Humans are highly motivated to avoid boredom. What is the functional role of boredom, and why is it so aversive? An empirical study tested the hypothesis that a need for agency, or control over one’s actions and their effects, plays a role in our avoidance of boredom. The study also explored the role of an individual difference called experiential avoidance, which captures the tendency to avoid negative internal experiences, sometimes via problematic behaviors. Results were integrated with current clinical techniques that use mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches to address such avoidance of internal experiences.
In the study, one hundred twenty-three adults completed a series of computer tasks in which their sense of agency was manipulated. After being oriented to high and medium levels of agency, participants completed a series of 30-second low agency trials in which they had the opportunity to escape to high or medium agency, at a cost. The amount of money they were willing to forego indicated their motivation to avoid low agency, or “need for agency.” After a break, they were then asked to complete a series of 30-second trials in which they did nothing, but again had the option to escape to high or medium agency at a cost. The amount of money they were willing to forego in this task indicated their motivation to avoid doing nothing, or “need for action.” Results demonstrated that on average, people were willing to give up money to avoid both low agency and to avoid a boring situation (doing nothing). Furthermore, their motivation to avoid boredom indeed was driven by the extent to which they felt that doing nothing afforded them a low sense of agency. Finally, those who were higher in experiential avoidance demonstrated a higher need for agency and action, and those lower in mindfulness demonstrated a higher need for agency. These results demonstrate that the motivation to avoid boredom may be rooted in a need for agency, and that acceptance- based clinical approaches may have success addressing this avoidance and the problematic behaviors that follow.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uoregon.edu/oai:scholarsbank.uoregon.edu:1794/23755 |
| Date | 06 September 2018 |
| Creators | Kahn, Lauren |
| Contributors | Berkman, Elliot |
| Publisher | University of Oregon |
| Source Sets | University of Oregon |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Rights | All Rights Reserved. |
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