Is Profound Boredom Boredom?

Martin Heidegger is often credited as having offered one of the most thorough phenomenological investigations of the nature of boredom. In his 1929–1930 lecture course, The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude, he goes to great lengths to distinguish between three different types of boredom and to explicate their respective characters. Within the context of his discussion of one of these types of boredom, profound boredom [tiefe Langweile], Heidegger opposes much of the philosophical and literary tradition on boredom insofar as he articulates how the experience of boredom can be existentially beneficial to us. In this chapter, we undertake a study of the nature of profound boredom with the aim of investigating its place within contemporary psychological and philosophical research on boredom. Although boredom used to be a neglected emotional experience, it is no more. Boredom’s causal antecedents, effects, experiential profile, and neurophysiological correlates have become topics of active study; as a consequence, a proliferation of claims and findings about boredom has ensued. Such a situation provides an opportunity to scrutinize Heidegger’s claims and to try to understand them both on their own terms and in light of our contemporary understanding of boredom

Culture and gender differences in boredom proneness

The present study investigated cultural differences in boredom proneness scores. The participants consisted of undergraduate students from the United States (N = 449) and Germany (N = 767) who completed the 28- item Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS). The results indicated that students from the United States possessed significantly higher BPS scores than their German counterparts. Specifically, U.S. participants had greater scores on the BPS subscales of External Stimulation, Affective Responses, and Perception of Time. In addition, a main effect for gender was found with males possessing higher BPS total scores than females. Males had greater scores on the BPS subscales of External Stimulation, Time, and Constraint. The findings are discussed as to how they contribute to past research examining the role of culture and gender on boredom proneness levels. © NAJP