Apathetic Boredom, Fifth Type Of Boredom, Identified By Researchers

The Huffington Post:

Not all boredom is the same, according to a new study.

A team of researchers from Canada, the United States and Europe have identified a type of boredom, called apathetic boredom, that involves the unpleasant feelings of learned helplessness and bears similarities to depression.

Apathetic boredom is now the fifth type of boredom identified by researchers, who had detailed four other types of boredom in past studies. The types of boredom are differentiated both by a person’s level of mental arousal — ranging from fidgety to calm — and by the positivity or negativity associated with that boredom.

The discovery of the fifth type of boredom is based on data from 63 university students and 80 high school students in Germany. The study was led by researchers from the University of Konstanz and the Thurgau University of Teacher Education, and is published in the journal Motivation and Emotion.

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Recently, a Perspectives on Psychological Science study showed that generally, boredom can be pinned to three things: The inability to focus or pay attention, the knowledge that we’re unable to pay attention, and the blaming of our inability to pay attention on our circumstances.

Read the whole story: The Huffington Post