to male adolescents.
Inspired by recent reports that boredom is becoming an increasingly greater individual and societal problem, this study sought answers to the following questions: What factors contribute to the sense of leisure as boredom? How is the sense of leisure as boredom related to leisure and life satisfaction? Based upon the data obtained from the responses of 134 community residents, the results indicated, in complete support of the theoretical predictions, that leisure attitudes, leisure repertoire, self-motivation, and awareness of the psychological value of leisure were negatively and significantly related to the boredom perception, while the contributions of work attitudes and leisure constraints to boredom in leisure were significant and positive. The boredom perception was negatively (significantly) related to leisure satisfaction, but not related at all to life satisfaction. Awareness of the psychological value of leisure was by far the best predictor of the boredom perception, with its contribution to th...
This paper undertakes a wide‐ranging exploration of the concept of boredom from contrasting perspectives across different disciplines with a view to informing the pedagogy of schooling. It notes the rise of the concept in recent times, and juxtaposes diverse views on the perceived forms, causes, effects and responses to boredom, along the way referring to implications for schooling. Based on this examination, the paper puts forward the idea that boredom needs to be recognized as a legitimate human emotion that can be central to learning and creativity. At the same time, it also points out that there is room to reimagine a pedagogy that can engage in a more informed manner with the complexity of the experience and concludes with an exploration of some concepts—autonomy and control, struggle and flow—which can help in this endeavour.
The psychometric properties of four aspects of leisure experience (Awareness, Boredom, Challenge, Distress), originally identified and tested with adolescents, were investigated with college students. Findings indicated that the original subscales were internally consistent and could be applied, with minor modification, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, college major, or employment. Interrelationships among the four leisure constructs of Awareness, Boredom, Challenge, and Distress were found to vary as a function of both gender and ethnicity, yielding different profiles of African-American, Asian-American, European-American, and Hispanic-American male and female students.
This paper uses a theory of the emotions to motivate a semantic analysis of English words referring to emotions. The theory assumes that emotions have a two-fold communicative function, both externally amongst members of the species, and internally within the brain so as to bypass complex inferences. It implies that there is a small number of basic signals that can set up characteristic emotional modes within the organism, roughly corresponding to happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust. In human beings, these modes can be modulated by the propositional content of the cognitive evaluation that caused the emotion signal, or else, if this content fails to impinge on consciousness, these modes can be experienced as emotions that have occurred for no apparent reason. According to this “communicative” theory, there should be a set of terms that refer to basic emotions, and these terms should have no internal semantics, since they cannot be analysed into anything more basic, such as a prototype or a set of semantic features. Other terms should refer to states that combine a basic emotion with a propositional content. Finally, the theory implies that any emotional term should devolve upon one of the five basic emotion modes, or some subset of them, and that there will be no need to invoke any other emotional states. These predictions were borne out by the semantic analysis of 590 emotion words.
This study explores factors contributing to the boredom of gifted high school students who had gradually disengaged from classroom learning. Evidence from three case studies provides a rich sense of the complexities of this process. The core findings: (1) learning is the opposite of boredom, and (2) learning is the antidote to boredom. Five interdependent features emerged from the interviews that distinguished boring from learning experiences: control, choice, challenge, complexity and caring teachers. The extent to which these five C's were present determined the extent of students’ engagement and productivity. Participants attributed their increasing boredom to a gradual decline in the five C's in middle and high school. They reported a growing sense of moral indignation toward the activities they were offered as an “education.” They felt the honorable action in response to an inappropriate curriculum was to disengage from it and quit producing. It is recommended that interventions designed to re‐engage bored high potential students begin with a clear understanding of each student's boredom and then offer each a differentiated curricula rich in the five C's.
In an attempt to discover the facial action units for affective states that occur during complex learning, this study adopted an emote-aloud procedure in which participants were recorded as they verbalised their affective states while interacting with an intelligent tutoring system (AutoTutor). Participants’ facial expressions were coded by two expert raters using Ekman's Facial Action Coding System and analysed using association rule mining techniques. The two expert raters received an overall kappa that ranged between .76 and .84. The association rule mining analysis uncovered facial actions associated with confusion, frustration, and boredom. We discuss these rules and the prospects of enhancing AutoTutor with non-intrusive affect-sensitive capabilities.
In an attempt to discover the facial action units for affective states that occur during complex learning, this study adopted an emote-aloud procedure in which participants were recorded as they verbalised their affective states while interacting with an intelligent tutoring system (AutoTutor). Participants' facial expressions were coded by two expert raters using Ekman's Facial Action Coding System and analysed using association rule mining techniques. The two expert raters received an overall kappa that ranged between .76 and .84. The association rule mining analysis uncovered facial actions associated with confusion, frustration, and boredom. We discuss these rules and the prospects of enhancing AutoTutor with non-intrusive affect-sensitive capabilities. Automated detection of affective states is on the horizon of computer science and engineering, in subfields that range from intelligent tutoring systems that help people learn to security systems that attempt to detect terrorists. In the arena of learning, there are sensing systems with computational algorithms that can classify the learners' affective states as they interact with tutoring systems (Fan et al., 2003) and educational games (Conati, 2002). The accuracy of these systems is modest, but improving. Detection of a learner's affective states has proven to be a difficult task because there are many channels of communication (i.e., dialogue, facial.org). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF. We would also like to thank Laurentiu Cristofor for use of the ARMiner client server data mining application used for the association rule mining.
We describe across three studies (N = 628) the development and initial validation of the Sexual Boredom Scale (SBS), a self‐report measure of the tendency to experience boredom with the sexual aspects of one's life. The 18‐item scale demonstrates high internal consistency (rs = .92 to .95) and one‐month test‐retest (r = .81) reliability. Validity evidence for the SBS is supported by positive correlations with the following measures: the Sexual‐Depression and Sexual‐Preoccupation subscales of the Sexuality Scale (Snell & Papini, 1989); the Index of Sexual Satisfaction, a measure of dyadic sexual discord (Hudson, Harrison, & Crosscup, 1981); the Boredom Proneness Scale (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986); and the Boredom Susceptibility, Experience Seeking, and Disinhibition subscales of the Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckerman, 1979). The SBS was nonsignificantly correlated with sexual esteem, thrill and adventure seeking, and social desirability, and negatively associated with global life satisfaction. Overall, men possessed significantly greater sexual boredom scores than did women. Age differences, clinical applications, and directions for future study are discussed.
The present article reviews modern research on the psychology of emotion regulation. Emotion regulation determines the offset of emotional responding and is thus distinct from emotional sensitivity, which determines the onset of emotional responding. Among the most viable categories for classifying emotion-regulation strategies are the targets and functions of emotion regulation. The emotion-generating systems that are targeted in emotion regulation include attention, knowledge, and bodily responses. The functions of emotion regulation include satisfying hedonic needs, supporting specific goal pursuits, and facilitating the global personality system. Emotion-regulation strategies are classified in terms of their targets and functions and relevant empirical work is reviewed. Throughout this review, emotion regulation emerges as one of the most far-ranging and influential processes at the interface of cognition and emotion.
This project explored students’ perceptions of academic boredom in under- and over-challenging situations with the hypothesis that boredom is a multidimensional and situation-dependent construct. In Study 1, college students were asked to think of an under- and over-challenging situation and for each situation complete the 36-item Academic Boredom Scale (ABS-36). Study 2 was a replication of Study 1 but also included Pekrun, Goetz, and Perry’s (2005) Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ). CFA results from both studies suggested one general boredom factor in situations students recalled as being under-challenging but two boredom factors in situations students remembered as being over-challenging. Task-focused boredom was characterized by the tediousness and meaninglessness of a task, whereas self-focused boredom was characterized by feeling dissatisfied and frustrated. A 10-item Academic Boredom Scale (ABS-10) was derived and strong reliability and validity coefficients were obtained. This research helps to provide a clearer picture of different meanings students might have in mind when they say they are bored.
Boring activities are not always avoidable. Yet, one can ask: Is boredom inevitable? Studies in the field of interest self-regulation suggest that it might be possible to transcend boredom and enhance motivation through the use of interest-enhancing strategies (IESs). The goal of this project is to build a model of interest and motivation self-regulation in the context of individual sports. Four IESs are examined: creating challenges for oneself, adding variety to the task, providing oneself with self-relevant rationales for performing the task, and exploiting stimulation from other sources than the task itself. The proposed model comprises the following hypotheses: (a) IESs predict higher levels of interest, in both interesting and less interesting tasks; (b) Interest in "less interesting" tasks predicts higher levels of self-determined extrinsic motivation; and (c) Interest in "interesting" tasks and self-determined extrinsic motivation predict higher levels of intrinsic motivation. Although exploiting stimulation displayed an unexpected direct negative relation with extrinsic motivation, the remainder of the results supports the proposed hypotheses. The discussion offers suggestions for future research on the role played by self-influence in the regulation of interest and motivation.
Factor-analytic evidence has led most psychologists to describe affect as a set of dimensions, such as displeasure, distress, depression, excitement, and so on, with each dimension varying independently of the others. However, there is other evidence that rather than being independent, these affective dimensions are interrelated in a highly systematic fashion. The evidence suggests that these interrelationships can be represented by a spatial model in which affective concepts fall in a circle in the following order: pleasure (0), excitement (45), arousal (90), distress (135), displeasure (180), depression (225), sleepiness (270), and relaxation (315). This model was offered both as a way psychologists can represent the structure of affective experience, as assessed through self-report, and as a representation of the cognitive structure that laymen utilize in conceptualizing affect. Supportive evidence was obtained by scaling 28 emotion-denoting adjectives in 4 different ways: R. T. Ross's (1938) technique for a circular ordering of variables, a multidimensional scaling procedure based on perceived similarity among the terms, a unidimensional scaling on hypothesized pleasure–displeasure and degree-of-arousal dimensions, and a principal-components analysis of 343 Ss' self-reports of their current affective states. (70 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Too often, looking at middle school math classrooms through the eyes of the students reveals a monotonous routine with no clear application to life outside of school. In this article, the author suggests a few strategies for putting the life back into middle school mathematics: (1) mix it up by changing the physical environment and classwork routine and being more creative with assignments; (2) make math instruction relevant to students' lives by providing concrete examples of how concepts might applied; (3) incorporate students' interests into lessons; (4) use creative strategies to help students remember what they have learned; and (5) use games to help students have fun while they are learning.
The validity of a newly developed Boredom Proneness Scale (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986) was studied by relating alienation, as measured by Gould's Manifest Alienation Measure, internal‐external control, as measured by Rotter's I‐E scale, assertiveness, as measured by the College Self‐Expression Scale, and sleep patterns to susceptibility to boredom. The significant positive relationship between boredom and alienation and the significant negative relationship between boredom and assertiveness supported the scale's validity. Only for females was there a significant relationship between amount of sleep and boredom. Some indication of greater boredom in males as compared to females also was found.
While there have been frequent calls for reform in secondary physical education, little research has focused on the implementation and assessment of curriculum from the perspective of students. Drawing upon the theoretical frame of student resistance, the purpose of this study was to describe how high school students demonstrated support for and resistance to implementation of a 20-day curricular initiative termed a Cultural Studies unit. This approach consists of an integrated practical and theoretical study of sport and physical activity. Data were collected through student focus group interviews, student journals, nonparticipant observations, and informal conversations. Students responded favorably to the principles of Sport Education and the opportunities to critique issues of social justice. Such content was considered appropriate for. physical education. Resistance to some aspects of the unit was both overt and covert. Meticulous and careful planning of content and choice of pedagogy to facilitate delivery is crucial to positioning a Cultural Studies unit in a high school program.
The question whether body movements and body postures are indicative of specific emotions is a matter of debate. While some studies have found evidence for specific body movements accompanying specific emotions, others indicate that movement behavior (aside from facial expression) may be only indicative of the quantity (intensity) of emotion, but not of its quality. The study reported here is an attempt to demonstrate that body movements and postures to some degree are specific for certain emotions. A sample of 224 video takes, in which actors and actresses portrayed the emotions of elated joy, happiness, sadness, despair, fear, terror, cold anger, hot anger, disgust, contempt, shame, guilt, pride, and boredom via a scenario approach, was analyzed using coding schemata for the analysis of body movements and postures. Results indicate that some emotion-specific movement and posture characteristics seem to exist, but that for body movements differences between emotions can be partly explained by the dimension of activation. While encoder (actor) differences are rather pronounced with respect to specific movement and posture habits, these differences are largely independent from the emotion-specific differences found. The results are discussed with respect to emotion-specific discrete expression models in contrast to dimensional models of emotion encoding.
This chapter examines current and recurrent issues in test anxiety theory. Tests and evaluative situations have emerged as a potent class of stressors in Western society, which bases many important decisions relating to an individual's status in school, college, and work on tests and other assessment devices. Test anxiety is frequently cited among the pivotal factors at play in determining a wide array of unfavorable outcomes for students, including poor cognitive performance, scholastic underachievement, psychological distress, and ill health. In addition to taking its toll in human suffering and impaired test performance, test anxiety may also jeopardize assessment validity in the cognitive domain and constitute a major source of construct-irrelevant systematic variance in test scores (test bias). To the extent that anxiety influences performance in some substantial way, some examinees perform worse than their ability or achievement would otherwise allow. A student's performance on a classroom exam may be as much an indicator of the students' ability to cope with high levels of evaluative stress and anxiety in the classroom as a reflection of the ability or achievement the exam aims at measuring. Thus, the measurement of any particular ability or proficiency is confounded with anxiety.
Emotions are ubiquitous in academic settings, and they profoundly affect students’ academic engagement and performance. In this chapter, we summarize the extant research on academic emotions and their linkages with students’ engagement. First, we outline relevant concepts of academic emotion, including mood as well as achievement, epistemic, topic, and social emotions. Second, we discuss the impact of these emotions on students’ cognitive, motivational, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and social-behavioral engagement and on their academic performance. Next, we examine the origins of students’ academic emotions in terms of individual and contextual variables. Finally, we highlight the complexity of students’ emotions, focusing on reciprocal causation as well as regulation and treatment of these emotions. In conclusion, we discuss directions for future research, with a special emphasis on the need for educational intervention research targeting emotions.
This article examines the experience and meaning of boredom in modern society. Boredom is understood as an experience of a lack of momentum or flow in a person's life. Boredom is conceptualized as an interactional phenomenon that is inextricably connected to social rhythm. The communication of boredom is examined with respect to its consequences in self and motive presentation. The article also describes those features of contemporary American life that appear to facilitate the experience and communication of boredom.
In his Contributions to Philosophy, Martin Heidegger (1999) introduces ‘acceleration’ as one of the three symptoms – along with ‘calculation’ and the ‘outbreak of massiveness’ – of our technological way of ‘being-in-the-world’. In this article, I unpack the relationship between these symptoms and draw a twofold conclusion. First, interpreting acceleration in terms of time pathologies, I suggest the self is becoming increasingly fragmented and emotionally overwhelmed from chronic sensory arousal and time pressure. This experience makes it difficult for us to qualitatively distinguish what matters to us in our everyday lives, resulting in a pervasive cultural mood of indifference, what Heidegger (1995) calls ‘profound boredom’. Second, by drawing on Heidegger's hermeneutic method, I argue that the practice of mainstream psychology, by adopting the reductive methodology of the empirical sciences, largely ignores our accelerated socio-historical situation, resulting in therapeutic models that have a tendency to construct and perpetuate the very pathologies the psychologist is seeking to treat.
This article uses time-sampling data to evaluate fifth to ninth graders' experiences of boredom both as a state, related to specific school and nonschool activities, and as a trait, related to individual dispositions that students bring to school. Data come from a study in which 392 youths carried pagers and reported on their activities and emotions at random times over a week when signaled. Results show that, while boredom is reported frequently during schoolwork, it is also prevalent outside school and the same persons report boredom across these contexts. High rates of boredom were correlated with high ability and, when ability is controlled, with oppositional behavior, but not with onset of adolescence. These findings suggest that individual dispositions are an important contributor to boredom. Nonetheless, variations in rates of boredom across school task situations suggest that schools might be structured to reduce, though not eliminate, student boredom.
A test was developed to assess free time boredom (the FTB scale). FTB components suggested by the literature were utilized to extract indicators, then developed into items. Three preliminary trials were used on separate samples of 109, 152 and 163 persons, to add, delete and modify items. Factor analysis in a final field test (347 subjects) produced four factors, accounting for 45% of the variance. Based upon the resulting factor structure, four subscales were developed and labelled as 'lack of meaningful involvement', 'lack of mental involvement', 'slowness of time' and 'lack of physical involvement'. Internal consistency coefficients for the subscales ranged from 0.91 to 0.78 while inter-subscale correlations ranged from r = 0.62 to 0.23. The moderate relationships of the FTB scale with the Boredom Proneness Scale and two items on boredom demonstrated acceptable concurrent validity. The FTB scale suggests a concise, valid and reliable test of individuals' boredom in their free hours, which may be applied to practical settings and research studies. Discussion and limitations are provided.
Psychological research has shown that emotions and emotional arousal affect problem solving and other aspects of cognition. This article investigates the relationship between emotional states and the process of creation. High school students working on a major term paper reported their emotional states at four points in time. Analyses consider the relationship between these self-reported emotional states and qualities of the final paper as judged by the teacher and an independent rater. Boredom during work on the paper was found to be negatively correlated with the quality of the final product; enjoyment was positively correlated with the final outcome; and no relationship was found for anxiety. Regression analysis indicated that boredom but not enjoyment predicted the quality of students' work independently of other variables such as students' GPA's. These results indicate that emotional states are interrelated with creativity in this kind of task, but suggest that only boredom has a causal relationship with the quality of the final outcome.
Existential theory and previous qualitative research have suggested that a lack of life meaning and purpose causes boredom, as well as other types of negative affect such as depression or anxiety. Although these variables have been shown to be correlated at one point in time, the relationships among these constructs have not been investigated using a controlled, quantitative research design. In Study 1 a (N = 131), boredom was shown to be related to, yet psychometrically distinct from, life meaning, depression, and anxiety. In Study 1b (N = 88), life meaning significantly predicted changes in boredom across time while depression and anxiety did not. In addition, boredom was a significant predictor of changes in life meaning across time, while depression and anxiety were not. Finally, in Study 2 (N = 102), manipulating perceptions of life meaning significantly changed boredom, while a manipulation of mood did not. The nature of the relationship between life meaning and boredom, as well as some clinical implications, are discussed.
Academic emotions have largely been neglected by educational psychology, with the exception of test anxiety. In 5 qualitative studies, it was found that students experience a rich diversity of emotions in academic settings. Anxiety was reported most often, but overall, positive emotions were described no less frequently than negative emotions. Based on the studies in this article, taxonomies of different academic emotions and a self-report instrument measuring students' enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom (Academic Emotions Questionnaire [AEQ]) were developed. Using the AEQ, assumptions of a cognitive-motivational model of the achievement effects of emotions, and of a control/value theory of their antecedents (Pekrun, 1992b, 2000), were tested in 7 cross-sectional, 3 longitudinal, and 1 diary study using samples of university and school students. Results showed that academic emotions are significantly related to students' motivation, learning strategies, cognitive resources, self-regulation, and academic achievement, as well as to personality and classroom antecedents. The findings indicate that affective research in educational psychology should acknowledge emotional diversity in academic settings by addressing the full range of emotions experienced by students at school and university.
It is held that many of the current problems in the field of motivation arise from the acceptance of a conceptual nervous system of an earlier day. To develop this thesis, the author examines the concept of motivation as it relates to the conceptual nervous systems of the period before 1930, of the period 10 years ago, and of today. It is shown that today's physiology provides common ground for communication among the differing conceptions of motivation. 51 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Bored versus stressed subjects were provided with opportunities to watch television. Bored subjects more frequently selected exciting than relaxing programs, while stressed subjects selected similar quantities of each program type.
This article presents an examination of the phenomenon of boredom in adults and searches for a developmental explanation for boredom by using clues from the cumulative literature on boredom, clinical interviews with bored adults and findings from infant observational studies. The author attempts to link behaviors observed in infant research with the phenomenon of adult boredom toward the goal of contributing to a more precise meaning of this state of mind in both the patient and the therapist.
Remember when categorizations for emotional responsiveness were simple—type A vs type B, or introverted vs extroverted? Once you read Handbook of Emotion Regulation, edited by respected Stanford psychologist James J. Gross, you’ll long for those days of simplicity. As stated in the book, the complexity of emotion regulation is like a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” (p 87), words used by Churchill to describe Russia. Although several definitions are presented in the text, emotion regulation generally refers to the modification of emotional reactions in the form of activation, inhibition, or more graded modifications.
Despite the widespread prevalence of boredom in many societies and of boredom-related problems in education, industry, and mental health, little research has been done on this emotion and no empirical cross-cultural research could be found. A Boredom Proneness (BP) Scale was developed and administered to college students in Australia, Hong Kong, Lebanon, and the United States. A principal component analysis of the four samples revealed similar factor loadings and alpha coefficients. An analysis of variance among groups manifested a significant main effect of culture, an effect much larger than that for gender which was also significant. The Australian and American samples were similar in their boredom proneness levels. The Lebanese students, followed by the Hong Kong students reported the highest amounts of boredom proneness. Within all groups, males scored higher than females and significantly so with Americans and Australians. Fifteen "factorially transcultural" items were identified across samples. The results suggest that although boredom may exhibit many shared elements, culturally specific attitudes also exist. (Author)
This pilot study examined relationships between job boredom and patterns of recreation participation in three groups of auto assembly line workers. One group installed single parts at a single stage of vehicle assembly; the second group installed a variety of parts at a single stage; the third group performed subassembly work and participated directly in the complete fabrication of a unit of manufacture. There was a trend toward less job boredom as assembly tasks required more complete fabrication. Recreation participation was measured by total days of engagement in a representative cross-section of activities during the summer of 1972. Scales were developed for cognitively and affectively appraised dimensions of perceived job boredom. Job boredom apparently motivated participation in certain activities which were important to workers because continued participation in them was more stimulating than their job. Mean levels of participation