Bored?¿?

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=bored--find-something-to-live-for&print=true


Researchers say that boredom is subjective and rooted in aspects of consciousness. Level of attention, an aspect of conscious awareness, is important in boredom. Boredom can be decreased by improving a person's ability to focus. Along with attention, emotions can contribute to boredom. Those who are incapable of understanding their feelings and are distracted by their moods are more easily bored. Boredom can even cause anxiety, depression, and drug or alcohol addiction. People who suffer from boredom tend to display anger, aggressive behavior and lack of interpersonal skills; therefore, becoming socially awkward and poor performers at work and school.
After deliberating on the effects of inherently tedious tasks of bored and badly performing factory workers, a psychologist A. Hudson Davies, reported that boredom is related to mental fatigue and is caused by repetition and lack of interest in the minute and fragmented tasks of the productions assembly line. Davies also noted, "There are still people who are not bored by work of this kind and people who, even on the most varied work, maintain a steadily depressed attitude to life and complain bitterly of monotony." Another psychologist, Joseph Barmack of the City College of New York, proposed that boredom is a sleeplike feeling. He found that a trio of stimulants, ampetamines, ephedrine and caffeine, reduced reports of fatigue, sleepiness, inattention and boredom during repetitive tasks. Barmack noticed that giving his student subjects money aroused their interest, suggesting that boredom was a combination of low excitement and insufficient motivation.
Boredom susceptibility can be noted by two major factors, suggested b a 2005 analysis of the BPS, 28-question Boredom Proneness Scale, by Vodanovich, Wallace and Kass. The first factor is external stimulation, or the need for novelty, excitement and variety. According to Vodanovich, men score higher on that part of the BPS, because they are generally more bored than women. This need for stimulation may explain why extroverts, outgoing people, tend to be bored more often. According to personality pioneer, Hans Eysenck of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, extroverts require a constant and changing supply of stimulation to achieve their optimal excitement levels. Psychologist A.B. Hill conducted an experiment, taking thirty-two college students and having them perform the task of picking up and placing pushpins. The sixteen extroverts showed a much greater variation in the way they performed the task than the sixteen introverts. Their level of stimulation was increased by changing the work in subtle but interesting ways.
Extroverts may seek out more external stimulation, but also vary in the ability to generate their own stimulation, which is the second factor of boredom. Unfortunatly, a longing for thrills to get rid of boredom can and does lead people to destructive, sensation-seeking activities, including smoking, vandalism, gambling and drugs. In 2005 there was a study taken of 92 Scottish students, with results showing that boredom was a top reason for students taking drugs.
Attention is also linked with boredom. In another study by Vodanovich, Wallace and Kass found that scores on the BPS were connected with measures of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), hinting that boredom may be caused by and attention deficit. Boredom has also been linked to everyday lapses in attention by Daniel Smilek, Al Cheyne and Jonathan Carriere- the type that causes a person to put the milk in the cupboard and the cereal in the fridge. Cheyne says, "Attention is the common link between lack of meaning, depression and boredom."
There are many different varieties of treatment for boredom. Csikszentmihalyi suggests that if the boredom is coming from unstimulating work, you may want to consider changing jobs or try to improve the work environment with new levels of complexity and challenge. In 1970, a study was conducted with long-distance truck drivers, who reported to be less bored when they played mental games, such as counting passing objects. While finding ways to cope with boredom, it may even help cure ills that boredom caused. For example, some research hints that if former drug addicts learn to deal with boredom effectively, they are less likely to relapse. Boredom is not only negative, it also has benefits. It may provide time for thought and reflection, and can be a sign that a certain task is a waste of time; ergo, we know it's not worth continuing.


I never realized there was acctually scientific things behind boredom. It just seems like it occurs because you're ingaged in an activity that you don't particularly want to be involved in. It was interesting to hear the things that cause, and are caused by boredom. Seeing all the different experiments conducted seemed to be an important part in finding out more information about boredom. I also thought it was interesting that men are generally more bored than women. I never would have guessed something as "innocent" as boredom could lead to something as serious as drug addiction. I have acctually found myself going to put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the cupboard, and the thought that that may be caused by boredom never would have crossed my mind.