Published February 6, 2023 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Self-Focused but Lacking Self-Knowledge: The Relation Between Boredom and Self-Perception

Creators

  • 1. York University
  • 2. University of Limerick

Description

Existing research suggests that people prone to boredom may have high self-directed attention (i.e., the tendency to focus on one’s inner experiences) but low self-knowledge (i.e., the tendency to possess knowledge of one’s inner experiences), which are two distinct aspects of self-perception. We empirically tested this proposal across multiple studies by examining the relationships between indices of boredom, self-directed attention, and self-knowledge. In Studies 1 and 2, we created a measure of state self-directed attention that possesses good psychometric properties, reliability, and convergent and construct validity. Additionally, we tested and confirmed the hypothesis that experimentally manipulating self-directed attention has no significant impact on boredom (Study 1), but that experimentally manipulating boredom causes a significant increase in self-directed attention (Study 2). In Study 3, we tested and confirmed the hypothesis that trait self-directed attention, trait self-knowledge, and trait boredom are correlated, but psychometrically distinct, dispositional constructs. We also tested and confirmed the hypothesis that trait self-directed attention and trait self-knowledge are uniquely associated with trait boredom (Study 3). Implications and future directions related to furthering our understanding of boredom and aspects of self-perception are discussed.

Files

JBS_A4_Bambrah et al.pdf

Files (1.3 MB)

Name Size Download all
md5:5a06183b64a9151fe608ef102569bbba
1.3 MB Preview Download

Additional details

References

  • Andrews-Hanna, J. R. (2012). The brain's default network and its adaptive role in internal mentation. The Neuroscientist, 18(3), 251–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858411403316
  • Austin, P. C., and Steenberg, E. W. (2015). The number of subjects per variable required in linear regression analyses. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 68(6), 627–636.
  • Bagby, R. M., Parker, J. D. A., and Taylor, G. J. (1994). The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale—I. item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 38(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(94)90005-1
  • Bambrah, V., Wyman, A., and Eastwood, J. D. (2023). A longitudinal approach to understanding boredom during COVID-19: The predictive roles of pandemic trauma and emotion dysregulation. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1050073
  • Bargdill, R. W. (2000). The study of life boredom. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 31(2), 188–219. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691620051090979
  • Ben-Artzi, E. (2003). Factor structure of the private self-consciousness scale: Role of item wording. Journal of Personality Assessment, 81(3), 256–264.
  • Brockmeyer, T., Zimmermann, J., Kulessa, D., Hautzinger, M., Bents, H., Friederich, H.-C., Herzog, W., and Backenstrass, M. (2015). Me, myself, and I: Self-referent word use as an indicator of self-focused attention in relation to depression and anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01564
  • Browne, M. W., and Cudeck, R. (1992). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociological Methods and Research, 21(2), 230–258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124192021002005
  • Buckner, R. L., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., and Schacter, D. L. (2008). The brain's default network: Anatomy, function, and relevance to disease. In A. Kingstone, and M. B. Miller (Eds.), The Year in Cognitive Neuroscience 2008 (pp. 1–38). Blackwell Publishing.
  • Carlson, E. N. (2013). Overcoming barriers to self-knowledge: Mindfulness as a path to seeing yourself as you really are. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(2), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612462584
  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper and Row.
  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002). Flow: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness. Rider.
  • Danckert, J., and Isacescu, J. (2017). The bored brain: Insular cortex and the default mode network. PsyArXiv Preprints.
  • Danckert, J., and Merrifield, C. (2018). Boredom, sustained attention and the default mode network. Experimental Brain Research, 236(9), 2507–2518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4617-5
  • Darwin, C. (1965). The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals. The University of Chicago Press.
  • Duval, T. S., and Wicklund, R. A. (1972). A Theory of Objective Self-Awareness. Academic Press.
  • Eastwood, J. D., Cavaliere, C., Fahlman, S. A., and Eastwood, A. E. (2007). A desire for desires: Boredom and its relation to alexithymia. Personality and Individual Differences, 42(6), 1035–1045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.08.027
  • Eastwood, J. D., Frischen, A., Fenske, M. J., and Smilek, D. (2012). The unengaged mind: Defining boredom in terms of attention. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 482–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612456044
  • Eastwood, J. D., and Gorelik, D. (2019). Boredom is a feeling of thinking and a double-edged sword. In J. Ros Velasco (Ed.), Boredom Is in Your Mind: A Shared Psychological-Philosophical Approach (pp. 55–70). Springer Verlag.
  • Elpidorou, A. (2018). The good of boredom. Philosophical Psychology, 31(3), 323–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2017.1346240
  • Fahlman, S. A., Mercer-Lynn, K. B., Flora, D. B., and Eastwood, J. D. (2013). Development and validation of the Multidimensional State Boredom scale. Assessment, 20(1), 68–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191111421303
  • Farmer, R., and Sundberg, N. D. (1986). Boredom proneness: The development and correlates of a new scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 50(1), 4–17.
  • Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M. F., and Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43(4), 522–527. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076760
  • Flora, D. B., and Bell, S. (2021, June). Effect sizes in structural equal models. 82nd Canadian Psychological Association Annual National Convention, Toronto, Canada.
  • Fox, K. C. R., Spreng, R. N., Ellamil, M., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., and Christoff, K. (2015). The wandering brain: Meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of mind-wandering and related spontaneous thought processes. NeuroImage, 111, 611–621.
  • Gana, K., Deletang, B., and Metais, L. (2000). Is boredom proneness associated with introspectiveness? Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 28(5), 499–504. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2000.28.5.499
  • Gibbons, F. X. (1983). Self-attention and self-report: The "Veridicality" hypothesis. Journal of Personality, 51(3), 517–542. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1983.tb00343.x
  • Goldberg, Y. K., Eastwood, J. D., LaGuardia, J., and Danckert, J. (2011). Boredom: An emotional experience distinct from apathy, anhedonia, or depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 30(6), 647–666. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2011.30.6.647
  • Goor, D. J., Schur, M. (Writers), Lord, P., and Miller, C. (Directors) (2013). Pilot [Television series episode.] In D. J. Goor, C. Miller, D. Miner, P. Lord, and M. Schur (Executive producers), Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Fox Broadcasting.
  • Gorelik, D., and Eastwood, J. D. (Under review). Development of the Trait Boredom Scale.
  • Govern, J. M., and Marsch, L. A. (2001). Development and validation of the situational self-awareness scale. Consciousness and Cognition, 10(3), 366–378.
  • Gusnard, D. A., and Raichle, M. E. (2001). Searching for a baseline: Functional imaging and the resting human brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2(10), 685–694.
  • Hansell, S., Mechanic, D., and Brondolo, E. (1986). Introspectiveness and adolescent development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 15(2), 115–132.
  • Hardie-Bick, J., and Scott, S. (2017). Waiting in the wings: Critical self-reflection and the disruption of flow. Self & Society, 47(1). 59–68. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/72758/
  • Harrington, R., and Loffredo, D. A. (2010). Insight, rumination, and self-reflection as predictors of well-being. The Journal of Psychology, 145(1), 39–57.
  • Harris, M. B. (2000). Correlates and characteristics of boredom proneness and boredom. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30(3), 576–598.
  • Havermans, R. C., Vancleef, L., Kalamatianos, A., and Nederkoorn, C. (2015). Eating and inflicting pain out of boredom. Appetite, 85, 52–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.11.007
  • Hayes, S. C., Wilson, K. G., Gifford, E. V., Follette, V. M., and Strosahl, K. (1996). Experiential avoidance and behavioral disorders: A functional dimensional approach to diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64(6), 1152–1168.
  • Hu, L., and Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
  • Hunter, J. A., Dyer, K. J., Cribbie, R. A., and Eastwood, J. D. (2015). Exploring the utility of the Multidimensional State Boredom scale. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 32(3), 241–250. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000251
  • Kılıç, A., Tilburg, W. A. P., and Igou, E. R. (2019). Risk‐taking increases under boredom. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 33(3), 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2160
  • Lai, K., and Green, S. B. (2016). The problem with having two watches: Assessment of fit when RMSEA and CFI disagree. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 51(2–3), 220–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273171.2015.1134306
  • Lambie, J. A., and Marcel, A. J. (2002). Consciousness and the varieties of emotion experience: A theoretical framework. Psychological Review, 109(2), 219–259. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.109.2.219
  • LePera, N. (2011). Relationships between boredom proneness, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, and substance use. PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e741452011-003
  • MacCallum, R. C., Browne, M. W., and Sugawara, H. M. (1996). Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. Psychological Methods, 1(2), 130–149. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989x.1.2.130
  • Markey, A., Chin, A., VanEpps, E. M., and Loewenstein, G. (2014). Across the bored: Identifying a reliable boredom induction. PsycEXTRA Dataset.
  • Mason, M. F., Norton, M. I., Van Horn, J. D., Wegner, D. M., Grafton, S. T., and Macrae, C. N. (2007). Wandering minds: The default network and stimulus-independent thought. Science, 315(5810), 393–395. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1131295
  • McDonald, R. P., and Ho, M.-H. R. (2002). Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analyses. Psychological Methods, 7(1), 64–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989x.7.1.64
  • Mercer-Lynn, K. B., Flora, D. B., Fahlman, S. A., and Eastwood, J. D. (2011). The measurement of boredom: Differences between existing self-report scales. Assessment, 20(5), 585–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191111408229
  • Mor, N., Doane, L. D., Adam, E. K., Mineka, S., Zinbarg, R. E., Griffith, J. W., Craske, M. G., Waters, A., and Nazarian, M. (2010). Within-person variations in self-focused attention and negative affect in depression and anxiety: A diary study. Cognition and Emotion, 24(1), 48–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930802499715
  • Mor, N., and Winquist, J. (2002). Self-focused attention and negative affect: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 638–662. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.638
  • Morin, A. (2017). Toward a glossary of self-related terms. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00280
  • Moynihan, A. B., Igou, E. R., and Van Tilburg, W. A. (2017). Boredom increases impulsiveness. Social Psychology, 48(5), 293–309. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000317
  • Moynihan, A. B., Igou, E. R., and Van Tilburg, W. A. (2021). Existential escape of the bored: A review of meaning-regulation processes under boredom. European Review of Social Psychology, 32(1), 161–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2020.1829347
  • Moynihan, A. B., Van Tilburg, W. A., Igou, E. R., Wisman, A., Donnelly, A. E., and Mulcaire, J. B. (2015). Eaten up by boredom: Consuming food to escape awareness of the bored self. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00369
  • Mugon, J., Struk, A., and Danckert, J. (2018). A failure to launch: Regulatory modes and boredom proneness. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01126
  • Panayiotou, G., Leonidou, C., Constantinou, E., Hart, J., Rinehart, K. L., Sy, J. T., and Björgvinsson, T. (2015). Do alexithymic individuals avoid their feelings? Experiential avoidance mediates the association between alexithymia, psychosomatic, and depressive symptoms in a community and a clinical sample. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 56, 206–216.
  • Seib, H. M., and Vodanovich, S. J. (1998). Cognitive correlates of boredom proneness: The role of private self-consciousness and absorption. The Journal of Psychology, 132(6), 642–652. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223989809599295
  • Silvia, P. J., and Duval, T. S. (2001). Objective self-awareness theory: Recent progress and enduring problems. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(3), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0503_4
  • Silvia, P. J., and Eichstaedt, J. (2004). A self-novelty manipulation of self-focused attention for internet and laboratory experiments. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(2), 325–330. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03195578
  • Struk, A. A., Carriere, J. S., Cheyne, J. A., and Danckert, J. (2015a). A short boredom proneness scale: Development and psychometric properties. Assessment, 24(3), 346–359.
  • Struk, A. A., Scholer, A. A., and Danckert, J. (2015b). A self-regulatory approach to understanding boredom proneness. Cognition and Emotion, 30(8), 1388–1401.
  • Swinkels, A., and Giuliano, T. A. (1995). The measurement and conceptualization of mood awareness: Monitoring and labeling one's mood states. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21(9), 934–949. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167295219008
  • Tam, K. Y., Van Tilburg, W. A., Chan, C. S., Igou, E. R., and Lau, H. (2021). Attention drifting in and out: The boredom feedback model. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 25(3), 251–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683211010297
  • Tolstoy, L. N. (1899). Anna Karenina. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
  • Trapnell, P. D., and Campbell, J. D. (1999). Private self-consciousness and the five-factor model of personality: Distinguishing rumination from reflection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(2), 284–304. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.2.284
  • Ulrich, M., Keller, J., Hoenig, K., Waller, C., and Grön, G. (2014). Neural correlates of experimentally induced flow experiences. NeuroImage, 86, 194–202.
  • Venta, A., Hart, J., and Sharp, C. (2012). The relation between experiential avoidance, alexithymia and emotion regulation in inpatient adolescents. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 18(3), 398–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104512455815
  • Vodanovich, S. J., and Watt, J. D. (2016). Self-report measures of boredom: An updated review of the literature. The Journal of Psychology, 150(2), 196–228.
  • von Gemmingen, M. J., Sullivan, B. F., and Pomerantz, A. M. (2003). Investigating the relationships between boredom proneness, paranoia, and self-consciousness. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(6), 907–919. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00219-7
  • Wangh, M. (1975). Boredom in psychoanalytic perspective. Sociological Research, 42(3), 538–550. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41582848
  • Wilson, T. D. (2009). Know thyself. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(4), 384–389. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01143.x
  • Wilson Van Voorhis, C. R., and Morgan, B. L. (2007). Understanding power and rules of thumb for determining sample sizes. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 3(2), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.20982/tqmp.03.2.p043
  • Zinck, A. (2008). Self-referential emotions. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(2), 496–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2008.03.014

This site uses cookies. Find out more on how we use cookies