Boredom: A Review

Abstract

Psychological and psychiatric studies of boredom from 1926 to the present are reviewed. Articles concerning boredom averaged less than one paper per year during the review period. The most consistent finding has been that extroverts apparently constitute a group especially susceptible to this state, although this has not often been tested directly. Stimulus factors such as repetitiousness, lack of novelty, and monotony have been found to generate boredom. Coping strategies have been found to include daydreaming, motor restlessness, exploration, response variability, and withdrawal from the boring situation. Experimental approaches to the problem have generally been traditional. Attempts have consistently been made to relate boredom to altered or characteristic physiological states, but they have not resulted in a consensus concerning these biological variables.