Induced Boredom Constrains Mindfulness: An Online Demonstration

Abstract

Background: Boredom and mindfulness have long been considered to be incompatible psychological states. The latter state has been associated with a variety of psychological benefits, whereas the former has tended to be associated with far less positive outcomes and conditions, such as substance abuse and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Method: In an effort to empirically validate the presumed inverse relationship between state boredom and state mindfulness, an online sample (n=95) was recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk web-based service and randomly assigned to either an online Vowel Cancellation task condition or an online Reading Task condition (control). An online assessment of state mindfulness was conducted immediately following the assigned task.
Results: As predicted, the boredom-induced individuals were found to report significantly lower levels of mindfulness than participants in the control group. Moreover, even though the entire study was conducted over the internet and involved no face-to-face contact with the study personnel, the online boredom induction procedure appeared to perform as intended. This was confirmed by the results on the standard manipulation check, the significantly higher scores of the boredom-induced individuals on the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS);1 and the significantly higher dropout rate in the boredom induction condition.
Conclusions: This is the first study that the authors are aware of that has been able to provide empirical evidence of a dynamic, inverse relationship between the psychological states of boredom and mindfulness. It is also the first study to report the successful induction of boredom using an online methodology. The clinical and methodological implications are discussed.