Bored? Pay Attention

Research suggests that boredom is due to attention conflict. Boredom, according to John Eastwood is, “desiring of satisfying engagement but not being able to achieve that." Attention is the interaction between our senses and our environment. Eastwood argues, therefore, that attention is at the core of boredom. When a task requires little attention, the stimulus is insufficient - we aren't spending enough effort on the task, and nothing else compensates. Similarly, if there are too many stimulus', we cannot focus either.

A previous study had people read an interesting article while a TV played. If the TV was loud, people felt frustrated— not bored. If the TV was low, more people felt bored. While in both cases attention was disrupted, the cause of the disruption was unclear when the TV was low - so boredom ensued because no apparent reason for the lack of attention existed.

Another previous study examined reactions to background conversations while people engaged in 1) a task requiring little attention, 2) an uninteresting task requiring attention, and 3) an interesting task requiring attention. With task 1, an interesting background conversation decreased boredom. With task 3, people ignored the conversation. With task 2, however, boredom rose: a boring task requiring attention while competing with background conversations stunted attention.

If the conclusion is true, boredom can be fixed.

Pricing Emotions

British & Hong Kong students chose how much they'd spend (£10 - £150), for 1 hour, to enjoy positive emotions or avoid negative emotions.

British students paid more for positive emotions: love was most valued (£95), then happiness, then avoiding sadness ... disgust was the least valued emotion to avoid (£43). Hong Kong students valued experiencing positive emotions = to avoiding negative. Head-to-head, Brits paid more for "happiness, delight and calm"; Hong Kong students paid more to "avoid regret, embarrassment and frustration."

Researchers noted, "By putting price-tags on emotions we might come closer to understanding the value of human experience in order to aid policies at enhancing well-being."

Want a Better Job? Get a Simple Name

Research reveals that people with easy to pronounce names have better job and political futures. Attorneys with easier names were promoted quicker and political hopefuls with easier names had better chances of getting elected. Ease of pronunciation, not name length or cultural origin, was the controlling factor.

Mild Dehydration = Biran Dmub

25 young, healthy, exercising women drank water the night before they walked on a treadmill. They also took various cognitive tests. Compared with dehydrated test subjects, the hydrated group did not suffer from headaches, fatigue, or difficulty in concentrating. Another study with men had similar results.

The study concludes that mild dehydration can affect mood, energy, and thinking ability. So, um, drink water.