Journal of Boredom Studies

No. 1 (2023)
Articles

The Habitual Boredom Scale: Preliminary Findings

PDF HTML
  • Richard Bargdill,
  • Lening Zhang
Richard Bargdill
Virginia Commonwealth University
Lening Zhang
Saint Francis University

Published 2023-02-06

Keywords

  • Habitual Boredom,
  • Situational Boredom,
  • Ambivalence,
  • Shame,
  • Passive hope,
  • Passive stance,
  • Identity confusion
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Bargdill, R., & Zhang, L. (2023). The Habitual Boredom Scale: Preliminary Findings. Journal of Boredom Studies, (1). Retrieved from https://www.boredomsociety.com/jbs/index.php/journal/article/view/7

Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Boredom Studies

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This research presents the conceptualization of habitual boredom and the development of a scale for its measure. Bargdill suggests that habitually bored individuals experience five overlapping psychological themes: ambivalence, passive avoidance stance, passive hope, identity confusion and shame. The authors propose that situational boredom and habitual boredom are two different constructs. Other boredom scales have mixed the two constructs together during their development. This scale of habitual boredom has been developed in terms of the five themes and has been tested through several prior administrations. This paper reports the results of the latest test that reflects modification and refinement of the scale through previous tests. The data indicate that the scale with 35 items is fairly reliable. Each of the five themes measured by the scale is configured by seven items. The current iteration has included two face validity questions. Persons experiencing habitual boredom are at risk of serious psychological impacts since the changing situations does not seem to curb the effects of boredom.

PDF HTML

References

  1. Bargdill, R. W. (1999). Being Bored with One’s Life: An Empirical Phenomenological Study. Doctoral Dissertation, Duquesne University.
  2. Bargdill, R. W. (2000a). A Phenomenological Investigation of Being Bored with Life. Psychological Reports, 86, 493-494.
  3. Bargdill, R. W. (2000b). The Study of Life Boredom. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 31(2), 72–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15691620051090979
  4. Bargdill, R. W. (2014). Toward a Theory of Habitual Boredom. Janus Head, 13(2), 93–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/jh201413219
  5. Bargdill, R. W. (2019). Some Qualitative Differences Between Habitual Boredom and Depression. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 59(2), 294–312.
  6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022167816637948
  7. Carter, S. S. (1990). Unipolar Clinical Depression: An Empirical-Phenomenological Study. Doctoral Dissertation, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh.
  8. Chan, C. S., Van Tilburg, W. A., Igou, E. R., Poon, C. Y., Tam, K. Y., Wong, V. U., and Cheung, S. K. (2018). Situational Meaninglessness and State Boredom: Cross-Sectional and Experience-Sampling Findings. Motivation and Emotion, 42(4), 555–565. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9693-3
  9. Chaston, A., and Kingstone, A. (2004). Time Estimation: The Effect of Cortically Mediated Attention. Brain and Cognition, 55(2), 286–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2004.02.013
  10. Chin, A., Markey, A., Bhargava, S., Kassam, K. S., and Loewenstein, G. (2016). Bored in the USA: Experience Sampling and Boredom in Everyday Life. Emotion, 17(2), 359–368. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000232
  11. Danckert, J. A., and Allman, A. A. (2005). Time Flies When You’re Having Fun: Temporal Estimation and the Experience of Boredom. Brain Cognition, 59, 236–245.
  12. Danckert, J., Hammerschmidt, T., Marty-Dugas, J., and Smilek, D. (2018). Boredom: Under-Aroused and Restless. Consciousness and Cognition, 61, 24–37.
  13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.014
  14. 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
  15. Elpidorou, A. (2021). Is Boredom One or Many? A Functional Solution to the Problem of Heterogeneity. Mind & Language, 36, 491–511. https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12282
  16. 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:10.1177/1073191111421303
  17. Farmer, R., and Sundberg, S. D. (1986). Boredom Proneness--The Development and Correlates of a New Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 50, 4–17.
  18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5001_2
  19. Giorgi, A. (2018). Reflections on Certain Qualitative and Phenomenological Psychological Methods. University Professors Press.
  20. Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Hall, N. C., Nett, U. E., Pekrun, R., and Lipnevich, A. A. (2014). Types of Boredom: An Experience Sampling Approach. Motivation and Emotion, 38, 401–419. https://doi:10.1007/s11031-013-9385-y
  21. 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.
  22. https://doiorg.proxy.library.vcu.edu/10.1521/jscp.2011.30.6.647
  23. Hartcher-O’Brien, J., Soto-Faraco, S., and Adam, R. (2017). A Matter of Bottom-Up or Top-Down Processes: The Role of Attention in Multisensory Intergration. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2017.00005
  24. Isacescu, J., Struk, A. A., and Danckert, J. (2017). Cognitive and Affective Predictors of Boredom Proneness. Cognition and Emotion, 31(8), 1741–1748. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699 931.2016.1259995
  25. Johnston, L. D., and O’Malley, P. M. (1986). Why Do the Nation’s Students Use Drugs and Alcohol: Self-Reported Reasons from Nine National Surveys. Journal of Drug Issues, 16, 29-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002204268601600103
  26. Kılıç, A., Van Tilburg, W. A., 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
  27. Mann, S., and Cadman, R. (2014). Does Being Bored Make Us More Creative? Creativity Research Journal, 26, 165–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400 419.2014.901073
  28. Mercer-Lynn, K. B., Bar, R. J., and Eastwood, J. D. (2014). Causes of Boredom: The Person, the Situation, or Both? Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 122–126.
  29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.08.034
  30. O’Hanlon, J. F. (1981). Boredom: Practical Consequences and a Theory. Acta Psychologica, 49, 53–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(81)90033-0
  31. Tam, K. Y., Van Tilburg, W. A, and Chan, C. S. (2021). What Is Boredom Proneness? A Comparison of Three Characterizations. Journal of Personality, 89(4), 831–846.
  32. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12618