A desire for desires: Boredom and its relation to alexithymia

Eastwood, John D.; Cavaliere, Carolina; Fahlman, Shelley A.; Eastwood, Adrienne E.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.08.027

Cited by 101 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Past boredom research indicated that components of feeling bored are being unchallenged (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), being deprived from stimulation (e.g., Eastwood, Cavaliere, Fahlman, & Eastwood, 2007), or having a lack of interest (e.g., Sansone et al, 1992). Not surprisingly, boredom proneness is related to sensation seeking and this has been offered as a (partial) explanation of the link between boredom proneness and correlates as anger, aggression, and gambling (e.g., Blaszczynski, McConaghy, & Frankova, 1990;Dahlen, Martin, Ragan, & Kuhlman, 2004;Rupp & Vodanovich, 1997).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can boredom help? Increased prosocial intentions in response to boredom

Tilburg

Igou

2016

Self and Identity

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Boredom is typically regarded a nuisance. Past research on boredom depicts this common emotion as a correlate of many detrimental psychological and social factors, including addiction, depression, discrimination, and aggression. We present a more nuanced perspective on boredom. Specifically, we propose and test that state boredom serves an important self-regulatory function with the potential to foster positive interpersonal consequences: It signals a lack of purpose in activity and fosters a search for meaningful engagement. We examined whether boredom can subsequently cause prosocial intentions if the corresponding prosocial behavior is seen as purposeful. As predicted, boredom, which is characterized by a search for meaning (Pilot Study), promoted prosocial intentions (Experiment 1), in particular when the corresponding behavior was seen as highly meaningful (Experiment 2). Our novel findings suggest that boredom can have desirable consequences, and recasts this emotion as not merely good or bad but rather as personally and socially functional.

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can boredom help? Increased prosocial intentions in response to boredom

Tilburg

Igou

2016

Self and Identity

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“…This is reflected in findings of poorer bodyperception, such as reduced registration of the effects of chemical intake or poorer perception of own heart beat (Ernst et al 2014;Herbert et al 2011;Lyvers et al 2014). Furthermore, individuals with alexithymia experience less pleasure during relaxation and report more boredom, with suggestions they may find it difficult to engage with and derive pleasure from the stimulation in their environment (Eastwood et al 2007;Eastwood et al 2012;Friedlander et al 1997). Low sensory registration has also been reported in individuals with ASD (Crane et al 2009;De la Marche et al 2012); therefore our findings suggest that there is an overlap in sensory modulation difficulties between the two conditions.…”

Section: The Association Between Alexithymia and Sensory Sensitivitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alexithymia in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Its Relationship to Internalising Difficulties, Sensory Modulation and Social Cognition

Milosavljevic

Leno

Simonoff

et al. 2015

J Autism Dev Disord

135

120

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Alexithymia is a personality trait frequently found in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and has been linked to impairments in emotion recognition and empathy. The presentation of alexithymia within ASD at younger ages remains unexplored, and was examined in the present study. Alexithymia rates were significantly elevated in ASD (55%; 31/56 scoring above cut-off) versus non-ASD adolescents (16%; 5/32 scoring above cut-off).Within individuals with ASD, alexithymia was associated with increased self-reported anxiety, parent-reported emotional difficulties, self-reported sensory processing atypicalities, and poorer emotion recognition, but was not associated with theory of mind ability. Overall, our results suggest that alexithymia is highly prevalent, and has selective cognitive correlates in young people with ASD.

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“…One important benefit of identifying boredom's unique experiential is that this provides a basis for predicting actions that are distinct from other affective states (e.g., Eastwood et al, 2007), that is, because it helps to understand which consequences are directly stemming from boredom rather than from other co-occurring affective states that may arise while people are engaged in boring activities (e.g., frustration, sadness, or anger). Past research on state boredom has typically looked at boredom without specifying other affective states that may co-occur or overlap with boredom.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On boredom: Lack of challenge and meaning as distinct boredom experiences

2011

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Boredom is a common experience that affects people on multiple levels, including their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and actions. Not much research, however, has examined what makes the experience of boredom distinct from other affective experiences. Based on earlier research on boredom and our meaning-regulation framework, we conducted a series of four studies that demonstrate the distinct experiential content of boredom. More than other negative affective experiences (sadness, anger, and frustration), boredom makes people feel unchallenged while they think that the situation and their actions are meaningless (Study 1).The distinct experiential content of boredom is associated with boredom proneness (Study 2) and with state boredom experiences (Study 3). In addition, the distinct experiential content of boredom is affected by contextual features (Study 4). This series of studies provides a systematic understanding of what people feel, think, and want to do when bored, distinctive from other negative experiences.

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A desire for desires: Boredom and its relation to alexithymia

Cited by 101 publications

References 25 publications

Can boredom help? Increased prosocial intentions in response to boredom

Can boredom help? Increased prosocial intentions in response to boredom

Alexithymia in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Its Relationship to Internalising Difficulties, Sensory Modulation and Social Cognition

On boredom: Lack of challenge and meaning as distinct boredom experiences

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