{"title":"Sounds boring: the causal effect of boredom on self-administration of aversive stimuli in the presence of a positive alternative","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s11031-023-10053-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>Previous studies demonstrated that boredom leads to increased self-administration of painful electric stimulation, a proxy for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, in these experimental studies, participants had no behavioral alternatives besides electric stimulation to break the monotony. A first aim in the current experimental study was to examine whether boredom still leads to self-administering aversive stimuli when positive behavioral alternatives are present. This boredom effect was furthermore compared to an anger induction. The second aim was to examine whether history of NSSI and negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to engage in impulsive action in response to negative emotions) positively moderate the link between boredom and self-administered aversive stimuli. In a between-subjects design using college students (N = 129), participants were randomly assigned to one of three emotion induction writing tasks (i.e., boredom, anger, neutral), during which frequency of self-administered positive (chirping birds) and aversive (screaming pig) sounds was measured. The latter was used as a proxy for NSSI behavior. Results showed that boredom led to increased selection of aversive sounds compared to the neutral and anger conditions, despite the presence of a positive alternative (i.e., positive sounds). No difference in frequency of selecting the aversive sounds was observed between the anger and neutral condition. Neither history of NSSI nor negative urgency moderated the effect of condition on self-administered aversive stimuli. The current results tentatively support a causal and specific link between boredom and NSSI, and warrant further examination of the role of boredom in maladaptive behaviors such as NSSI.</p>","PeriodicalId":48282,"journal":{"name":"Motivation and Emotion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Motivation and Emotion","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-023-10053-y","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Previous studies demonstrated that boredom leads to increased self-administration of painful electric stimulation, a proxy for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, in these experimental studies, participants had no behavioral alternatives besides electric stimulation to break the monotony. A first aim in the current experimental study was to examine whether boredom still leads to self-administering aversive stimuli when positive behavioral alternatives are present. This boredom effect was furthermore compared to an anger induction. The second aim was to examine whether history of NSSI and negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to engage in impulsive action in response to negative emotions) positively moderate the link between boredom and self-administered aversive stimuli. In a between-subjects design using college students (N = 129), participants were randomly assigned to one of three emotion induction writing tasks (i.e., boredom, anger, neutral), during which frequency of self-administered positive (chirping birds) and aversive (screaming pig) sounds was measured. The latter was used as a proxy for NSSI behavior. Results showed that boredom led to increased selection of aversive sounds compared to the neutral and anger conditions, despite the presence of a positive alternative (i.e., positive sounds). No difference in frequency of selecting the aversive sounds was observed between the anger and neutral condition. Neither history of NSSI nor negative urgency moderated the effect of condition on self-administered aversive stimuli. The current results tentatively support a causal and specific link between boredom and NSSI, and warrant further examination of the role of boredom in maladaptive behaviors such as NSSI.
期刊介绍：
Motivation and Emotion publishes articles on human motivational and emotional phenomena that make theoretical advances by linking empirical findings to underlying processes. Submissions should focus on key problems in motivation and emotion, and, if using non-human participants, should contribute to theories concerning human behavior. Articles should be explanatory rather than merely descriptive, providing the data necessary to understand the origins of motivation and emotion, to explicate why, how, and under what conditions motivational and emotional states change, and to document that these processes are important to human functioning.A range of methodological approaches are welcome, with methodological rigor as the key criterion. Manuscripts that rely exclusively on self-report data are appropriate, but published articles tend to be those that rely on objective measures (e.g., behavioral observations, psychophysiological responses, reaction times, brain activity, and performance or achievement indicators) either singly or combination with self-report data.The journal generally does not publish scale development and validation articles. However, it is open to articles that focus on the post-validation contribution that a new measure can make. Scale development and validation work therefore may be submitted if it is used as a necessary prerequisite to follow-up studies that demonstrate the importance of the new scale in making a theoretical advance.
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