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Boredom and Cognitive Engagement: A Functional Theory of Boredom

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Abstract

The functional theory of boredom maintains that boredom ought to be defined in terms of its role in our mental and behavioral economy. Although the functional theory has recently received considerable attention, presentations of this theory have not specified with sufficient precision either its commitments or its consequences for the ontology of boredom. This essay offers an in-depth examination of the functional theory. It explains what boredom is according to the functional view; it shows how the functional theory can account for the known characteristics of boredom; and it articulates the theory’s basic commitments, virtues, and limitations. Ultimately, by furthering our understanding of the functional theory of boredom, the essay contributes to a better theoretical grounding of boredom.

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Notes

  1. The psychodynamic theory has fallen out of fashion. However, recent work on boredom has emphasized the importance of a volitional component in the experience of boredom and argued that the presence of an unfulfilled or ill-formed desire during the experience of boredom reveals a disruption of agency that is characteristic of the experience of boredom (Danckert and Eastwood 2020; Eastwood and Gorelik 2021).

  2. Even though the MAC Model combines insights from both the existential and cognitive (specifically, attentional) theories of boredom, I am inclined to count it as a distinct account of boredom. This is for two reasons. First, it holds that attentional difficulties and perceived meaninglessness are individually sufficient but not necessary for the experience of boredom. This commitment on behalf of the MAC Model distinguishes it from attentional and existential views: those views insist, respectively, that attentional difficulties and perceived meaninglessness are necessary for the experience of boredom (for a discussion of the differences between the MAC Model and the attentional view, see Tam et. 2021). Second, and perhaps more importantly, the MAC Model entails that, depending on its causes and outcomes, there can be distinct kinds of boredom: attentional boredom, meaningless boredom, and mixed boredom. On the issue of whether there are distinct kinds of boredom, see Elpidorou (2021) and Goetz et al. (2014).

  3. Throughout the essay I consider boredom to be an emotion. Such treatment is in line with common practice within the psychology of boredom. Although I believe that there are good reasons to treat boredom as an emotion, it is not necessary to rehearse them here. The characterization of the functional view of boredom that I advance in this paper holds regardless of whether state boredom is ultimately an emotion, a mood, a cognitive attitude (Yao 2021), a feeling (Eastwood and Gorelik 2019), or some other kind of psychological state. Still, readers interested in arguments in support of the view that boredom is an emotion should consult Bortolotti and Allifi (2021); Elpidorou (2018b), (2022); Van Tilburg & Igou (2017a); and Yucel and Westgate (2021).

  4. Danckert (2019) offers a different account of boredom’s evolutionary origins. He argues that boredom arose as a signal to balance the drives of exploration and exploitation. See also Gomez-Ramirez & Costa (2017).

  5. For comedy routines, see, e.g., James Acaster’s Kettering Town FC routine or Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal’s Kristen Schall is a Horse sketch, both of which rely on repetition in order to provoke laughter. Many thanks to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on the information-processing view of boredom.

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Elpidorou, A. Boredom and Cognitive Engagement: A Functional Theory of Boredom. Rev.Phil.Psych. 14, 959–988 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-021-00599-6

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