No. 1 (2023)
Articles

Exploring the Relation Between State and Trait Boredom and Various Measures of Creativity

Jamie Nettinga
University of Waterloo
Roy Gutglick
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
James Danckert
University of Waterloo

Published 2023-06-01

Keywords

  • boredom,
  • creativity,
  • boredom proneness,
  • exploration,
  • exploitation

How to Cite

Nettinga, J., Gutglick, R., & Danckert, J. (2023). Exploring the Relation Between State and Trait Boredom and Various Measures of Creativity. Journal of Boredom Studies, (1). Retrieved from https://boredomsociety.com/jbs/index.php/journal/article/view/18

Abstract

Popular sentiment suggests that boredom ought to lead to creativity despite a lack of research investigating the relationship explicitly. Across two experiments the relation between boredom and creativity was examined via a mood induction and surveys (Experiment 1) and behavioural tasks (Experiments 1 and 2). Results from Experiment 1 indicated that state boredom was in fact associated with poorer performance on the divergent thinking task and that trait boredom proneness was associated with both diminished belief in one’s creative potential and lower levels of engagement of everyday creative pursuits. Results from Experiment 2 again found no relation between state or trait boredom and creativity on a novel creativity task. Clearly, these findings indicate that neither state nor trait boredom promote increased creativity.

References

  1. Abraham, A. (2016). The Imaginative Mind. Human Brain Mapping, 37(11), 4197–4211. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23300
  2. Bench, S. W., and Lench, H. C. (2013). On the Function of Boredom. Behavioral Sciences, 3, 459–472. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs3030459
  3. Bench, S. W., and Lench, H. C. (2019). Boredom as a Seeking State: Boredom Prompts the Pursuit of Novel (Even Negative) Experiences. Emotion, 19(2), 242–254. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000433
  4. Brosowsky, N., Barr, N., Mugon, J., Scholer, A., Seli, P., and Danckert, J. (2022). Creativity, Boredom Proneness and Well-Being in the Pandemic. Behavioural Sciences, 12(3), 68. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12030068
  5. Danckert, J. (2019). Boredom: Managing the Delicate Balance Between Exploration and Exploitation. In J. R. Velasco (Ed.), Boredom Is in Your Mind: A Shared Psychological Philosophical Approach (pp. 37–53). Springer.
  6. Danckert, J., and Eastwood, J. D. (2020). Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom. Harvard University Press.
  7. Danckert, J., Mugon, J., Struk, A., and Eastwood, J. (2018). Boredom: What Is It Good For? In H. C. Lench (Ed.), The Function of Emotions (pp. 93–119). Springer.
  8. DeCoster, J. (2007). Applied Linear Regression Notes Set 1. Retrieved from http://www.stat-help.com/notes.html.
  9. Dietrich, A. (2004). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(6), 1011–1026. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03196731
  10. Dietrich, A. (2019). Types of Creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-018-1517-7
  11. Dollinger, S. J. (2003). Need for Uniqueness, Need for Cognition, and Creativity. Journal of Creative Behavior, 37, 99–116.
  12. Eastwood, J. D., Frischen, A., Fenske, M. J., and Smilek, D. (2012). The Unengaged Mind. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 482–495.
  13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612456044
  14. Elpidorou, A. (2014). The Bright Side of Boredom. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01245
  15. Elpidorou, A. (2018). The Bored Mind Is a Guiding Mind: Toward a Regulatory Theory of Boredom. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 17(3), 455–484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-017-9515-1
  16. Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., and Lang, A.-G. (2009). Statistical Power Analyses Using G*Power 3.1: Tests for Correlation and Regression Analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/brm.41.4.1149
  17. Fink, A., Grabner, R. H., Benedek, M., Reishofer, G., Hauswirth, V., Fally, M., Neuper, C., Ebner, F., and Neubauer, A. C. (2009). The Creative Brain: Investigation of Brain Activity During Creative Problem Solving by Means of EEG and FMRI. Human Brain Mapping, 30(3), 734–748. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20538
  18. Gasper, K., and Middlewood, B. L. (2014). Approaching Novel Thoughts: Understanding Why Elation and Boredom Promote Associative Thought More than Distress and Relaxation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 52, 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.12.007
  19. Goldsmith, R. E., and Matherly, T. A. (1988). Creativity and Self-Esteem: A Multiple Operationalization Validity Study. The Journal of Psychology, 122(1), 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1988.10542942
  20. Haager, J. S., Kuhbandner, C., and Pekrun, R. (2018). To Be Bored or Not to Be Bored—How Task‐Related Boredom Influences Creative Performance. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 52(4), 297–304.
  21. Hart, Y., Mayo, A. E., Mayo, R., Rozenkrantz, L., Tendler, A., Alon, U., and Noy, L. (2017). Creative Foraging: An Experimental Paradigm for Studying Exploration and Discovery. PLoS ONE, 12(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182133
  22. Hunter, J. A., Abraham, E. H., Hunter, A. G., Goldberg, L. C., and Eastwood, J. D. (2016). Personality and Boredom Proneness in the Prediction of Creativity and Curiosity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 22, 48–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2016.08.002
  23. Hunter, A., and Eastwood, J. D. (2018). Does State Boredom Cause Failures of Attention? Examining the Relations Between Trait Boredom, State Boredom, and Sustained Attention. Experimental Brain Research, 236(9), 2483–2492. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4749-7
  24. Karwowski, M. (2009). I’m Creative, But Am I Creative? Similarities and Differences Between Self-Evaluated Small and Big-c Creativity in Poland. The International Journal of Creativity & Problem Solving, 19(2), 7–26.
  25. Karwowski, M., Lebuda, I., and Wiśniewska, E. (2018). Measuring Creative Self-Efficacy and Creative Personal Identity. The International Journal of Creativity & Problem Solving, 28(1), 45–47.
  26. Kaufman, J. C. (2012). Counting the Muses: Development of the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS). Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6(4), 298–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029751
  27. Kılıç, A., Tilburg, W. A. P., 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
  28. Landis, J. R., and Koch, G. G. (1977). The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159. https://doi.org/10.2307/2529310
  29. Larson, R. W. (1990). Emotions and the Creative Process; Anxiety, Boredom, and Enjoyment as Predictors of Creative Writing. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9(4), 275-292.
  30. Lee, C. M., Neighbors, C., and Woods, B. A. (2007). Marijuana Motives: Young Adults’ Reasons for Using Marijuana. Addictive Behaviors, 32(7), 1384–1394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.09.010
  31. LePera, N. (2011). Relationships Between Boredom Proneness, Mindfulness, Anxiety, Depression, and Substance Use. PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e741452011-003
  32. Liang, Z., Zhao, Q., Zhou, Z., Yu, Q., Li, S., and Chen, S. (2020). The Effect of “Novelty Input” and “Novelty Output” on Boredom during Home Quarantine in the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Effects of Trait Creativity. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601548
  33. Malkovsky, E., Merrifield, C., Goldberg, Y., and Danckert, J. (2012). Exploring the Relationship Between Boredom and Sustained Attention. Experimental Brain Research, 221(1), 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3147-z
  34. Mann, S., and Cadman, R. (2014). Does Being Bored Make Us More Creative?. Creativity Research Journal, 26(2), 165–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2014.901073
  35. Mercer, K. B., and Eastwood, J. D. (2010). Is Boredom Associated with Problem Gambling Behaviour? It Depends on What You Mean by ‘Boredom.’ International Gambling Studies, 10(1), 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459791003754414
  36. Merrifield, C., and Danckert, J. (2014). Characterizing the Psychophysiological Signature of Boredom. Experimental Brain Research, 232(2), 481–491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3755-2
  37. Mugon, J., Boylan, J., and Danckert, J. (2020). Boredom Proneness and Self-Control as Unique Risk Factors in Achievement Settings. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(23), 9116. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17239116
  38. Mugon, J., Struk, A., and Danckert, J. (2018). A Failure to Launch: Regulatory Modes and Boredom Proneness. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1126.
  39. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01126
  40. Nusbaum, E. C., Silvia, P. J., and Beaty, R. E. (2014). Ready, Set, Create: What Instructing People to “Be Creative” Reveals about the Meaning and Mechanisms of Divergent Thinking. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8, 423-432. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036549
  41. Pfattheicher, S., Lazarevic, L. B., Westgate, E. C., and Schindler, S. (2021). On the Relation of Boredom and Sadistic Aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(2), 573–600. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/r67xg
  42. Silvia, P. J., Winterstein, B. P., Willse, J. T., Barona, C. M., Cram, J. T., Hess, K. I., Martinez, J. L., and Richard, C. A. (2008). Assessing Creativity with Divergent Thinking Tasks: Exploring the Reliability and Validity of New Subjective Scoring Methods. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2(2), 68–85. https://doi.org/10.1037/1931-3896.2.2.68
  43. Simonton, D. K. (2000). Creative Development as Acquired Expertise: Theoretical Issues and an Empirical Test. Developmental Review, 20(2), 283–318. https://doi.org/10.1006/drev.1999.0504
  44. Smith, S., Ward, T. B., and Finke, R. A. (Eds.). (1995). The Creative Cognition Approach. The MIT Press.
  45. Struk, A. A., Carriere, J. S. A., Cheyne, J. A., and Danckert, J. (2017). A Short Boredom Proneness Scale: Development and Psychometric Properties. Assessment, 24(3), 346–359. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191115609996
  46. Struk, A. A., Mugon, J., Huston, A., Scholer, A. A., Stadler, G., Higgins, E. T., Sokolowski, M. B., and Danckert, J. (2019). Self-Regulation and the Foraging Gene (PRKG1) in Humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(10), 4434–4439. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1809924116
  47. Struk, A. A., Scholer, A. A., Danckert, J., and Seli, P. (2020). Rich Environments, Dull Experiences: How Environment Can Exacerbate the Effect of Constraint on the Experience of Boredom. Cognition and Emotion, 34(7), 1517–1523.
  48. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2020.1763919
  49. Tam, K. Y. Y., Van Tilburg, W. A. P., and Chan, C. S. (2021). What Is Boredom Proneness? A Comparison of Three Characterizations. Journal of Personality, 89(4), 831-846. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12618
  50. Thompson, C. (2017, January 25). How Being Bored Out of Your Mind Makes You More Creative. Wired. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.wired.com/2017/01/clive-thompson-7/.
  51. Thorp, C. (2020, May 22). How Boredom Can Spark Creativity. BBC Culture. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200522-how-boredom-can-spark-creativity
  52. Van Tilburg, W. A., and Igou, E. R. (2016). Can Boredom Help? Increased Prosocial Intentions in Response to Boredom. Self and Identity, 16(1), 82–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2016.1218925
  53. Ward, T. B., Smith, S. M., and Finke, R. A. (1999). Creative Cognition. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of Creativity (pp. 189–212). Cambridge University Press.
  54. Yau, C. (1991). An Essential Interrelationship: Healthy Self-Esteem and Productive Creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 25(2), 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1991.tb01365.x
  55. Zomorodi, M. (2017). Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self. St. Martin’s Press.