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Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Boredom is a negative emotion commonly experienced in mundane situations. Boredom is thought to arise from a mismatch between individuals and their expectation for environmental stimulation. People attempt to reduce boredom by increasing the stimulation in their environment (e.g., turning on TV or m...

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Autores principales: Anderson, Alana J., McMeen, Claire E., Perone, Sammy, Weybright, Elizabeth H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9405455/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36004853
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs12080282
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author Anderson, Alana J.
McMeen, Claire E.
Perone, Sammy
Weybright, Elizabeth H.
author_facet Anderson, Alana J.
McMeen, Claire E.
Perone, Sammy
Weybright, Elizabeth H.
author_sort Anderson, Alana J.
collection PubMed
description Boredom is a negative emotion commonly experienced in mundane situations. Boredom is thought to arise from a mismatch between individuals and their expectation for environmental stimulation. People attempt to reduce boredom by increasing the stimulation in their environment (e.g., turning on TV or music). Theories of boredom suggest external stimulation may cue the individual to expect more stimulation than the mundane task offers—thereby increasing boredom. Researchers adapted lab-based tasks to online during the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed participants to set the study’s environmental conditions. Our method involved data collected online during the COVID-19 pandemic. We tested whether 137 college-age participants who reported being alone in a noisy room experienced more boredom after a mundane task than those who were alone in a quiet room. Results showed individuals in a noisier environment reported more boredom following a repetitive task than those in a quieter environment. Some people, high in trait boredom, experience boredom more frequently or cannot tolerate it. Our results revealed that the effects of environmental condition remained after controlling for the influence of trait boredom. In the discussion, we describe links to extant boredom research and implications for researchers collecting data online and individuals attempting to mitigate boredom.
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spelling pubmed-94054552022-08-26 Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic Anderson, Alana J. McMeen, Claire E. Perone, Sammy Weybright, Elizabeth H. Behav Sci (Basel) Article Boredom is a negative emotion commonly experienced in mundane situations. Boredom is thought to arise from a mismatch between individuals and their expectation for environmental stimulation. People attempt to reduce boredom by increasing the stimulation in their environment (e.g., turning on TV or music). Theories of boredom suggest external stimulation may cue the individual to expect more stimulation than the mundane task offers—thereby increasing boredom. Researchers adapted lab-based tasks to online during the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed participants to set the study’s environmental conditions. Our method involved data collected online during the COVID-19 pandemic. We tested whether 137 college-age participants who reported being alone in a noisy room experienced more boredom after a mundane task than those who were alone in a quiet room. Results showed individuals in a noisier environment reported more boredom following a repetitive task than those in a quieter environment. Some people, high in trait boredom, experience boredom more frequently or cannot tolerate it. Our results revealed that the effects of environmental condition remained after controlling for the influence of trait boredom. In the discussion, we describe links to extant boredom research and implications for researchers collecting data online and individuals attempting to mitigate boredom. MDPI 2022-08-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9405455/ /pubmed/36004853 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs12080282 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Anderson, Alana J.
McMeen, Claire E.
Perone, Sammy
Weybright, Elizabeth H.
Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short Sound and Silence: The Effects of Environmental Conditions on State Boredom in an Online Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort sound and silence: the effects of environmental conditions on state boredom in an online study during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9405455/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36004853
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs12080282
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