On boredom and experimentation in humans

This article discusses the ethical and methodological issues associated with boredom experienced by human participants during psychological experiments. Ways are suggested in which informed consent, briefing, and debriefing can be used to prevent or remedy boredom induced during experiments. We address methodological and ethical concerns, and we discuss the advantages of the proposed approach for experimenters' practice and training of undergraduate students. Future directions for much needed research on these topics are also emphasized.     

Risk-taking increases under boredom

We examined if boredom is associated with risk-taking. Although this association has frequently been postulated, it has rarely been tested, and the evidence has thus far been rather indirect and speculative. We conducted three studies to test this association more systematically. In Study 1, people high in boredom proneness reported greater risk-taking across financial, ethical, recreational, and health or safety domains. In Study 2, over a series of risky decisions, risk-taking increased in tandem with state boredom. Consistently, in Study 3, people who felt more bored were more likely to choose risky gambles. Furthermore, while dispositional self-control predicted lower risk-taking, state boredom nullified this association, suggesting that elevated risk-taking might be attributed the erosion of self-control under boredom. Our findings establish via direct empirical tests that boredom is associated with making riskier decisions.     

Field Experiments in Religion: A Dream Whose Time Has Come

Field experiments offer powerful tests of causality in real‐world settings. They have high validity—both internal and external—and require smaller inferential leaps than observational or laboratory methods. Nonetheless, they are rarely applied to religion. This article advocates for the frequent use of field experiments in the study of religion. It reviews their methodological advantages, and it identifies various ways that religion can be incorporated into a field experiment design. It proposes multiple strategies for creating feasible, ethical religion field experiments as well as optimizing them. Ultimately, field experiments have the potential to transform the study of religion.     

Participants' Understanding of the Process of Psychological Research: Informed Consent

Sixty-five undergraduates participating in a wide range of psychological research experiments were interviewed in depth about their research experiences and their views on the process of informed consent. Overall, 32% of research experiences were characterized positively and 41 % were characterized negatively. One major theme of the negative experiences was that experiments were perceived as too invasive, suggesting incomplete explication of negative aspects of research during the informed consent process. Informed consent experiences were viewed positively 80% of the time. However, most of the participants had a limited view of the purpose of informed consent: Less than 20% viewed the process as a decision point. Results suggest a number of common pitfalls to standard informed consent practices that have not generally been recognized. Results are discussed in terms of both ethical and methodological implications. Suggestions for improving the informed consent process are also provided.     

Participants' understanding of the process of psychological research: informed consent

Sixty-five undergraduates participating in a wide range of psychological research experiments were interviewed in depth about their research experiences and their views on the process of informed consent. Overall, 32% of research experiences were characterized positively and 41% were characterized negatively. One major theme of the negative experiences was that experiments were perceived as too invasive, suggesting incomplete explication of negative aspects of research during the informed consent process. Informed consent experiences were viewed positively 80% of the time. However, most of the participants had a limited view of the purpose of informed consent: less than 20% viewed the process as a decision point. Results suggest a number of common pitfalls to standard informed consent practices that have not generally been recognized. Results are discussed in terms of both ethical and methodological implications. Suggestions for improving the informed consent process are also provided.     

Situational meaninglessness and state boredom: Cross-sectional and experience-sampling findings

Theories of boredom assert that boredom is a product of situational meaninglessness. We conducted two studies to test if the perceived meaningfulness of a situation is associated with state boredom, above and beyond sadness, personality traits, and boredom proneness. In Study 1, 105 participants (72.4% female: mean age?=?33.9 years, SD?=?17.5) described situations in which they experienced boredom, no boredom, engagement, or sadness. They then rated the level of state boredom, sadness, and meaninglessness that they experienced in that situation. As hypothesized, state boredom was associated with situational meaninglessness, before and after controlling for sadness. In Study 2, 148 participants (73.0% female; mean age?=?19.2 years, SD?=?1.8) first provided baseline data on personality traits and boredom proneness. Through a smartphone app-based experience-sampling method, they then responded to a brief questionnaire multiple times a day, across 7 days. The questionnaire asked about the nature of their current activity, whether the activity was done alone or with other people, and their affective state. Results from multilevel modelling of 3022 entries suggest that perceived meaningfulness of the activity was negatively associated with state boredom, above and beyond sadness, personality, and boredom proneness. We also found that being with others during the activity acted as a moderator; activities lower in perceived meaningfulness were associated with higher ratings of state boredom when done with others than when done alone. These results demonstrate that perceptions of meaninglessness characterize state boredom.     

大学新生时间管理倾向、手机依赖与无聊倾向的关系：一项交叉滞后研究

在3个月的时间内对425名大学新生进行3次追踪测量，以考察时间管理倾向、手机依赖与无聊倾向之间的因果顺序和发展变化趋势。结果发现：（1）大学新生的无聊倾向与时间管理倾向呈同时性和继时性的负相关，并与手机依赖水平呈同时性和继时性的正相关。（2）T1和T2的无聊倾向分别正向预测T2和T3的手机依赖，并分别负向预测T2和T3的时间管理倾向；T1的时间管理倾向负向预测T2的无聊倾向；T2的手机依赖正向预测T3的无聊倾向。结论：无聊倾向分别与手机依赖、时间管理倾向之间存在相互预测关系。     

Unidirectional cycles of boredom,boredom coping strategies,and engagement among prospective teachers

This study examined the mediating roles of prospective teachers’ boredom coping strategies in the relationships between their levels of boredom and four aspects of engagement, and explored the unidirectional cycles of their levels of boredom, boredom coping strategies, and engagement. A total of 467 prospective teachers, majoring in primary school teaching, computer education and instructional technology teaching, mathematics teaching, English language teaching, special education teaching, and preschool teaching, voluntarily participated in the study. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to examine the reciprocal relationships between prospective teachers’ boredom, boredom coping strategies, and engagement. Results showed that the relationships between prospective teachers’ levels of boredom and cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and behavioral engagement were significantly mediated by cognitive-approach strategies. Results also showed that the prospective teachers’ levels of boredom were reciprocally related to their emotional engagement through cognitive-approach strategies. Results suggest that the negative effects of boredom on cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and behavioral engagement in the lessons can be significantly decreased by encouraging prospective teachers to adopt cognitive-approach strategies when they experience boredom. Results also suggest that prospective teachers may significantly decrease their levels of boredom not only by adopting cognitive-approach strategies, but also by increasing their emotional engagement during the lessons.     

Sham surgery: An ethical analysis

Surgical clinical trials have seldom used a "sham" or placebo surgical procedure as a control, owing to ethical concerns. Recently, several ethical commentators have argued that sham surgery is either inherently or presumptively unethical. In this article I contend that these arguments are mistaken, and that there are no sound ethical reasons for an absolute prohibition of sham surgery in clinical trials. Reflecting on three cases of sham surgery, especially on the recently reported results of a sham-controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for arthritis of the knee, I present an ethical analysis that focuses on the methodological rationale for use of sham surgery, risk-benefit assessment, and informed consent.     

Sham surgery: an ethical analysis

Surgical clinical trials have seldom used a "sham" or placebo surgical procedure as a control, owing to ethical concerns. Recently, several ethical commentators have argued that sham surgery is either inherently or presumptively unethical. In this article I contend that these arguments are mistaken and that there are no sound ethical reasons for an absolute prohibition of sham surgery in clinical trials. Reflecting on three cases of sham surgery, especially on the recently reported results of a sham-controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for arthritis of the knee, I present an ethical analysis that focuses on the methodological rationale for use of sham surgery, risk-benefit assessment, and informed consent.     

New Models for Increasing Donor Awareness: The Role of Religion

Surgical clinical trials have seldom used a "sham" or placebo surgical procedure as a control, owing to ethical concerns. Recently, several ethical commentators have argued that sham surgery is either inherently or presumptively unethical. In this article I contend that these arguments are mistaken and that there are no sound ethical reasons for an absolute prohibition of sham surgery in clinical trials. Reflecting on three cases of sham surgery, especially on the recently reported results of a sham-controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for arthritis of the knee, I present an ethical analysis that focuses on the methodological rationale for use of sham surgery, risk-benefit assessment, and informed consent.     

DUAL ALLEGIANCE: RENEWAL, RECONSIDERATION, AND RECANTATION

For the past 40 years during which dual allegiance (DA) has been studied, precious little has been discovered that expands on the insights of early writers about the topic. This paper reviews the methodological and conceptual basis of DA, both of which are found wanting. Legal and ethical issues concerned with applications of DA research are not addressed appropriately by current investigators. Ideas for ameliorating some of these problems are recommended. A framework for additional research on DA is proposed that offers a plan for dealing with a number of fundamental questions about the scientific standing of the concept.     

No ego-depletion effect without a good control task

The ego-depletion effect refers to a temporary failure of self-control exertion after first performing an effortful task. This phenomenon has experienced a replication crisis in the past few years. In the present series of experiments, we tried to replicate the ego-depletion effect using a 30-min modified Stroop task tapping two executive functions (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) as the depleting task. In the first study, we compared the performance of a handgrip endurance task after this depleting task or after a classic control task (i.e., reading color words) and failed to replicate the ego-depletion effect. We showed that the control task induced boredom and subjective fatigue. In a second study, we looked for a better control task and compared the color-word reading task to another possible control task used in the literature (i.e., watching a documentary). Controlling for boredom, subjective fatigue, motivation and affective state, we found that the video task was not boring and did not induce fatigue, drop in motivation or negative affective state, whereas the color-word reading task did. In a third study, we used the video task as the control task and the modified effortful Stroop task used in the first study as the depleting task and succeeded in replicating the ego-depletion effect. This series of experiments illustrates that the choice of an appropriate control task is crucial to observe an ego-depletion effect and that boredom is costly. Consequently, it appears necessary to control for boredom in any future replication study aiming to observe an ego-depletion effect.     

A little help from my friends: Lack of social interaction predicts greater boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic

Were people bored during the pandemic, and if so why? One possibility is lack of social interaction due to restrictions on social activity intended to slow the spread of communicable disease. In a 3-week daily diary study (n = 438; international community sample) social interaction predicted boredom and its consequences. People felt more bored on days when they engaged in less social interaction than usual (in-person or virtually), largely driven by a lack of meaning. In turn, boredom predicted lower well-being concurrently, and more virtual interaction the next day; people dispositionally higher in trait boredom also reported more solitary (but not partnered) sexual activity. In conclusion, this study suggests that maintaining social connections, even during a pandemic, may be important to mitigate boredom and improve overall well-being.     

What makes placebo-controlled trials unethical?

The leading ethical position on placebo-controlled clinical trials is that whenever proven effective treatment exists for a given condition, it is unethical to test a new treatment for that condition against placebo. Invoking the principle of clinical equipoise, opponents of placebo-controlled trials in the face of proven effective treatment argue that they (1) violate the therapeutic obligation of physicians to offer optimal medical care and (2) lack both scientific and clinical merit. We contend that both of these arguments are mistaken. Clinical equipoise provides erroneous ethical guidance in the case of placebo-controlled trials, because it ignores the ethically relevant distinction between clinical trials and treatment in the context of clinical medicine and the methodological limitations of active-controlled trials. Placebo controls are ethically justifiable when they are supported by sound methodological considerations and their use does not expose research participants to excessive risks of harm.     

Causes of boredom: The person,the situation,or both?

Some theories emphasize the role of the situation, some emphasize the role of the person, and some emphasize the interaction between situation and person in causing boredom. The present study examines these models by determining whether boredom propensity (person) and/or experimental condition (situation) independently or in interaction affected state boredom. The study also examined the relative contribution of behavioural activation and inhibition to state boredom. Boredom propensity and condition significantly and independently predicted state boredom, as did the interaction between behavioural inhibition and condition. Implications are discussed, including the possibility of two distinct causes of boredom.     

On boredom: Lack of challenge and meaning as distinct boredom experiences

Boredom is a common experience that affects people on multiple levels, including their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and actions. Not much research, however, has examined what makes the experience of boredom distinct from other affective experiences. Based on earlier research on boredom and our meaning-regulation framework, we conducted a series of four studies that demonstrate the distinct experiential content of boredom. More than other negative affective experiences (sadness, anger, and frustration), boredom makes people feel unchallenged while they think that the situation and their actions are meaningless (Study 1). The distinct experiential content of boredom is associated with boredom proneness (Study 2) and with state boredom experiences (Study 3). In addition, the distinct experiential content of boredom is affected by contextual features (Study 4). This series of studies provides a systematic understanding of what people feel, think, and want to do when bored, distinctive from other negative experiences.     

Tedium Vitae: Or, My Life as a 'Net Serf'

Boredom, like pain, is a subjective experience, but while the sources of pain can be either internal or external to the subject, the causes of boredom are always external. Understanding boredom as a reaction to external influences requires inquiries into the subjective awareness of boredom and into the social and cultural conditions giving rise to boredom. After briefly investigating these areas, I suggest that in the past boredom was seen as a necessary ingredient to creative inspiration and self-understanding, and as a contributor to autonomy in judgment and taste. I argue for a new form of boredom seen only with recent advances in information technology. Increasingly, individuals spend their work hours involved in electronic mail and on-line information interaction. The attempt to match the speed and capacity of information technology results in restricted modes of behaviour and cognitive saturation. As a consequence, one is aware of one's boredom but no cognitive capacity remains to consider realms outside the immediate moment. I conclude with the suggestion that the boredom that accompanies involvement in information technology produces a self-identity crafted by technological intervention and fashion, yields the false autonomy of a manipulated consumer, and invites superficial social relations.