Effect of boredom proneness on time perception

Psychol Rep. 1991 Aug;69(1):323-7. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1991.69.1.323.

Abstract

As part of a larger study examining attribution differences in boredom, the effect of Boredom Proneness on perception of time passage was investigated in 110 undergraduates completing a tedious number-circling task. Highly boredom-prone individuals perceived time as passing more slowly during the task than low boredom-prone persons, but the two groups did not differ in their objective or chronometric time-passage estimates. The findings support the contention that depressed affect produces a subjective slowing of time but does not alter the perception of objective passage of chronometric time.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Attention*
  • Boredom*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Personality Inventory
  • Time Perception*