When Inequity Leads to Boredom: An Experimental Study With University Students

Abstract

While theoretical connections between social inequity and boredom have been established, empirical evidence is lacking. Inequity aversion is important in this relationship. If individuals believe that the amount of work invested in pursuing an outcome has been unfairly devalued in relation to the investment of others, they may feel that their investment is greater than the outcome’s worth. This experimental study explores whether devaluation of one’s investment in a task, in relation to another individual’s investment required to obtain equal rewards, is experienced as boredom. Undergraduate and graduate students ( N = 31) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions and performed a monotonous task in the presence of a confederate, for equal reward. Exposure time to the confederate varied. It was expected that participants who spent more time on the task than the confederate would report more boredom and a negatively distorted time experience. Significant between-group effects were found for Tedium ( F(2, 28) = 3.55, p = .04) and Temporal Estimation ( F(2, 28) = 5.37, p = .01). Participants who spent more time on the task felt more bored ( Mdiff = −1.05, p = .05) and rated time as progressing slower ( Mdiff = −1.26, p = .03). There were no significant differences between the other conditions. A parsimonious interpretation is that the perceived inequity in resource investment costs associated with different lengths of social exposure during the boredom-inducing task increased the salience of investment loss, which was experienced as boredom and resulted in a distorted time experience.