MAY WE RECOMMEND--
Stimulating Boredom

Items that merit a trip to the library

by R. Tiswell Mannix, AIR staff

Here are several research reports that may stimulate your interest in boredom.

Effectively Boring

"Boredom Effects on Sleepiness/Alertness in the Early Afternoon vs. Early Evening and Interactions with Warm Ambient Temperature,"" V. Mavjee and J.A. Horne, British Journal of Psychology, vol. 85, part 3, August 1994, pp. 317-33. (Thanks to Patricial Sills for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are at Loughborough University, reach the following conclusion:

Apart from time of day, 'interest' exerted a powerful effect that was significant for all variables.... By comparison, the 'temperature' effects were minor..

Effectively Boring

Cognitive Correlates of Boredom Proneness: The Role of Private Self-Consciousness and Absorption," H.M. Seib and S.J. Vodanovich, Journal of Psychology, vol. 132, no. 6, November 1998, pp. 642-52. (Thanks to Traian Dano for bringing this to our attention.) The authors are at University of West Florida, Pensacola.

Self-Boring

"Comparative in Vitro Studies of Self-Boring and Self-Tapping Screws. Histomorphological and physical-technical studies of bone layers" [article in German], J. Lohr, et al., Mund-, Kiefer-, und Gesichtschirurgie, vol. 4, no. 3, May 2000, pp.159-63. The authors are at AO-Forschungsinstitut, Davos, Switzerland.

© Copyright 2001 Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)

This is a HotAIR exclusive feature item. For a list of other HotAIR featured items, see What's New.