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Lost by definition: Why boredom matters for psychology and society
Author(s) -
Westgate Erin C.,
Steidle Brianna
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
social and personality psychology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.699
H-Index - 53
ISSN - 1751-9004
DOI - 10.1111/spc3.12562
Subject(s) - boredom , perspective (graphical) , psychology , cognition , psychological intervention , cognitive science , social psychology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , computer science
Long overlooked, boredom has drawn increasing attention across multiple subfields of psychology (including clinical, developmental, educational, cognitive, and industrial/organizational psychology), as well as economics, philosophy, neuroscience, and animal cognition. In this article, we review and integrate this work by providing a social psychological perspective on boredom as an emotion and its role in signaling the need for change to restore successful attention in meaningful activity. In doing so, we discuss the implications of that approach for understanding boredom cross‐culturally and cross‐species, and identify opportunities for targeted interventions to reduce boredom and improve well‐being.